You find questions and answers to the following topics:
- General Questions
- Budget Planning
- Marketing Plans
- Programs
- Spend Management
- New Marketing Calendar
- SAP ERP Integration
- Brands
- Custom Dimension Values
- Workflow
General Questions
Check our online documentation for Marketing Planning and our business scenario.
Does SAP Marketing Cloud Planning support multiple currencies?
Answer: Yes. Budget plans, programs, and campaigns can all be planned in a different currency. In each application, the amounts are shown in the object currency that was selected at creation time. The currency conversion is done using the rate type M and the start date of the object. For the actual and committed spend, the date used for the currency conversion is the posting date.
Purchase orders can be in the local currency and when these purchase orders are mapped to the campaign (via the WBS element) the campaign will aggregate this purchase order in the campaign currency. Currency conversions are also done in reporting when using tools like SAP Lumira so that you can plan in a currency but report in another currency.
How does currency conversion work?
Answer: Currencies are set up by SAP. However, you must set up proper exchange rates to be able to use the display currency in the applications and reporting. There are two (2) administrative applications: Maintain Exchange Rates for manual maintenance and Import Foreign Exchange Rates for uploading the rates using a CSV file.
How can SAP Jam be used to collaborate in SAP Marketing Cloud?
Answer: SAP Jam is integrated in several applications including Budget Plans, Marketing Plans, Programs, and Campaigns. It enables you to collaborate without leaving the applications and the context of what you are working on. The Jam post also contains the link back to the app and the object from which the post was created from.
Can custom dimensions be deleted?
Answer: Not yet. This is on our roadmap.
Is there an application to maintain custom dimensions, similar to the Brands application?
Answer: Yes. It is the Custom Dimension Values application under the Import Data group.
Are configuration apps in Manage Your Solution > Configure Your Solution available in the Production system?
Answer: Yes. The configuration apps (also referred to as SSCUIs) are available in read-only in the Production System.
Is there a guideline on how to set up planning?
Answer: Yes! See our new app Set Up Your Marketing Solution that is a wizard to help you set up some of our marketing scenario.
Where can we see the actual spend and where are they coming from?
Answer: Actual spend can be seen in the following applications:
Actuals can come from the following sources:
- Actuals and Committed retrieved from a OData service
- Actuals and Committed retrieved via native integration to SAP ERP
- Actuals and Committed uploaded via CSV using the “Import Data” application
- Actuals retrieved from Facebook
- Actuals retrieved from Paid Search
- Actuals retrieved from Externally executed campaigns
I have requirements. Where can I post them?
Answer: You are most welcome to provide your requirement using our customer influence tool, under Improvement Request Category Marketing Planning and Performance. We take our customers' requests very seriously and we look into improving our software by evaluating the requests in this tool and the number of votes each of them get.
Budget Planning
Check our online documentation for Budget Planning.
Can a user plan a budget that is more than his allocation?
Answer: Yes, there is currently no strict checks in place that prevent a user from planning a planned budget which is higher than the allocated budget. This is the same for the planned spend or proposed spend. A planned spend can be higher than the programs a proposed spend, and the planned or proposed spend can be higher than the planned budget or allocation. The KPI’s will be red or green based on certain rules to give the user a visual queue about certain thresholds which may be exceeded.
Can we view and plan budget using a table instead of a chart?
Answer: Currently, budget is planned and visualized using charts only but some of the data can be downloaded to excel.
Can we restrict the values that can be used in budget planning?
Answer: Yes. Using the Dimensions Relationships app, you can restrict which values are relevant between dimensions used in budget planning. For example, Brand A is not available in Canada.
Does Budget Plan have a change log?
Answer: Not yet. This is on our roadmap.
Can I delete a Budget Plan?
Answer: Yes, if there are not programs funded by this Budget Plan and there are also no private plans associated to this Budget Plan.
Can we delete a planning model?
