SAP Analytics
Thought Leadership

EPM as a solution category has arguably been around for more than two decades. Before the turn of the century, a long line of solutions starting with Hyperion was developed to alleviate specific pain points caused by Excel-based financial planning and analysis (FP&A) processes. 

In the first significant redefinition of EPM technology requisites, Gartner has just coined xP&A for Extended Planning & Analysis. While Gartner did not necessarily define an advanced performance management process to go along with these new platform technology requirements…xP&A does make possible some highly valuable advancements that are, in our humble opinion, worth serious consideration. 

Two key themes underpin xP&A:

• Alignment of Operational and Financial planning and analysis
• Incorporation of AI features such as Predictive Analytics

Of course, astute users of EPM might observe that using EPM tools to cover operational planning and analysis is not new, nor is predictive analytics. What is new is aligning these capabilities as a unified platform and assigning it a label. 

Let's face it, Gartner is influential. Redefining this category has had a ripple effect almost immediately on the market. Vendors formerly identifying as EPM technology developers snapped in alignment to rebrand their product portfolio as supporting xP&A. Customers are sure to follow Gartner's classification and articulate requirements for new analytics solutions using the fresh xP&A framework. 

How do longstanding vendors support these newly defined requirements? Prospective customers seeking the benefits of xP&A are right to be skeptical. Let's discuss three key ways technology vendors offering cloud EPM solutions may be overplaying their capabilities when they claim their solutions support xP&A. 

Most organizations think about defining and improving the business case for expected ROI from EPM models only at the time of technology purchase - if these concepts are considered at all. But this is a mistake. Instead, the best practice is to measure the ROI of the system frequently in as many meaningful dimensions as can be evaluated. For example, solution and cycle performance times, analytic value, accessibility/reach are all crucial dimensions where metrics should be defined and consistently monitored for optimization opportunities. Doing so will help to bring about a significant shift in Performance Management capabilities.

The current trend is to start from scratch and re-implement performance management (EPM or xP&A) solutions to address challenges with the status quo solution effectiveness. Unfortunately, this extreme step is very costly and not likely to produce high-value results.

Attn: SAP EPM & Analytics Professionals

How to supercharge your EPM (SAP BPC, SAC, S4) training

(this works whether you're an executive, power user, or technical user)

Did you know that over the course of 30 days you forget close to 80% of what you learn?  

Here is the problem you face:  After you learn something new at an  SAP BPC or SAP Analytics Cloud course for example,  your ability to retain that information declines over time unless you review it repeatedly.

Most people try to take a single course with no repetition.

On top of that, you attempt to keep your career current by taking old fashioned lecture style or recorded video courses.  These outdated training methods lack the repetition and interactive exercises you need for strong memorization. This means you'll never achieve the career, skill level, or EPM system performance you would if you only had taken  effective training on a regular basis. This applies to you whether you're an executive, power user, or technical support staff, and whether you run SAP BPC, Analytics Cloud, and/or S/4HANA. 

Luckily for you, there's now a solution so you don't have to count on your scribbled notes from that one-time training course to improve your SAP EPM skills or further your career. Introducing the all-new EPM Summit Network, an online Community for SAP EPM & Analytics Professionals that will supercharge your career while providing year-round EPM (SAP BPC, SAC, S4) training in addition to community forums, private groups, and events.

You'll remember the latest BPC, SAC, and S4 course material on the EPM Summit Network like a scholar due to its hands-on exercises. Interactive exercises and tests drive home lesson retention so you'll feel confident implementing your new-found skills.

Attn: SAP EPM & Analytics Professionals

How to supercharge your career, get trained, get insider tricks from peers, and take your EPM (SAP BPC, SAC, S4) skills to leadership level all in one place.

(this works whether you're an executive, power user, or technical user)

Did you know that according to our research across 100s of implementations, 75% of EPM solutions fail to achieve the initiative’s anticipated goals? Even if your implementation was in the top 25% it has likely suffered over time from bloated data volumes, more users, old hardware, version upgrades (or lack of), and expanding complexity. 

Here is the problem you face: most people like to try to go at it alone.

You attempt to figure out SAP's roadmap, plus manage your own SAP EPM processes, plus teach yourself some new skills in your spare time - all by yourself. Which means you'll never achieve the career success, skill level, or EPM system/process performance you could have if you only had gotten some help along the way. This applies to you whether you are an executive, power user, or technical support staff, and whether you run SAP BPC, Analytics Cloud, and/or S/4HANA. 

Luckily for you, there's now a solution so you don't have to go at it alone anymore. 

Everybody works faster and gets further with a "better half", a buddy, or a support system.  Batman has Robin, Miss Piggy has Kermit, and Mickey has Minnie. Now you've got a support system too.  Let me introduce you to the all-new EPM Summit Network, an online Leadership Community for SAP EPM & Analytics Professionals that will supercharge your career and your EPM (SAP BPC, SAC, S4) skills all in one place

Is there an EPM Summit this year? What is this Network?!

If you’ve ever been to the legendary Column5 EPM Summit event, I know what you’re probably thinking. ‘The event was so awesome, I networked with great people, took in great content, engaged in deep discussions, found solutions to our problems, learned so much with hands on practice…it was even fun.  

Why would you ever change the EPM Summit Leadership Event to the EPM Summit Network? As the kids would text: IKR? (If you’re like me and recently find yourself in the 50+ demographic, that means: ‘I know, right?’) 

We all played the old game “rock, paper, scissors” (aka Rochambeau) to settle a dispute or just for fun. Everyone knows the simple hierarchy that forms a path to victory - rocks crush scissors, paper covers a rock, but scissors cut paper. This is a lesson we learn as children, but such simple hierarchies of superiority can govern outcomes in professional life too.  

Knowledge is power - but where you acquire that powerful knowledge can make all the difference! When looking for an industry conference, innumerable options make the process quickly overwhelming.

Most conference attendees are looking for three things:

• Valuable content in an environment conducive for learning
• Access to knowledgeable experts
• The opportunity to connect with peers faced with similar tasks and challenges

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.

In June,  Column5 Consulting and our EPM International partners hosted the EMEA EPM Leadership Summit at the Royal Overseas League in London.

This key event in our calendar brought together SAP EPM users from across the region to think, participate and network on all topics relating to EPM.

Among the many discussions and sessions that covered the entire SAP EPM portfolio were some specifically on the topic of SAP Financial Consolidation (SAP FC previously named SAP BFC). SAP FC (formerly Cartesis) is a well proven standalone consolidation solution, designed for large and complex corporates where control and auditability are essential. FC is especially relevant across UK and Europe, where IFRS and statutory reporting are key requirements.

One of the key features for the SAP BPC EPM Add-in for Excel has been the ability to write VBA to extend and customize the capabilities of the Add-in. The new EPM Plug-in for Analysis for Office (AO), which replaces the EPM Add-in, offers similar and in most cases compatible VBA support as the original EPM Add-in. However, there are some important distinctions between the two which this article covers.

The new EPM Plug-in for Analysis for Office (AO) requires a different method of declaring the specific API class used to access the library of VBA methods that SAP BPC supports.  The latest version as of this writing, AO 2.4 SP1, made some but not all the old FPMXL Client methods compatible with the EPM Plug-in.  To be safe, it’s recommended to start coding using the new standards for AO, as there’s no clear indication of whether all methods will be made compatible using the old object declaration standards.

To illustrate, here is a direct comparison of the differences between the two declaration methods.