Configuring Change History

Objective

After completing this lesson, you will be able to configure and use change history

Change History

Change history functionality plays an important supporting role in the planning process. In sales and operations planning, there are several plans that can be used in the planning process, such as the sales plan, marketing plan, demand plan, finance plan, and so on. To create a consensus plan, it is important to understand the changes in the single plans, for example where those changes originate from and why they were made. The change history enables tracking of the changes that have been made to key figure values. It gives related information about changes, for example the user who made the change, and it also allows you to analyze those changes.

With the change history, changes to stored key figures that have been enabled for the change history can be tracked, and the effect of those changes on dependent calculated key figures can be viewed. The system tracks which data is changed, when it was changed and by whom, reason codes, comments, and before and after values.

Change history tracks interactive and non-interactive changes from various sources of change. Interactive changes are defined as changes that any time a user makes manual changes to key figure data in the planning view and confirms it by saving the data, the changes are captured by the change history. These changes are called "original changes".

Some examples of interactive and non-interactive changes are the following:

  • Data load (using SAP Cloud Platform Integration for data services, OData service, and via Data Integration Jobs app)

  • Interactive changes in SAP Integrated Business Planning, add-in for Microsoft Excel, in the Web-based Planning app, in the Planner Workspaces app, and in Driver-Based Planning app

  • Statistical forecast

  • Copy Operators

  • Version Copy

  • Realignment

  • Snapshots

Data Captured

  • Modified by user

  • Modified date

  • Modified value

  • Attributes

  • Key figures

  • Time periods

  • Reason code

  • Comment

Enabling the change history includes several steps.

Firstly, we need to enable change history in the planning area, as shown in the figure, Change History Settings.

Here, the setting indicates that change history management is enabled/allowed for the planning area shown. This is a broader setting that has to be created.

After that, you also need to enable stored key figures for which you want to track the change history for the change history

It is recommended to enable change history only for key essential data, as the amount of records generated interactively can be very high and might have an impact on the system performance.

The last step in change history enablement relates to the business users. They need to have permissions to access the different change history views.

Changes Captured from SAP Integrated Business Planning, add-in for Microsoft Excel

When a change is made in the Excel UI, a reason code may be specified at the time of saving. This change, along with the reason code, is tracked in change history. It is possible to extract change history data from SAP Integrated Business Planning for Supply Chain using the new OData v2 service /IBP/API_CHANGEHISTORY_READ_SRV, and integrate this information in an external monitoring tool. For example, the complete set of changes from a particular planning cycle can be extracted for analysis in a reporting or analytical tool, while keeping the amount of data remaining in SAP IBP to a minimum

View Change History

Change history can be viewed within the Excel UI, using an option when creating as New View, as shown in the previous two figures.

Demonstration: How to Configure and Use Change History

Configure and Use Change History

In this exercise, you configure and use change history.

Business Example

You are a member of the project team managing the implementation of SAP Integrated Business Planning. Based on your blueprint document, your company wants to see how a key figure value is changed during the planning process. You must switch on the planning area and the key figure change history relevant flag to fulfill this requirement. Once this setup has been completed, the user can read the history log.

When the data values for the exercise include ##, replace ## with the group number that the instructor has provided to you.

Steps

  1. Configure the change history by selecting the Change History indicator in your planning area and for the CONSENSUSDEMANDQTY key figure, and activate your planning area, if you made a change to they key figure settings.

    1. On the SAP Fiori launchpad home page, in the Model Configuration group and then choose Planning Areas Model Configuration.

      Result

      The Planning Area screen appears.

    2. In the Planning Area field, select the planning area you created previously and navigate to it.

    3. In the Planning Area Settings choose Edit and verify that the Enable Change History indicator is On.

    4. Choose the Key Figures tab, and choose the CONSENSUSDEMANDQTY key figure in the list.

    5. Verify that the Enable Change History checkbox is checked and return to the SAP Fiori launchpad home page.

    6. Hyperlink to your planning area on the top left and activate your planning area if needed.

  2. In the Planner Workspace, make changes to the CONSENSUSDEMANDQTY key figure values. Save your changes, assign a reason code of your choice, and enter a comment.

    1. Choose Planner Workspaces app in the General Planner group.

    2. Open the workspace 300_##.

    3. On the top right, choose Workspace → Design.

    4. Choose Settings on the top right of your existing planning view.

    5. Choose Save button, and choose Save As.

      The planning view that you were designing and saving last should be the one that will be copied.

    6. Name your new planning view as Consensus Demand.

    7. In the Attributes section delete the existing selections, select Add and choose Product ID, and Customer ID .

    8. In Key Figures section delete the existing selections, select Add and choose Consensus Demand Qty key figure .

    9. Remove Ad-hoc Filters if you have them selected.

    10. To display the planning view, choose Apply.

    11. On the top right, choose Workspace → Plan.

    12. Make changes to the CONSENSUSDEMANDQTY key figure.

    13. On the top, choose Save Data. Select a reason code and add a comment explaining why the data changes was necessary.

    14. On the top right, choose Workspace → Save.

  3. In the IBP Web UI, read the change history log for your planning area, using the Change History Analysis app.

    1. On the SAP Fiori launchpad home page, in the General Planner screen area, choose Change History Analysis.

      Result

      The Change History screen appears.

    2. In the Planning Area field, choose your T## planning area.

    3. In the Time Range of Changes field, choose the yesterday's date as a Start Date, and in the End Date field, choose the same date in 3 months.

    4. In the Key Figures field, choose CONSENSUSDEMANDQTY in the dropdown list.

    5. In the Time Periods list, enter Month and from a period list select current month and 3 more months.

    6. In the Attributes field, select CUSTID, PRDID.

    7. Choose Go to create the report.

    8. Observe that the change history appears on the screen.

      You can view the previous value, the new value, the change by value, the reason code, and the comment.

    9. Download the report for further processing.

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