Describing Model Components - Master Data Types and Key Figures

Master data types represent categories of information, for example, customer, location, product, or resource. You use master data types to segment planning data.

Every data value in SAP Integrated Business Planning (IBP) is associated with some master data. SAP IBP master data structures are called master data types (MDTs). Some examples are given in the figure.

The following figure shows what the S6PRODUCT master data type looks like.

The following figure shows what the S6LOCATION master data type looks like.

The following figure shows what the S6CUSTOMER master data type looks like.

The following figure shows what the S6LOCATIONPRODUCT master data type looks like.

The following figure shows what the S6CURRENCY, S6CURRENCYTO, and S6EXCHANGERATE master data types look like.

The figure shows what the S6UOMTO and S6UOMCONVERSION master data types look like.

The following figure shows what the S6SALESORDER and S6DELIVERY master data types look like.

It is vitally important to load the master data in the correct sequence, that is, from simple to compound to reference.

Key figures are a series of numbers over time, where each number corresponds to a particular time period value.

Key figures have a business context: In SAP Integrated Business Planning, end users view and use key figures in the planning views or in Analytics. Every key figure has a base planning level.

Key figures are associated with a key, which is a combination of attributes from one or more master data objects.

Typically, several lines of business (LoBs) within a company are involved in demand planning. The key figure definitions of SAP6 can consider these different needs, to allow for cross-functional collaboration by still having LoB specific measures, e.g. for:

• Sales
• Marketing
• Supply Chain Management

The key figure definitions of the sample model also ensures that planning steps can be performed in quantity units, but also providing valuation of planning results and including value based information, such as historical or planned revenue.

In standard SAP6, the sales history is usually modeled using order data (which is required for Demand Sensing).

In case Demand Sensing is not in scope during implementation, the sales history could also be loaded as time series data and used for the Statistical Forecasting.

The following is an example of quantity key figures used by the different roles involved – and the consensus key figure to be used for the final agreement.

The following figure shows an example of how price key figures are used in the mid- to long-term Demand Planning process:

• ACTUALSREV: Used to store actual revenue. It is currency dependent, and requires that currency conversion is modeled in the system. Underlying assumption: Data is available and uploaded by the customer.
• ACTUALSPRICE: Calculated price based on ACTUALSREV and ADJDELIVQTY (Actual Sales Qty)
• STATISTICALFCSTPRICE: Stored price information mainly used for future periods and created either by using a statistical forecasting method or by manual update/ upload.
• SALESFCSTPRICE: Calculated price information, using the Actuals Price for historical periods and the forecasted/ estimated price for future periods.
• SALESFCSTREV: Calculated revenue based on SALESFCSTQTY and SALESFCSTPRICE.
• CONSENSUSDEMANDREV: Calculated revenue based on CONSENSUSDEMAND and SALESFCSTPRICE.
• MARKETINGFCSTREV: Calculated revenue based on MARKETINGFCSTQTY and SALESFCSTPRICE.

The following figure shows more key figures for the future and ex-post forecast used to identify the accuracy of fit of the forecasting model.

In the following figure, we see key figures to store data at the order level.

In the following figure, we see key figures to store order data aggregated at the time series level.

The following list shows what you can do with the SAP IBP, add-in for Microsoft Excel:

• Define planning views to suit different business needs.

  A planning view is a user-defined data report in Excel that allows you to view, edit, and share planning data stored in the database. For example, if you perform capacity planning, you can define a planning view that allows you to compare the capacity load, required capacity, and available capacity in particular locations on a monthly or quarterly basis.

  From a technical point of view, a planning view is a user-defined data report that allows you to view, edit, and share information directly from the application database and save it back to the database. All generated planning views can be stored locally as Excel data files or shared with other users in the system.

  You can use planning views to show and edit key figure data and master data in a time series, and perform simulations on the data. In other words, planning views provide the means by which you can perform your daily planning activities as a planner in SAP IBP.

  You can use the following functions while working with planning views:

  • Filter the data and save the filters.

  • Save planning views as favorites.

  • Add new planning objects.

  • Copy settings from one planning view to another.

  • Drill down in the data to see more detail.

  • Use the quick edit.

  • Simulate the effect of changes in your planning view.

  • Create scenarios.

  • Define additional versions of your planning view.

  • Work offline.

• Use your planning view to update planning data and simulate scenarios.

  In your planning views, you can do the following, for example, edit planning data according to your requirements and save the changes to the database, simulate different planning scenarios and save the changes to the database, or save the simulation as a scenario that can be shared with other users, compare different versions in one planning view, for example, upside and downside, record changes to key figures in the change history.

  A simulation recalculates the planning view to simulate a scenario with the changes applied. You can create what-if simulations to see how certain changes in the planning data affect your overall plan. You can then save the changes or refresh the view to discard the changes. You can also save the changes as a scenario.

  You can display a list of your scenarios or change the settings for scenarios by choosing Manage in the Scenarios group. For each scenario, you can change the header data, and you can define whether the scenario is to be reset (the data is erased but the scenario is kept), promoted (the data is saved permanently to the database and the scenario is reset), deleted, or duplicated.