SAC as an alternative to IBP for sales and operations planning

A pragmatic approach to your sales and operations planning

Planning sales, demand, and production is a key success factor for many companies—but it is also one of their biggest challenges. Different planning approaches, fragmented tools such as Excel or SAP BW, and a lack of central platforms make the process difficult. Specialized solutions such as SAP Integrated Business Planning (IBP) promise to remedy this situation—but for many companies, they are too complex and costly.  

This is where SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC) comes in: it offers a flexible, integrated alternative that helps companies streamline their S&OP processes. In this blog post, we outline the possibilities SAC offers, when it makes sense to use it, and how companies can use it to streamline their S&OP processes.

S&OP in practice: challenges and opportunities

Companies face the following typical problems in S&OP planning: different planning logics, isolated tools, and a high level of coordination between sales, production, and the supply chain. This is exactly where SAC shows its strength: it bundles data from various sources on a central platform and enables consistent, transparent, collaborative planning.

Compared to SAP Integrated Business Planning (IBP), SAC is therefore particularly suitable for less complex, more aggregated planning processes. While IBP offers optimization logic for complex supply chains, SAC impresses with its flexibility, intuitive operation, and fast implementation. Companies thus benefit from a solution that is easy to implement without having to rebuild their entire system landscape.

Support S&OP processes with SAC

With SAC, companies can digitally map their S&OP processes step by step:

• Sales planning: Products and customers can be planned using intuitive masks. Quantity and sales data are linked, and changes are locked after approval.
• Requirements planning: Requirements can be determined based on sales planning, taking into account open orders, safety stocks , and various scenarios.
• Production and capacity planning: Bottlenecks become visible at an early stage. Shift models, working hours, or production volumes can be simulated and adjusted.

In addition, other factors—such as price-volume effects resulting from discount campaigns—can also be flexibly mapped. Integration into the SAP system, for example via Datasphere or BW, enables data to be easily fed back into the ERP system—a real advantage over other non-SAP tools.

Tool selection and process model

The decision between SAC and IBP depends on complexity, standardization, and the required functionalities—and is not necessarily an either/or question. For example, SAC can be used for sales and demand planning, while complex optimizations run in IBP, or SAC can function as an integrating platform with IBP in the background. A structured approach helps companies find the right solution and implement it successfully.

The following approach has proven successful in practice:

1. Maturity analysis: Analyze objectives and current S&OP processes. Short, focused assessment workshops help to quickly gain clarity on relevant areas of action and priorities.
2. Process modeling: Detailed planning of individual S&OP processes, including workflows and approvals. This provides important information for the final tool selection and a blueprint for implementation.
3. Implementation: Plan and prepare measures to ensure that the designed solution can be implemented efficiently and delivers visible results quickly.

The goal is to ensure that the tool decision is not only made theoretically, but also truly fits individual requirements, remains flexible, and at the same time delivers quick results and initial added value.

Conclusion: It depends on the organizational structures

SAP Analytics Cloud is a smart alternative for S&OP processes, especially for companies that want to centralize, simplify, and make their planning more flexible. SAC combines intuitive planning, transparent workflows, and easy integration into the SAP system—an opportunity to significantly increase the efficiency and quality of your planning. Since SAC is already used in many companies for other processes such as financial planning or analysis, existing resources, data, and experience can, in the best case, be used directly.

For highly complex optimizations or in-depth production sequences, IBP or other specialized solutions such as Kinaxis remain the best choice—but for many applications, SAC offers exactly the right balance between functionality and user-friendliness.

We would be happy to support you with our expertise in finding the right approach for your specific S&OP requirements. Just get in touch with us.  

A little spoiler: In the next part of our blog series, we will examine the consequences of the discontinuation of SAP APO, when the right time to switch is, and what opportunities this presents. Stay tuned.

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