Implementer's Guide to Rapid Financial Planning & Analysis for SAP S/4HANA using SAP Analytics Cloud

[Mark_P_Burke]

Blog updated: September 27, 2024.
For your calendar: link to the Rapid FP&A event blog

The new release of the Rapid FP&A Suite came out on August 19, 2024.   The new release of the Rapid FP&A Suite Powerpoint-based Documentation should be ready by September 27, 2024.

Rapid FP&A Suite for SAP S/4HANA: Rapid. Simple. Standard.
Unlock the potential of your financial planning processes with the Rapid FP&A Suite, a comprehensive toolset designed specifically for SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud and SAP S/4HANA Private Cloud editions, utilizing SAP Analytics Cloud. Whether you're a partner, consultant, or customer, this suite is crafted to streamline implementation and maximize the benefits of your financial planning initiatives.

Rapid Finance, Rapid Sales, & Rapid Workforce
The solution is available in Rapid Finance, Rapid Sales, and Rapid Workforce planning & analysis modules.  We look forward to releasing Rapid Capital by the end of 2024 in the 4Q 2024 release.

SAP Analytics Cloud Business Content:

Who Is the Rapid FP&A Suite for?
Partners: Empower your clients with a cutting-edge FP&A solution that integrates SAP Analytics Cloud seamlessly with SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud and SAP S/4HANA Private Cloud editions, providing immediate value.
Consultants: Enhance your implementation projects with a robust suite that accelerates deployment and delivers quick results.
Customers: Elevate your financial planning capabilities with a powerful suite that comes at no additional licensing cost.

How Much Does the Rapid FP&A Suite Cost?
The Rapid FP&A Suite is a no-charge download for all SAP Analytics Cloud for Planning customers. This suite is an excellent opportunity to leverage advanced financial planning tools without incurring additional licensing costs, maximizing your return on investment in SAP solutions.

Why Choose the Rapid FP&A Suite?
Comprehensive Solution for the CFO Office: The Rapid FP&A Suite, comprising Rapid Finance, Rapid Sales, Rapid Workforce, and the upcoming Rapid Capital (due out in 4Q 2024), is strategically positioned to support the Corporate FP&A role under the CFO office. It provides a holistic approach to financial planning, aligning with the finance team's CFO-level FP&A needs.
Starting Point for New Implementations: The Rapid FP&A Suite can be a foundational starting point for new implementations, providing a solid base to build your financial planning and analysis processes. Using the suite's pre-configured objects, planning layouts, and integration processes, you can quickly establish a robust planning framework aligned with SAP and industry Best Practices.
Reference Point for New or Existing Implementations: Whether you're starting a new project or enhancing an existing one, the Rapid FP&A Suite acts as a powerful reference point. By reviewing the suite's models and configurations in their native state, customers can gain valuable insights into how specific requirements have been addressed. This understanding allows you to learn from SAP’s proven approaches and apply them to your implementation, ensuring alignment with Best Practices and optimizing your planning processes.
New Live Daily Sales Report: As part of the Rapid Sales Planning & Analysis module, we are including a Live Daily Sales Report that provides real-time access to key metrics such as gross margin, revenue, sales volume, and pricing by Customer and by Product directly in SAP Analytics Cloud, but connected to SAP S/4HANA. This report is designed to give you up-to-the-minute insights into your sales performance. Look forward to more Live views and enhancements in future quarterly releases of the Rapid FP&A suite.
Sample Data for Exploration: The Rapid FP&A Suite comes with sample data, allowing customers to explore the content without any initial investment in integration. This enables users to evaluate the suite's capabilities and decide how it can best serve their needs.
Quarterly Releases: Stay updated with the latest innovations and Best Practices with quarterly releases, ensuring you can access the most current tools, ideas, and strategies from SAP's consultants.

How do you Download the free Rapid FP&A Suite?
Downloading the Rapid FP&A Suite is straightforward and hassle-free.
Follow these steps to get started:
1. Log in to your SAP Analytics Cloud account.   Please don't use a production tenant.
2. Navigate to the "Content Network" on the left-hand side panel of SAC
3. Select "Business Content"
4. Search for "Rapid" in the upper right-hand 'Search' box - you should see Rapid Finance, Workforce, Sales
4. Follow the instructions to complete the download and installation of each of the Rapid modules (Rapid Finance, Rapid Sales, Rapid Workforce).

How Do You Explore the Rapid FP&A Suite?
After downloading the content, browse the pre-built stories and models —no integration, data creation, or setup is required. The Rapid Suite includes sample master and transaction data, allowing you to explore each story in about 15 minutes, with 3-4 relevant stories in each of the three models. This quick review helps you assess the suite’s capabilities. If you decide to use the Rapid models as a starting point, you can later replace the sample data with your own, using the best practice integration packages provided.

