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The SAP Best Practices for SAP Integrated Business Planning for Supply Chain (SAP IBP) comes with a bunch of assets to help you fasten and safeguard your implementation project. It helps to understand the different assets and how to use them to take advantage of all the benefits and use cases of the SAP Best Practices for SAP IBP. In this blog, we'll explain the various assets and asset types in more detail.
You can generally set up a running system including Planning UIs, sample data, analytics, forecast models, and alerts with the SAP Best Practices assets. The assets are updated and tested every release to ensure compatibility with the latest release and high quality.
Let's start with an overview of the different asset types. In general, you can differentiate between assets available in the system directly (marked with the green box in the following chart) and assets you download via the SAP Signavio Process Navigator (marked with the orange box).
We explained the green box, means the sample planning areas with the related objects in the last blog. Let's start now with the orange box.
First of all, you need to know, how to access the assets for the latest version. You can use this link to access the latest version of the SAP Best Practices for SAP Integrated Business Planning. In the upper right corner, there's a button "Download". With this functionality, you can download all assets in a .zip file. To do it this way is easier and more convenient than downloading the assets separately.
In the .zip file, under IBP => Library, you can find the following folders:
- General => overview slide decks
- TestScripts => the test scripts for all solution processes
- Configuration => all configuration guides
- Setup => the technical assets needed to set up the system
- Others => solution process flow diagrams in .svg and .bpmn2 format
Let's start with the document assets.
Let me briefly explain the nomenclature of the file names. The release is always part of the file names: IBP2408 for example, or IBP2411. We update all files every release, therefore please use the latest ones.
In the folder "General" you'll find the following documents:
- IBPxxxx_Best_Practices_Scope_Presentation_EN_XX (in ppt + pdf)
This document is great if you want to understand the scope of the SAP Best Practices package better, get an overview of the unified planning process and learn when and how to use it. It contains a lot of interesting facts, explains relationships between the solution processes, contains slides you might also use for presenting a specific topic to your colleagues, and much more. - IBPxxxx_Detailed_SAPIBP1_Presentation_EN_XX
This document is the best source if you want to understand the modeling of the sample planning area SAPIBP1 and the changes per release. It gives an overview about the master data types, the key figures, the planning levels, planning operators and general planning area settings. - IBPxxxx_Preconfigured_Analytics_Stories_EN_XX. Zip
This document includes an extract of the preconfigured analytics stories as pdf. With that, you can look at the stories offline and use that as a starting point when designing your own stories.
In the folder "TestScript", you find all test scripts for the solution processes available as part of the SAP Best Practices content. The file names of the test scripts start with a solution process ID. The ID is a three digit combination of characters and numbers, for example 11V_IBP2408_BPD_EN_XX.docs. It's a nice help when searching for a specific solution process, but you don't have to remember them all 🙂. The abbreviation BPD means Business Process Document. The test scripts describe how to run the business processes in the system. It's very easy to follow, because they describe the process in a detailed way, explaining each step the user has to do, which app to use, where to click, what to enter. They show at least a straight forward process, but in some examples they also include different options or variants. We deliver the test scripts as word-files. The idea behind is, that you can reuse them, adapt them for your own projects. This is a general rule we're following. Except the SAPIBP1 documentation and the analytics stories pdf, all files can be reused, adapted and changed. With that we want to increase the reuse of the documents and fasten your implementation project.
In the folder "Configuration", you find all information needed to set up the system by your own.
The first document that you have to check is the IBPxxxx_Quick_Guide_EN_XX.docx. It includes all the steps you need to do when starting with SAP IBP. How to install the excel add-in for using the planning views and how to set up the integration to several systems like SAP S/4HANA and SAP Build Work Zone. The technical configuration described in this document is the base for the business configurations described in the set-up guides. The set-up guides starts with a three letter abbreviation, followed by the release, for example TSP_IBP2408_Set-up_EN_XX.docx. TSP stands here for Time-series-based planning. Here is the complete list of used abbreviations:
- TSP => Time-series-based planning
- OBP => Order-based planning
- S4C => Setup Instructions for Implementing IBP for demand – demand forecast for SAP S/4HANA Clou
- MRO => Maintenance, Repair, and Operations (MRO)
- DDR => Demand Driven Replenishment
These set-up guides explain how to set up e.g. the planning area, how to load sample data, how to create job definitions. Everything you need to do to finally run the processes in the system as defined in the test scripts.
If you want to explore also other topics in SAP IBP, the how-to guides might be useful. They describe extra configuration and content that is a bit outside of the overall unified planning process flow. But still it might be useful for you if you want to deal with these topics. Again, they start with a three letter abbreviation, followed by the release, for example DBP_IBP2408_how-to_EN_XX.docx.
- DBP: Driver based planning
- EOQ: Enhance sample planning area SAPIBP1 with Economic Order Quantity (EOQ) and Sustainable Economic Order Quantity (SEOQ) for inventory optimization
- PRO: Process Management for the Unified Planning Process
- SOP: How to Use SAP IBP with S&OP License Only (SOP)
- XPA: Running commercial planning and consensus net revenue planning (SAP Analytics Cloud) with SAP IBP
Now, we'll take a closer look at the technical assets.
Let's start with the first folder "Setup". Here you find per sample planning area one .zip file, means for the sample planning areas SAP7F, SAP8, and SAP9. For SAPIBP1 you find two files. One for the processes with SAP S/4HANA and another one for the demand use case with SAP S/4HANA Cloud, public edition. The structure for each file is similar - but not every file and not every sample planning area has all the subfolders.
- Time_Profile: the folder includes the time profile for the years from 2014 until 2035 (before 2411 it covers the years from 2014 until 2028)
- Planning_Views: here you can find the preconfigured Excel planning views. They're created according to the processes described in the test scripts and can be changed to your needs. The Excel planning views aren't the only possible UI, but still many planners are used to this UI. Therefore, we offer the Excel planning view (for example for sample planning area SAPIBP1 14 planning views), but also preconfigured planner workspaces.
- Master_Data: .csv files for master data (sample data). In the beginning of your project, it's often easier to run the processes in SAP IBP without configuring first the integration to an ERP system. To do so, we deliver .csv files to import sample data via the Data Integration Job app. We've defined sample supply chain networks, products, plants, DCs, customers ... everything you need to run the processes. You want to give it a different flavour, for example because you want to use your own product descriptions to make it easier acceptable for your team? Just take the related .csv file and change the data. To understand the structure of the sample planning area, check the appendix in the scope presentation. Here is an example:
- KF_Data: csv files for transactional data (sample data). To run the processes without a running integration to an ERP system, you need not only master data, but also transactional, historical data. The name of the .csv files already gives the information on which planning level the data is provided. For example, WKPRODLOC means that the data is in weekly buckets on the product / location level. Also here, you can adjust or enhance the files according to your needs.
- Analytics: The folder includes a list of the existing analytics, planner workspaces, alert definitions, charts, and dashboards.
- Realignment _File: this file is specific to the new product introduction solution process in the SAPIBP1 sample planning area.
The last folder is called "Others". This folder contains the process flow diagrams for all solution processes in *.svg and *.bpmn2 format. These formats allow you to reuse the process flow diagrams in a tool of your choice and adapt them according to your needs.
Here is an example of the demand review process.
Was this blog useful for you? You can continue your SAP Best Practices for SAP Integrated Business Planning for Supply Chain learning here.
And here you can find some general links:
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