Many companies use sales and operations planning(SampOP) simply as a pre-production check to see ifthey can fulfill customer demand While this is onegood use of SampOP it underutilizes what can be apowerful tool for evaluating the past and futuresuccess of your business SampOP is a planningprocess that can extend beyond your sales projectionsand production capabilities it can take yourcompanyrsquos financial goals marketing efforts andinventory targets into account When everyoneinvolved in the SampOP process mdash from the CEO to theshop-floor manager mdash can share information andwork from one consolidated plan you ensure thatone number not a series of individual plans isdriving your businessCompanies looking to make this SampOP transformationmdash whether theyrsquore embarking on anSampOP project or evolving their current SampOPprocess mdash should first consider some fundamentalchallengesHow will you support this expansive process andaggregate all of the relevant planning data thatresides across your system landscapeHow will you document track and follow up onstrategic planning decisions many of which willtake shape at your monthly SampOP meetings (HintSimply looking at plan data in spreadsheetswonrsquot do it)How will you present this information to the SampOPprocessrsquos key stakeholders mdash both those who needto see aggregated trend data in dashboards andthose who need to drill down into specific productand operations data

SampOP Goes Beyond Just Aligning Supply and DemandSAPrsquos New xApp Consolidates Plan Data for More Adaptive SampOPFEATURE ARTICLE | SampOPTo d S t e n g e r SAPTod Stenger is the SolutionManager for the new SAP xSOPapplication Tod has 11 years ofsupply chain management (SCM)software experience The majorityof Todrsquos nine years of experiencewith SAP has been spentconsulting on mySAP SCMapplications You can reachhim at todstengersapcom

SampOP What It Is and Why Your Planning Efforts Could Fall Short Without ItSales and operations planning (SampOP) is a process that enables a company to determine the one planthat will allow it to meet its operational sales and financial goals The process is typically the responsibilityof a specific SampOP team which includes high-level directors and managers of marketing salesfinance operations and customer serviceThe goal of SampOP is to have a demand plan and a synchronized supply plan that are both feasibleand in line with the companyrsquos financial goals If a company wants to increase prices by 10 for

example SampOP would help determine how this price change could affect all departments involved Theprocess itself is fairly simple and comprises five essential steps1 Create a demand plan2 Create a supply plan3 Compare the demand and supply plans4 Reconcile the demand and supply plans with the financial plan5 Update the SampOP planWithin each step the SampOP team compares multiple plan versions and evaluates the risks andassumptions involved in each The expected result A single plan that addresses needs across thecompany and considers key tradeoffs mdash between sales and production or sales and finance for exampleThe SampOP processanswers key questionsincluding Are wehitting our plan and ourbudget How does ourperformance compareto how wersquove done inthe past Where mightwe have potential prob_lems in the futureWhat can we do toprevent these issuesThis article appeared in the Jan Feb Mar 2007 issue of SAP Insider and appears here withpermission from the publisher Wellesley Information Services (WIS) wwwWISpubscomThere are many places to generate supply anddemand plans in the SAP landscape mdash helpful toolslike Supply Network Planning (SNP) and DemandPlanning (DP) in mySAP SCM and IntegratedPlanning for budget planning in SAP BW But therestill hasnrsquot been a single consolidated place tocollect analyze and track all of the data pertinent toSampOP mdash until nowSAP is introducing a new SampOP composite applicationor xApp that will help streamline the planningprocess and enable SampOP teams to analyze data andmake decisions mdash without having to hunt around forplanning information and pour it into spreadsheets

Support the Entire SampOP Process withOne ApplicationConsider a consumer products company that plans tosell a million units of laundry detergent next monthThe sales manager and marketing director could lookat the million-unit projection and know precisely therevenue numbers they need to hit But the manufacturingmanager could look at the same number andneed much more detail How much of this detergentwill be powdered How much will be liquid Howmany detergent tablets will his team need to planfor Additionally all involved parties should ask akey question Are we sure this is the best strategy forthe companyrsquos financial well-beingEarlier planning tools pumped out a lot of relevantplan data but lacked a cohesive way to aggregatethat data so that different stakeholders coulddrill down to the level of detail they needed mdash to tellthe manufacturing manager how much liquid detergentto produce for example What SAP delivers withSAP xApp Sales and Operations Planning (SAPxSOP) mdash a standalone installation available in thefirst half of 2007 mdash is the ability to support the entireSampOP process in one system This new xApp pullsdata from a companyrsquos current planning solutions

and allows SampOP team members to look at onenumber and analyze the consolidated data for theirdepartmentrsquos purposes (see Figure 1)SAP has structured SAP xSOP around three mainfunctional areas mdash integration process managementand data analysis mdash that map to the major painpoints we hear from customers around the SampOPprocess

