Why a move from SAP APO to SAP IBP is not worth the investment
Author: Jurgen Maas
As may be well known, SAP APO will be end of life in 2027. As it’s replacement SAP introduced SAP IBP which is available on the HANA platform. This means that existing SAP APO customers face some important choices. Dive in to read about other possibilities.
Migrate SAP ECC towards S/4HANA
The existing SAP APO is an “addition” on top of SAP ECC. As SAP ECC/APO is on a different platform than S/4 HANA they are not compatible for a direct migration. This means that if you want to migrate towards SAP IBP, first your ECC instance should be migrated toward the HANA platform, and only then IBP can be implemented.
You notice the word “implemented” as due to the fact of the incompatibility, it would be a new implementation, with all its disadvantages such as cost and throughput time.
Missing functionalities in HANA
In the case that you already using the HANA platform and want to use IBP instead of APO. You need to be aware of the fact that there are some major differences between the two solutions. While APO had different modules, with all of its strengths and weaknesses these modules are not one on one available in IBP.
In fact, some functionalities that are available in APO are to this day not available in IBP. For example, the APO module gATP (Global Available to Promise) and PP/DS (Production Planning/Detailed Scheduling). That means for those missing functionalities you need to find some alternatives or wait until SAP will implement them (and there is no ETA for that!).
Planadigm’s preferred solution
SAP APO or IBP is very good solution, but as an organization you are “forced” to work in a certain way to make the most out of the SAP landscape. If you want to change your business process, it is not easy to reflect this way in SAP as it will be a lot of customization and effort to make it work.
Another option is to look for alternative solutions, but what should you look for? Think about the following functionalities: agility, forecasting possibilities and methods, extensive scenario management, transparency, business owned, low total cost of ownership, and a quick return on investment. We believe that one of those alternatives could be Pigment, with the latest technology that is currently available. Pigment is a business planning platform that is flexible and is quickly adaptable to your business processes and needs. In the current environment of global uncertainty, change is constant; organizations need a solution that can quickly reflect that.
According to an independent research from Forrester Consulting, implementing Pigment has a payback time of less than 6 months, due to time saved for creating plans, forecasts, scenarios and analysis of the data. Moreover, after 3 years with Pigment, the return on investment is more than 300%.

A little bit more about Pigment
Pigment has also some differentiated features compared to the legacy systems:
- Multidimensional modelling engine;
- Workflow management and automations to collaborate together in one platform;
- Real-time integrated planning as updates happen in real-time and across different applications;
- Revolutionize your reporting experience to one where dynamic reporting is tailored to your selections;
- Run one-click scenarios for instant insights and visualize variances with formulas-free scenario comparison;
- Streamline communication with cell-level comments and stay updated with automated data change notifications;
- Limitless planning as Pigment is a sparse engine, and therefore, workspaces aren’t limited in capacity or number of users;
- Business-owned maintenance as users can build, update, and maintain their models over time on their own, in any way they want.
How to transition towards Pigment
Based on our experiences with previous customers moving towards Pigment; we created a transition framework/process that will help and guide you in defining the right requirements and the approach to migrate towards Pigment.
The transition consists of 5 simple steps:

Reflection
The implementation of any enterprise platform is a significant undertaking. Taken into account the implementation time, cost, return on investment and total cost of ownership, and other mentioned features.
That doesn’t mean that SAP IBP is not a good solution, it is just different. In the ever changing economic world we are currently having, it would be better to have the latest state-of-the-art planning platform that allows you to adapt quickly to your business needs and where the business is in control, not IT.
We have many reason to believe in Pigment at Planadigm. The aforementioned reasons are just the tip of the iceberg. Our focus is on this platform since we are convinced that it will guarantee the promised value to your business with our experienced consultants.
Do you want to know more about how Planadigm can help you transition to Pigment? Contact us at jurgen.maas@planadigm.com or fill in the form in our website.
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