High Level: How to set up SDI connection for IBP usage

This is a try to outline the overall pictures and personnel involved WITHOUT going into the details of each step. Check the good documentation in the online documentation for details. And it does NOT include EVERY step.

The best entry point you can under help.sap.com/IBP –> tab “Integrate” –> section “Related Products”, pick the link for ERP or S/4HANA and from there go minimum to

• the Application Help. There is a nice chapter “Data Integration” –> “How Does the Integration Work” with further links which everyone should read!!!
• the Administrator guide –> “Configuration for Order-Based Planning Integration” –> “Setting Up the System Infrastructure”

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As of today, it is not possible to create or change master or transactional data manually for real usage within IBP for the external data needed for Response and Supply. And you cannot use the Data Integration App for that purpose either

Hence, SDI = Smart Data Integration is used for this purpose.

Plus, since IBP release 1811 the time series based integration via CPI-DS (Cloud Platform Integration for Data Services, formerly known as HCI) was enhanced with the first templates for supply processes which grab the /IBP/…-tables on ECC or S/4HANA side via extractors. It is possible to do source code based extensions to these extractors. For that, the steps need to be done until you fill the tables in ECC or S/4HANA, no need of the steps within IBP (unless you want to load the calendars).

In every step I try to list prerequisites and suggest which role can take the job, but that may differ from project to project and is only a rough guideline in order to discuss your resource upfront a project

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So, here you go:

