Focus with IBP was to ensure to make it user friendly both in terms of end-user and configuration consultants. It’s proven that implementation of IBP can be managed at a shorter duration compared to the APO module. The Data Integration aspect is mostly handled by CPI-DS which is very user-friendly and someone can pick up the skills very quickly. The front end is an excel interface so very less or minimal training to the end-user is required. Since its excel end-user acceptance is very high and minimum change management can address the adaption to IBP.
With enhanced simplicity in the tool, consultants can deliver better if IBP skills are backed by industry experience. It should be quite easy for employees with industry functional domain expertise to quickly learn IBP and deliver value to the business. So for IBP consultants just having IBP skills is not enough. Once will need to enhance his/her in other tools like Excel and industry-specific business scenarios. Primarily IBP or most of the SAP run business requires two types of consults:-
- Implementation or Continuous Improvement consultants
- Support consultants
Implementation consultants are a bit more challenging and require business understanding and guiding the business by selecting the various options to schedule