The importance of Enterprise performance management is growing in this era of rapid technology development, global competition, modernization and ever-changing customer needs. SAP BO EPM solutions offer the following S/W tools:
- Strategy Management
- Planning and Consolidation
- Financial Consolidation
- XBRL Publishing
- Financial Information Management
- Inter-Company Reconciliation
- Profitability and Cost Management
- Spend Performance Management
- Supply Chain Performance Management
Here, I have discussed about SAP BO Planning & Consolidation and the scenario considered is based on the challenges we met during earlier implementations and general requirements of the customer.
Updating Planning Application while planning
Scenario: The user who is authorized to plan material price unvaryingly for all the materials enters plan data irrespective of the companies. While the user submits the data; the BPC Application is updated based on master data (members) of “Material” dimension and the materials with respective price for the appropriate month/year entered in the planning screen.
The data is updated in the application only for the company codes maintained for specific materials in the ‘Material Dimension’ (P_MATERIAL) and the master data of ‘Material’ is designed accordingly.
Process Flow
The overall process involved in updating a Planning application (based on the above scenario) is depicted below:
Design of Material Dimension
The below snap shot reflects the design of “Material” dimension.
Master Data:
In this scenario, Entity and Material Number are maintained separately and used to create ID for each material (Compounding of Entity & Material No). The user authorized to plan for pricing the materials could see all the materials and plan accordingly. But when he/she submits planned data, the BADI implementation logic written on UJR_WRITE_BACK gets triggered and the Planning application is updated with Material with its corresponding Entity (Transaction Data).
In the above shown scenario, Natural Gas is updated for Entities 1002, 1003, 1004 and 1005 & Nitrogen is updated for 1002, 1003, 1004, 1005, 1006 and 1008.
Enterprise software company SAP has announced it intends to launch its own Platform-as-a-Service and online applications store.
The new cloud-based direction for SAP data management software was announced at SAP’s recent SAP Influencer Summit in Santa Clara, California. SAP data management solutions were not previously based on a cloud computing model.
The new model will center around SAP’s on-demand applications suite, SAP Business ByDesign. The new Platform-as-a-Service will be based on BBD, but will allow SAP developers and clients to create and utilize on-demand applications, based in the cloud.
SAP intends to launch the new model in stages. A version of BBD designed for application development is expected to be released in January. After developers are brought on board, the online application store’s launch is currently planned for the first half of 2011.
Though this is the company’s first announcement of a PaaS offering, SAP data management solutions have already incorporated some cloud-based technology through a cloud-enabled version of SAP NetWeaver.
Will SAP’s move reap rich rewards? Will this be path breaking move? Have your say
Batch Specific Unit of Measure can be used in the scenario where the exact quantity of components cannot be defined. Also it can be used in the scenario where the Goods Issue and Goods Receipts are handled in both Units. (Base Unit of Measure and Batch Specific Unit of Measure). For example in the following scenarios it can be used:
- Iron Rods / Plastic Pipes to be maintained in Length as well as KG (KG per Meter may get vary)
- Ingredients management where there is a particular percentage of Raw material to be used in the manufacturing
I came across this scenario usage for finding a solution for the following issue. The Customers sends a Bundle (100 M) of Fabrics to the Sub Contractor where the Sub-Contractor prints the Fabrics and sends back to the Customer. The Sub- Contractor is charging the Printing cost based on the No Of Meters printed. The Issue here is the elongation where by the Bundle after printing it could be of 110 Meter.
In the Standard Sub-Contracting Process if we maintain the BOM we need to maintain the 1Bunle of Printed Fabrics with 100 Meter of fabrics. Here we can not specify the tolerance. Therefore I found the BS-UOM useful and though of sharing with you all. I have given below the steps for the above process.
Step 1: Define UOM Bundle in CUNI
Step 2: Define UOM for Batch Specific UOM in CUNI
Step 3: Define Calculation of Base Quantity from Proportion Quantity
Step 4: Create Characteristics
Step 5: Create Class and assign Characteristics
Step 6: Assign Class to the Material Master
Step7: Alternate UOM in Material Master
Step 8 BOM
Step 9: Create Schedule Agreement and Maintain Schedules
Step 10: Issue Fabrics to the Subcontractor
Step 11: MIGO (1 Bundle of Printed Fabrics = 108 Meter)
Step 12: MIGO (1 Bundle of Printed Fabrics = 110 Meter)
Step 13: Stock Overview
In the above two goods receipt you can notice that the raw material (Fabrics) consumed Qty remains same (50 Kg) even when the Printed Fabrics Qty varies.