Challenge 1 Integrate Planning Tools and Datafor Consolidated SampOPCustomers often grapple with how to get a consolidatedview of all the planning-related data streamingthrough their existing planning tools and backendapplications To overcome this hurdle integration iscrucial and is now possible with SAP xSOP The goalof the new SampOP application is not to replace thetools you may already be running but to leveragetheir capabilities as part of a holistic SampOP processBuilt on the SAP NetWeaver stack SAP xSOP canconnect to all SAP systems primarily using servicesavailable in the SAP ERP Central Component (SAPECC) core in SAP BW and in SCM applications Theseservices allow you to pull data from any planningtools you may already run mdash Flexible PlanningMaterial Requirements Planning (MRP) SCM DemandPlanning (DP) SCM Supply Network Planning (SNP)or BI Data Providers for financial data This openintegration gives you the flexibility to continue usingany of these tools as your fundamental planningapplication for generating demand supply andfinancial plansIncluded in SAP xSOPrsquos integration configurationare settings that can map key figures and characteristicsbetween BW and SCM systems Planning datacan then be extracted from the backend systems andstored in SAP xSOP This allows users to simulateplans in SAP xSOP itself in real time mdash live at an SampOPmeeting for exampleSubscribe today Visit wwwSAPinsideronlinecomAccording to a recentAMR Research studySampOP is the fourth_largest planned invest_ment in supply chainmanagement1

1 AMR Research ldquoThe Supply Chain Management Spending Report2005-2006rdquo (June 2005)FIGURE 1 1048660 SAPrsquos newSAP xSOP applicationenables the key salesand operations plan_ning stakeholders tosee the same data fromtheir departmentrsquosperspectiveSubscribe today Visit wwwSAPinsideronlinecom

Challenge 2 Streamline SampOP with Built-InProcess Management and TrackingSuccessful SampOP involves various stakeholders andmultiple processes all working in parallel mdash andcompanies are often overwhelmed trying to manageit all Process management capabilities within SAPxSOP allow the customer to define the steps of the

process that need to occur before each monthly orweekly SampOP meeting adding structure and organizationto the process mdash and allowing for variations mdashon both a business-unit and regional levelWithin each process step you define tasks thatmust be completed before that step in the process isfinished (see Figure 2) This can include system taskssuch as loading demand history to SCM DP or nonsystemtasks such as reviewing the demand plan withthe sales force mdash two tasks that need to be tracked andcompleted before you can sit down and report yourprogress at the executive SampOP meeting With SAPxSOP users can explain what different versions of aplan represent describe any assumptions they usedwhen planning call out potential risks and propose anassociated mitigation strategy All of this informationcan be stored in documents such as word-processingdocuments or spreadsheets using the cFolders engineembedded in SAP xSOP SampOP teams can then trackexactly what happens at each step in the process andemail these documents to interested parties or postthem on internal Web pagesEnsuring a successful SampOP process also meanstracking all the decisions made at the SampOP meetingand following up on related questions and issuesConsider a case where the SampOP meeting identifiesthat in five months your company wonrsquot haveenough capacity to produce a specific productfamily The operations manager is tasked with investigatingthis issue and must follow up with themanager of the plant responsible for this productfamily The plant manager is asked to investigate hisoptions mdash either having his staff work additionalhours or installing additional production equipmentmdash and must complete this analysis by the next SampOPmeeting In this case action items can be createdand assigned to the operations manager who alsoidentifies the external user (the plant manager) inthe action item The SampOP team can then review andassess these action items at each meeting

