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pras_chatterjee
Advisor
Advisor

Last year with the introduction of SAP Simple Finance, things took a dramatic turn for the world of Planning and Forecasting, bringing SAP Business Planning and Consolidation, powered by SAP HANA deeply integrated directly with SAP ERP.

SAP Simple Finance is SAP’s on-premise and private cloud offering for Finance covering the full Finance value map.  As indicated by its name, the SAP Simple Finance Add-On is an ABAP add-on which is deployed on top of SAP Business Suite powered by SAP HANA (SAP ERP 6.0 EhP7 on HANA). The innovation modernizes the SAP ERP Financials solution – by leveraging the native capabilities of the SAP HANA platform with a next-generation architecture and reinvented user experience. Together with other components (e.g. SAP Fiori and SAP HANA Live) it provides the solutions SAP Accounting powered by SAP HANA, SAP Cash Management powered by SAP HANA, and Integrated Business Planning for finance. The latter requires also SAP Business Planning and Consolidation. The SAP Simple Finance Add-On can be deployed on premise or in the cloud as an add-on to the SAP Business Suite powered by SAP HANA.

Integrated Business Planning for finance enables the financial planning capabilities provided by SAP Business Planning and Consolidation, version for SAP NetWeaver to be seamlessly integrated in SAP ERP user interfaces and workflows, effectively replacing the current planning capabilities in SAP ERP. Currently planning in ERP is done through SAP GUI and has limitations that are now overcome.  Data replication between solutions will no longer be required. Plans developed in SAP Business Planning and Consolidation will be accessible in SAP ERP for variance analysis and SAP Business Planning and Consolidation will be able to access real time master data and actuals maintained in SAP ERP. The combined capabilities of Integrated Business Planning for finance will provide new end-to-end simulation capabilities.

When installed the Simple Finance Add-On for SAP Business Suite powered by SAP HANA includes the “content” required to facilitate Integrated Business Planning for finance.  This content includes (and will continue to grow):

  • Cost Center Planning
  • Internal Order Planning
  • Project Planning
  • Profit Center Planning
  • Cost of Sales Planning
  • P&L Planning
  • Market Segment Planning
  • Liquidity Planning

Every installation of the SAP NetWeaver ABAP stack includes an SAP Business Warehouse. This instance of Business Warehouse for SAP Simple Finance includes the SAP Business Planning and Consolidation, version for SAP NetWeaver, powered by SAP HANA “embedded” model type.

So the question asked maybe, how does Integrated Business Planning for finance work in real time?  Effectively it allows customers to:

  • Leverage the financials document database and HANA views for real time access to actual transactional data and ERP master data”
  • The Integrated Business Planning for finance model is able to read actuals “Real Time” as transactions update the FI & CO document tables within ERP
  • Actual data is aggregated on the fly leveraging SAP HANA views
  • Very quickly analyze financial data and model results

As per why you may use Integrated Business Planning for finance, versus a standalone SAP Business Planning and Consolidation, version for SAP NetWeaver? With Integrated Business Planning for finance,

  • Comes embedded within the SAP Business Suite on SAP HANA where the SAP Simple Finance Add-on for Suite on HANA is being utilized.
  • Provides significant functional content including templates and calculations covering multiple planning scenarios
  • Allows Companies using traditional financial planning within ERP to rapidly implement whilst protecting their existing investment. (Minimizes cost and time to implement)
  • Takes advantage of HANA views that support direct real time access to ERP Master data and the FI-CO document tables.
  • Optimal for organizations who have a significant portion of the data upon which they perform planning within the SAP ERP on HANA system and are planning against “traditional” FI and CO data structures yet at the same time provides for truly integrated planning across finance.
  • Only applicable to customers who have deployed SAP ERP on SAP HANA with the SAP Simple Finance Add-on for Suite on HANA (by definition this would also include any Simple Finance Customer)

I hope this brings some great insights into the great innovations and possibilities SAP ERP and SAP Business Planning and Consolidation, all powered by SAP HANA can bring together!

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