Its fair enough that SAP AFS IS in mainly built into modules such as MM, SD and PP but what about the business intelligence modules, such as SAP SEM and SAP BW. It is arguable that these are standard modules and its relevance in the AFS Environment would be determined by the method in which it is used to access the relevant information and project it on a management dashboard; however given an AFS environment what would be the norms of generating such information from SAP SEM and SAP BW?
Let’s look at a few of the areas in which SAP Business Intelligence Modules could be in relevance with SAP AFS IS installations:
Manage Strategic Planning
Given a manufacturing environment SBUs are normally the factory (plants). Therefore critical strategic business level information can be set as KPIs of these plants and can be monitored, analyzed and controlled.
The KPIs measures that are devised can be turned into financial relevant information, such as SBUs Revenue/ Cost of Production of a particular sales order style etc. This information would form the base for calculating ROCE and making comparisons possible with target rates.
Based on the planning and forecast of possible sales order the user can use this projection to compare information such as SBUs ROCE, RM Efficiency Usage with targets and the future trends of the type of production activity that will take place for the next 10 years etc.
Since in AFS the inventory management function plays a key role, information on stock value and working capital management is crucial. Using information such as stock holding days, lead time in receipt of payments etc, and SAP BI tools could perhaps provide a clear guide on the current efficiency of these functions and help in analyzing problematic areas.
The SBU information can be analyzed together and therefore form company wide figures to make it possible to keep track of strategic goals set company wide. Keeping this in mind lets move on to the area of Analyzing operations.
Analyze operations against strategic goals
The operations in the relevant SBU need to be maintained. All issues such as supply of raw material to the plants can be monitored and strategic decisions can be made.
SAP BI tools could help to obtain a timely insight into making strategic decisions. This is brought to the attention of senior managers via dash boards etc. Using this output the top management have a snapshot view of how the strategic decisions made have contributed towards the results achieved.
Monitor KPI
As per the present needs in the AFS Industry, BI tools could serve the purpose of monitoring KPIs on a regular basis and project those using Management Dashboards.
KPIs from Production Floor Operations to lead times of receiving payments from customers can be monitored and projected using the Management Cockpit option. The definition of KPI’s, Performance Measures & Objectives is what would reflect the usefulness of the SAP BI solution.
Business critical information such as :
- Write off values occurring at SBUs.
- The Idle time of Raw Material and its relevant holding costs can be monitored and controlled.
- Quality Defects % or Numbers per cluster of garments produced can be analyzed in comparison to target rates.
- On time deliveries done at SBUs can be monitored and projected on management dashboards using speedometers, graphs and/or tables.
The main criteria that would determine the successful implementation of a proper SAP BI solution would be the ability to retrieve relevant data using the various data sources available in the organization.
Respond to business needs
If you are the seller you can identify the sales for the different regions and different product lines perhaps based on the type of style sold and the different stature groups. As in AFS the statures can be maintained in many age groups, this could also be used as a measure in determining the target market and identifying trends.
Hope this post gave you an introductory insight into the potential of a SAP BI solution in the context of a SAP AFS installation, however, more importantly as the KPI’s and Measures that could be setup in an AFS environment are in abundance, its all about identifying and prioritizing them accordingly.
Also note that this post is just to emphasis on the different potential areas SAP BIW could add value to the SAP AFS solution, the best approach and method to do it; I will leave it to the technical experts in the subject.
Your comments are welcome at ssurenlk@msn.com
Have a nice day!!
S.Suren
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