The goal of SAP APO Collaborative Planning (CLP) is to help enterprises carry out collaborative supply chain planning activities with their business partners. Thus, relevant input from business partners can be taken into account to synchronize planning across the network and leverage APO to generate optimized plans based on data from the supply network. Enterprises can now focus on enhancing customer value by enabling true business collaboration across business partners in their networks .

Internet and associated technologies such as XML have revolutionized inter-enterprise business processes by enabling seamless information exchange between business partners. High volumes of data can be transferred at low cost and even minor business partners can exchange information in an economical manner. Interactive on-line access to each other’s systems can be achieved easily via a conventional Internet browser.

APO CLP is the building block which enables enterprises to collaboratively plan all logistics activities ranging from forecasting to shipment planning together with their business partners. Collaborative Planning extends the boundaries of supply chain management to include all relevant business partners and enable collaborative business processes across the network. The distinct entities in the network such as suppliers, manufacturers, and retailers can cooperate and act as a single entity focused on delivering enhanced customer value while reducing costs throughout the entire chain.

SAP APO Collaborative Planning was designed to:

• Enable exchange of required planning information with business partners
• Allow the use of browser to read and change data
• Restrict user access to authorized data and activities
• Support consensus planning process
• Support exception-based management

The Process of Collaborative Planning

Collaborative Planning Installation and Settings