Hint:  Go to the Stories folder of any Rapid solution and start with the "Landing Page" story!

What Do You Get with the Rapid FP&A Suite?
The Rapid FP&A Suite offers comprehensive resources to enhance financial planning and analysis efforts.   Rapid covers the most common planning & analysis requirements. 
Landing Pages: A story to guide you to all other stories.   You can return to the Landing page from any other story.
Dashboard Stories: Gain immediate insights with pre-built dashboards that clearly show key financial metrics and performance indicators.
Planning ("input") Stories: Develop and refine your financial plans with detailed stories that facilitate accurate forecasting and financial planning, including proposed process steps and driver-based planning.
Reporting Stories: Access robust reporting capabilities that deliver clear and concise financial reports, empowering decision-makers with vital information, including Variance and Trend Reports.
Planning & Analysis Models: Utilize pre-configured models that simplify complex financial processes, allowing for more efficient and best-practice planning and analysis.
Prediction: Rapid showcases Predictive capabilities on Charts and sets the stage for integrating "Smart Predict" (Predictive Scenarios) with the Rapid Sales model. Future enhancements will optimize Prediction through automated processes and include updated Predictive webinars.
Calculations: Implement advanced calculations that ensure precision and enhance the accuracy of your financial planning efforts. Rapid leverages real-time Account Formulas to handle the complexities of KPI-based aggregations. Rapid also guides you when and how to use Advanced or Story-based Formulas.
Allocations: Rapid Finance allows you to allocate Expenses from a Corporate cost center to regional cost centers based on each region’s Net Revenue. This SAC-based allocation is applied to both Actuals and Plans, providing a single source for maintaining allocation rules in SAP Analytics Cloud. This process can lead to leveraging the same framework for other allocations.
Integration: Benefit from Best-Practice integration between SAP Analytics Cloud, SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud Edition, SAP S/4HANA Private Cloud Edition, and SAP SuccessFactors, ensuring a cohesive and unified financial planning and analysis experience.
Sample Data:  Explore and test the suite's capabilities with included sample data for a risk-free evaluation. Later, update the models with your data or reference the original during your build.
Best Practices from SAP Consultants: Leverage the Best Practices and deep expertise of SAP consultants who have designed the Rapid FP&A Suite. These practices are informed by years of experience working with SAP customers and are tailored to meet the demands of modern cloud-based solutions.
Documentation:  Access comprehensive documentation in PowerPoint format, designed to be reusable and serve as documentation for your customers. This format accelerates your time creating documentation, allowing you to tailor materials to your specific needs quickly. The PowerPoint format is also accessible to a broad audience, ensuring all stakeholders can easily understand and utilize the information.
Support: Receive dedicated support to assist with questions or challenges, facilitating a smooth and successful implementation process. If you have questions, email Rapid_FPA@sap.com or log a ticket with SAP.

Where do You Find Free Training, Enablement, and Presentations for the Rapid FP&A Suite?
Rapid FP&A WorkZone: Email Rapid_FPA@sap.com for an invite if you don't have access to this site (you must be logged in with your SAP Universal ID): Link to Rapid FP&A WorkZone

Where Do You Find Documentation?
Rapid Finance:  Documentation
Rapid Sales:  Documentation
Rapid Workforce: Documentation

Examples:
Rapid Dashboards (as of August 19, 2024):

Rapid Planning (as of August 19, 2024):

Rapid Analysis (as of August 19, 2024):

[former_member726196]

Hi Mark,

I am a bit confused because I was expecting finding activity type planning process. Is the business content SAP_FI_BPL_Budgeting_and_Planning - SAP Finance: Integrated Financial Planning for SAP S/4HANA not the same as the one you described ?

thanks

[Mark_P_Burke]

As of August 2022, both IFP and rFP&A are on the New Model Type.

The Rapid Best Practice FP&A for SAP S/4HANA solution (referenced above and featured at Sapphire 2018) is targeted at the Corp FP&A group of the CFO Office. 

