Xpa suppy chain and financial planning sac ibp

xP&A: bridging the gap between supply chain and financial planning with SAC & IBP

March 28, 2025

3 minutes

In today’s volatile times, every business needs faster, more accurate and more agile planning. That’s where Extended Planning & Analytics (xP&A) comes in. By aligning financial and operational plans, xP&A creates one clear version of the truth. The secret to successful xP&A? Technology! SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC) seamlessly integrates with SAP Integrated Business Planning (IBP) to optimize your planning process from finance to supply chain – and vice versa. Read how.

Traditionally, planning happened in silos. It was a largely manual, time-consuming task, with planners collecting and consolidating data from many different sources. Increasingly however, companies introduce integrated, connected planning processes: they interface financial planning processes with planning in other business areas, like supply chain.

How SAC supports xP&A

Interested in ‘extending’ your financial planning processes? SAC brings together financial planning and analysis (FP&A) in one single, intuitive platform. More than that, it offers native integration with SAP applications like SAP IBP, SAP S/4HANA, SAP SuccessFactors, and SAP Concur and it integrates non-SAP sources too. In this way, SAP’s cloud analytics platform leverages all the data from your Sales & Operations Planning (SO&P) process, integrating operational plans into your financial plan effortlessly.

Integrated planning with SAC: your benefits

SAC is your gateway to enterprise-wide, future-proof planning and reporting. Here’s how it helps your business:

Save time: automate manual processes to prepare planning iterations with ease.
Enhance the data quality: rely on accurate, consistent planning data.
Benefit from a single source of truth: consolidate data from multiple sources for a unified, enterprise-wide planning view.
Foster cross-departmental collaboration: cut through organizational silos.
Leverage advanced analytics: tap into SAC’s predictive analytics for smarter planning and better business results.

Read more in our expert blog “Streamline your FP&A processes with SAC".

Connecting financial and supply chain planning

Now, let’s zoom in on one specific xP&A scenario: integrating the S&OP planning process with SAP IBP, which is mainly volume-driven, into the FP&A process in SAC, which is more value-focused.

Based on top-down input from strategic planning, FP&A converts strategic, high-level targets into financial targets, such as net revenue, costs, and gross profit. These targets act as top-down inputs to the S&OP process, which refines them into a consensus demand plan. While that plan goes back to FP&A for review and possible adjustments, S&OP develops a feasible supply plan. The process is iterative: adjustments flow back and forth from FP&A to S&OP until S&OP prepares the final plan for management approval.

SAP IBP and SAC play different but complementary roles in this process. IBP is a great tool for supply chain planning (middle and bottom-tier planning), while SAC handles other specialized functions. As SAC allows native integration of IBP, both platforms form the backbone of the xP&A framework, enabling organizations to connect financial and operational planning.

Ready to get started with xP&A, SAC and SAP IBP?

At Flexso Analytics we’re experts in all things analytics, including enterprise performance management. In other words: we know what it takes to provide finance with ready access to the data they need. Moreover, our deep technical knowledge ensures we can help you unlock the full potential of SAC, SAP IBP and the integration of both tools – to drive smarter planning and help your business thrive.