Challenge 3 Easily Gather Analytics and Reportsto Evaluate SampOP DecisionsWith some planning tools customers often findpredefined reporting and analytics to be a key painpoint because there are no predefined reports toreview trends and progress These reports also needto be customized executive-level stakeholders wantsummarized data while demand planners want amore granular level of detailThe analytics functionality in SAP xSOP is inmany ways the heart of the application The xApp ispredelivered with analytic KPIs in several generalcategories including demand supply inventorycapacity and budget Customers can easily changeall KPI calculations or add new KPIs to the system tomeet their specific reporting needsWithin SAP xSOPrsquos UI users can select multipleviews for high-level analysis Depending on whichFIGURE 2 1048660 SAP xSOPincludes comprehensiveprocess_management

functionality to addstructure and organiza_tion to your sales andoperations planningprocessMonitordifferentSampOPprocessstepsTrack SampOP_related tasksCreatespecificmeetingaction itemsproducts theyrsquore interested in users can drill downinto the details (in the format of either specific dataor trend graphs) and examine the KPIs for thatproduct family as shown in Figure 3The goal of this analytics functionality is to helpcompanies determine what the ldquorightrdquo SampOP plan todrive the business is mdash to identify the plan with theleast risk that fulfills the companyrsquos operationalsales and financial goals With SAP xSOPrsquos analyticsSampOP teams can update plan values and recalculateKPIs in real time This is particularly useful for simulatingthe effects of changes to the SampOP plan Whatrsquosmore SampOP teams will soon be able to write thesesimulated plans back to all backend systems2

ConclusionWhile there are many places to generate supply anddemand plans in the SAP landscape there has notbeen a single consolidated place to analyze all of thedata pertinent to SampOP With SAP xSOP you will notonly have a place to consolidate financial demandand supply plans you will also get predeliveredanalytics to support your SampOP process Add to thisthe ability to track the process and integrate to otherSAP systems and you have a powerful tool thatsupports your entire SampOP process as well as all thestakeholders it involves

example SampOP would help determine how this price change could affect all departments involved Theprocess itself is fairly simple and comprises five essential steps1 Create a demand plan2 Create a supply plan3 Compare the demand and supply plans4 Reconcile the demand and supply plans with the financial plan5 Update the SampOP planWithin each step the SampOP team compares multiple plan versions and evaluates the risks andassumptions involved in each The expected result A single plan that addresses needs across thecompany and considers key tradeoffs mdash between sales and production or sales and finance for exampleThe SampOP processanswers key questionsincluding Are wehitting our plan and ourbudget How does ourperformance compareto how wersquove done inthe past Where mightwe have potential prob_lems in the futureWhat can we do toprevent these issuesThis article appeared in the Jan Feb Mar 2007 issue of SAP Insider and appears here withpermission from the publisher Wellesley Information Services (WIS) wwwWISpubscomThere are many places to generate supply anddemand plans in the SAP landscape mdash helpful toolslike Supply Network Planning (SNP) and DemandPlanning (DP) in mySAP SCM and IntegratedPlanning for budget planning in SAP BW But therestill hasnrsquot been a single consolidated place tocollect analyze and track all of the data pertinent toSampOP mdash until nowSAP is introducing a new SampOP composite applicationor xApp that will help streamline the planningprocess and enable SampOP teams to analyze data andmake decisions mdash without having to hunt around forplanning information and pour it into spreadsheets

Support the Entire SampOP Process withOne ApplicationConsider a consumer products company that plans tosell a million units of laundry detergent next monthThe sales manager and marketing director could lookat the million-unit projection and know precisely therevenue numbers they need to hit But the manufacturingmanager could look at the same number andneed much more detail How much of this detergentwill be powdered How much will be liquid Howmany detergent tablets will his team need to planfor Additionally all involved parties should ask akey question Are we sure this is the best strategy forthe companyrsquos financial well-beingEarlier planning tools pumped out a lot of relevantplan data but lacked a cohesive way to aggregatethat data so that different stakeholders coulddrill down to the level of detail they needed mdash to tellthe manufacturing manager how much liquid detergentto produce for example What SAP delivers withSAP xApp Sales and Operations Planning (SAPxSOP) mdash a standalone installation available in thefirst half of 2007 mdash is the ability to support the entireSampOP process in one system This new xApp pullsdata from a companyrsquos current planning solutions

and allows SampOP team members to look at onenumber and analyze the consolidated data for theirdepartmentrsquos purposes (see Figure 1)SAP has structured SAP xSOP around three mainfunctional areas mdash integration process managementand data analysis mdash that map to the major painpoints we hear from customers around the SampOPprocess