1. In IBP by consultant:
   Create a planning area for response, as of today based on template SAP7
   You can adjust the model to your needs, but that is not necessary for the pure SDI integration
   Prerequisite: IBP System available
   Note: Since 1811 you need to assign an integration profile to your planning area. You can start with the default integration profile and adjust it later when you have created it, or you switch the order of the steps and first create all integration and then directly assign the integration profile when you copy SAP7 from standard.
2. In IBP by consultant:
   Configure Settings for Order Based Planning for your planning area
   Prerequisite: Planning area available
   Note: Since 1811 you need to assign an integration profile to your planning area. You can start with the default integration profile and adjust it later when you have created it, or you switch the order of the steps and first create all integration and then directly assign the integration profile.
3. In ECC or S/4HANA by BASIS team:
   Install AddOn for either classical ECC (even when on HANA) or S4/HANA.
   The AddOn differs for the two and you can find related info in the Administrator’s guide (see above)
   The AddOn provides the /IBP/…EXT tables holding the data to be integrated, plus reports & transactions that are necessary to fill these tables for the integration for both SDI and the new CPI-DS framework, plus the authorization objects needed on ECC/S4 side.
   Prerequisite: You need an IBP license in order to download the necessary software
4. Optional:
   In ECC or S/4HANA by BASIS / Development / consultant:
   Check OSS Notes for the AddOn: Most should be included in the AddOn already if you pick the most recent ones, but there are always new OSS notes that are valid until the next upgrade of the AddOn. Depending of the note’s content you may decide to install them as well
5. In ECC or S/4HANA by AUTHORIZATION team:
   Create roles and assign it to the integration User, plus the roles for the business users working in ECC / S4 on the integration (run the jobs, maintain the additional master data etc)
   The relevant “Security Information” can be found in Administrator’s guide (see above)
   Prerequisite: AddOn installed
6. On any server on premise or in a demilitarized zone (DMZ) by BASIS team or your hoster company:
   A) Install DP-Agent = Data Provisioning Agent = SDI Agent (all just different wordings)
   Prerequisites: Have a server available. And depending on whether you install on Linux or windows server make sure you have someone that knows the related transactions. You need an IBP license and an S-User with enough authorization in order to download the necessary software
   B) Connect the agent to HANA and register required adapters
   B1) Connect the agent to HANA,
   B2) register ABAP or File Adapter,
   B3) set preferences of FileAdapter (folders, access token)
   Prerequisite: Have the user’s password from the initial IBP system notification for the users SDIINTEG (the technical integration user towards IBP) and SDICONFIG (the user needed on the agent to do the configuration).
   In case of forgotten password, ticket should be opened on SCM-IBP-OPS-SRV https://launchpad.support.sap.com/#/notes/0002799038
   Make sure all needed ports are open, and whether you need to work with proxies.
7. In ECC or S/4HANA by BASIS / Development / consultant:
   Configuration settings such as NDV2, BF11, BD61 etc, similar with what you need to do for CIF setup. Can be found in the “Setting Up the System Infrastructure” of the administrator guide (see above)
   (To avoid future issues even if you currently do not use APO or ePP/DS, I suggest to work with the dummy entry in BD54 and NDV2 and not with the real logical name of the system, as that will be needed if you connect APO or ePP/DS. However, this setting can later be adjusted)
   Prerequisite: AddOn installed in ECC or S/4HANA
8. In IBP by consultant together with BASIS:
   Configure remote source (own Tile ) and test it.
   Usually BASIS does not know the App, but they have the information you need to fill out there. Here you need the integration user’s credentials created with step 5 that connects the ECC/S4 with IBP. And here you maintain the ECC/S4 system information for the connection towards IBP.
9. Optional:
   In ECC or S/4HANA by Development / consultant: BADI Implementation.
   A BAdI = “Business Add In” is meant to influence customer’s business data.
   With the BAdI implementation you influence the content (but not the structure) of what is loaded via the /IBP/…-reports into the Interface-tables. This can include e.g. selection criteria into the integration model, or removal of special signs from table content.
   It is very likely that you need a BADI, but you may be able to have an initial first load on few data without any. Help can be found in the Application help of the AddOn (see above)
   Prerequisite: AddOn installed to have the /IBP/… reports and tables available
10. In IBP by consultant:
    In IBP set up the “integration profile” (own tile)
    It is possible to connect multiple ECC or S/4 to your IBP system. So here you set up to which planning area which data from which one or several ECC or S/4 systems are integrating from
    Note: There can be only one operative planning area for one integration profile. So if you have multiple planning areas, you can only back-integrate to EC or S/4 from the operative one. You can still use the others for testing or simulation.
    Prerequisite: Remote source is set up
11. In IBP by consultant:
    Assign the integration profile to your planning area
    Prerequisite: Planning area and integration profile created.
12. In IBP by consultant:
    Adjust the Settings for Orderbased Planning and exchange the integration profile
    Prerequisite: Planning area and integration profile created.
13. In ECC or S/4HANA by consultant:
    A) Configure the basic IBP integration which you can find if you execute transaction /n/IBP/INT_MENU to open the new IBP-menu
    Prerequisites: AddOn installed and basic settings from step 7 executed
    B) Run the reports to fill the /IBP/-tables in ECC (and later schedule them on regular basis) and check result in the /IBP/…._EXT – tables.
    These tables are later transmitted 1:1 without any further logic into the IBP system, where the tables exist identically.
    Prerequisites: basic IBP integration settings maintained
14. In IBP by consultant:
    Run the integration job in the “Application Jobs” tile based on the remote source in IBP (and later schedule them on regular basis)
    Prerequisite: All above done. Make sure you select an API that fits with the ECC or S/4HANA AddOn release else the job will fail.
    If you just want to check whether the connection itself is fine, try first with loading e.g. the calendars first, here the chance for a failure due to inconsistent data is the least
15. In IBP by consultant:
    Check result of integration in the Apps of the General Response Planner such as “View Products” for product master data or “View Projected stock” for transactional data.

For proper Response functionalities you need some more configuration depending on your relevant processes such as maintaining the  “Forecast Consumption Profile” and assign it to location products, which for this example can be found in the group of the “Order-based Planning Configuration”. Some of them need additional master data maintenance in ECC or S/4HANA, either manually by transaction e.g. /IBP/ECC_MDSET, or via automatic fill via BADI, before interfacing them to IBP. But this shall NOT be part of this high level guidance.

Hope you enjoy…

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Amendment Feb 22, 2019: For the re-use of the Add-On for CPI-DS-based time series data load:

• The OSS note 2735177 – IBP Integration – mapping overview for time series content has just been released with it’s first version. It describes which extractors are available and which fields are mapped from where.
• And the new RDS-Content provides a nice document that describes relevant steps.
  It is a bit tricky to find: Within the RDS page, scroll down to the “Solution Scope” and here open “Integrated Business Planning for sales and operations”. Choose “Open “IBP – time-series-based inbound integration with SAP S/4HANA (3OF)”. In the next window, search for the “Test script” . Especially, but not only chapter 4 is very helpful.