Top 5 New Features of SAP IBP 2005
With the latest release of SAP IBP 2005 (Integrated Business Planning) deploying for customers soon, it’s time once again for a quarterly peek behind the curtain of IBP. The 2005 Release includes some great stability enhancements dealing with integrity checks for configuration, performance improvements and simplification. When you have some down time, read through the What’s New in SAP Integrated Business Planning 2005 overview to see which enhancements will impact you now vs later. Pressed for time? I’m highlighting some innovations and enhancements that I found particularly interesting in this release.
1) Changes to the Microsoft Excel Add-In
As of 2005, the SAP IBP Excel add-in is technically independent of SAP EPM-based add-ins.
If you decide to upgrade to the 2005 version of the Excel add-in, you should make sure that all users in your organization are upgraded.
But why you ask? The earlier versions of the add-in don’t support planning views, templates, and favorites that were saved in the 2005 version of the add-in. However, those saved in a lower version of the add-in are supported by the current version. For example, you can use the new 2005 version of the IBP Excel add-in to open a planning view that was saved in the 2002 version.
You can share a planning view with others who don't have the SAP IBP Excel add-in installed. To do this use the Go offline switch in the Data Input group. Users without the SAP IBP Excel add-in can also work in the offline planning view. Once the user makes their changes, the the updated file can be sent back to the SAP IBP Excel add-in users. If you (as an SAP IBP Excel add-in user) go back online using the Go online toggle button you can make further edits to the planning view and upload it to the server.
2) Frozen Windows
In earlier releases, the Inventory optimization algorithm did not consider the frozen windows and dynamically simulated the supply plan in the background using the supply sourcing rules and derive the downstream demand. To be frank, this didn’t work well,especially in industries that plan using master production schedules and have a longer freeze time.
With the 2005 update, SAP has introduced the new frozen window master data type attributes. This change will enable the locking of work order requirements independent of changes in demand. These attributes allow you to define the weeks of required unchanged demand downstream from a source of production, transportation, or customer-facing warehouse.
The following 3 attributes as key figures were created to support use cases where upstream nodes have planned periods of zero supply sourcing and downstream nodes have to cover the implicit service variability for such.
IO Customer Frozen Window(IOCFROZENWINDOW)
IO Transportation Frozen Window(IOTFROZENWINDOW)
For transportation sourcing, this attribute as key figure specifies how many weeks of downstream demand forecast are frozen. Changes in demand forecast can only occur beyond the specified window.
IO Production Frozen Window(IOPFROZENWINDOW)
For production sourcing, this attribute as key figure specifies how many weeks of downstream demand forecast are frozen. Changes in demand forecast can only occur beyond the specified window.
Take a tour of some of the highlights of the Microsoft Excel Add-In for SAP IBP 2005.
3) Multi-Language Support
Earlier versions of Excel add-in supported multiple languages, but mainly restricted to the IBP excel ribbon. In the 2005 release, SAP has enabled multilanguage support allowing IBP to handle supported modeling object types in multiple languages! After enabling the function, you can set a default language and define additional languages for use in your applications. All the Attributes and Key figures descriptions can now be maintained in multiple languages and displayed both in Fiori and Excel UI in the logon language of the user.
The new App also enables you to upload and download translations for the supported modeling object properties in those languages and view the translation status. Game changer for our global organizations!
4) Order Information (Time Series to Order Series Navigation)
All APO users LOVE the ease with which you can easily navigate to the orders information from the time-series key figures – for example if you have total production of 2000 units in June, you can drill down into details to see the underlying orders. SAP IBP now supports this functionality in the Web-views! Thanks to 2005 you can now show information from order-based planning in the planning views of the Web-Based Planning app.
For some external key figures, you can also see the orders that make up a key figure value. This information can help you understand the results of a planning run. As compared to APO, IBP offers more flexibility in terms of viewing the key-figures using any combination of attributes that the definition of the key figure allows at different levels of detail.
5) Planning Calendars App
You can now create new planning calendars using the Planning Calendars app to achieve more accurate planning by defining exceptional days, thus reflecting the diversity of the working schedule of your locations. The planning calendars can be used as inbound calendars in time-series-based supply planning.
This will allow the integration of factory calendars in S/4 or ECC with the inbound calendar in IBP. Warehouse closed on Sundays? You can use this new feature to define whether a period is working or non-working, enabling you to specify when a receiving location for a location source of supply is open or closed, that is, when it can and can’t receive goods.
Don’t just take my word for it! Hop into IBP and check out some of these new features for yourself. Have questions about the new features or how they may impact your business and process? That’s what we are here for! Reach out to us at to schedule a demo or talk to our experts.
