Expert Guide to Migrating from the SAP NetWeaver BW Integrated Planning Tools to SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation

An Expert Guide to Migrating
from the SAP NetWeaver BW
Integrated Planning Tools to
SAP BusinessObjects
Planning and Consolidation

Anna Vladi
LAZAR Consultants
© 2009 Wellesley Information Services. All rights reserved.

In This Session, We Will …
• Introduce the SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation
application
• Discuss Corporate Performance Management (CPM)
• Cover when it is an appropriate time strategically to migrate from
the integrated planning features of SAP NetWeaver® Business
Warehouse (SAP NetWeaver BW) to SAP BusinessObjects
• Compare side by side the planning and consolidation application
and the integration features of SAP NetWeaver BW
• Cover in depth functionality of the planning and consolidation
application
• Discuss the SAP Roadmap for SAP BusinessObjects Planning
and Consolidation
• Discuss the project scope and project plan
• Talk about involving the Steering Committee and what role it plays
in controlling the project scope
2

What We’ll Cover …
• Understanding SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation
• Comparing SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation
vs. Integrated Planning
• Taking an in-depth look at the functions of SAP BusinessObjects
• Exploring SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation
for Office
• Evaluating key migration considerations
• Reviewing the SAP Roadmap
• Wrap-up

3

What Is SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation?
• SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation is a robust
planning and consolidation application that can meet all of your
budgeting, planning, consolidation, and reporting requirements
 Version for SAP NetWeaver

 Version for Microsoft platform

• The application supports the full array of top-down and bottom-up
financial and operational planning needs
 As well as consolidation processes necessary to ensure the
smoothest, most timely financial close possible
• It does this all through a single application!
• As a result, you gain the confidence to meet increasingly
stringent regulations and reporting requirements across the
globe

4

What Is SAP BusinessObjects Planning and
Consolidation? (cont.)
• Typically, SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation
covers six key areas:
 Strategy Management (strategic planning, initiatives, etc.)

 Budgeting/Planning

 Financial Close/Consolidation

 Forecasting

 Financial Reporting & Analysis

 Performance Reporting (profitability, dashboards,
scorecards, etc.)

5

Benefits of SAP BusinessObjects Planning and
Consolidation
• Planning that is traditionally done once a year
• Many companies are moving to a rolling monthly/quarterly forecast
• Often begins by setting top-level targets and pushing down
• Top-down process typically followed by intensive bottom-up process at a fairly
low level of detail
 Detailed revenue planning

 Detailed headcount plan (employee-level detail or higher)

 Detailed expense plan

 Detailed capital expenditure plan

 Balance sheet/cash flow plan

• Allocations/corporate adjustments
 Various overhead allocations

 Adjustments to bring bottom-up plan in line with top-down targets

• Consolidation/reporting
 Consolidations, eliminations, etc.

 Distribute budget reporting package(s)
6

The Keys to Evaluating SAP BusinessObjects Planning and
Consolidation
• Almost always a Finance-led decision
• Ease of use
• Ability to be maintained/managed by Finance
• High user adoption
• Short deployment timeframe
• Ability to interface with multiple systems (G/L, data warehouse
[DW], legacy systems, etc.)
• Fast consolidation time
• Secondary concerns
 In line with IT standards/strategies

7

SAP Financial Closing Cockpit Integrated into SAP
BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation

• Instead of using
a series of local
checklists, you
want to manage
the period-end
closing process
centrally
• In addition, you
want a central
reference point
for all the tasks
that must be
carried out
regularly in
your company

8

Financial Close/Consolidation
• Monthly/quarterly process
• Regulated by standards dependent on country (GAAP, IFRS, etc.)
• Disparate source systems (multiple G/Ls, DW, etc.)
• Inter-company matching often comes first
 Declaring activity with inter-company partners

 Matching between partners to ensure balance

 Elimination of inter-company balances

• Site submission
 Data load from G/L (includes mapping into standard Chart of Accounts, etc.)

 May require manual input for some subsidiaries

 Supplemental information (roll forward, headcount, etc.)

