New features of SAP IBP 2211 - Five selected features of the 2211 upgrade of SAP IBP.
In November 2022, SAP released the 2211 upgrade of SAP Integrated Business Planning (IBP). Just as with the previous releases, we have compiled a staff-picked list of five features of the SAP IBP 2211 upgrade that we believe your company can benefit from and that can take your supply chain planning to the next level.
Five selected features of the 2211 upgrade of SAP IBP
1. You can now use Group Tasks with Collaboration Tools, and navigation has been improved
With the latest release, it is now possible to create group tasks and use them with collaboration tools. In fact, since the collaboration tools do not handle group tasks, a shared task is created in the collaboration tool with separate statuses for your assignees.
A Group Task is a task that is assigned to multiple people, to be executed and completed by any of them. With the latest release, it is now possible to synchronise the group tasks to the collaboration tools (SAP Jam and Work Zone).
2. Sorting based on key figure values – a simple but wonderful feature has arrived
For a long time, it has been difficult to create a view that focuses on the most important product, based on the total sales or value of that product. Luckily, this has been resolved with the upcoming release of SAP IBP 2211. With the new feature of sorting your key figures, you can now focus your effort where it matters the most in your planning scope.
This new addition to the Excel add-in may seem small, but it is truly something that we have missed in our planning process, and it helps planners focus on exception-based planning rather than viewing all products at once.
3. Interactive changes to planning calendar information enabled by new key figures
For the new 2211 release, SAP has enabled users to overwrite the planning calendar information during an interactive planning run. The overwrite of a calendar key figure is relevant for supply planning if you want to simulate how additional non-working days will affect your projected stock, the number of transportations and other elements affecting the working capital of your inventory. The calendar key figures enable you to simulate your assumptions quickly and without changing the master data or changing the master data calendars just for simulation purpose.
4. Improvements to the Master Data Management Capabilities
Following the continuous improvements to the Manage Master Data application from the previous version of SAP IBP, additional enhancements are introduced in the 2211 release of SAP IBP. The ability to manage master data has been improved both by enhancements to the Manage Master Data app, but also by the introduction of a new app, Manage Rules for Master Data Maintenance, and a new application job, Rule-Based Master Data Maintenance. For the Manage Master Data app, two functionalities have been added.
5. Manage Analytics Stories
One of the most highly anticipated parts of the 2211 SAP IBP release is the introduction of the new application Manage Analytics Stories, also known as embedded SAC. The Manage Analytics Stories application enables users to create charts and advanced dashboards, and these visualisations are gathered in what is called stories. The application is somewhat similar to what users will recognise from SAP Analytics Cloud.
Some of the highlights from the application explored here include:
- Grid design increasing dashboard flexibility
- Link data visualisations to other stories or even other systems
- Blending of data from multiple planning areas
- Input control to analyse data
- Calculated Measures
See examples and read a lot more about the five features here.
