BI and EPM come together in the 7.5 release of SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation

Hot off the heels of the announcement that Microsoft supports SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation, version for the Microsoft platform as a preferred solution for its customers, comes the latest edition of SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation. As a reminder, the application is available in two “flavors” – a version for the Microsoft platform and a version for SAP NetWeaver. The 7.5 releases of both versions have officially entered Ramp-Up (restricted shipment phase) and are available for customers that have applied and been accepted into the Ramp-Up program.

While there are a number of new features and enhancements in both the 7.5 version for the Microsoft platform and the 7.5 version for SAP NetWeaver, I’d like to call out a specific topic that comes up in conversations frequently with both users and prospective users of the application. Ever since Business Objects was acquired by SAP (January 2008), people have been asking if, when and how the SAP BusinessObjects BI tools can be used to access data within the SAP EPM applications to extend the reporting capabilities within the applications or reach new types of users that need to interact with the data contained in these applications to support decision making. The wheels had already been set in motion for this direct integration (I mean application layer access not simply extracting data out of the application into another data repository for reporting purposes) between SAP BusinessObjects BI tools and some of the applications in the EPM portfolio but was not yet available for SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation (with the exception of a workaround to embed Xcelsius dashboards in the application).

The situation changes with the 7.5 release. Integration between the SAP BusinessObjects BI tools and SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation is delivered in the 7.5 release of both versions (Microsoft and NetWeaver). Customers that have licenses for the SAP BusinessObjects BI tools can now use Xcelsius, Web Intelligence, Explorer and other tools to access information in SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation). For example, Xcelsius dashboards that display plan versus actual variances on key performance indicators, completed steps in a business process (yes, Business Process Flows are now available in the 7.5 release of SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation, version for SAP NetWeaver) or whatever information needs to be consumed in a “dashboard” layout can be created and embedded directly within the SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation application. This allows managers and executives to see and interact with high-level views of key information pertaining to planning, budgeting forecasting and financial consolidation processes. Budget contributors also benefit from the ability to input data in a simple, aesthetically pleasing, web-based schedule (via Xcelsius).

Integration between the BI tools and SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation doesn’t begin and end with Xcelsius. For example, using Web Intelligence, a business user can create a plan versus actual report on the fly (over the web) that pulls in plan data from SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation and actual data from a data warehouse and they could have this report saved and managed within their SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise environment (like all their other BI reports).

The question that typically follows, “Can I use the SAP BusinessObjects BI tools with SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation”, is, “When should I use the SAP BusinessObjects BI tools versus the reporting capabilities that come within SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation itself”? One reason to consider using the BI tools is for accessing and analyzing information from multiple sources of data including SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation. For example, as outlined above where a business user views a report/dashboard with plan data from SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation and actual data from an EDW. Secondly, organizations that already have the BI tools (there is a very large installed base of BusinessObjects users) may want to further leverage these investments or BusinessObjects is the standard for information access and they want to create, store and manage reports containing SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation data in SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise. A third reason to leverage the BI tools with SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation is to extend the reach of SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation information beyond the realm of Finance. While Finance loves Excel and Excel may be the most ubiquitous “reporting” tool on the planet, outside Finance there isn’t such an affinity. Not everyone is comfortable working in Excel and “casual” business users may prefer a cleaner, less complex interface to view and interact with information. SAP BusinessObjects Explorer has been designed for just this purpose.


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Measuring success - picking what's important

When it comes to strategic planning and execution it is the execution part that is the hardest and therefore should deserve the most attention. This is obvious as it is much harder to do something than merely say you’re going to do it. What is even harder is staying disciplined and making an activity a regular practice. Therefore, when selecting software applications to support and enable strategic planning and performance management activities it is important to consider how the solutions in question address the execution end of things and not just planning and reporting.

Solutions that fit this bill will include functionality for defining objectives (or goals), key performance indicators (KPIs) - we’ll use this term over metrics as we want to include the notion of a target as well as an actual value) and initiatives (high level activities). Key Performance Indicators in detail will be the subject of another blog.

The inclusion of initiatives is the aspect most likely overlooked. Without initiatives linked to objectives it is all too easy to lose track of what action is being performed to ensure action is being taken to achieve an objective and the resources, both in terms of money and people that are being assigned to the task. Furthermore, when teams are being utilized from across an organization the individuals assigned to an initiative may not report to the objective owner. By assigning owners to the initiatives visibility and accountability is achieved. Without this it is harder for an objective owner to manage work being performed on the initiatives in place.

Deciding what you are going to do (objectives) and how (initiatives) is fairly easy compared to defining suitable KPIs. However, it is the KPIs that are key to success (no pun intended). Selecting one or more metrics that truly measure performance on an objective determines whether you are really successful or just think you are. Let’s take an example from the game of soccer. It order to play soccer you need to be fit – pretty obvious. But what you really need is to be able to alternate between walking, jogging and then sprinting at high speed for short durations over a 90 minute period. So your objective is to be fit enough to be able to last 90 minutes and contribute throughout the game especially in the parts that involve sprinting and chasing after the ball. So you (or your coach) might decide that in order to meet this objective your training schedule (initiatives) should include lots of running. One way to do this might be to incorporate running fixed distances, with the goal of reducing the time it takes, into your training schedule. For example, reducing the time taken to run four miles from 36 mins to 28 mins. The problem here though is that even though you might meet your “goal” in running faster does it help you play soccer better and ultimately help your team win. It probably helps somewhat but you would be better served including drills that improve your sprinting ability along with the ability to keep playing at a competitive level for 45 minutes at a time.

We can (and should when thinking about KPIs) take this to another level. The fitness objective and associated KPIs are obviously important in a sport such as soccer. This would fall into the category of an output matric. Output metrics measure activity or results but not specifically the desired or eventual outcome from such activity. Examples from the business world would include number of widgets shipped or for the public sector the number of people vaccinated, and from our soccer example the number of goals scored or allowed. So fitness is a step towards winning soccer games but being fit, while likely helping, does not ensure or measure the ultimate goal of winning games or a championship. It may be (although not likely) that a much less fit team ends up being the winners.

In our training schedule for our soccer team we will likely have a number of input metrics (e.g. how many times we practice, how many times we run certain drills) which measure the effort and activity we are putting into our training as well as some output measures. When it comes to the actual matches our team plays we’ll also track some output measures, e.g. goals for and against. But what we really care about is the outcome measures. To this end winning is more important than scoring lots of goals. In this sense it is better to be the team that wins the most be it with low scoring games then one that scores lots of goals but doesn’t end up winning as many games (even though scoring goals is fun).

Understanding the distinction between input, output and outcome KPIs is an important step towards helping pick the right measures for your objectives. Deciding on and creating good KPIs are one of the hardest parts of strategy definition and something many organizations struggle with.

SAP BusinessObjects Strategy Management provides organizations with many capabilities to enable their strategic planning process and manage the execution of strategy.