Challenge 1 Integrate Planning Tools and Datafor Consolidated SampOPCustomers often grapple with how to get a consolidatedview of all the planning-related data streamingthrough their existing planning tools and backendapplications To overcome this hurdle integration iscrucial and is now possible with SAP xSOP The goalof the new SampOP application is not to replace thetools you may already be running but to leveragetheir capabilities as part of a holistic SampOP processBuilt on the SAP NetWeaver stack SAP xSOP canconnect to all SAP systems primarily using servicesavailable in the SAP ERP Central Component (SAPECC) core in SAP BW and in SCM applications Theseservices allow you to pull data from any planningtools you may already run mdash Flexible PlanningMaterial Requirements Planning (MRP) SCM DemandPlanning (DP) SCM Supply Network Planning (SNP)or BI Data Providers for financial data This openintegration gives you the flexibility to continue usingany of these tools as your fundamental planningapplication for generating demand supply andfinancial plansIncluded in SAP xSOPrsquos integration configurationare settings that can map key figures and characteristicsbetween BW and SCM systems Planning datacan then be extracted from the backend systems andstored in SAP xSOP This allows users to simulateplans in SAP xSOP itself in real time mdash live at an SampOPmeeting for exampleSubscribe today Visit wwwSAPinsideronlinecomAccording to a recentAMR Research studySampOP is the fourth_largest planned invest_ment in supply chainmanagement1

1 AMR Research ldquoThe Supply Chain Management Spending Report2005-2006rdquo (June 2005)FIGURE 1 1048660 SAPrsquos newSAP xSOP applicationenables the key salesand operations plan_ning stakeholders tosee the same data fromtheir departmentrsquosperspectiveSubscribe today Visit wwwSAPinsideronlinecom

Challenge 2 Streamline SampOP with Built-InProcess Management and TrackingSuccessful SampOP involves various stakeholders andmultiple processes all working in parallel mdash andcompanies are often overwhelmed trying to manageit all Process management capabilities within SAPxSOP allow the customer to define the steps of the

process that need to occur before each monthly orweekly SampOP meeting adding structure and organizationto the process mdash and allowing for variations mdashon both a business-unit and regional levelWithin each process step you define tasks thatmust be completed before that step in the process isfinished (see Figure 2) This can include system taskssuch as loading demand history to SCM DP or nonsystemtasks such as reviewing the demand plan withthe sales force mdash two tasks that need to be tracked andcompleted before you can sit down and report yourprogress at the executive SampOP meeting With SAPxSOP users can explain what different versions of aplan represent describe any assumptions they usedwhen planning call out potential risks and propose anassociated mitigation strategy All of this informationcan be stored in documents such as word-processingdocuments or spreadsheets using the cFolders engineembedded in SAP xSOP SampOP teams can then trackexactly what happens at each step in the process andemail these documents to interested parties or postthem on internal Web pagesEnsuring a successful SampOP process also meanstracking all the decisions made at the SampOP meetingand following up on related questions and issuesConsider a case where the SampOP meeting identifiesthat in five months your company wonrsquot haveenough capacity to produce a specific productfamily The operations manager is tasked with investigatingthis issue and must follow up with themanager of the plant responsible for this productfamily The plant manager is asked to investigate hisoptions mdash either having his staff work additionalhours or installing additional production equipmentmdash and must complete this analysis by the next SampOPmeeting In this case action items can be createdand assigned to the operations manager who alsoidentifies the external user (the plant manager) inthe action item The SampOP team can then review andassess these action items at each meeting

