What is Extended Planning and Analysis (xP&A)?
Briefing:
The Extended Planning and Analysis is a prepackaged content for SAP Analytics Cloud designed to establish a simplified, comprehensive planning process by bringing together financial, supply chain, and workforce planning. By creating one connected plan across lines of business, they can strengthen collaboration throughout the organization.
The challenges:
Conventional financial planning methods often revolve around summarizing financial data, yielding a basic comparison of actual figures against projected numbers within a financial statement layout. Although this output remains essential, in practice, such approaches tend to fall short in delivering substantial value to the organization because of the following obstacles:
- Prolonged time cycles
- Limited relevance to day-to-day operations
- Absence of transparency and integration with key business drivers, key performance indicators (KPIs), and insightful analytics
- Incapacity to delve into the fundamental causes of issues
- Constrained scenario exploration and modeling capabilities
Consequently, enterprises find themselves grappling with compartmentalized planning perspectives, devoid of collaboration or cohesion among planners. The outcome is disjointed plans and a lack of comprehensive transparency spanning the entirety of the business. As a result, this circumstance hampers their ability to respond adeptly to unforeseen events and challenges, including escalating costs and disruptions in the supply chain.
The solution:
The Extended Planning & Analysis (xP&A) adopts an innovative approach to planning by leveraging the core strengths of financial planning and analysis (FP&A), including continuous planning, predictive forecasting, advanced analytics, and vigilant performance tracking. Furthermore, xP&A extends beyond finance, bringing the capabilities of FP&A into operational departments.
Beyond this, it dismantles the traditional barriers segregating financial and operational domains, forging connections among strategic, financial, and operational blueprints. This unified methodology empowers businesses to navigate modern challenges seamlessly and unlock newfound avenues for profitability.
The Planning areas that xP&A covers:
Financial planning: The financial planning process in SAC uses S/4HANA predeveloped content packages allowing users to fast-track financial planning and analysis transformations; with the live connectivity between plans and actuals, automated allocations and multistep planning processes, and financial analytics dashboards.
Human Resources: The workforce planning process in SAC leverages SAP SuccessFactors content packages, thereby fast-tracking users’ workforce planning and analytics transformations. In addition, it provides detailed operational headcount planning, covering new hires, transfers, contingent workers, and organizational KPIs such as staffing, positions, and attribution.
Supply Chain: The Supply chain planning process on SAC uses SAP Integrated Business Planning and SAP S/4HANA content packages to kick start users’ digital supply chain transformations; through harvesting insights from design to operating with augmented analytics, extending supply chain planning processes with financial, strategic and operational alignment, and the simulation of outcomes based on supply chain and financial drivers.
FP&A and IFP
Either FP&A (Rapid Financial Planning & Analytics) which is finance focused, or IFP (Integrated Financial Planning) which is controlling focused, can be used depending on the business requirements. Both are packages for SAP S/4HANA accounting.
FP&A (Rapid Financial Planning & Analytics) Content is:
- Finance/Financial Accounting focused
- Best practices scope documentation
- S4 on premise and cloud
- Indirect integration to SF via S4
- CAPEX in development
- HR is Finance led.
Integration process of FP&A
FP&A’s Global nature requires:
- Local and Global Currency
- Base and Standard Unit of Measure
- Aggregate views of Customer, Products, Jobs/Locations, and Capital Assets
- Integration to S4, SuccessFactors, and 3rd party sources
FP&A’s Corporate nature requires:
- Planning + Analysis; P&L, BS, Cash Flow
- Dashboard / Visualizations / KPI’s
- Trend, Variance, Year-over-Year analysis
- Simple/common End-user Experience
- Headcount + Capital Asset monitoring
SAP FP&A Solutions: Four Key Planning Areas:
1. FP&A Profit & Loss / Cash Flow / Balance Sheet
This is the central hub where all financial data is consolidated. Information is available by company and profit center, providing a full picture of organizational performance.
- Expense Analysis: Expenses can be analyzed by cost center, though cost centers do not carry revenue.
- Profit Centers: Derived from cost centers in expense postings, allowing alignment between operational costs and financial reporting.
This area forms the backbone of your FP&A processes, enabling accurate financial planning, forecasting, and reporting.
2. Workforce
Workforce data in SAP FP&A originates from cost centers. This allows organizations to plan headcount, track workforce costs, and align staffing with operational needs. Using pre-delivered SAC content, you can model new hires, transfers, contingent workers, and more, making workforce planning faster and more accurate.
3. Sales
Sales data originates from the profit center, making it essential for revenue forecasting.
- Plant Requirement: The plant is required to determine the correct profit center for each customer sale.
- Unit of Measure Conversion: The sales model includes automatic UoM conversions (using account properties), which ensures accurate reporting and aggregation across different units like cases, pieces, or kilograms.
This ensures that sales forecasts are aligned with operational realities, helping businesses respond quickly to changing demand.
4. Capital Expenditures
CapEx data also originates from cost centers, allowing organizations to plan and track capital investments efficiently. With this setup, you can model budget allocations, approvals, and investment tracking, ensuring alignment between planned and actual expenditures.
SAP FP&A for SAP S/4HANA with SAP Analytics Cloud: Delivered Content
Planning:
- Prebuilt financial planning and analysis model based on SAP S/4HANA
- Accelerators include: proposed planning process, planning input templates, plan calculations + “assumptions generator” and currency conversion
- Profit and Loss, Balance Sheet, Cash Flow, KPI planning and analysis
Analysis:
- Prebuilt set of analytical dashboards, key performance indicators, and predictive features (customizable as the user sees fit)
- Accelerators include: Trend reports, Year-over-Year reports, Actual vs Plan Variance reports.
