Which SAP IBP module?

[Former Member]

Hi IBP experts,

I am basically a SAP PP functional consultant and recently has started working on APO (DP & SNP). Considering future requirement and to be ready, I wanted to learn and strongly wish to work in IBP and need your guidance.

Considering my skills (SAP PP and APO on secondary) , kindly suggest which IBP area/s would be the best suite to start with. The courses offered by SAP (not available or available rarely in selected countries), SOP200 & SOP300 and IBP200 to IBP600. Is IBP200 or SOP200 the basic course one has to opt first and then to the actual area courses?

I have already read the forum articles, FAQ's and other sites to understand what IBP is at high level and associated modules (Supply Chain Control Tower, Sales & Operations Planning, Demand, Inventory, Supply and Response).

Please guide.

Thanks in advance.

Regards,

DeeGee

[somnath_manna · Accepted solution]

Hi Deepak,

Considering you have core SAP PP skills, should you focus in IBP or explore (Simple)Logistics in S/4 HANA. In fact APO PPDS would have been natural transition for you than DP & SNP modules. Note PPDS is soon moving into S/4 HANA as advanced Production Planning, so focusing on it would be a good idea.

If you are comfortable with APO DP & SNP then you can transition to IBP S&OP fairly quick on the fundamentals although technically there are significant architectural differences. IBP Supply would also make sense and for Demand only the Stat Forecasting part - Demand Sensing is a different beast.

On the other hand IBP Inventory is different from anything in APO SNP unless someone has experience in Advanced Safety Stock Planning or working with SmartOps EIO. IBP Control Tower is interesting - closest I can relate it is Supply Chain Engineer and Plan Monitor in APO that hardly anyone uses. Control Tower fundamentally need understanding of Industry KPIs, SCOR Metrics other than that there is nothing much except managing the data integration from APO (for SNP keyfigures) and ECC (for Sales Orders and Schedule Line / Deliveries).

Longish rant but this is what I have concurred based on my IBP exploration so far

Cheers,

Somnath

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Thnaks Somnath for your time to answer my question in detail; based on your longish run I hope you will answer my below associated queries

I understand the point on APO PPDS, but what I think is; it will be completely new to me to go ahead with though it is much associated with SAP PP.

Not yet concluded, as Irmi suggested in her post; one has to basically start with IBP200 and 300 (or SOP 200 and 300 as both have common functionality) to enter specific IBP modules later on. I hope yours will be the same suggestion.

Is IBP S&OP the another specific training than SOP200 & SOP300 or SOP200 and SOP300 includes the complete IBP S&OP module?

Also, can you please elaborate more on your sentence "or explore (Simple) Logistics in S/4 HANA"?

Cheers!!!

Deepak

[somnath_manna · Accepted solution]

First I share my thoughts IBP training content, SOP200 and 300 are good content in SAP Learning Hub, only thing I found actual configuration / setup understanding content to be 30-40% of the total. In fact SOP300 has entire content repeated twice (if you get overwhelmed by 1000+ pages of content) plus there is some overlap between SOP200 and 300. IBP S&OP including Supply should get covered with these two courses. IBP 400 is for Inventory while IBP 500 is Control Tower module / component.

Next regarding APO: Any application transitioning / learning is a 2 pronged approach - process and technology. In that respect SAP PP consultant can transition to APO PPDS as process is similar while technology is different but still can be picked up. With APO DP and SNP not only is process (ready functionalities) is different but technology (read data model, setup & solution approach) is also. Not sure about your journey but I have seen PP consultants struggle initially with APO concepts like liveCache, Planning Area, TimeSeries / OrderSeries, Heuristics, Stat Forecasting, BW Data Mart and whole Planning Model for DP and SNP. I shall limit here as its more of APO space discussion.

Similarly I feel APO DP & SNP consultants would find it easier to transition / learn IBP because the process part is similar and the technology is less of a gap to bridge.

Finally on "or explore (Simple) Logistics in S/4 HANA": You can start with my blog but really you need to deep dive in the S/4 HANA community space

Some good blogs to start on S/4 HANA

http://scn.sap.com/community/s4hana/blog/2015/12/18/christmas-time-time-for-family-friends-and-catch...

http://scn.sap.com/community/s4hana/blog/2015/12/23/beginners-guide-to-transitioning-to-s4hana-1511-...

Note SAP has removed the name Simple Logistics don't worry about S4HANA 1511 version - its yymm nomenclature.

Happy reading and exploring!

Somnath

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Thank you Somnath addressing my queries in so detail.

I wish, I would have the same ability you have, to address someone's tech. related questions in proper way and will surely try to be that level.

Thanks again!!!

Regards,

Deepak

[Irmi_Kuntze]

Hi DeeGee

This was discussed already a couple of times

Nevertheless, you can consider the 200 as the basic IBP training and 300 as advanced training. They contain (even if they sometimes are refered to as "SOP") common functionality of all IBP

The others such as IBP 600 than specialize on nspecific areas

So, start with 200 and 300. And once available for you the future "Supply & Response" may be of interest

Merry Christmas

Irmi

[Former Member]

Thanks Irmi clearing predicament on IBP200 & SOP200; both have common functionality of IBP to go.

Merry Christmas!!!