SAP Business Planning & Consolidation (BPC) is the tool designed specifically for executing business planning. It is one of the niche areas in the market right now as it is a unified predictive performance platform that delivers core process functionality and features through a single enterprise-scale application and database. It is the prominent module under SAP umbrella that can be graded as a techno-functional module. SAP BPC is effectively grouped with SAP EPM solutions. BPC characterizes with real-time and accurate reporting and analytics and has evolved to drive instant responsiveness and assist in formulating strategies for business that are adaptable, and reliable. SAP BPC is really hot in the market and SAP is investing more in this product.
The pace with which SAP BPC is being adopted has seen a huge acceleration over the past few years, with all the positive signs pointing towards the rising trend. A lot of customers are going for SAP BPC Training, and in the near future, the requirement is expected to increase more.
Business Planning and Consolidation
BPC is a tool for doing various business plannings and consolidation and so in more of a functional tool. During a long run, one has to learn the business process of the organization to survive as a consultant. It deals with:
- Technical consultant
- Functional consultant. Exposure to these areas will be added advantage.
You need to get yourself comfortable with the technical aspects of the tool. And then, slowly, you need to start focusing on the functional part as well.
Functions of a SAP BPC Consultant
Let us have a look at what makes a good SAP BPC consultant.
Prerequisite
- Strong Finance background, such as SAP FICO knowledge
- Good SAP Business Warehouse skills
Career path
- SAP BPC functional expert – It is in high demand
- SAP BPC report developer/designer
Technical BPC knowledge
- A really good consultant will have knowledge around the edges of the tool that makes the difference between a solution that works and a solution that flies.
- A really useful consultant will have the confidence to delve into the problem, whether this is debugging through the BPC ABAP code, analyzing the automatically generated SQL, analyzing the integrity of the database objects, browsing through relevant SAP notes, raising OSS notes or simply raising questions on SDN.
Accounting and accounting systems
BPC projects are business, not IT led. One must achieve the level of accounting knowledge needed for planning.
Consulting skills
You need to be able to chair workshops effectively, efficiently question and listen and use logical and social influencing skills to navigate the way through the inevitable hurdles that a project might throw up.
Motivation
Each consultant will have their own particular strengths. However, it is possible with some motivation to bridge enough gaps to become an all-round SAP BPC consultant.
SAP BPC Consultant Roles & Responsibilities
SAP BPC Consultant is a specialist in BPC module. Certain roles and responsibilities of him include:
- Integration of BPC with ECC modules: SAP FI, CO, CO-PA, Project Systems, Fixed Assets, Sales & Distribution.
- Mastering the system design principles.
- Modeling the BPC design experience using Master Data, ECC extraction, Process chain, Transports, and BeX
- Data migration and conversion from legacy systems into BW.
- Proficiency in BPC lifecycles with skills on NetWeaver, finance, and driver-based planning.
- Knowledge of business processes within the areas of the associated SAP industry solution.
- Better balance of both technical and functional modules of BPC Design, Configuration and Reporting areas.
Final Words…
The SAP BPC market is really heating up at the moment. Scope in BPC is good and is growing to see an upward trend with more emerging opportunities. BPC is one of the most uncommon modules and hence competition is less in it, but however the overall scope of working as SAP BPC Consultants is worth satisfying.