Item: SAP Integrated Business Planning
Rating: 10
Author: Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use IBP for demand planning solutions.. we do demand planning in IBP using some key constraints for monthly forecasts and send the forecasted result to the S4 system as independent requirements. These independent requirements are considered by MRP for planned order creation within the planning horizon for procurement/production execution.

Pros and Cons

Demand planning
Key constraint can be defined to perform the planning well
Seamless integration with S4 and legacy system for inbound and outbound of required data

Would like to run jobs from Excel views while working with scenarios, it's not possible currently
Predefined KPIs to measure supply chain performance could be added advantage

Return on Investment

The forecast planning is working well, though currently forecasted results are being reviewed for accuracy by including some custom key checks but in future it can be automated when full capabilities will be enforced.

Usability

We are using SAP IBP for forecasting and its doing its job.. 2 points less because currently some custom checks are being done to validate the final forecasted result in SAP.
Hope the added functionality in future will result in rating improvement

Key Differentiators

Product Features
Product Usability
Product Reputation
Prior Experience with the Product

We are using SAP products like SAP ERP, SAP SCM, SAP TM etc.. when we moved from SAP ERP to S4 HANA then ePPDS functionlaity received added to it. Now we are planning to roll off SCM solution with IBP, hence this product is chosen. It makes sense to use product lineup from same providers then messing with lot of legacy integrations.

Alternatives Considered

SAP Supply Chain Management

We were already using SAP SCM APO, but when implemented S4 HANA 2021 we learned that SCM is going to obsolete and all new features will be added to IBP so we have started using IBP now itself.

Better to start early than being tagged as "late entrant"

Key Insights

Do you think SAP Integrated Business Planning delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with SAP Integrated Business Planning's feature set?

Yes

Did SAP Integrated Business Planning live up to sales and marketing promises?

I wasn't involved with the selection/purchase process

Did implementation of SAP Integrated Business Planning go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy SAP Integrated Business Planning again?

Yes

Other Software Used

SAP ERP, SAP Transportation Management, SAP Identity Management

Likelihood to Recommend

SAP Integrated Business Planning (IBP) is the future planning tool by SAP, needless to mention that SAP has plan to discontinue its SCM APO module and the functionalities of APO is pipelined to be integrated with SAP IBP and S4 ePPDS solution. The planning function already working good and providing basic result for MRP requirements based on simplified key constraint.. but to get more advanced result, future enhancement are pipelined already.

Goodbye to oldie goldie APO, Welcome to refreshing IBP

Overall Satisfaction with SAP Integrated Business Planning