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Introduction
A common question I frequently encounter is how SAP can effectively manage planning processes across both global and local structures. I’ll admit, this is a complex challenge. Balancing group standardisation with localisation is no easy task. It requires process alignment and adaptable strategies that can meet the unique needs of local teams with the overarching goals set at the global level. To succeed in this multifaceted approach, organizations need a well-defined planning process and the right platform to empower local teams to execute their forecasts, budgets, even simulations efficiently, while at the same time remain in sync with global objectives ensuring that both local and global teams work toward shared planning goals.
In this blog post, I aim to illustrate how planning can be effectively managed across global and local structures using the capabilities of SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC). Through a simplified business example, I’ll showcase you first the design process approach and then how local and global structures and models can be deployed and seamlessly interact within the SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC) platform.
Design Process Approach
Let’s start with the design process approach first by applying the "building blocks" concept between local and global levels. To effectively integrate local and global models, an in-depth analysis of each individual requirements is required to determine the appropriate model split (global vs local models) for the planning process. This includes a detailed review of how data is entered, the applied business logic and how data is reported at the lowest level, as the structure of the data can heavily influence the design decisions. The below simplified example features a global sales planning model with globally defined KPIs and products, interacting with individual local sales planning models that have their own KPIs, local product structures and other dimensions.
The "building blocks" concept allows handling budgeting assumptions at the local level (covering the dedicated model requirements) through separate local models, while maintaining a global model that focuses on higher-level aggregation at the global structures. In this setup, the specific requirement of local model building block wouldn't need to be part of the global model; instead, only the aggregated data at global structure would be accessible and track the origin with an audit trail. The audit trail will be the link to navigate to the corresponding local model for more granular analysis on local model details. This means that the global model should focus on a subset of common global dimensions, which can be used to control the aggregation of planning assumptions, ensuring consistency across different levels of planning while allowing for flexibility and details at the individual local models.
The design process begins with defining Global Structures, established for group visibility, central steering, and governance by global process owners and administrators. These structures serve as the foundation for the Global Model, which is crafted to provide the appropriate planning granularity for business steering at the group level. On the other hand, Local Structures are tailored to meet specific operational needs at the local level, including necessary mappings to the global structure. Local Models are then developed, utilising shared global structures or focusing on unique local structures, whether or not they are relevant to the global model. To ensure seamless integration between the local and global models, an interface is created to transfer local plans into the global framework. This interface process can be managed by either Global or Local Administrators, depending on the requirements. This approach enables a balanced enterprise planning system ensuring both global consistency and local flexibility combining global oversight with localised operational insights.
SAP Analytics Cloud Deployment Steps
Now let’s continue with the described process deployment in SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC) starting with the global structures creation.
- SAC Global Dimensions
The global structures will be deployed as SAC dimensions in SAP Analytics Cloud, where it's essential to define the associated master data values, text, and hierarchies, including the source systems that will provide this information.
A critical decision at this stage is whether to implement a public dimension, which is shared across multiple models and synchronised with external sources, or a private dimension, which remains specific to an individual model. Applying the appropriate transformations for master data and establishing a single source of truth layer are key steps. Such a single source of truth layer ensures consistency and reliability, helping to streamline data management across various systems and ensuring that all stakeholders work with the most accurate and up-to-date information.
- SAC Global Model
The next step is to create the global model, utilising the SAC global dimensions (structures) and defining the required planning granularity for central business steering. The simplified example a global sales planning model has the granularity of global KPIs, the country and the product group level. The audit trail dimension can be used to navigate to the dedicated local model and identify the data origin.
- SAC Local Dimensions
Local administrators will be responsible for defining the individual local structures, including associated master data values, text, and hierarchies, mirroring the process used for global structures. Please note that also for local planning scenarios, SAC public dimensions are preferred over private (model-specific) dimensions.
For the local structures with relevance to global, a key design decision at this stage is determining how to map the local master data structures to global structures, ensuring alignment between local and global models. There are multiple mapping options, but in case of 1:1 mapping requirements, it is recommended to maintain these mappings within the local SAC dimensions master data using a property (e.g. global product mapping) for consistency. Additionally you can use an additional separate property to categorise local and global members which can be used for security and support analytical purposes.
