Technical positioning

SAP's flexible planning environment is in a period of transition. It started life as SEM-BPS.

As of NetWeaver 2004, BPS was moved into the BW component of NetWeaver and became known as BW-BPS. The brave new planning world in SAP is called BI-IP (BI Integrated Planning).

This is a significant change to the toolset, bringing significant benefits in particular the front end of the planning solution. This is now totally embedded within the native Business Explorer toolset, so that reporting and planning now take place in exactly the same place. Bluefin were one of the first organisations in the UK to have a live BI-IP demonstration system, and as such are ideally placed to share their experiences with you if you are thinking about using this new toolset.

Integration with other SAP products

SAP is one of only a few vendors who are properly realising the concept of Enterprise Services Architecture, or Services-Oriented Architecture. SAP's view is of a common hardware platform, using NetWeaver in an adaptive computing environment, to lower the total cost of ownership of its customer's IT solution. In this paradigm, elements of functionality are becoming increasingly re-usable and integrated.

In terms of planning, this means that underlying BPS or BI-IP functionality is made available to other SAP products such as ERP and CRM. For example, Trade Promotions Planning in CRM uses BPS functionality.

The key message is that any investment you make in delivering planning solutions within SAP's NetWeaver-based planning environment is a safe one, and one that you have made with an eye on the future.

Our SAP planning team

Bluefin's team of experienced consultants have worked with a wide range of Blue-chip clients on innovative and diverse planning projects, including sales planning, OPEX and CAPEX planning, even using BPS functionality to drive complex asset securitisation models.