Temporary Product Cannibalization for Promotional Items Using SAP IBP PLM

[KacperBenner]

Hello SAP Community,

I’m a Junior Consultant currently working on a client requirement involving temporary product cannibalization within the Manage Product Lifecycle (PLM) app in SAP Integrated Business Planning (IBP). Despite exploring the app's functionalities, I’ve encountered challenges implementing a solution and would greatly appreciate insights or guidance from this community.

The Requirement

The client wants to implement a temporary cannibalization scenario for promotional items in their product lifecycle management. Here’s the specific use case:

1. Promotional Period (April 2025 to August 2025):

   • The new product (promotional item) should receive 80% of the forecast, derived from the history of the reference product.
   • The reference product should retain 20% of the forecast during this period.
   • The total forecast (new + reference product) must always sum to 100%.

2. Post-Promotional Period (After August 2025):

   • The forecast values should gradually adjust:
     • The new product reduces to 20%.
     • The reference product increases to 80%.
   • Both products remain active, with neither product phasing out.

What I’ve Tried

In SAP IBP PLM, I’ve tested several approaches, including:

• Assignments and phase-in/phase-out settings to control forecast distribution.
• Forecast curve adjustments to simulate a gradual transition of forecast shares.
• Time-dependent attribute transformations to temporarily shift forecast values between products.

Despite these efforts, I haven’t been able to configure a solution that meets the client’s requirements for a temporary cannibalization scenario.

Current Workaround

As an ad-hoc solution, I’ve implemented a manual attribute transformation to achieve the desired forecast split during the promotional period. While this approach works, it is:

• Inefficient and time-consuming, especially for large-scale implementations.
• Difficult to maintain for recurring scenarios or when adjustments are needed.

Context and Challenges

In SAP IBP PLM, the Manage Product Lifecycle app is designed to support phase-in and phase-out processes for product introductions and discontinuations. However, the flexibility for temporary cannibalization—where two products coexist with dynamically adjusted forecast shares—is not explicitly supported in the standard functionality.

Additionally, the client’s requirement for gradual forecast transitions after the promotional period further complicates the setup, as PLM primarily focuses on lifecycle stages rather than dynamic period-based forecast distribution.

What I’m Looking For

I’d like to know if anyone has successfully configured a temporary cannibalization process within SAP IBP PLM or has insights on how to address the following:

1. Distributing forecast shares between a new and a reference product for a defined time period without phasing out the reference product.
2. Simulating gradual forecast transitions post-promotion using PLM configurations or other IBP tools.
3. Avoiding reliance on manual attribute transformations to streamline the process and ensure scalability.

Question

How can the Manage Product Lifecycle (PLM) app in SAP IBP be leveraged to handle this use case? Are there any best practices, configurations, or workarounds you would recommend for managing temporary product cannibalization scenarios?

Thank you for your insights and support!

Best regards,
Kacper Benner