Out-of-the-box:

• The approach in Rapid FP&A is strategic global/corporate planning & analysis, with a focus on end-user experience in the planning process.   Thus, Rapid FP&A often transforms S/4 data to improve UX and make planning & analysis easier and more appealing to non-accountants
• FX Conversion?  Yes.  Includes both local (company code) and global currency for both Actuals and Plan, enabling variance analysis across the enterprise
• G/L Accounts?   Standard SAC Account dimension. Sign flip on revenue and income from S/4 is handled by the standardized Account type attribute
• Model Structure Priority?  Accounts over Measures
• The default planning process and input templates?  A dynamic mix of Actuals and Plan in input templates, with rolling time using month names.  Top-down planning from the main Financial Model is driven by Profit Center and Cost Center
• Roots?   Influenced by BPC Standard and standard SAC Classic Account Models
• Planning process?  Driven by Workforce, Sales, and Capital Planning (roadmap item in the works), allowing for global review before considering any allocation processes
• Workforce planning?  Rapid WFP is a Finance-led process, which allows Finance to build rapid Employee-expense and headcount plans, align with HR, and compare to SAP S/4HANA Actual financials within rWFP.  HR plan data is pushed from the Rapid Workforce to the Rapid FP&A solution and could be used as an input to broader HXM
• Out-of-the-box, Rapid FP&A does not handle Product Cost Planning, Activity-based costing, or a detailed cost center-to-partner cost allocation process.  rFP&A may rely on IFP for these processes or customers may perform them inside SAP S/4HANA

---

The Integrated Financial Planning model is a newer option for SAC content and may be of interest to the Controller and customers used to performing planning inside S/4HANA.  IFP has a regional influence, and its heavy cost-allocation-based Opex process may be of interest to industries in manufacturing.  IFP handles Product Cost Planning and relies on HXM content for Workforce Plan.

Out-of-the-box:

• The approach in IFP is operational planning, with a heavy focus on cost allocations and activity-based costing.  Thus, IFP is aligned with S/4's universal data structure and appeals to those comfortable with the structure of S/4
• FX Conversion?  No.  Includes local currency for both Actuals and Plan
• G/L Accounts?   Generic SAC Account dimension with natural signs from S/4
• Model Structure Priority?  Measures
• The default planning process and input templates?  Plan values only and customers Plan on a fiscal year with period numbers.  Top-down planning from the main Financial Model is driven by Profit Center
• Roots?   Influenced by BPC Optimized, BPC Embedded, and ECC-based Planning functions
• The planning process is driven by Workforce, Profitability, Opex-based allocations, and Capital Planning processes
• Workforce planning is handled by HR-owned HXM content, a broader array of workforce capabilities, with HR plan data pushed into IFP's Opex model
• Capital Planning is performed against Company Code, Profit Center, & Cost Center dimensions
• The solution handles Product Cost Planning, Activity-based costing, and complex cost allocation processes, historically performed inside SAP S/4HANA

Customer requirements vary by industry, by region, and by what planning process they followed in the past.   The content offerings allow a choice, and customers can make informed choices with content by reviewing content and documentation, but feel free to contact me if any questions (Mark.P.Burke@sap.com)

[former_member726196]

Thanks Mark for clarification. I will certainly contact you for some additional questions

Best regards

[xi-grohmann]

Hi Mark,

thanks very much for the videos. Can you please advise how I can get the presentation in PDF. Thanks,

Xiaomin

[Mark_P_Burke]

Please email Rapid_FPA@sap.com

[regysm21]

Hi Mark,

great videos!

 

Regards,

Regys

[ryan-liu]

Hello Mark,

 

One business content in SAP Analytics Cloud is [ Integrated Financial Planning for SAP S/4HANA ].

Could you tell us what's the difference between this business content with FP&A Suite ?

Thanks!

[Mark_P_Burke]

Hi ryan-liu .  See my comment at top of blog comments related to the same questions.  Contact me us at Rapid_FPA@sap.com if any follow-up required with more details.

[olizotte]

Hello Mark,

 

This is a great Blog with amazing videos!

Do you know which enhancement from the Road Map will allow the business content to derive the Profit Center? When should we expect this functionality to be available within the Sales Planning content?

Thank you,

[avsalynin]

markp.burke thanks for the convenient and cool video compilation!

Are there any similar videos on setting up S4Hana Live On-prem content in SAC?

[ThomasK]

Hi, the classic data model is a discontinued model in the meanwhile.
Are there efforts to bring the existing business content in interaction with S/4 HANA to the new data model?

Regards,
Thomas

[vtr1cob]

markp.burke , thkarner

Hello Mark, Thomas,

Great Videos. I love watching and learning SAC Planning literally day by day.

Now, i am trying to do one end to end planning cycle using FP&A content.

But, as mentioned by Mark, the model in FP&A is based on the old Classic model with one measure.

Can we use the new multi - measure model instead?

Also, I am using S/4 Hana On-premise system 2020. Hope this should work.

regards,

VTR

 

[Rajkosnam]

Nice Videos. Please suggest how to get the pdf's of presentations.

 

[arnau_gonzalez]

Hello everyone!

could please someone advise on how to do a delta/incremental from GLAccountBalanceFlow?

