Go ahead, think big. SAP NetWeaver offers best of breed planning and forecasting methods along with the software solutions that allow you to more accurately predict and react flexibly to changing market conditions. Build an application for strategic or operational planning in a Microsoft Excel-based or collaborative Portal (web) environment. Applications built using Integrated Planning also support collaboration rooms, document integration, information broadcasting and ad-hoc workflow. Integrated Planning is named such, as it provides an Integrated front-end. Traditional SEM and BW-BPS applications offered an industry first - and Integrated Back-End. This meant all financial and operational data whether actuals, plan or forecast were housed in a single data basis. Now, with the introduction of BI Integrated Planning, SAP integrates the front end. The same application (BEx or BEx web) is now used for both input of planning and forecasting information as well as reporting and data mining. Same back-end (InfoCubes) and same front-end (BEx).
Another benefit Integrated Planning offers is its ability to streamline info-objects and peripheral builds in your BI environment. Variables, functions, data slices, characteristic relationships, security roles and authorizations are all shared between your reporting and planning environments! No more duplication of effort or user-confusion regarding what to use when. • One application. • One training session. • One skill for support. • One implementation. A BPS upgrade to Integrated planning isn't as hard as you may at first think. Transactional cubes, data slices, functions (FOX or otherwise), and characteristic relationships are all re-usable. Ask MyITgroup to offer a workshop which will outline the effort in your BPS environment to upgrade to NetWeaver BI Integrated Planning.