The popularity of self-service business intelligence tools, such as those provided as part of SAP data management solutions, will continue to increase in 2011, according to a recent Computerworld report.
Analyst James Kobielus told Computerworld self-service BI tools grew in popularity in 2010, but the trend is expected to accelerate in the new year. Mobile BI, SaaS-based BI and social media analytics are also expected to grow steadily, according to the report.
Self-service BI tools are designed to provide users with interactive reporting abilities, data analytics capabilities and more comprehensive reporting tools. Employees and executives can use these tools to visualize business data, generate reports and develop views on business-related questions.
Several companies already offer self-service BI tools, including enterprise software company SAP, which offers a tool as part of its broader SAP data management solutions.
Kobielus told Computerworld the tools “take the burden off IT and speed up the development of reports to a considerable degree.”
Self-service BI has already been adopted by many leading businesses. According to a recent Aberdeen Group report, 67 percent of “best in class” companies have adopted some form of self-service BI.
The number of organizations centralizing business intelligence has decreased in the last year, according to a recent study.
The study, BI Maturity in the Enterprise: 2010 Update, was conducted by Forrester Research and surveyed 173 technology professionals. All of the professionals are familiar with their companies’ BI efforts.
Many organizations utilize BI tools incorporated into enterprise software solutions such as SAP data management products. The study found, however, that fewer companies centralized BI in 2010 than in the previous year.
Forty-three percent of respondents said their companies employed agile BI and self-service BI in 2010, while 38 percent reported they use centralization and consolidation.
Boris Evelson, principal analyst at Forrester Research, said traditional approaches to BI “are no longer enough to continue to drive higher levels of BI adoption and increase BI maturity in enterprises.” According to Evelson, “new approaches such as agile BI and BI self-service by the business users are needed to supplement traditional BI.”
The study reiterates the predictions of a recent Computerworld report. According to the report, newer self-service BI tools, such as those incorporated in SAP data management solutions, will continue to grow in popularity in 2011.
What do you think? Will BI tools grow as per the projections? Have your say
As I stepped into a serene house, a small temple caught my attention, it housed deities and symbols of major religions. Trust me it’s a rare sight and a harmonious exhibit of secular tolerance and equality. As I moved further a little kid rushed to grab my hand, he doesn’t know me yet he was exceedingly happy to shake my hand and gently dragged me inside. Meantime, more kids joined in.
This was New Life, home for less fortunate kids and deserted elderly. It’s situated in an industrial zone- Oragadam, neatly built, well maintained place. Tranquil and peaceful would rightly define the environment. Looking at the smiles on the kids faces I would like to believe they are in safe hands.
Wanted to make a mention about my co-worker – Vinod, who is as true as the meaning of his name “JOY”. .He and his liked minded friends run an charitable organization Aazraya. Most members are in early 20s, it is truly heartening to see these youngsters forfeit the usual pyrotechnics of youth and spend weekends doing what they truly love. Seeing those volunteers convinced me all’s not lost yet. The younger lot has it in them and in abundance. I remember one of the first conversations I had with Vinod, he said “ We don’t need money, we need your time, these kids and elderly need your time, that’s all“. I could see that in the bright faces of the kids there, all they wanted was to play with you, not money, no way.
I didn’t really take part in any activities however, the kids wouldn’t complain as Vinod and his team had planned series of games to keep them super charged. They participated with lot of cheer and buzz.
Kudos to Vinod and Aazraya for their sheer effort and dedication to uplift the needy. Truly appreciate Vinod and his team for their tireless, selfless, spirited contribution. If you live in Chennai and wish to join them in their endeavors , you can reach out Vinod @ 91 98841 24248 or visit www.aazraya.org . Remember they need your TIME not MONEY.
