When faced with the news that your SAP BPC Microsoft solution will no longer be supported, you are not alone in this situation. When considering alternative solutions, not only is it important to seek a solution that can easily transition your existing SAP BPC Microsoft models, data, forms and rules, but it also creates an opportunity to find a planning platform that has evolved past the traditional CPM solutions, that provides more innovative planning, modeling and analytical capabilities as well.
The following will help you better understand why SAP BPC Microsoft customers have looked to Kepion to continue evolving their planning, reporting and consolidation solutions while expanding into other areas of the business – sales, marketing, HR, supply chain and IT for integrated planning.
Leveraging Your Investment in Microsoft Technologies & Skillsets
Kepion and SAP BPC Microsoft share some key similarities as both solutions:
- Use Microsoft SQL Server and Analysis Services
as the underlying database technology
- Have powerful Modeling capabilities that allow
for building and administering business models
- Use similar Dimensional structures and concepts
- Share the ability to apply Financial Intelligence
to your data out of the box.
These core similarities make for a seamless transition from SAP BPC Microsoft to Kepion.
Continued Innovation
Kepion has continued innovating over the last 10 years while
the SAP BPC Microsoft functionality has remained relatively static. These
innovations not only offer significant improvements to the planning process, but
they also offer unmatched performance as Kepion has incorporated some of the
latest functionality updates from Microsoft. The list below shows the top
enhancements valued by IT organizations that Kepion can deliver over SAP BPC.
Web Based
Both the Modeler and Planning experience are 100% web based. Models are authored and users interact with the solution via a browser. No client software or add-in are required to be kept in sync and rolled out to user desktops. Kepion has control over the user experience and does not rely on 3rd party software that can cause conflicts. SAP BPC Microsoft relies on an Excel add-in for it’s main user interface that needs to be rolled out to every desktop. This approach introduces another layer for potential incompatibility and performance issues. It is often the case that items like conflicting Excel add-ins, workbook corruption or usage of advanced Excel functionality can be the source of significant performance issues.
Source System Integration
Kepion has more flexible Dimension structure configuration options including attribute based hierarchies. This allows for easier integration of metadata from source systems and better performance. SAP BPC Microsoft requires a relatively rigid parent-child format that can be difficult to construct from source systems. This parent-child only format performs poorly compared to the alternatives, especially when creating multiple hierarchies. Multiple hierarchy views can be especially difficult to manage and a drain on performance
Business Modeler
Integrate your existing BI strategy with the planning capabilities of Kepion to gain better insights into your plans and help make better business decisions. Kepion Modeler helps business analysts effectively manage their dimensions, models, data mapping views, business rules and data security for real-time reporting needs.
Rules Builder
Kepion has a powerful rule builder that leverages the full power of the SQL language to create robust business rules. Anyone with SQL skills can build robust rules in Kepion. SAP BPC Microsoft uses a proprietary syntax authored in a notepad like editor that limits exposure to SQL functionality. Specific knowledge of this language and troubleshooting skills are required to author business rules in SAP BPC Microsoft.
Partition Management
Analysis Services Partitions can be created and managed through the Kepion Modeler. Partitions are critical for performance and scalability of the solution. Kepion allows Partitions to be designed and optimized for your specific business process. SAP BPC Microsoft has a default approach to partitions that cannot be managed through the front end.
With Kepion’s Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) Solution, you can collaborate on a single approach for integrated business planning. Designed for the business, by the business, Kepion’s Enterprise Performance Management Software allows sales, finance, operations, marketing and HR to configure personalized planning apps specifically to how they work. Kepion’s Dashboards and Scorecards Software helps you visualize performance, plan for efficiencies and track your results. Give Kepion a try today and see how Kepion can support your growing success.