Considerations for Implementing SAP IBP
SAP Integrated Business Planning (IBP) is offered on the cloud, and there are a few considerations that an organization has to keep in mind before embarking on an SAP IBP journey:
Updates to Software: One of the key challenges that an organization must embrace with cloud-based software is mandatory program upgrades, which is also one of the benefits of being on a single platform within the cloud. Quarterly updates consistently add functionality but also require testing of changed features once the update is complete. These updates also impact the ability to move changes from a quality system to a production system.
Loss of Software and Service Control: Organizations have evolved and developed their own IT technological competence. Some organizations are better than others, but all can manage and deploy their systems, whether they build it in-house, outsource it, or work with third parties. With IBP on the cloud, this management changes, as organizations can lose service control.
Security: When contemplating any cloud-based application, security should be a major priority. If you break it down, security considerations include protection through authentication and authorization, which are two terms that are used interchangeably. Security of Data in Motion and Data at Rest are two different types of data.
The Batch Schedule and Master Data Replication: Selections of huge collections of data, conversion of this data, and movement of this data between systems with the following processing lead times – a batch schedule – are required for all sections of the organization to work together. Batch work schedules of 8-16 hours for optimizations in SAP Advanced Planning & Optimization (APO) are not uncommon, and this is one of the issues that SAP IBP aims to address. Being able to simulate alternative optimizations in SAP IBP on HANA is a major step forward.
Customization is restricted: Organizations are accustomed to altering systems on the fly to ensure that they’re a perfect fit for their operations. Historically, this has resulted from internal IT's need to design these systems, but the industry is changing - procedures within industries are being standardized, and software that supports these processes is adopting best practices and working methods. Moving to more uniform software is a reality as a result of this standardization and industrialization.
To learn more about SAP IBP, contact our team at Crescense today.
Written by Clarkston Consulting’s Anand Nataraj, Jakul Shastri, and Charlie de Cardenas.