An SAP BPC Overview About Considering Alternatives | Kepion Solution

Whether you are considering adopting SAP BPC or have already, it is important to understand the total cost of ownership, the flexibility of the solution, and the product roadmap and innovation. With the announcement of the latest SAP BPC overview and roadmap, ( i.e., it is discontinuing support on Microsoft and NetWeaver by end of 2024), companies are looking for alternatives.

This is where Kepion comes in. We’ve helped companies in this situation enable a solution with financial consolidation software that not only fits their current planning, reporting and consolidation needs, but also bring a more integrated and simplified form of planning, analytics and insight across their strategic, sales, finance, marketing, operations, supply chain, HR and IT departments as well.

The following will help outline the similarities and key differentiators that elevate Kepion’s SAP customers to the next generation of CPM/EPM solution.

Similarities Between Kepion and SAP BPC

Kepion and SAP BPC MS share some key similarities as both solutions:

• Use Microsoft SQL Server and Analysis Services as the underlying database technology.
• Have powerful Modeling capabilities that allow for building and administering business models.
• Use similar Dimensional structures and concepts.
• Share the ability to apply Financial Intelligence to your data out of the box.

These core similarities make for a seamless transition from SAP BPC to Kepion.

What Differentiates Kepion from SAP BPC

While Kepion has continued innovating over the last 10 years, the SAP BPC Microsoft functionality has remained relatively static. These innovations not only offer significant improvements to the planning process, but they also result in unmatched performance as Kepion has incorporated some of the latest functionality updates from Microsoft. The list below shows the top business process enhancements that Kepion can deliver over SAP BPC.

Optimized Dashboards

Kepion Dashboard Designer provides a flexible environment for building dashboards that greatly enhance the user experience. Dashboards allow for organization of content (forms, reports, charts), application of filters, alignment of process steps, enforcement of approval process and security.

• Planning Process – Navigate through the steps in the process, analyze results, make adjustments, create versions and submit for approval in one place.
• Analysis Process – Work from high-level analysis and charts to identify issues and drill into lower levels of details (down to the transaction if needed) to understand the root cause.

Customizable Approval Process

The approval process can be customized by business process in Kepion whereas in SAP Business Planning and Consolidation, the approval process is restricted to follow the structure of the Entity Dimension. The flexibility of Kepion allows for the approval process to mirror the business and be configured in a matrixed organization or simply across dimensions all via a drag and drop interface.

• Operational Expenses may follow an approval process consisting of Department Managers within each Entity.
• Sales Revenue may follow an approval process of Product Managers across Entities.

Flexible Modeling

Robust modeling capabilities and better use of the platform not only allow for better performance but provide the ability to perform these tasks that can be problematic in SAP BPC.

• Adding Dimension Members as part of the user process
• Allow for inputs at different levels of a hierarchy. This includes both adjustments at higher levels of the hierarchy and the ability to perform top-down allocations.
• Provide commentary at different levels without adversely impacting performance.
• Rolling up data several different ways (multiple hierarchies) without the performance penalty.

Reliable Validations

Validations allow the creation of relationships between Dimensions that are used to optimize the planning and reporting processes. Some examples:

• Ensuring that the budget can be entered for only valid products in a given Entity.
• Dynamically displaying specific lines on an input form or report.
• Dynamically limiting the members displayed in a drop-down selection based on the selection of a member in a separate dimension.

With Kepion’s Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) Solution, you can collaborate on a single approach for integrated business planning. Designed for the business, by the business, Kepion’s Enterprise Performance Management Software allows sales, finance, operations, marketing and HR to configure personalized planning apps specifically to how they work. Kepion’s Dashboards and Scorecards Software helps you visualize performance, plan for efficiencies and track your results. Give Kepion a try when you schedule a demo and see how we can support your growing success.