Are there any reliable fields which can be used to identify new records, like AEDAT?

Thanks in advance

[Mark_P_Burke]

Yes.  We will have this content converted to New Advanced Model with release during August 2022!

[Mark_P_Burke]

Yes.  We will have this content converted to New Advanced Model with release during August 2022!

[Mark_P_Burke]

Arnau - I do not know of any field today that can do that.  You can contact me if you wish to discuss what S/4 customers do today for integration.

[Mark_P_Burke]

HI Anthony.  See update as of mid-August 2022 above related to the New Model Type and latest features.   Feel free to contact me if any questions.

[former_member681578]

Hi Mark,

 

Thanks very much for the videos etc., they are great!

 

I was just wondering if there is anyway to get the FPA GL Account Structure in SAP HANA 1909? We have an on-premise version and although an upgrade is planned, it may not happen for quite a while.

 

Any help would be really appreciated.

 

Best regards,

Seamus

[Mark_P_Burke]

Hi Aleksey.   If I find any, I will post a link here.  Mark Burke

[pedrosan]

Hi Mark,

 

Do you know by any chance if we can pull data from SSFF ECP for the workforce planning? I know for a fact that our business content pulls data from SSFF EC but my understanding if those are different components within SSFF so probably the integration to ECP will requiere additional effort to configure the required objects like CDS views, Odata services and so on(not sure if those apply but I am basing my example on the S4 integration).

 

Kind regards,

 

Pedro

[Mark_P_Burke]

Pedro -- I will try to find out for you.  I sent you email.

[Mark_P_Burke]

Seamus -  It was great chatting with you about options this week.  Please let me know if any other information required.

[Mark_P_Burke]

For now, in New Model, we have relied on historical relationships in Actuals to drive Profit Center.  We tried using SAC validation rules but need at least one more level to accommodate what we needed.  Stay tuned in this area as we are continuing to look at possibilities.  The Rapid Sales Planning model now includes Profit Center as a dimension and transfers results into Rapid FP&A's P&L Model.  Please contact me if any questions.

[olizotte]

Thanks for the reply!

I understand the approach taken and will look into the new Business Content!

Thanks again,

[mfrieser]

Hello Mark,

Is there already a timeline for releasing the Capital Expense / Strategic Financial modules of the FP&A suite?

 

Thank you and best regards

Michael

[Mark_P_Burke]

Michael -- I will set up the plan in the coming 1-2 months for 2023.   I appreciate your patience.  Please email Rapid_FPA@sap.com if you want direct advice or early insight into plans.

Thanks,

Mark P. Burke
SAP Product Manager
S/4HANA Cross Topics
Palo Alto, California

[Mark_P_Burke]

Please email Rapid_FPA@sap.com

[Mark_P_Burke]

Hi all,

SAP Services and S/4 Product Management look forward to your continued engagement on the Rapid FP&A Suite.   Many new exciting additions are coming in the third release in February 2023.   The first two releases have been well-received and offer a common, standard, simple design across three models.

• Register NOW for the rollout of the "What's New in Rapid FP&A" live demo, taking place on February 21, 2023
• Join our LinkedIn Rapid FP&A group, where we share additional insights, too.

If you have any feedback or other questions or comments on your own projects, please email Rapid_FPA@sap.com

See you in 2023...

Mark P Burke
Rapid Planning & Analysis for SAP S/4HANA, Product Manager, S4 Cross Topics PM
SAP Labs San Francisco, CA United States

[I557638]

Hello Mark,

Would you be able to provide assistance regarding the content for Product Cost Planning in SAC? What are the prerequisite needed to carry out in S/4HANA? Is it necessary to carry out cost estimation in S/4 HANA? Also, would you have any additional information that could be of use?

 

Regards,
Shambhu Dev

[Private_Member_139731]

Hello Mark,

 

Great job to you and your team for the above content!

I've got a question for you, it seems that the FP&A model utilizes the FPA1 FSV from OB58; our customer is maintaining their FSV within the S4 Manage Global Hierarchies app.  Is there a way to copy an FSV from the Global Hierarchy App into the OB58 FSV or do you recommend tweaking the model and sourcing data from S4 Global Hierarchy directly?  Do you plan on updating the per-delivered content with such an approach?

 

I appreciate any insights!

 

Jeremie

[yakov]

Hi,

i am a little confused these vidoes seem to be about SAC in general. Are there any videos particularly about the Rapid FP&A content?

[yakov]

Hi @Mark_P_Burke 

the URL  rapid.sap.com/bp just redirects to me.sap.com/processnavigator . is there a diffrent way of getting to the Best Processes explorer now?