SAP Analytics
Thought Leadership

The Battle of BPC

I have been in the Analytics space for over 13 years, having started at the original OutlookSoft Corporation (creator of the BPC software) as employee #33 (or so). I stayed with the company that acquired OutlookSoft in 2007, SAP, until 2008, when I came to Column5. I have been involved in over 1000 technical implementations of the BPC software (all technology stacks) over the years with companies around the world.

When I say “Technical Implementation”, I mean performing a System Landscape Design (SLD), multiple Installations, Performance Tuning, Disaster Recovery, Environment Synchronization (Transports), and Go-Live Support. As I started the Technical team at Column5 back in 2008 after working at SAP/OutlookSoft for 8 years Column5, has used the above services and others to ensure client success, or as I like to say “EPM NIRVANA”.

Obviously SAP has moved the software forward leaps and bounds in a lot of functional ways, but especially supporting multiple server technology stacks on the backend. This allows SAP to really fit into just about all of the worldwide business technology strategies. Currently with BPC, there are three different “flavors” of the software and they are:

• BPC (10) BW powered by HANA
• BPC (10) NetWeaver
• BPC (10) Microsoft

Sprinkled throughout many books, project kick-off decks, and lists of project success criteria, is the notion that your program or project needs Visible Executive Sponsorship.  If you Google the topic you will see that there is widespread agreement that this is “important”.  You will also see that there are various studies that show that project success is tied to visible Executive Sponsorship and that very high percentages of failed projects list the lack of Executive Sponsorship as a key reason.  However, I rarely see the more practical aspects of recruiting Executive Sponsors, what visibility really means, and tangible advice on how to make the sponsors visible.  Whether you are planning your EPM Strategic Roadmap, or just upgrading from BPC v7.5 to 10.0, getting the right Executive Sponsor on board is essential.

How to Get the Most from Business Process Flows in SAP BPC

Overview

The Process Flow Design is an integral part of any SAP BPC implementation project.  As a stage in the project it should come immediately after the Conceptual Design phase and before the essential Blueprinting step, as shown in the diagram, below which outlines the ten basic project stages.

This is part two of a blog on utilizing the BPC Restore Journal and Export Journal Data Manager Packages.  In the first installment we covered how to setup BPC to use the packages and a few of the reasons why a business team might utilize mass journal updates.  In the second installment, we will walk through a working example of how a team might use the packages to seed budget journals from actuals.  See part 1 for a refresher on how to setup BPC for importing and exporting journals.

Analytics?  Analytics.  Analytics!  Let us simply get it out there – analytics are the newest, hottest technology that everyone is talking about.  “The CFO’s Technology Imperatives for 2015” by Financial Executives International (FEI) and Gartner states, “many IT organizations have made initial investments, but these tend to be tactically focused and do not address the more fundamental issues of data quality and consistency.”  The market is in such a fervor over the promise of analytics that we often lose sight of our greater IT goals, and we do not effectively outline a strategy that can move us toward the new promised land.  

Surveys from Gartner reaffirm these assertions in a study on Top Big Data Challenges.  The top three challenges include how to derive value, how to define strategy, and how to obtain the skills and capabilities needed related to a big data initiative.

Has your team ever had the need to consolidate history, including journals, when moving to a new consolidation solution?  How about detailed consolidated budgets that use journals?  Or detailed reporting on journal activity?   What about the need to move journals between development, quality, and production environments?  All of this can be accomplished using BPC’s Restore Journals and Export Journals package that comes standard with BPC. Today’s discussion will outline some of the key concepts with using BPC Restore Journal and Export Journal Data Manager Packages.   In the second installment, the discussion will continue with a couple of use cases explaining the different ways to use the functionality.  As a primer, it’s important to review the standard BPC EPM documentation on how to use Journals and Data Manager Packages.

Why OCM is Critical to the Success of Your EPM Transformation.

According to analysts and customer feedback, EPM projects, as a subset of Analytics projects, are among the most challenging to achieve positive business value results. The reasons are many, including not having appropriate expectations laid out in a business plan, ill-advised technical designs, poor technical execution, not having internal skills to properly manage the solution, and not including a beneficial process change while implementing the technology.

Inspired by my colleague from Column5 EMEA’s use of a military reference, I’d like to discuss some of the parallels of 2500 year old military tactics to EPM strategic objectives.

Access to Advanced Training

Before being allowed to drive a vehicle unaccompanied, we are required to undergo training on both the theory (stopping distances, speed restrictions, road signs, etc.) and practice (actually handling a car) of driving, as well as passing a number of tests.

If you have not read part one of this blog, read it here!