Time to Upgrade? 5 Reasons You Need to Consider a BPC Upgrade Now

It has been a busy upgrade season and I wanted to share some recent developments in the SAP Business Planning and Consolidation (BPC) world. In my last blog, I discussed several reasons why it’s important to keep current on your BPC upgrade. I know for some clients, an upgrade may already be on your radar, but here are five more reasons you need to consider an upgrade to the latest version of BPC sooner than later.

1. End of Mainstream Support for BPC 7.5 NW

For all the BPC 7.5 NetWeaver (NW) users, the end of mainstream support date is fast approaching.  After December 31, 2017, this version will no longer fall under mainstream support, which has some repercussions for you if you do not take action, including:

• No new service packs
• No bug fixes
• No expanded platform support for things such as new operating system/DB/MS Office releases
• Very limited support capability

Given that, it definitely makes sense to upgrade and ensure proper support and compatibility with corresponding software releases.

2. Extended Mainstream Support for BPC 10.1 MS and NW

Maintenance dates for SAP BPC have been extended as follows:

• The maintenance of SAP BPC, version for NetWeaver 10.1 will continue until end of 2027, aligned with SAP BW 7.5
• The maintenance of SAPBPC, add-on for S/4HANA will continue until end of 2027, aligned with SAP BPC, version for NetWeaver
• The maintenance of SAPBPC, version for BW/4HANAwill continue until end of 2027, aligned with SAP BPC, version for NetWeaver
• The maintenance ofSAP BPC, version for Microsoft 10.1 will continue until end of 2024, following explicit customer requests

3. Office 2016 Compatibility

At NTT DATA Business Solutions we are seeing a number of our NW and MS based clients upgrade to Office 2016.  There are key service pack level requirements (both server and client side) that need to be met in order to leverage.  That said, we have been working with them to get the appropriate release levels in place to ensure a smooth roll-out.

4. Cloud Integration

With SAP’s cloud-based products such as SAP Analytics Cloud and SuccessFactors, there are version prerequisites that need to be met in order to take advantage of these integration scenarios to enable enhanced cloud based utilization of your BPC implementation.

5. SAP just Announced the Release of SAP Business Planning and Consolidation 11.0, Version for SAP BW/4HANA

This version has been specifically designed for use with BW/4HANA to take advantage of an optimum HANA-based platform and highlights areas such as advanced analytics, cloud and integration aspects along with a new Fiori like web interface/user experience and continued Office/Excel based reporting/template capability.  Definitely exciting news given this is the next major release for the product!

Ready for a BPC Upgrade?

We at NTT DATA Business Solutions are leaders in the EPM and BI space and welcome the opportunity to discuss your BPC upgrade or any other SAP needs. With the right implementation partner as well as upgrade methodology and approach, you can make it as non-disruptive as possible.