• Consolidation
 Complex ownership and various consolidation methods

 Automatic eliminations and adjustments

 Reporting and distribution

9

Forecasting
• Typically summary level of information
• Often includes extensive assumptions/driver-based models
• Most companies moving to a rolling 12-, 18-, or 24-month forecast
• Frequently included as part of quarterly guidance provided to analysts
• Profit and Loss (P&L)
 Consolidated or divisional level of detail (not usually cost centers)

 Largely handled by Finance with less input from division managers

• Balance sheet
 Derived from P&L using drivers/assumptions

 Some lines may include complex assumptions/forecasting methodologies

• Cash flow
 Derived from balance sheet and P&L using assumptions

 Often the most important component of the forecast – Everything else done
in support of the cash flow

10

Performance Reporting
• Encompasses a wide variety of reporting needs
• Report books/packages
• Crosses business processes (forecast vs. actual)
• Extensive ad hoc requirements
• Dashboarding and scorecarding
• Where does SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation do well?
 Ad hoc reporting

 Basic metrics management and reporting

 Production report creation and distribution

• Where does SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation not do as well?
 Balanced scorecarding

 Activity-Based Management (ABM)

11

Areas of Consideration
• SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation provides:
 User experience

 SAP NetWeaver native integration

 Many functions are code-driven

 Microsoft Excel intensive existing processes

 Microsoft Excel automation

 SAP ERP optimization

12

for Office
• Wrap-up

13

Let’s Compare …
SAP BusinessObjects Planning
Integrated Planning with and Consolidation 7.0, version for
SAP NetWeaver BW SAP NetWeaver

Owned and managed by IT Owned and managed by the Business

Microsoft Excel-based analysis features Self-service-reporting and analysis with
complete Microsoft Office integration

Data Warehouse-centric Agile planning processes driven
by end users

Standardized hierarchical planning
processes managed by IT Unified planning and consolidation

Engine-based approach Application-based approach

14

Architecture

SAP BusinessObjects Integrated Planning with
Planning and Consolidation SAP NetWeaver BW
Planning

Consolidation

Reporting

15

SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation User
Experience

• Unified
 No integration between applications = Less costly
implementation
 No integration = Less costly, less time consuming maintenance
 Simple administration = Finance-owned, saving IT $$ and time 16

Integrated Planning with SAP NetWeaver BW User
Experience

Too many layers

17

SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation —
Training

• Leverage existing skill set (Microsoft Office) =
Less training time and $$
• High user adoption = Increased ROI vs. products
that quickly sit on the shelf
• Users spend time on analysis vs. time figuring out
how to accomplish tasks in the application
18

Integrated Planning with SAP NetWeaver BW — Training

• Proprietary knowledge cannot be obtained without specific
training

19

The Solution
• Business process, application, data, Web services, and planning
all on the SAP NetWeaver platform

20

for Office
• Wrap-up

21

Initiating a Budget Report

Unification of tasks, activities, and results

22

Budget Report in Microsoft Excel

Reports are developed in Microsoft Excel

23

Dashboards

Activities
Panel

Web Interface
24

Regulatory

Jumping to regulatory reports from the SAP
BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation menu
25

Financials

Exporting into Microsoft Office is a native
functionality
26

for Office
• Wrap-up

27

What Is SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation
for Office?
• SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation for Office combines the power of
the application with the rich functionality of Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and Excel
 With SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation for
Office, the user has all the Microsoft functionality that everyone
is familiar with
 Plus your worksheets, documents, and slide shows that are
linked directly to the application database that houses your
company’s reporting data
• SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation for Office allows users to collect
the data; build, and distribute reports; perform real-time analysis; and publish
reports in a variety of formats
 Users can save reports disconnected from the database and
OTHER AVAILABLE
INTERFACES
take reports completely offline and distribute them according
to user access rights

28

Understanding SAP BusinessObjects Planning and
Consolidation for Microsoft Excel

29

Understanding the Toolbars
• Data Manager toolbar

• Journal toolbar

30

Creating Book Templates
• A book template is a pre-formatted worksheet used to create a book of reports
 You can start with the empty worksheet or an existing book template, and modify it
to meet the needs of the information you want to publish
• A sample book template, called Performance.xls, is provided with the sample
application set, ApShell
 Performance.xls contains a section called TOC, which provides an index of the
reports created by the Performance Reports section
 The section called Performance Reports, by default, provides performance data for a
set of entities within a set time period
 You can edit the fields in the performance.xls workbook to create a new book
template

31

Creating Book Templates (cont.)

32

Creating Book Templates (cont.)

