The aim of this blog series is to explain the status of SAP Business Planning & Consolidation (SAP BPC) integration with SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC) and our strategic direction. Furthermore, we want to show you how SAP Analytics Cloud can extend and provide a positive ROI for your current planning, forecasting and analysis scenarios and help you run an Intelligent Enterprise. This is going to create new opportunities for planning, forecasting and analysis and thus it will help you steer your organisation even more effectively.

We also want to provide some guidance about the supported scenarios and high-level architectures and what can be done when it comes to modernising the existing planning & analysis solution of SAP BPC by adding SAC as:

• a unified user experience for:
  • a planning (data entry) user interface,
  • a data analysis interface,
• a planning extension,
• a pure SAC scenario (complete move from SAP BPC).

There will be several blog posts in the series that will cover relevant topics about integration and supported workflows, so please stay tuned for the updates of this blog post with all relevant links to additional blogs of the series:

• SAP BPC Move to SAC: Benefits & scenarios of moving SAP BPC planning scenarios to SAP Analytics Cloud
• SAP BPC Move to SAC: Use SAP Analytics Cloud as data entry UI for SAP BPC
• SAP BPC Move to SAC: Work with BPC planning sequences in SAP Analytics Cloud
• SAP BPC Move to SAC: How to create a business workflow for BPC/BW live models with SAC Calendar
• SAP BPC Move to SAC: How to analyse data
• SAP BPC Move to SAC: MS Office/Excel add-in
• SAP BPC Move to SAC: Collaboration (THIS BLOG POST)

SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC) contains a variety of collaboration options to ensure all stakeholders are always on the same page during the planning process. This blog post illustrates perfectly the collaboration capabilities in SAC. But which of those are available with BPC live-connection and the BPC live planning in SAC? For example, how can I make comments? How can I use the SAC Calendar? Are there constraints by using the communication features? etc.

In this current blog of the BPC MOVE blog series I want to illustrate all the available collaboration capabilities with BPC live planning in SAC.

Commenting

Story comments

The functionality to add comments to a specific page or widget within a story, where other users can reply or like your comment, is also available for the BW/BPC live models in SAC.

Data point comments & Comment Widget

With SAC QRC2 2023 you have the ability to comment on data that is provided by a BW/BPC live connection. You can enter the data point comments in a table or by using the Comment Widget. With this concept the data point comments are hosted in the BW Document Store object. You have the ability to enter the comments in reporting queries (BW live connection), and also in planning input queries (BPC live connection). If you want to learn all the details and prerequisites read this blog post.

SAP BW/BPC short-line comments

Last but not least, the “old-time-classic” SAP BW/BPC short-line comments functionality also works with the BPC live connection. With this concept the comments are hosted in advanced DSO objects in BW/BPC system and are entered at row level via the planning input queries.

Calendar

With the SAC calendar, you can organize your workflows, create different types of tasks, assign people to work on them and add others to review the work, including due dates.  In addition to this, you can monitor upcoming tasks with a Calendar, List or Gannt style view and use processes to manage multiple events. The SAC Calendar is another powerful feature that you can leverage to collaborate seamlessly with your colleagues, since assignees and reviewers of calendar events receive email notifications from SAC. The ability to start discussions is also embedded into each calendar task. Read this blog post of the BPC MOVE blog series, if you want to learn how you can organize a planning process and monitor activities with BPC live planning in SAC.

Notifications

The notification feature in SAC can keep you up to date on all the important activities, tasks becoming due, messages, participation in discussions and alerts. To access your notifications, choose Notifications on the main toolbar.

Discussions

You can collaborate with other users by having discussions when making group plans and decisions. In the Discussions panel you can start a discussion with your colleagues, share attachments and links with them, or even create new tasks for yourself or other stakeholders.

Scheduling Publications

Finally, there are no constraints on using the Schedule Publications SAC capabilities. It gives you the ability to schedule stories or analytic applications and have them delivered to desired recipients both within SAP Analytics Cloud and externally. You can find all the details about Scheduling Publications in SAP Help.

Summary

With BPC live planning in SAC, you can leverage all the available collaboration capabilities to discuss your plans in context, whether it’s a report, a workflow, or a single intersection. You can also add comments to explain and provide valuable insights into the figures. Via the collaboration features, you can involve your entire organization by crowd-sourcing budgets and plans in all areas of planning across the enterprise with a single, trusted view of data for making better decisions together.

Check out the BPC MOVE blog series and this further information to learn more about the transition from SAP BPC to SAP Analytics Cloud:

• The SAP Note 2969947provides you the latest information of the supported and unsupported planning functionalities when using an SAC Model based on a BPC Live connection.
• Enabling SAP BPC Runtime-license: https://launchpad.support.sap.com/#/notes/3150518
• Easily transition from BPC to SAC-P: https://www.sap.com/products/technology-platform/cloud-analytics/move-planning.html
• SAP Note 3308697 with SAP BPC Standard Migration guide

Ready to take the next step?

Start your cloud migration journey. Contact us at movebpc@sap.com to learn more about using SAP Analytics Cloud for Planning to migrate your SAP BPC investment to the Cloud and accelerate your business & financial transformation.