Challenge 3 Easily Gather Analytics and Reportsto Evaluate SampOP DecisionsWith some planning tools customers often findpredefined reporting and analytics to be a key painpoint because there are no predefined reports toreview trends and progress These reports also needto be customized executive-level stakeholders wantsummarized data while demand planners want amore granular level of detailThe analytics functionality in SAP xSOP is inmany ways the heart of the application The xApp ispredelivered with analytic KPIs in several generalcategories including demand supply inventorycapacity and budget Customers can easily changeall KPI calculations or add new KPIs to the system tomeet their specific reporting needsWithin SAP xSOPrsquos UI users can select multipleviews for high-level analysis Depending on whichFIGURE 2 1048660 SAP xSOPincludes comprehensiveprocess_management

functionality to addstructure and organiza_tion to your sales andoperations planningprocessMonitordifferentSampOPprocessstepsTrack SampOP_related tasksCreatespecificmeetingaction itemsproducts theyrsquore interested in users can drill downinto the details (in the format of either specific dataor trend graphs) and examine the KPIs for thatproduct family as shown in Figure 3The goal of this analytics functionality is to helpcompanies determine what the ldquorightrdquo SampOP plan todrive the business is mdash to identify the plan with theleast risk that fulfills the companyrsquos operationalsales and financial goals With SAP xSOPrsquos analyticsSampOP teams can update plan values and recalculateKPIs in real time This is particularly useful for simulatingthe effects of changes to the SampOP plan Whatrsquosmore SampOP teams will soon be able to write thesesimulated plans back to all backend systems2

ConclusionWhile there are many places to generate supply anddemand plans in the SAP landscape there has notbeen a single consolidated place to analyze all of thedata pertinent to SampOP With SAP xSOP you will notonly have a place to consolidate financial demandand supply plans you will also get predeliveredanalytics to support your SampOP process Add to thisthe ability to track the process and integrate to otherSAP systems and you have a powerful tool thatsupports your entire SampOP process as well as all thestakeholders it involves

and allows SampOP team members to look at onenumber and analyze the consolidated data for theirdepartmentrsquos purposes (see Figure 1)SAP has structured SAP xSOP around three mainfunctional areas mdash integration process managementand data analysis mdash that map to the major painpoints we hear from customers around the SampOPprocess

Challenge 1 Integrate Planning Tools and Datafor Consolidated SampOPCustomers often grapple with how to get a consolidatedview of all the planning-related data streamingthrough their existing planning tools and backendapplications To overcome this hurdle integration iscrucial and is now possible with SAP xSOP The goalof the new SampOP application is not to replace thetools you may already be running but to leveragetheir capabilities as part of a holistic SampOP processBuilt on the SAP NetWeaver stack SAP xSOP canconnect to all SAP systems primarily using servicesavailable in the SAP ERP Central Component (SAPECC) core in SAP BW and in SCM applications Theseservices allow you to pull data from any planningtools you may already run mdash Flexible PlanningMaterial Requirements Planning (MRP) SCM DemandPlanning (DP) SCM Supply Network Planning (SNP)or BI Data Providers for financial data This openintegration gives you the flexibility to continue usingany of these tools as your fundamental planningapplication for generating demand supply andfinancial plansIncluded in SAP xSOPrsquos integration configurationare settings that can map key figures and characteristicsbetween BW and SCM systems Planning datacan then be extracted from the backend systems andstored in SAP xSOP This allows users to simulateplans in SAP xSOP itself in real time mdash live at an SampOPmeeting for exampleSubscribe today Visit wwwSAPinsideronlinecomAccording to a recentAMR Research studySampOP is the fourth_largest planned invest_ment in supply chainmanagement1

1 AMR Research ldquoThe Supply Chain Management Spending Report2005-2006rdquo (June 2005)FIGURE 1 1048660 SAPrsquos newSAP xSOP applicationenables the key salesand operations plan_ning stakeholders tosee the same data fromtheir departmentrsquosperspectiveSubscribe today Visit wwwSAPinsideronlinecom

