Key figures in SAP IBP represent the quantitative or qualitative values that businesses need to monitor, analyze, and plan. These can be likened to the key performance indicators (KPIs) of the business planning process. Key figures can denote a range of business metrics, such as sales volume, revenue, stock levels, or production capacity – any measure that a business finds necessary for its planning and forecasting.
One of the unique features of key figures in SAP IBP is their flexibility and configurability. A key figure can be either 'stored' or 'calculated', wherein stored key figures represent data that are directly loaded or entered into the system, while calculated key figures generate insights determined by an underlying calculation based on other key figures or master data types. This balance between stored and calculated key figures allows for an efficient utilization of data, enabling sophisticated analysis while minimizing data redundancy.
Additionally, key figures are tightly integrated with planning levels in SAP IBP. Specifically, each key figure is associated with a planning level, and the data represented by the key figure is segregated and organized according to the corresponding planning level. For instance, a key figure representing sales volumes could be tied to a planning level that combines the "Product" and "Region" master data types, enabling sales analysis and forecasting for individual products across specific regions.
Moreover, key figures underpin a wide array of planning, analysis, and forecasting processes within SAP IBP. Be it sales and operations planning (S&OP), inventory optimization, or demand sensing, key figures play an instrumental role in infusing these processes with the necessary data, thereby driving meaningful insights and informed decision-making.
In conclusion, key figures in SAP IBP form the quantitative backbone of the planning processes, providing the valuable metrics that businesses need to plan, analyze, and forecast effectively. By taking full advantage of the inherent flexibility, configurability, and integration capabilities of key figures, businesses can elevate their planning processes, making them more insightful, reliable, and aligned with strategic objectives.
Note the following points:
Key figures are measures that hold transactional data (quantity and currency).
Key figures represent plan data, such as sales forecast, marketing forecast, consensus demand plan, projected inventory, capacity plans, or actual data (for example, sales orders and shipment history).
Key figure data is associated with master data type elements. Key figures can be imported, edited, or based on calculations.
Key figures are defined at the base planning level. The base planning level is the lowest, most granular (key) planning level at which the value of a key figure is defined, for example, MTHPRODCUST (time, product, or customer) for various key figures or MTHPRODLOC (time, product, or location).
The key figures that end users view in the planning view or in analytics are usually stored, editable, calculated, alert, snapshot, or supply planning key figures.
Types of Key Figures
There are various types of key figures:
Stored key figures:
Data is stored in this type of key figure at a defined base planning level. All of the stored key figures can be editable and are usually imported into the system, for example, Actuals Qty. Only stored key figures can be set to editable in the system.
Calculated key figures:
Values in this type of key figure are always calculated based on user-defined formulas, for example, ‘Revenue = Qty * Price’. Since this type of key figure is not usually stored, it cannot be set to be editable. However, in special use cases, such as defaulting a key figure value, the key figure can be set to both calculated and stored and, therefore, can also be set to editable.
Alert key figures:
These are key figures with user-defined criteria that monitor and manage execution of business plans. They can only have values of 0 or 1, meaning that the alert itself is either ON or OFF. Alerts typically check conditions on other key figures, such as TargetRev versus ConsensusRev ＞10%.
Helper key figures:
- Typically used for intermediate calculation results used in a key figure or another helper key figure
- Not exposed to the user in planning views or modeling
- Can be used at REQUEST or any planning level
- Can be used to break down a large calculation into manageable subcalculations
- Usually prefixed with a H, for example, HINVENTORYTARGETQTY
- Used when you have more than three inputs at different planning levels in one calculation
- Primarily used in ratio calculations, last period aggregation, cost calculations, and so on. Note that they do not have a base planning level.
- Used only for calculation, meaning that they do not have the other key figure properties, such as Stored, Editable, Aggregation, or Disaggregation.
Attribute transformations:
Attributes of master data types that are assigned to a planning level can be transformed to a different value based on certain conditions. For example, period ID can be transformed to calculate lead time offset.
Attributes as key figures:
As well as creating key figures, you can assign attributes of a master data type as a key figure. For example, unit price is an attribute of CUSTOMERPRODUCT. It has a single value for a unique customer and product combination. This attribute can be defined as a key figure in the same way as the unit price. When an attribute is turned into a key figure, you're taking a descriptive characteristic and turning it into a record of measurable data that you can use for calculations, data analysis, or reporting.
