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Number of reviews: 49
Customer Satisfaction
★★★★★★★★★★ 1.4/10
1.4
User Experience
★★★★★★★★★★ 2.7/10
2.7
Functionality
★★★★★★★★★★ 2.3/10
2.3
Business Value
★★★★★★★★★★ 1.7/10
1.7

SAP Business Planning and Consolidation (BPC)

What is SAP Business Planning and Consolidation (BPC)?

Integrated solution for planning and financial consolidation based on SAP BW/4HANA as the technical basis with web and Excel front-ends

  • SAP Business Planning and Consolidation (BPC) functions (BARC classification)
BI, Analytics & CPM
● Reporting / Dashboards
– Analysis
– Advanced Analytics
●● Planning
●● Financial Consolidation

● = Function covered, ●● = Functional focus

● = Function covered
●● = Functional focus

About SAP Business Planning and Consolidation (BPC)

Self-description of the vendor

No vendor self-description available
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SAP Business Planning and Consolidation (BPC) BARC Review & Rating

Provider and product description

SAP was founded in 1972 as a business applications company. Today, the vendor has a turnover of €29.52 billion, employs more than 100,000 people, and is one of the largest business software vendors in the world.

SAP’s data and analytics portfolio is based on the SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP), which provides cloud-based data, analytics, application integration and extension services across all SAP products. It encompasses solutions for BI, analytics, enterprise planning and performance management. From a strategy perspective, SAP is investing heavily in innovation in the cloud while still supporting and developing its on-premises solutions. SAP’s analytics and EPM solutions are spread across different product lines. For planning and budgeting, SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC) and the on-premises solution SAP Business Planning and Consolidation (BPC) are the core offerings. Both are supplemented by SAP S/4HANA Finance for Group Reporting for financial consolidation and close. SAP Analytics Cloud plays a central role in the company’s BI and analytics portfolio and combines comprehensive capabilities into one cloud environment. It is built on top of SAP HANA in-memory technology.

SAP BPC is SAP’s recommended product for those requiring an integrated on-premises planning and financial consolidation solution. The product was originally developed by OutlookSoft and was based on Microsoft SQL Server as a database platform. Since its acquisition by SAP, a second version for BW has been developed and capabilities from BW Integrated Planning (SAP’s own former BW-based planning product) have been introduced into SAP BPC.

The product is an integrated, Microsoft Excel and web-based solution for planning and financial consolidation that can be used to develop individual, workflow-based planning applications for various kinds of planning topics (e.g., sales, financials etc.). The latest version uses BW/4HANA as its basis. As an additional front-end option, SAP BPC customers can combine SAP Analytics Cloud with the product’s planning engine. SAP Analytics Cloud can access SAP BPC’s ‘Embedded’ model (data and structures) using a ‘BPC Live Connection’ without replicating data, thus providing write-back options for planning data directly into SAP BPC’s planning model in BW through write-back enabled queries.

Strengths and challenges of SAP Business Planning and Consolidation (BPC)

BARC’s viewpoint on the product’s strengths and challenges.

Strengths
  • Integrated on-premises platform with highly scalable planning and financial consolidation capabilities for web and workflow-based scenarios in SAP BPC based on SAP BW/4HANA.
  • Flexible planning tool for various planning topics and strategies (top-down/bottom-up, centralized/decentralized) with a focus on the business user in the front end (creation of workflows, planning masks etc.). Good, web-based workflow functions (business process flows) for controlling bottom-up planning processes.
  • Integration with SAP Analytics Cloud as an additional front-end option to access SAP BPC’s Embedded model (data and structures) using a ‘BPC Live Connection’ without replicating data, thus providing write-back options for planning data directly into SAP BPC’s planning model in BW through write-back enabled queries.
  • Exclusive connectivity (e.g., live access and direct write-back) and prebuilt content available for SAP’s own data sources and applications (e.g., SAP BPC with SAP BW/4HANA).
Challenges
  • SAP’s focus on cloud products such as SAP Analytics Cloud is leading to less innovation and fewer updates for the on-premises planning and analytics product portfolio (e.g., SAP BPC and SAP BusinessObjects BI). SAP BPC is developed and maintained to a moderate extent, but significant innovations flow into SAP Analytics Cloud.
  • SAP BPC Embedded Model: Back end in SAP BW is geared to IT staff for building database (cubes) and queries and is not very business-user-friendly. IT-focused creation of input-ready queries via query designer in Eclipse-based environment.
  • Depending on the model variant, different web and Excel-based front-end options (Standard Model: BPC Web Client, BPC EPM Add-in; Embedded Model: SAP Analysis for Office, SAP Lumira Designer, SAP Analytics Cloud).
  • Year after year, feedback in The Planning Survey reveals that many customers are dissatisfied with various aspects of SAP BPC. Comments from some customers indicate that their use of SAP BPC is born out of necessity rather than love for the product.
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SAP Business Planning and Consolidation (BPC) User Reviews & Experiences

The information contained in this section is based on user feedback and actual experience with SAP Business Planning and Consolidation (BPC).

The information and figures are largely drawn from BARC’s The BI & Analytics Survey, The Planning Survey, The Financial Consolidation Survey and The Data Management Survey. You can find out more about these surveys by clicking on the relevant links.

