Demand Planning 

Purpose

Use APO Demand Planning (DP) to create a forecast of market demand for your company's products. This component allows you to take into consideration the many different causal factors that affect demand. The result of APO Demand Planning is the demand plan.

Demand Planning is a powerful and flexible tool that supports the demand planning process in your company. User-specific planning layouts and interactive planning books enable you to integrate people from different departments, and even different companies, into the forecasting process. Using the DP library of statistical forecasting and advanced macro techniques you can create forecasts based on demand history as well as any number of causal factors, carry out predefined and self-defined tests on forecast models and forecast results, and adopt a consensus-based approach to reconcile the demand plans of different departments. To add marketing intelligence and make management adjustments, you use promotions and forecast overrides. The seamless integration with APO Supply Network Planning supports an efficient S&OP process.

Integration

With Other APO Components

To

Do this

Other information

Track exceptional, unexpected or critical situations in the demand planning process

Open the Alert Monitor

  

Share plans with your supply chain planner

Use the functions for releasing data to and from Supply Network Planning

The supply chain planner can plan resources based on a full and reliable picture of demand, and the demand planner can monitor where adjustments to the demand plan have been necessary due to production, distribution and other constraints.

Do reporting

Install a BW front end and launch queries from your APO system

  

 

With Other Systems

To

Do this

Other Information

Load actual and/or planned data into Demand Planning from a BW, R/3, or external system or from a flat file

Use APO Administrator Workbench in Demand Planning

The functions of the Administrator Workbench in APO are identical to those of the Administrator Workbench of the Business Information Warehouse (BW).

Do reporting

Run the Business Explorer component of the SAP Business Information Warehouse (BW)

 

Load data into BW

Use APO Administrator Workbench in Demand Planning to load the data into BW as from one data mart to another

The functions of the Administrator Workbench in APO are identical to those of the Administrator Workbench of the Business Information Warehouse (BW).

Manage your customers' forecasts using vendor-managed inventory (VMI)

Gather your customers' inventory and POS data via EDI

See Vendor Managed Inventory with APO and SAP R/3.

Build a forecast together with your suppliers, customers and other business partners

Use Collaborative Demand Planning

Partners without an APO system plan demand through a web-based interface.