Customer Business Planning (CBP) is a key component of the SAP Trade Promotion Management system, version 4.0, significantly increases the possibilities of this solution in the area of comprehensive planning of promotional activities. It allows you to track the impact of promotions on P&L, both from the manufacturer and the retailer side. Implemented functionalities give planners possibility to plan the sales process together with retailers, managing the margin and building the growth of the entire category, at the same time.
Key Functionalities:
Planning Product Hierarchy
Until now, SAP TPM used standard product hierarchy from SAP ERP system. However, it was not always sufficient from planning perspective. Planners want to classify products in other way that is performed in production, logistics or accounting.
In CBP, planning product hierarchy can be defined independently from material hierarchy and it can be created separately for each client. This provides great flexibility in setting goals or analysing performance at various levels in a way that is understandable to both sellers and manufacturers.
Assortment
Usually, not all products are sold to all retailers. Creating assortments in SAP CBP, is a way of limiting what can be sold, when, and to whom. The products in the assortment are valid for a certain time. A useful feature, from the manufacturer point of view, is the ability to define an assortment for the same customer depending on the store’s format. If the customer operates in many store formats (e.g. hypermarket, supermarket), it is possible to create separate plans for these stores.
Assortment planning involves selecting the products that are relevant for planning. The products you select are either uploaded from a source system, such as a CRM, or are added manually directly in the application.
Maintain Buyers
It is possible that there are more than one buyer, e.g. when managers of purchasing and sales activities are responsible for individual brands or sub-brands.
CBP allows you to assign buyers to different levels of the product planning hierarchy, as well as set up and monitor specific buyer goals regarding volumes, revenues or margins.
Define Internal Targets
Unlike the goals defined at buyers’ level, internal goals apply to sales team. With this functionality you can define and then monitor the level of revenue, sales volume or generated margin realized within the organization. During negotiations with the client, it is possible to track in real time, in the KPI monitor, the height of relevant indicators, both for internal and external purposes. This makes it much easier to prepare a viable and beneficial plan for both sides of the process.
Retailer Calendar
The calendar displays promotions of a given type or selected dates, in general or in detail. It is possible to filter, add and remove promotions so that the process of managing promotional activities is as transparent and simplified as possible.
In addition to the standard calendar, it is possible to create a retailer calendar that does not always coincide with the manufacturer’s calendar and may vary in terms of planning periods. This is another option in SAP CBP, which takes into account the different operating conditions of the manufacturer and distributor, which results in a better tailored and effective promotion plan.
Full Customer Business Planning
With SAP CBP, you can plan promotional activities for the entire year, not just selected activities. The baseline simulates the results without any promotional activities, so you can track the impact of individual price changes or other promotional conditions on their level.
Planning can be performed in three available views:
- P&L view – This is the central view where you carry out your planning activities. It contains volume as well as pricing information and is where all the KPIs relevant for planning and review processes are calculated.
- Product Tree View – The Product Tree view is an alternative planning view where you can carry out volume and value planning. This differs from the Profit & Loss view in that it shows the data of just one key figure, which is applied to the levels of your planning product hierarchy underneath
- Summary view – The Summary view shows the plan data for a certain period. Each row displays the latest estimates of selected key figures of a certain product category/product in the planning product hierarchy. The planning product hierarchy is shown as rows and the key figures are shown as columns. You can specify the number of levels that are automatically expanded when you open the view.
All views are synchronized internally in real time.
Customer P&L
This is one of the most important features of CBP. It enables managers to plan, monitor and analyze the profit and loss account throughout the entire planning phase of the promotion from the producer, through the distributor to the end customer.
Key P&L indicators:
- Baseline values, uplift, summary
- Gross sales value, total value of promotional investments, COGS, margin
- Retail shelf price, retailer’s profit and margin
The values displayed in P&L can be adapted to individual needs through SAP BI-IP. Thanks to the flexible configuration, new values are easily added or the planning layout is adapted in different views.
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