Challenge 2 Streamline SampOP with Built-InProcess Management and TrackingSuccessful SampOP involves various stakeholders andmultiple processes all working in parallel mdash andcompanies are often overwhelmed trying to manageit all Process management capabilities within SAPxSOP allow the customer to define the steps of the

process that need to occur before each monthly orweekly SampOP meeting adding structure and organizationto the process mdash and allowing for variations mdashon both a business-unit and regional levelWithin each process step you define tasks thatmust be completed before that step in the process isfinished (see Figure 2) This can include system taskssuch as loading demand history to SCM DP or nonsystemtasks such as reviewing the demand plan withthe sales force mdash two tasks that need to be tracked andcompleted before you can sit down and report yourprogress at the executive SampOP meeting With SAPxSOP users can explain what different versions of aplan represent describe any assumptions they usedwhen planning call out potential risks and propose anassociated mitigation strategy All of this informationcan be stored in documents such as word-processingdocuments or spreadsheets using the cFolders engineembedded in SAP xSOP SampOP teams can then trackexactly what happens at each step in the process andemail these documents to interested parties or postthem on internal Web pagesEnsuring a successful SampOP process also meanstracking all the decisions made at the SampOP meetingand following up on related questions and issuesConsider a case where the SampOP meeting identifiesthat in five months your company wonrsquot haveenough capacity to produce a specific productfamily The operations manager is tasked with investigatingthis issue and must follow up with themanager of the plant responsible for this productfamily The plant manager is asked to investigate hisoptions mdash either having his staff work additionalhours or installing additional production equipmentmdash and must complete this analysis by the next SampOPmeeting In this case action items can be createdand assigned to the operations manager who alsoidentifies the external user (the plant manager) inthe action item The SampOP team can then review andassess these action items at each meeting

Challenge 3 Easily Gather Analytics and Reportsto Evaluate SampOP DecisionsWith some planning tools customers often findpredefined reporting and analytics to be a key painpoint because there are no predefined reports toreview trends and progress These reports also needto be customized executive-level stakeholders wantsummarized data while demand planners want amore granular level of detailThe analytics functionality in SAP xSOP is inmany ways the heart of the application The xApp ispredelivered with analytic KPIs in several generalcategories including demand supply inventorycapacity and budget Customers can easily changeall KPI calculations or add new KPIs to the system tomeet their specific reporting needsWithin SAP xSOPrsquos UI users can select multipleviews for high-level analysis Depending on whichFIGURE 2 1048660 SAP xSOPincludes comprehensiveprocess_management

functionality to addstructure and organiza_tion to your sales andoperations planningprocessMonitordifferentSampOPprocessstepsTrack SampOP_related tasksCreatespecificmeetingaction itemsproducts theyrsquore interested in users can drill downinto the details (in the format of either specific dataor trend graphs) and examine the KPIs for thatproduct family as shown in Figure 3The goal of this analytics functionality is to helpcompanies determine what the ldquorightrdquo SampOP plan todrive the business is mdash to identify the plan with theleast risk that fulfills the companyrsquos operationalsales and financial goals With SAP xSOPrsquos analyticsSampOP teams can update plan values and recalculateKPIs in real time This is particularly useful for simulatingthe effects of changes to the SampOP plan Whatrsquosmore SampOP teams will soon be able to write thesesimulated plans back to all backend systems2

ConclusionWhile there are many places to generate supply anddemand plans in the SAP landscape there has notbeen a single consolidated place to analyze all of thedata pertinent to SampOP With SAP xSOP you will notonly have a place to consolidate financial demandand supply plans you will also get predeliveredanalytics to support your SampOP process Add to thisthe ability to track the process and integrate to otherSAP systems and you have a powerful tool thatsupports your entire SampOP process as well as all thestakeholders it involves

