
SAP Integrated Business Planning for Supply Chain solution (SAP IBP) is a complete system that can be leveraged to manage a corporation’s supply chain functions. It is a SAP HANA based cloud offering with several individual modules that manage a specific process. All of the modules can be used together for a robust supply chain, which gives individuals from various departments, end-to-end visibility into the health of the supply chain.
Many corporations today operate at a global level. Volatility and competition are high, and meeting customer service levels is critical.

In such a competitive, changing global market, agility, visibility, and accuracy are critical for a corporation's survival. SAP Integrated Business Planning brings data, people, and scenarios together in one place for greater business advantage.

SAP solutions help you to reach your goal using state-of-the-art business processes, connected planning processes, leveraging end-to-end visibility, and faster planning cycles.

SAP IBP is a world class integrated business planning solution that enables supply chain leaders to balance demand plans with network constraints and attain profitability goals.

One integrated model, based on a SAP HANA state-of-the-art architecture, ensures the ability of real-time planning and monitoring, flexibility, and integrated business processes.

This course focuses on demand management processes as covered by the SAP IBP for demand solution.

SAP IBP helps tackling today’s challenges in business and in daily work. On the one hand, a high market volatility increases variation in demand, and increases customer demand. On the other hand, poor forecast accuracy, inefficient operations, low service level, and excess inventory are the challenges.

Unfortunately, things rarely go exactly as expected on the demand side — and they multiply over the entire supply chain. Examples for demand factors are promotions or simply time-varying demand.

Compare the forecasting and planning activities to maps and GPS you use for navigation. Then, demand sensing would be a function that concretely provides interactive response from the current driving situation — like the opportunity for blind spot monitoring, lane sensing, or traction control.


Two major components feed the forecasting engine of SAP IBP for demand: the PAL (predictive analysis library, which is part of SAP HANA), and the SCAL (supply chain algorithm library). Based on these libraries, optimization is possible.
Here we show the major key capabilities and business values of SAP IBP for demand summarized on a single page.

With the two components mid-term or long-term forecasting and demand sensing, SAP IBP for demand has two integrated forecasting techniques on board. Demand sensing further specifies the short-term forecast taking into account short-term boundary conditions.

Due to the more granular time and data and the specific nature of demand sensing, the plan becomes closer to the execution requirements.

Demand sensing affects the 'execution' type of activities more as it is within a much shorter horizon than demand planning.