To make direct contribution to New Life Visit http://newlifecharitabletrust.org/
Here are the few interesting information about ByDesign, I want to share with you all today
There are three new predefined starter packages available for as few as 10 users, the three starter packages currently available include
1. CRM starter package
Implementation time : 3 Weeks (Based on the average time taken for vannila implementation for Bydesign customers in India, 4 implementations by SAP and 2 by partners)
Implementation price : 1 Lakh
Monthly Charge : 3350/user/month
2. ERP Starter package
Implementation time : 6 Weeks
Implementation price : Rs 4.5 Lakhs
Monthly Charge : Rs 5610/user/month
3. Professional Service Provider
Implementation time : 8 Weeks
Implementation price : Rs 6.5 Lakhs
Monthly Charge : Rs 5610/user/month
Partnership’s include 1. Reseller partners 2. Solution partners
The target market is between SAP Business One & All-in-One Fast Start and We can expect the same treatment for ByDesign as well. This is not the one where partners can make money (in my opinion). SAP says, so far there are 1000 proposals for partnership from IT Consulting firms in India.
Your thoughts please…
E-Recruitment
The buzzword and the latest trends in recruitment is the “E-Recruitment”. Also known as “Online recruitment”, it is the use of technology or the web based tools to assist the recruitment processes. The tool can be either a job website like naukri.com, the organisation’s corporate web site or its own intranet. Many big and small organizations are using Internet as a source of recruitment. They advertise job vacancies through worldwide web. The job seekers send their applications or curriculum vitae (CV) through an e-mail using the Internet. Alternatively job seekers place their CV’s in worldwide web, which can be drawn by prospective employees depending upon their requirements.
The internet penetration in India is increasing and has tremendous potential. According to a study by NASSCOM – “Jobs is among the top reasons why new users will come on to the internet, besides e-mail.” There are more than 18 million resume’s floating online across the world.
The two kinds of e-recruitment that an organisation can use is –
1. Job portals – posting the position with the job description and the job specification on the job portal and also searching for the suitable resumes posted on the site corresponding to the opening in the organisation.
2. Creating a complete online recruitment/application section in the company’s own website. – Companies have added an application system to its website, where the ‘passive’ job seekers can submit their resumes into the database of the organisation for consideration in future, as and when the roles become available.
Resume Scanners: Resume scanner is one major benefit provided by the job portals to the organizations. It enables the employees to screen and filter the resumes through pre-defined criteria’s and requirements (skills, qualifications, experience, payroll etc.) of the job.
Job sites provide a 24*7 access to the database of the resumes to the employees facilitating the just-in-time hiring by the organizations. Also, the jobs can be posted on the site almost immediately and is also cheaper than advertising in the employment newspapers. Sometimes companies can get valuable references through the “passers-by” applicants. Online recruitment helps the organizations to automate the recruitment process, save their time and costs on recruitments.
Online recruitment techniques
- Giving a detailed job description and job specifications in the job postings to attract candidates with the right skill sets and qualifications at the first stage.
- E-recruitment should be incorporated into the overall recruitment strategy of the organisation.
- A well defined and structured applicant tracking system should be integrated and the system should have a back-end support.
- Along with the back-office support a comprehensive website to receive and process job applications (through direct or online advertising) should be developed.
It can be said that e-recruitment is the “Evolving face of recruitment.”
Recruitment management system is the comprehensive tool to manage the entire recruitment processes of an organisation. It is one of the technological tools facilitated by the information management systems to the HR of organisations. Just like performance management, payroll and other systems, Recruitment management system helps to contour the recruitment processes and effectively managing the ROI on recruitment. It is an innovative information system tool which helps to save the time and costs of the recruiters and improving the recruitment processes.
The features, functions and major benefits of the recruitment management system are explained below:
- Structure and systematically organize the entire recruitment processes.
- Recruitment management system facilitates faster, unbiased, accurate and reliable processing of applications from various applications.
- Helps to reduce the time-per-hire and cost-per-hire.
- Recruitment management system helps to incorporate and integrate the various links like the application system on the official website of the company, the unsolicited applications, outsourcing recruitment, the final decision making to the main recruitment process.
- Recruitment management system maintains an automated active database of the applicants facilitating the talent management and increasing the efficiency of the recruitment processes.
- Recruitment management system provides and a flexible, automated and interactive interface between the online application system, the recruitment department of the company and the job seeker.
- Offers tolls and support to enhance productivity, solutions and optimizing the recruitment processes to ensure improved ROI.
- Recruitment management system helps to communicate and create healthy relationships with the candidates through the entire recruitment process.