33

Starting SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation
for Word
• You start the application for Word from the SAP BusinessObjects
Planning and Consolidation for Office launch page
• After starting the planning and consolidation application for Word,
you can start using it by making a selection from the action pane
 You can also use the SAP BusinessObjects Planning and
Consolidation for Office toolbar to perform tasks
 To start the application for Office, select SAP
BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation for Word from
the SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation for
Office launch page

34

Starting SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation
for PowerPoint
• You start the application for PowerPoint from the SAP
BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation for Office
launch page
• After starting the planning and consolidation application for
PowerPoint, you can start using it by making a selection from
the action pane
 You can also use the SAP BusinessObjects Planning and
Consolidation for Office toolbar to perform tasks

35

SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation System
Reports
• SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation system reports
are predesigned Web reports that allow you to report on system
information and activity
• You can report on:
 Activity audit information

 Security

 Comments

 Data audit information

 Work states

36

for Office
• Wrap-up

37

Major Steps in Migration
• Evaluate your current environment
 Business Planning and Simulation (SEM-BPS) for SAP BW 3.5

 Business Planning and Simulation (BW-BPS) for SAP NetWeaver
BW 7.0
 Integrated Planning (IP) for SAP NetWeaver BW 7.0

• Confirm your patch levels
 SAP NetWeaver BW SP16 enhancement packs 1 through 4

 Can SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation
enhancement pack 1 exist with BPS for SAP NetWeaver BW 7.0?
• Install enhancement packs
 Enhancement pack 1 or 4

• Evaluate complexity of your planning models
• Consider pilot planning development
38

Migration
• Question
 When would you recommend SAP BusinessObjects Planning
and Consolidation?
• Answer
 DEPENDS where you start from

 If you are on IP, then work in phases

 Wait for enhancement pack 4 instead of using enhancement
pack 1
 If you are on SEM-BPS, migrate to BPS on the SAP
NetWeaver BW 7.0 platform and then phase-out into SAP
 It gets tricky if you are merging BPS for SAP BW 3.5 with
BPS for SAP NetWeaver BW 7.0 and SAP BusinessObjects
39

Technical Tips
• If you are on IP, wait for enhancement pack 4
• If you are on SEM-BPS, move to BW-BPS on the SAP NetWeaver
BW 7.0 platform
 Do not install enhancement pack 1

 SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation with
enhancement pack 1 and BPS cannot co-exist
 Wait for enhancement pack 4, then move to the latest release of
SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation
• If you are moving from SEM-BPS, use a transport method even if
you are redesigning your cubes
 It is always easier to change than recreate

 Make a copy of production and upgrade it to SAP NetWeaver
BW 7.0 before doing transports
40

Best Practices
• Evaluate your current “as is” environment, document it if
necessary
• Depending on how complex your planning environment is, start
in phases
• Have a project plan in place
• Use ASAP methodology
• Make sure that you have a resource with experience in both areas
of SAP NetWeaver BW/BPS/IP and SAP BusinessObjects Planning
and Consolidation

41

Best Practices (cont.)
• Create milestones and deliverables
• Used phased-out approach
• Consider the complexity of your planning models and functions
• Involve your business, because in the end this is going to be their
environment
• Have controls in place to curb scope
• Get support from project sponsors
• Communication is the key

42

Taking This Project into a Global Environment
• Create a template that will be rolled out later to other
sites/countries
• Consider converting all sites to Unicode environment
 SAP NetWeaver 7.0 is Unicode by default

• Get on the same platform
 SAP NetWeaver 7.0 is recommended

• Get on the same release, patch level
 SAP NetWeaver 7.0 is recommended

• Work in phases with proof of concept
 Have the same implementation team assist with the other site
implementation

43

Do Not Forget!
• SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation has its own
security
• Even though you are leveraging SAP NetWeaver technology and
business intelligence (BI) cubes, there are business processes
that surround the data before you query on it
• Training, though minimal, still needs to happen
• SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation release 7.1
(currently in ramp-up) is code-driven

44

Lessons Learned
• Consider and confirm the technical aspects, such as:
 SAP BW/SAP NetWeaver BW release

 SAP BW/SAP NetWeaver BW patch level

 Co-existence of enhancement packs of SAP BusinessObjects
Planning and Consolidation and BPS/IP
• Develop in phases
 Go through an exercise to determine what functionality will be
moved to SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation
and what will stay in IP or BPS
 Depending on complexity of your planning process and
functions, it is better to leave complex activities in BPS/IP

45

for Office
• Wrap-up

46

Going Forward — Integrated Planning for
SAP NetWeaver BW
• Integrated planning for SAP NetWeaver BW will receive further
enhancements as a platform
 A platform provides services such as locking, write-back, etc.