Who uses SAP Business Planning and Consolidation (BPC) in a planning context and how

Who uses SAP Business Planning and Consolidation (BPC) in a financial consolidation context and how

Why users buy SAP Business Planning and Consolidation (BPC) and what problems they have using it

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Full user reviews and KPI results for SAP Business Planning and Consolidation (BPC)

All key figures for SAP Business Planning and Consolidation (BPC) at a glance.

Premium content. Unlock with BARC+.
For just €79 per month (€948 per year) you can access all the paid content on www.barc.com.
Your benefits:
  • Get independent information on software solutions, market developments and trends in data, analytics, business intelligence, data science and corporate performance management.
  • Make data & analytics decisions based on numbers, data, facts and expert knowledge
  • Access to all premium articles and all our research, including all software comparison studies, scores and surveys.
  • Unlimited access to the BARC media library
  • Consume unlimited content anywhere
Buy now

Individual user reviews for SAP Business Planning and Consolidation (BPC)

Role
Member of a cross-departmental BI team
Number of employees
100 - 2.500
Industry
Manufacturing
Source
BARC Marketing, The Planning Survey 24, 04/2024
What do you like best?

Sehr fachbereichsbezogen, bei uns ist keine Involvierung der IT notwendig.

What do you like least/what could be improved?

Für hohe Automatisierung insbesondere in der Datenbereitstellung (via BW) hohes IT Knowhow notwendig, um Daten aus ERP ins BPC zu bekommen (Customizing).

What key advice would you give to other companies looking to introduce/use the product?

Einheitliche Logik / Prozesse im Unternehmen notwendig. Gute Datenqualität als Basis für eine hohe Automatisierung.

How would you sum up your experience?

Sehr gut, insofern guter Implementierungspartner vorhanden ist.

Role
Project manager for planning from IT
Number of employees
100 - 2.500
Industry
Process industry
Source
BARC Panel, The Planning Survey 24, 04/2024
What do you like best?

Single view. Ease of consolidation. Slice and dice.

What do you like least/what could be improved?

Long time of implementation and customer specific customization.

What key advice would you give to other companies looking to introduce/use the product?

Compare other products and check requirement as per your company’s fitment.

How would you sum up your experience?

Good to start and use.

Role
Project manager for planning from business department
Number of employees
More than 2.500
Industry
Retail
Source
BARC Panel, The Planning Survey 24, 04/2024
What do you like best?

The chance to work with Excel connected with BPC and the automation of manual processes.

What do you like least/what could be improved?

Slow performance and strong IT dependencies for maintenance.

What key advice would you give to other companies looking to introduce/use the product?

It is a good choice if used with SAP ECC transaction system.

How would you sum up your experience?

We can successfully manage corporate finance for a big company with a seamless integration with SAP ecosystem.

Role
Consultant
Number of employees
More than 2.500
Industry
Transportation and logistics
Source
BARC Panel, The Planning Survey 24, 04/2024
What do you like best?

Einfache Verbindung zu anderen SAP-Produkten.

What do you like least/what could be improved?

Kaum spezifische Eigenentwicklung / Anpassung möglich.

What key advice would you give to other companies looking to introduce/use the product?

Entfaltet volles Potential nur im SAP-Gesamtpaket.

How would you sum up your experience?

–

Role
Consultant
Number of employees
More than 2.500
Industry
Consulting
Source
BARC Panel, The Planning Survey 24, 04/2024
What do you like best?

Provides comprehensive capabilities and nice reports.

What do you like least/what could be improved?

User interface could be improved.

What key advice would you give to other companies looking to introduce/use the product?

Make sure you involve all the key stakeholders prior to purchasing, to get their input.

How would you sum up your experience?

It's a pretty good tool.

Role
Member of a cross-departmental BI team
Number of employees
More than 2.500
Industry
Utilities
Source
BARC Panel, The Planning Survey 24, 04/2024
What do you like best?

It's generic and able to serve as a self-serve tool for planning.

What do you like least/what could be improved?

It lacks capabilities native to the latest Cloud-based xP&A solutions especially integration to AI and ML tools.

What key advice would you give to other companies looking to introduce/use the product?

Consider the newest Cloud Planning xP&A solutions.

How would you sum up your experience?

It's good but not longer built for the current trends in XP&A

Role
Member of a cross-departmental BI team
Number of employees
More than 2.500
Industry
Retail
Source
BARC Panel, The Planning Survey 24, 04/2024
What do you like best?

SAP integration.

What do you like least/what could be improved?

Restrictions on customization.

What key advice would you give to other companies looking to introduce/use the product?

Conduct a POC.

How would you sum up your experience?

Solid product that does what it purports to.

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Survey Information
Number of reviews for SAP Business Planning and Consolidation (BPC)
49
Reviewed versions
Planning Survey 24: V10 71%, V11 29%; Consolidation Survey 24: 7% V7, 67% V10, 26% V11
Peer groups in the survey
Large/Enterprise-Wide Implementations, Products for Planning, Budgeting & Forecasting, Integrated Products for Planning and Financial Consolidation, Worldwide Implementations
Interactive planning software comparison
Compare financial planning products with our interactive self-service tool, The Planning Survey Analyzer.
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