Answer: No. However, you can deactivate it by setting the validity in past years. By doing so, the planning model will no longer be considered for budget plans creation.
Can a planning model have only one dimension?
Answer: No. A planning model must have at least two (2) dimensions. You can select any standard dimensions or custom dimensions that you want to define.
Marketing Plans
Check our online documentation for Marketing Plans.
Can I have a marketing plan for a period and not only for a strict calendar year?
Answer: Yes. It is possible to create marketing plans for the marketing areas you are assigned to and for any period, not just for a strict calendar year.
Can we have more than one (1) marketing plan per marketing area and calendar year?
Answer: Yes. It is possible to have several marketing plans for the same marketing area and calendar year.
Can we assign more than one (1) budget plan to a marketing plan
Answer: No. Only one budget plan can be assigned to a marketing plan. Programs assigned to the marketing plan must have funding source from the assigned budget plan.
Can I have versions of a marketing plan?
Answer: No. there is currently only one version of a marketing plan
Does the export to PDF functionality work with all browsers?
Answer: Unfortunately, not. Internet Explorer doesn’t support this functionality; However, it is supported by Chrome, Safari, and Firefox. Note that the pop-up blocker must be disabled to allow the preview in another tab.
Note: Exporting Marketing Plan data to PDF is deprecated as of 2402 and will no longer be available in a future release.
Programs
Check our online documentation for Programs.
How are campaigns funded with the marketing budget?
Answer: Campaigns can be grouped using a program. The program gets funding from a budget plan. Currently, funding can only be done through the program. Campaign cannot be funded directly. There is only one funding source assigned to a program. It is currently not possible to have multiple funding sources assigned to a program.
Can we add custom fields to programs?
Answer: Custom fields can be added to the Program object using the business context “Marketing Program” in the “Custom Fields and Logic” application. A key user can add custom fields to the "Details" section and the "Create" pop-up of the UI by adapting the UI at run time. In addition to adding custom fields, standard fields can also be removed by the key user at runtime.
Can we save a variant of the campaigns table?
Answer: A personalized view of the campaigns table can be created by showing/hiding columns, grouping, filtering, sorting or rearranging columns. This view can then be saved as a variant. A key user can also create a variant and make it available across all users in his organization.
Can program phases overlap?
Answer: It is possible for the dates in program phases to overlap.
Can I copy my program?
Answer: It is possible to copy a program which will include making a copy of its campaigns. The funding source and marketing plan will not be included in this copy and will need to be manually added to your copy.
Spend Management
Check our online documentation for Spend Management.
Where can I plan my spends in detail?
Answer: Detailed spend planning can be done in the spend tab of the Campaigns application.
New Marketing Calendar
Check our online documentation for Marketing Calendar.
Since 1911, we introduced a new Marketing Calendar that provides
- Intuitive comparison of objects using the secondary calendar
- Extensibility to add custom fields
Will the original Marketing Calendar be deprecated?
Answer: The original Marketing Calendar will be deprecated as of 2005.
Why did you create a new Marketing Calendar?
Answer: Customers where asking for a more flexible calendar, with the ability to view multiple type of marketing objects and enhanced filtering capabilities. The technology in which the original Marketing Calendar was built on didn't allow us to provide such enhancements.
Will you add more marketing objects, like programs?
Answer: Yes, it is planned to enrich the new Marketing Calendar with more standard objects. Note that as of 2002, you can enable custom business objects to be shown in the calendar, provided that they have a start and end date. See more details in this blog post.
The new Marketing Calendar doesn't show any KPI anymore. Will it come?
Answer: As of now, it is not planned. Note that through the Runtime Adpation Tool (RTA), you can add the total planned spend, actual, or committed spend in the campaign popover.
SAP ERP Integration
Check our online documentation for the Actual and Committed Spend with SAP ERP.
Can we use IO’s (Internal Orders) as cost collectors in ERP a use this with spend management?
