Not your Grandmother's Spreadsheet
Updated September 02, 2021

Not your Grandmother's Spreadsheet

Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Software Version

SAP NetWeaver Edition

Overall Satisfaction with SAP BPC (Business Planning and Consolidation)

SAP BPC (Business Planning and Consolidation) is being used as part of a larger project integrating several different databases. The end goal is to get the data from some proprietary systems into a format that will line up with SAP and allow timely forecasts and accurate reporting of past sales, billing, etc. It's a useful tool for this type of consolidation, especially when the end goal is SAP.
  • Integrates with Excel.
  • Has APIs that can connect to all different types of databases.
  • Cube architecture allows for very big data
  • The refresh time for our spreadsheets is maddeningly slow.
  • It is not an intuitive product. I had to be taught how to unhide a tab in Excel because it doesn't let you unhide in the traditional way.
  • It's very easy to wipe out mountains of data with a few keystrokes. There's no "undo" feature for this. I haven't done it, but others have. The data is backed up elsewhere, but you still have to reimport it and clean it up.
  • Allows us to see into the future across a myriad of diverse databases.
  • Allows us to report financial data from a number of sources.
The process of getting data linked up is complex at this company. There are a dozen databases with hundreds of currencies and a myriad of other data mismatches. It may not be the fault of SAP BPC (Business Planning and Consolidation), but we have a lot of issues when we go into UAT. Trying to fix the problem in SAP BPC (Business Planning and Consolidation) requires a knowledgeable developer.
The main advantage SAP BPC (Business Planning and Consolidation) has over Tableau, or Business Warehouse is that the data can be input and reported via Excel spreadsheets instead of navigating the rather clunky world of SAP. The data in SAP BPC (Business Planning and Consolidation) can be automatically linked to a host of SAP applications. If your company runs SAP, this is the most accessible tool. I never used Hyperion, but I don't think it was it's explicitly designed to interact with SAP.
Tableau Desktop, Salesforce Lightning Platform (formerly Salesforce App Cloud)
If you are trying to consolidate finances and get information standardized across platforms, SAP BPC (Business Planning and Consolidation) is an excellent tool. Its mapping features allow you to normalize data. The programming is not simple - you will need an experienced developer (or two) to get the reports you need. A Data Entry clerk will need more training than they already have, so plan for that as well.

SAP BPC (Business Planning and Consolidation) Feature Ratings

Long-term financial planning
9
Financial budgeting
9
Forecasting
9
Scenario modeling
Not Rated
Management reporting
9
Financial data consolidation
9
Journal entries and reports
Not Rated
Multi-currency management
10
Intercompany Eliminations
8
Minority Ownership
Not Rated
Local and consolidated reporting
9
Detailed Audit Trails
Not Rated
Financial Statement Reporting
9
Management Reporting
9
Excel-based Reporting
8
Automated board and financial reporting
Not Rated
Personalized dashboards
Not Rated
Color-coded scorecards
Not Rated
KPIs
Not Rated
Cost and profitability analysis
Not Rated
Key Performance Indicator setting
Not Rated
Benchmarking with external data
Not Rated
Flat file integration
9
Excel data integration
9
Direct links to 3rd-party data sources
9