SAP BPC customers face important decisions as the platform nears end of life—especially for those on the Microsoft version, which sunsets in June 2026. Whether you're running BPC NetWeaver or Microsoft, your organization may be considering what's next for your planning, consolidation, and analytics processes.
At Column5 Consulting, we're working closely with Darwin Analytics and its partner ecosystem through the Darwin Marketplace to help BPC customers navigate the future with confidence. From evaluating SAP-recommended pathways to exploring non-SAP BPC alternatives, our experts provide the insights and hands-on support needed to make informed decisions.
Topics:
BPC,
EPM,
sap bpc,
group reporting,
BPC Alternatives
For years, SAP Business Planning and Consolidation (BPC) customers have dutifully paid their 20–22% annual maintenance fees—expecting updates, innovation, and support. In 2025, it’s time to ask a hard question: What are you really getting in return?
Topics:
HANA,
Analytics,
Cloud,
BPC,
SAP HANA,
Analytics Cloud,
SaaS,
SAC,
BPC Lifeline
A Strategic Roadmap for Your EPM Future
SAP Business Planning and Consolidation (BPC) has been a trusted financial planning and consolidation solution for years, but the landscape is shifting. With SAP’s end-of-maintenance timelines approaching and cloud-based EPM solutions gaining traction, many BPC customers are facing a critical decision:
Topics:
Roadmap,
BPC
SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC) is delivered as a SaaS (Software as a Service) solution on the SAP HANA Cloud Platform. SAC combines multiple EPM, BI and Analytics features/benefits into one product. This allows users to plan with robust collaboration features while using Predictive Analytics as well as Business Intelligence, and robust, state of the art Analytics. Currently, SAP BPC remains the default approach for Enterprise-wide Planning, Forecasting and Consolidations, while SAP Analytics Cloud fulfills relatively straightforward requirements from a planning and forecasting perspective.
Topics:
HANA,
Analytics,
Cloud,
BPC,
SAP HANA,
Analytics Cloud,
SaaS,
SAC
In 2007, OutlookSoft bought BPC and ten years later, SAP group reporting was released. Several versions of BPC have been released since its first debut in May 2017 including: Standard, Embedded, Optimized, and a Microsoft version. This article will compare the functionalities of BPC Standard (the most frequently used version) to the 2022 version of Group Reporting on-premise and will discuss some of the main aspects of the consolidation process.
Topics:
BPC,
sap bpc,
group reporting
Summer brings days at the beach and the inevitable sunburn, while winter delivers snow and shoveling. Budget season? Well, that can mean a scramble to make sure your EPM software is 100% ready when entering a planning cycle. If your organization is like most, updating your EPM system is a priority during the off-season—especially if major improvements are on the punch list. The following five steps can ensure the smoothest possible experience—and keep the drama to a minimum:
Topics:
Roadmap,
BPC v10 upgrade,
BPC,
Product Focused,
reporting,
sap bpc,
SO - BPC v7.x,
SO - BPC v10.x,
SO - BPC v11.x,
SAP Analytics Cloud,
User Experience,
tuneup,
analytics tune up
Two things are certain in life: death and taxes. An EPM user might add “struggling with EPM software” to the list of unavoidable challenges. In the case of taxes, one could (and absolutely should) hire an experienced tax services provider to craft a tax minimizing strategy. You will still pay taxes, but the difference between paying a lot, or a little, lies in the expertise of who you hire.
Topics:
Thought Leadership,
BPC,
Executive,
EPM
The number of SAP BPC users evaluating SAP BPC Embedded and SAP BPC Optimized is growing. In many ways SAP BPC Embedded is an exciting option because it is fast performing and highly integrated with core SAP financials (S/4HANA Finance). We think Embedded is an option well worth exploring for all SAP BPC users, but we also want those users to be well informed, particularly if they don’t have a strong SAP BW and SAP BW-IP background. This article is the first in a series of blogs where we take our experiences of all flavours of SAP BPC and apply the learnings for those looking at Embedded.
Topics:
BPC,
BPC NW – Embedded,
Embedded,
BW
The ability to drill through from BPC to more detailed information is a high value exercise for a relatively low investment - yet it continues to be one of BPC’s most overlooked features.
The typical use cases are as follows:
- Lower level connection with details
- Exact, accurate actuals for run rates, deconstructing numbersDetails necessary to calculate drivers that drive the accurate plan
- Ability to link to transactional systems at the lowest level of detail for drill through
- Time definition is the frequent axis for alignment
- Automate time to explain variances & identify anomalies
- Understand exactly what transaction drives variance (if applicable)
- For close, audits, and other reconciliation exercises, spot suspect numbers
- Convenience builds user adoption Adds functionality like drill through to details, even possibly images
- “One stop shopping” user experience
- No need to switch tools wholesale as data gets lower in details
Topics:
Data,
BPC (Business Planning & Consolidation),
BPC,
Functional,
reporting
Our Technical Services team has received an influx of service tickets regarding issues with the recently released SAP BPC EPM Add-in Service Pack 29.
Problem
With EPM Add-in SP29 installed, we noticed that none of the built-in reports or report templates are working when trying to refresh with BPC 10.1 Microsoft (MS). When attempting to refresh, it keeps prompting to login to SAP NetWeaver (NW) system, instead of BPC 10.1 Microsoft. Please see example below:
ldcie3f.wdf.sap.corp EPMAddin_ODBOSP3 Consolidation
We are connected to the Planning model for BPC MS but it is trying to login to BPC NW Consolidation.
Topics:
BPC (Business Planning & Consolidation),
BPC,
Services Focused,
Technical,
EPM Add-in,
EPM
Steve Sussman
David Den Boer
Sumit Goenka
Mike Sullivan
Darko Kavazovic