 Services for aggregation levels, filters, etc., are available

 Today, integrated planning for SAP NetWeaver BW provides UI
services
 For example, integration to BEx Analyzer and BEx Web
Analyzer
 All planning projects built on integrated planning for SAP
NetWeaver BW are custom development projects utilizing these
services
 Implementation is from the ground up

47

Going Forward — SAP BusinessObjects Planning and
Consolidation
• SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation version for
SAP NetWeaver
 Already utilizes some of the features available in integrated
planning for SAP NetWeaver BW
 For example, concurrency locking
 There are no plans to use all features from integrated planning
for SAP NetWeaver BW – only those that are relevant for the
SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation version for
SAP NetWeaver
 For example, no plans to introduce the services for
aggregation levels
 Other planning applications from SAP may utilize similar or
different services from the integrated planning platform
 For example, state and local government budgeting in
North America and merchandise assorted planning
48

Time Strategy

Integrated Planning for SAP SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Score
Time category Score
NetWeaver BW 7.0 Consolidation 7.0

Effort for typical minor investment, slightly more
minor investment
installation steps to be done

Duration of relatively high
relatively low (compared to BW-IP)
implementation (compared to BPC)

Planned Go-Live date available with Ramp-Up middle of
available today
(customer) September 2008

Maintenance cycle medium cycle times short cycle times

Support (application
IT or power user in biz dept. mainly by biz. dept
management)

Training effort for low in case of existing Microsoft Excel
medium effort
administrator and users knowledge

Processing duration at
fine excellent
data input

49

for Office
• Wrap-up

50

Where Does This Leave You?
• If you have already implemented integrated planning for SAP
NetWeaver BW:
 Your investment is safe

 It will continue to be supported and developed as a planning
framework in SAP NetWeaver BW
• If you are planning to implement integrated planning for SAP
NetWeaver BW:
 We recommend evaluating SAP BusinessObjects Planning and
Consolidation first
 For implementations on SAP NetWeaver targeted for mid-2009,
consider SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation 7.0
version for SAP NetWeaver

51

Where Does This Leave You? (cont.)
• Integrated planning for SAP NetWeaver BW may be considered in
specific cases
 State and local government budgeting in North America

 Retail for merchandise assortment planning

• All other customers should consider SAP BusinessObjects
 This is our chosen solution for planning, budgeting, and
forecasting
 SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation version for
SAP NetWeaver already uses some of the services available in
integrated planning for SAP NetWeaver BW
 And will increasingly leverage relevant integrated planning
features over the course of our roadmap

52

Resources
• http://help.sap.com/content/bobj/sbu/docu_sbs_bpc_design.htm
 SAP Help has information on all releases of SAP
• http://help.sap.com/saphelp_bpc70/helpdata/en/a1/532226947C49
A5B2E2BD32450CB2D1/frameset.htm
 SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation Application
Help
 SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation for Office
Help
 SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation System
Reports Help

53

7 Key Points to Take Home
• If you are on SEM-BPS, do not move to integrated planning for
SAP NetWeaver BW; instead go to BPS on SAP NetWeaver BW 7.0
platform and then in phases go to SAP BusinessObjects Planning
and Consolidation
• SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation implementation
is much quicker in comparison to integrated planning for SAP
NetWeaver BW
• Do not simply utilize any planning and consolidation resource;
use an SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation
resource
• SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation utilizes
Microsoft
 Not a Microsoft look and feel, but actual Microsoft products

54

7 Key Points to Take Home (cont.)
• SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation is much more
flexible than integrated planning for SAP NetWeaver BW
• SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation requires little
training
• SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation is the future of
planning and consolidation

55

Your Turn!

How to contact me:
Anna Vladi
annavladi@lzar.com
56

Disclaimer
SAP, R/3, mySAP, mySAP.com, xApps, xApp, SAP NetWeaver®, Duet™, PartnerEdge, and other SAP products and services mentioned herein as
well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP AG in Germany and in several other countries all over the world. All
other product and service names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective companies. Wellesley Information Services is neither owned nor
controlled by SAP.

57

Expert Guide to Migrating from the SAP NetWeaver BW Integrated Planning Tools to SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation

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