process that need to occur before each monthly orweekly SampOP meeting adding structure and organizationto the process mdash and allowing for variations mdashon both a business-unit and regional levelWithin each process step you define tasks thatmust be completed before that step in the process isfinished (see Figure 2) This can include system taskssuch as loading demand history to SCM DP or nonsystemtasks such as reviewing the demand plan withthe sales force mdash two tasks that need to be tracked andcompleted before you can sit down and report yourprogress at the executive SampOP meeting With SAPxSOP users can explain what different versions of aplan represent describe any assumptions they usedwhen planning call out potential risks and propose anassociated mitigation strategy All of this informationcan be stored in documents such as word-processingdocuments or spreadsheets using the cFolders engineembedded in SAP xSOP SampOP teams can then trackexactly what happens at each step in the process andemail these documents to interested parties or postthem on internal Web pagesEnsuring a successful SampOP process also meanstracking all the decisions made at the SampOP meetingand following up on related questions and issuesConsider a case where the SampOP meeting identifiesthat in five months your company wonrsquot haveenough capacity to produce a specific productfamily The operations manager is tasked with investigatingthis issue and must follow up with themanager of the plant responsible for this productfamily The plant manager is asked to investigate hisoptions mdash either having his staff work additionalhours or installing additional production equipmentmdash and must complete this analysis by the next SampOPmeeting In this case action items can be createdand assigned to the operations manager who alsoidentifies the external user (the plant manager) inthe action item The SampOP team can then review andassess these action items at each meeting

Challenge 3 Easily Gather Analytics and Reportsto Evaluate SampOP DecisionsWith some planning tools customers often findpredefined reporting and analytics to be a key painpoint because there are no predefined reports toreview trends and progress These reports also needto be customized executive-level stakeholders wantsummarized data while demand planners want amore granular level of detailThe analytics functionality in SAP xSOP is inmany ways the heart of the application The xApp ispredelivered with analytic KPIs in several generalcategories including demand supply inventorycapacity and budget Customers can easily changeall KPI calculations or add new KPIs to the system tomeet their specific reporting needsWithin SAP xSOPrsquos UI users can select multipleviews for high-level analysis Depending on whichFIGURE 2 1048660 SAP xSOPincludes comprehensiveprocess_management

functionality to addstructure and organiza_tion to your sales andoperations planningprocessMonitordifferentSampOPprocessstepsTrack SampOP_related tasksCreatespecificmeetingaction itemsproducts theyrsquore interested in users can drill downinto the details (in the format of either specific dataor trend graphs) and examine the KPIs for thatproduct family as shown in Figure 3The goal of this analytics functionality is to helpcompanies determine what the ldquorightrdquo SampOP plan todrive the business is mdash to identify the plan with theleast risk that fulfills the companyrsquos operationalsales and financial goals With SAP xSOPrsquos analyticsSampOP teams can update plan values and recalculateKPIs in real time This is particularly useful for simulatingthe effects of changes to the SampOP plan Whatrsquosmore SampOP teams will soon be able to write thesesimulated plans back to all backend systems2

ConclusionWhile there are many places to generate supply anddemand plans in the SAP landscape there has notbeen a single consolidated place to analyze all of thedata pertinent to SampOP With SAP xSOP you will notonly have a place to consolidate financial demandand supply plans you will also get predeliveredanalytics to support your SampOP process Add to thisthe ability to track the process and integrate to otherSAP systems and you have a powerful tool thatsupports your entire SampOP process as well as all thestakeholders it involves

functionality to addstructure and organiza_tion to your sales andoperations planningprocessMonitordifferentSampOPprocessstepsTrack SampOP_related tasksCreatespecificmeetingaction itemsproducts theyrsquore interested in users can drill downinto the details (in the format of either specific dataor trend graphs) and examine the KPIs for thatproduct family as shown in Figure 3The goal of this analytics functionality is to helpcompanies determine what the ldquorightrdquo SampOP plan todrive the business is mdash to identify the plan with theleast risk that fulfills the companyrsquos operationalsales and financial goals With SAP xSOPrsquos analyticsSampOP teams can update plan values and recalculateKPIs in real time This is particularly useful for simulatingthe effects of changes to the SampOP plan Whatrsquosmore SampOP teams will soon be able to write thesesimulated plans back to all backend systems2

ConclusionWhile there are many places to generate supply anddemand plans in the SAP landscape there has notbeen a single consolidated place to analyze all of thedata pertinent to SampOP With SAP xSOP you will notonly have a place to consolidate financial demandand supply plans you will also get predeliveredanalytics to support your SampOP process Add to thisthe ability to track the process and integrate to otherSAP systems and you have a powerful tool thatsupports your entire SampOP process as well as all thestakeholders it involves