Answer: No, we currently only support WBS Projects and Elements as cost collectors. When a campaign is released, a WBS Project is created in ERP. Each spend item in the campaign (in spend management) has its own WBS Element under this project.
How are actual and committed spend brought back into SAP Marketing?
Answer: As of the 1605 release there are 3 ways:
- We have an OData service that can be used to bring actual and committed spend into SAP Marketing, in case you don’t have a SAP ERP but another financial system.
- We have a native SAP ERP integration from SAP Marketing to SAP ERP. A purchase order has a field which allows you to pick a WBS element. This WBS element represents a spend item in the campaign in spend management. This is how we bring back the costs from a purchase order and link it to a campaign in SAP Marketing.
- We have an Import Data application that can be used to import actual and committed spend to SAP Marketing with a CSV file.
Is there a standard integration with S/4HANA (sFin)?
Answer: Currently the standard ERP integration is only with SAP ERP from Business Suite.
Brands
Check our online documentation for Brands.
Can brands be deleted?
Answer: Not yet. This is on our roadmap.
Custom Dimension Values
Check our online documentation for Custom Dimension Values.
Can values of custom dimensions be deleted
Answer: Not yet. This is on our short-term road map.
Workflow
Check our online documentation for approval.
What objects have been enabled for Workflow?
Answer: Workflow can be used for Campaigns, Target Groups, Marketing Plans, and Programs.
Can I set up rules to decide when approvals are required?
Answer: Rules can be set up using the Manage Workflow application. As an example, trigger workflow if “Marketing Area equals to North America and Planned Spend greater than 10K”, and if none of the rules are met then automatically release.
What configuration is necessary for email notifications On Premise?
Answer: SAPconnect is required for sending notifications for workflow. For more information about configuring SAPconnect, see sections SAPconnect (BC-SRV-COM) and Quick Guide to SMTP Configuration of the SAP NetWeaver AS for ABAP 7.52 documentation on the SAP Help Portal at:
https://help.sap.com/viewer/p/SAP_HYBRIS_MARKETING SAP NetWeaver AS for ABAP 7.52 for Foundation 1709, version for SAP HANA View All Function-Oriented View Application Server ABAP Other Services Services for Business Users
What configuration is necessary for FIORI notifications On Premise?
Answer: Notification channel configuration is required for receiving notifications in the SAP Fiori launchpad. For more information, see section Notification Channel Configuration of the SAP NetWeaver AS for ABAP 7.52 documentation on the SAP Help Portal at
https://help.sap.com/viewer/p/SAP_HYBRIS_MARKETING SAP NetWeaver AS for ABAP 7.52 for Foundation 1709, version for SAP HANA View All Technical Operations for SAP NetWeaver SAP Gateway Foundation Technical Operations Guide Notification Channel
How can I maintain a whitelist for emails domains in the cloud?
Answer: A whitelist can be maintained in a self-service configuration application. For more information, search for Define Email Receiver Addresses for Test Systems on SAP Help Portal at http://help.sap.com.
Is it possible to change the content of the email?
Answer: No, the email content cannot be changed at this time.
What types of notifications are provided for workflow and when are they sent?
Answer: As of 1811, the following notifications are sent:
Object submitted for approval:
- A FIORI Launchpad notification is sent to the approver. The notification contains the name of the object, a hyperlink to the approval task, and actions to approve or reject the object directly from the notification. In a multi-step scenario, a notification is sent to the approver in each step.
- An email is sent to the approver. The email contains the name of the object, a hyperlink to the object, a hyperlink to the approval task, and the comments entered by the submitter. In a multi-step scenario, an email is sent to the approver in each step.
Object approved or rejected:
- A FIORI Launchpad notification is sent to the person who submitted the object for approval. The notification contains the name of the object and a hyperlink to the object.
- An email is sent to the person who submitted the object for approval. The email contains the name of the object, a hyperlink to the object, and the comments entered by the approver. In a multi-step scenario, only the comments of the last approver are sent.
