The key aspect of demand review process is forecast enrichment by cross-functional teams. As a part of forecast collaboration, various teams – Sales, Marketing, Finance etc., provide their set of forecast numbers. Once final forecast is provided, planners should not change the data for that S&OP cycle. Also, planners should not update data in forecast freeze period.
This blog explains how to enable such selective editability in SAP IBP which can help in driving ownership and accountability of forecast numbers.
For S&OP cycle in November, Sales Planners provide their weekly forecast inputs in first week of October. Sales Planners should not be able to change their forecast after first week. Also, they should not change current and past forecast.
Sales Planners should also consider lead time window for a material whilst updating their forecast. They should update forecast only beyond certain forecast freeze period of a particular material.
Let’s discuss above scenario with an example. Here, material 1 has 5 weeks and material 2 has 4 weeks of forecast freeze window. For the first week of a month, planners should be able to change forecast for future periods depending on forecast freeze windows. After week 1, planner should not be able to change past, current, or future period forecasts.
There are primarily 2 requirements :
To grant editable access only for certain duration of time, process owners need to use a combination of process template, user group and permission filters.
Create a user group which will contain sales planners. You can create multiple such groups depending on organization structure and permissions to be assigned to each user group.
Configure 2 permission filters – One with no write access which will be assigned to sales planner’s user group. Another permission filter which allows write access. Do not assign sales planner’s user group to this permission filter.
Permission Filter 1 with only read access:
Assign sales planner’s user group to above permission filter.
Permission Filter 2 with write access:
Do not assign any user group to above permission filter.
Create a process template. Add a process step with relative start day as 0 and duration as 7. Under step setting, mark condition for automatic start as On Start Date and automatic end as On End Date. This will trigger the process step automatically on Day 1 and automatically end on Day 7 (first week of the month)
Under Planning Data Permissions, add new permission. Select Permission Filter to be assigned (filter which grants write access) and participant group as sales planner’s group created in earlier steps. Click on Apply and save the template.
Process owner can schedule a recurring process using above process template. This creates a new process instance for every S&OP cycle. Once a process instance is initiated, this process step gets triggered on specified start day. System then assigns Permission Filter in planning data permission to chosen participant group only for the duration of process step. The assignment is removed once process step is over.
This requirement can now be easily modeled using newly introduced Editability Horizon functionality. Let’s assume forecast freeze windows for a material location combination is maintained in Location Product MDT (integer attributes) If the attribute is left blank, system assumes it as unlimited horizon.
Configure an Editability Horizon for a key figure which will be used to capture sales planner’s input as shown below.
Assign this editability horizon along with SAP Default Horizon to Sales Planner’s business role under Write restriction > General > Editability Horizon.
Use IBP Formatting Sheet to highlight periods that are in forecast freeze window. Here, the dynamic editability horizon that we set up in above step gets considered.
Assume we are in first week of a month, here sales planners should be able to change future forecast basis forecast freeze window. Forecast freeze windows are maintained as 5 weeks for material 1 and 4 weeks for material 2.
The process instance created for S&OP cycle triggers the process step and assigns write permission filter to the user group selected under planning data permission. You can see the assignment in Permission Filter fiori app under Change History.
Planning View Template
Update the forecast and Click on Save Data.
Data gets saved.
IBP doesn’t allow planners to change values in forecast freeze periods.
Once process step is completed, assignment gets deleted.
Now we are in week II. Here, IBP doesn’t accept any changes made by sales planners in past, current or future periods – within or outside of forecast freeze window.
Thanks for reading. I hope this blog helps you to model selective editability to drive forecast collaboration.
This blog explains how to enable such selective editability in SAP IBP which can help in driving ownership and accountability of forecast numbers.
Business Scenario :
For S&OP cycle in November, Sales Planners provide their weekly forecast inputs in first week of October. Sales Planners should not be able to change their forecast after first week. Also, they should not change current and past forecast.
Sales Planners should also consider lead time window for a material whilst updating their forecast. They should update forecast only beyond certain forecast freeze period of a particular material.
Let’s discuss above scenario with an example. Here, material 1 has 5 weeks and material 2 has 4 weeks of forecast freeze window. For the first week of a month, planners should be able to change forecast for future periods depending on forecast freeze windows. After week 1, planner should not be able to change past, current, or future period forecasts.
How to model above scenario in SAP IBP?
There are primarily 2 requirements :
I. Provide editability access only for certain duration
II. Editability window basis forecast freeze period
Let’s discuss how to configure these 2 requirements in detail. Make sure sales planners have been assigned a restricted read/write business role.
I. Provide editability access only for certain duration
To grant editable access only for certain duration of time, process owners need to use a combination of process template, user group and permission filters.
User Group :
Create a user group which will contain sales planners. You can create multiple such groups depending on organization structure and permissions to be assigned to each user group.
Permission Filter :
Configure 2 permission filters – One with no write access which will be assigned to sales planner’s user group. Another permission filter which allows write access. Do not assign sales planner’s user group to this permission filter.
Permission Filter 1 with only read access:
Assign sales planner’s user group to above permission filter.
Permission Filter 2 with write access:
Do not assign any user group to above permission filter.
Process Template :
Create a process template. Add a process step with relative start day as 0 and duration as 7. Under step setting, mark condition for automatic start as On Start Date and automatic end as On End Date. This will trigger the process step automatically on Day 1 and automatically end on Day 7 (first week of the month)
Under Planning Data Permissions, add new permission. Select Permission Filter to be assigned (filter which grants write access) and participant group as sales planner’s group created in earlier steps. Click on Apply and save the template.
Process owner can schedule a recurring process using above process template. This creates a new process instance for every S&OP cycle. Once a process instance is initiated, this process step gets triggered on specified start day. System then assigns Permission Filter in planning data permission to chosen participant group only for the duration of process step. The assignment is removed once process step is over.
II. Editability window basis forecast freeze period
This requirement can now be easily modeled using newly introduced Editability Horizon functionality. Let’s assume forecast freeze windows for a material location combination is maintained in Location Product MDT (integer attributes) If the attribute is left blank, system assumes it as unlimited horizon.
Configure an Editability Horizon for a key figure which will be used to capture sales planner’s input as shown below.
Assign this editability horizon along with SAP Default Horizon to Sales Planner’s business role under Write restriction > General > Editability Horizon.
Usability Enhancement
Use IBP Formatting Sheet to highlight periods that are in forecast freeze window. Here, the dynamic editability horizon that we set up in above step gets considered.
Let’s see it in action
Assume we are in first week of a month, here sales planners should be able to change future forecast basis forecast freeze window. Forecast freeze windows are maintained as 5 weeks for material 1 and 4 weeks for material 2.
The process instance created for S&OP cycle triggers the process step and assigns write permission filter to the user group selected under planning data permission. You can see the assignment in Permission Filter fiori app under Change History.
Planning View Template
Update the forecast and Click on Save Data.
Data gets saved.
IBP doesn’t allow planners to change values in forecast freeze periods.
Once process step is completed, assignment gets deleted.
Now we are in week II. Here, IBP doesn’t accept any changes made by sales planners in past, current or future periods – within or outside of forecast freeze window.
Thanks for reading. I hope this blog helps you to model selective editability to drive forecast collaboration.
The views, thoughts and opinions expressed in the blog belong solely to the author, and not to the author's employer, organization, committee, or other group or individual.
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