Optionally to enable seamless data transition from the local to global view you can load the global master data as members with the local dimensions and create next to local a global view hierarchy. This approach allows users to enter data in local models and see immediately the impact to global structures leveraging the global hierarchy view in the local dimension. Last but not least for a smooth master data integration, the management of global structures and master data should be handled through an ETL system (such as SAP Datasphere or SAP BW, data management services in SAP Business Data Cloud), providing efficient data loading and consistency across models.
In the example below, the maintenance of the Local Product SAC dimension (with local members highlighted in white) is mapped to the Global master data structure (highlighted in green) along with its described properties.
For local structures that are not relevant to the global model, the process for defining individual structures remains the same, including associated master data values, text, and hierarchies. However, in these cases, properties and mappings to global master data are excluded.
- SAC Local Model
Next comes the creation of local models by individual process owners or administrators in tailoring planning processes to the specific needs of a local team or department. These local models are designed at the necessary planning granularity level to enable effective steering and decision-making at local level. Depending on the organization’s requirements, the models can be built using shared global structures or on individual local structures, which are mapped to the global frameworks, allowing for some degree of flexibility while maintaining broader consistency. In some cases, local structures may be entirely independent of global structures, providing maximum customisation for specific needs or contexts. This approach ensures that local teams have the flexibility and the tools they need while also maintaining necessary connections to global operations.
In the example below, the local model consists of global shared SAC public dimensions, SAC dimensions with mapping to global structures and local individual SAC dimension without mapping to global.
SAC Cross-Model Copy Data Action Step
After deploying the global and local models comes then the deployment for transferring plans from a local to a global model to ensure alignment and consistency across an organization. This process can be facilitated through a SAC data action Cross-Model Copy step, which enables the seamless interfacing between the local and global planning models. The process can be orchestrated by a global administrator (pull approach) or by local administrators (push approach). This approach allows a balance between centralized control and local autonomy, ensuring that plans are both strategically aligned and tailored to local requirements.
In the example below, you can see the data action Cross-Model Copy step configuration leveraging the property mapping option (e.g. Product dimension).
By utilising the deployed cross-model copy data action you can enable the interface that transfers plans from the local model to the global model (e.g. push or pull logic). In the below push logic interface example, the SAC story includes two table widgets—one displaying the underlying local model and the other showing the global model—enabling easy reconciliation.
SAC Security
Security is a crucial factor to consider when configuring your use case and SAC provides robust security settings to help meet various business requirements. By leveraging SAC's security features you can ensure that access is tailored appropriately based on the local and global requirements. For instance in a simplified SAC security example, at the local model level, you can implement a managed data access security concept by enabling write access to specific local structures while granting read access to global structures for analysis and validation. At the global model level, you can configure write and read access for local model data individually, utilising the audit dimension to enhance security and control over data access. This flexibility allows you to maintain the right balance between accessibility and protection across your environment.
Several Design Options
As mentioned earlier, there are several design approaches in SAP Analytics Cloud for applying mapping logic from local to global structures. In the example described in detail in the blog post, I used the dimension mapping approach as an initial idea of how SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC) can simplify the management of such a complex process. However, since "all roads lead to Rome," another approach could involve using intermediate models between local and global models (with a 1:1 relationship to the source local models). This allows the mapping logic to be applied before rolling up or aggregating the data into the global model. This alternative is illustrated as the second option in the image below.
Summary
Ultimately I want to highlight that with the latest SAP Seamless Planning innovation, particularly by leveraging SAP Analytics Cloud and SAP Datasphere services in SAP Business Data Cloud, the use case of managing global and local structures can be further enhanced. By utilising ETL and data management capabilities, the real-time business steering across local and global structures becomes possible by mapping seamlessly local structures to the global ones and reducing replication steps.
Taking the advantages of technology you can always reinvigorate business processes!
Stay tuned as we continue to explore the innovative potential of Enterprise Planning future with SAP!
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