Blog Post
If you are using SAP Integrated Business Planning (SAP IBP) for operational supply chain planning and want to connect Network Design capabilities for strategic decisions, then this blog is for you.
Very often, supply chain planning and network design happen in separate environments. Teams are working with different data sets, different views of the world, and can therefore be very siloed.
As a result, companies aren’t getting the optimal value of both. Planning can’t see the opportunities to save costs whilst increasing service levels outside the given network. On the other hand, strategic changes aren’t always practical in real life.
The new SAP IBP Connector for AIMMS SC Navigator helps bridge this gap.
By streaming planning and master data directly from SAP IBP into SC Navigator, organizations can quickly generate a ready-to-optimize base case using real planning data.
This enables organizations using both systems to connect operational planning insights with strategic network design, making it easier to evaluate how planning realities impact long-term supply chain decisions.
Instead of spending weeks preparing datasets, supply chain teams can begin evaluating network scenarios within hours.
Start network analysis with a ready-to-optimize base case
Preparing the initial dataset for a network design project is often one of the most time-consuming steps.
With the SAP IBP connector, SC Navigator users can quickly create a ready-to-optimize base case by importing relevant data directly from SAP IBP. This provides an immediate starting point for evaluating network design scenarios.
As a result, teams can spend less time building models and more time exploring strategic questions such as:
- Should we open or close facilities?
- How should sourcing strategies change?
- How can transportation flows be redesigned?
- What trade-offs exist between cost, service, resilience, and sustainability?
Run network scenarios more frequently
Network design projects are often performed as one-off analyses because updating models with new data can take considerable effort.
By simplifying data integration with SAP IBP, the connector makes it much easier to refresh data and rerun network scenarios. When planning assumptions change, such as demand forecasts, supply constraints, or costs, teams can quickly update their base case and evaluate the impact on the network.
This enables organizations to move toward a more repeatable approach to network design, where scenarios can be revisited regularly rather than only during large strategic projects.
Connect operational planning with strategic decisions
Operational planning and strategic network design are closely connected. Planning insights can reveal structural supply chain challenges, while network redesign can improve future planning performance.
By linking SAP IBP with SC Navigator, organizations can more easily move between these perspectives. Planning results can trigger network redesign analyses, while strategic decisions can be validated using real planning data.
This creates a continuous decision loop between planning and network design, helping organizations better align operational decisions with long-term supply chain strategy.
See how SAP IBP and SC Navigator work together to connect planning data with faster, more strategic network design decisions.