- Simplified reporting and Analytics across financial statements and KPI’s
Integration:
- Best Practices to integrate financial results from SAP S/4HANA into SAP Analytics Cloud, plus retract plan data back into SAP S/4HANA
- Accelerators include prebuilt integration jobs and best practices integration methodologies + documentation
- Plus: Rapid Sales + Rapid Workforce
Available content on SAC:
| Stories ID | Description |
|---|---|
| SAP_FI_FPA_IM_S4FinancialPlan_Dashboard | SAP Finance: FP&A – Rapid Financial Planning & Analysis for SAP S/4HANA – Dashboard |
| SAP_FI_FPA_IM_S4FinancialPlan_Input | SAP Finance: FP&A – Rapid Financial Planning & Analysis for SAP S/4HANA – Input Forms |
| SAP_FI_FPA_IM_S4FinancialPlan_RapidSuite_LandingPage | SAP Finance: FP&A – Rapid Financial Planning & Analysis for SAP S/4HANA (3 scope items) – Landing Page |
| SAP_FI_FPA_IM_S4FinancialPlan_Report | SAP Finance: FP&A – Rapid Financial Planning & Analysis for SAP S/4HANA – Reports |
| Model ID | Description |
|---|---|
| SAP_FI_FPA_IM_S4FinancialPlan | SAP Finance: xP&A: Corp FP&A – Rapid Financial Planning & Analysis for SAP S/4HANA – New Model Type – ver 4 – May 2023 |
SAP Rapid Workforce Planning and Analysis for SAP S/4HANA using SAP Analytics Cloud (New Model Type) delivered content:
Headcount Planning:
- Prebuilt workforce planning model based on SAP SuccessFactors & SAP S/4HANA
- Accelerators include: proposed planning process, planning input templates, plan calculations + “assumption generator” and currency conversion
- Plan fires, transfers, terminations
Employee Expense Planning:
- Planners plan employee-related expense: salary, bonus, benefits, travel, & office expenses
- “Assumption generator” leverages historical trends into the workforce planning process
- Enables a critical layer of cost center planning in a financial planning and analysis scenario
Integration:
- Best Practices to integrate SAP S/4HANA & SuccessFactors into SAP Analytics Cloud
- Accelerators include prebuilt integration jobs and best practice integration methodologies + documentation
- Plus: Rapid Finance + Rapid Sales
Available content on SAC
| Stories ID | Description |
|---|---|
| SAP_FI_FPA_IM_S4WorkforcePlan_Dashboard | SAP Finance: FP&A – Rapid Workforce Planning & Analysis for SAP S/4HANA – Dashboard |
| SAP_FI_FPA_IM_S4WorkforcePlan_Input | SAP Finance: FP&A – Rapid Workforce Planning & Analysis for SAP S/4HANA – Input Forms |
| SAP_FI_FPA_IM_S4WorkforcePlan_Input_NewPositions | SAP Finance: FP&A – Rapid Workforce Planning & Analysis for SAP S/4HANA – Input Form – New Positions |
| SAP_FI_FPA_IM_S4WorkforcePlan_Report | SAP Finance: FP&A – Rapid Workforce Planning & Analysis for SAP S/4HANA – Reports |
| Model ID | Description |
|---|---|
| SAP_FI_FPA_IM_S4WorkforcePlan | SAP Finance: xP&A: Corp FP&A – Rapid Workforce Planning & Analysis for SAP S/4HANA (+SuccessFactors) – New Model Type – ver 3 – Feb 2023 |
SAP Rapid Sales Planning & Analysis for SAP S/4HANA using SAP Analytics Cloud (New Model Type) delivered content:
Planning:
- Prebuilt sales planning model based on SAP S/4HANA
- Accelerators include: proposed planning process, planning input templates, plan calculations + “assumption generator” and currency conversion + std unit of measure
- 4 drivers: Price, Discount %, COGS, and Quantity
Analysis:
- Prebuilt analytical dashboard, key performance indicators, and predictive features, Customizable as user sees fit.
- Accelerators include: Margin and KPI Trend reports, Year-over-Year reports, Actual vs Plan reports
- Visual customer and product mix analysis of revenue, margin, price, and quantity
Integration:
- Best Practices to integrate sales finance results from SAP S/4HANA into SAP Analytics Cloud
- Accelerators include prebuilt integration jobs and best practice integration methodologies + documentation
- Plus: Rapid Finance + Rapid Workforce
Available content on SAC
| Stories ID | Description |
|---|---|
| SAP_FI_FPA_IM_S4SalesPlan_Dashboard | SAP Finance: FP&A – Rapid Sales Planning & Analysis for SAP S/4HANA – Dashboard |
| SAP_FI_FPA_IM_S4SalesPlan_Dashboard | SAP Finance: FP&A – Rapid Sales Planning & Analysis for SAP S/4HANA – Input Form |
| SAP_FI_FPA_IM_S4SalesPlan_Report | SAP Finance – FP&A: Rapid Sales Planning & Analysis for SAP S/4HANA – Reports |
| Model ID | Description |
|---|---|
| SAP_FI_FPA_IM_S4SalesPlan | SAP Finance: xP&A: Corp FP&A – Rapid Sales Planning & Analysis for SAP S/4HANA – New Model Type – ver 3 – Feb 2023 |