A Strategic Framework for Successful SAP IBP Implementation

Organizations must build their migration strategy on two essential pillars to navigate the complexities of an SAP IBP implementation and avoid common pitfalls. They include a disciplined, phased adoption and a relentless focus on data governance and user trust. In the first part of SAPinsider’s interview with Keerthi Gundapaneni, Director of Supply Chain in the SupplyChainPaths practice at CloudPaths, he highlighted the common pitfalls that organizations face while implementing an SAP IBP project. In this second part of this interview, he explains how a strategic framework ensures the solution aligns with the organization’s business needs and how it should be built on a foundation of reliable, actionable information.

Managing Complexities

According to Gundapaneni, a phased implementation is critical for managing complexity. “Try to implement the project in small phases, what we call crawl, walk, and run,” recommended Gundapaneni. “Get to the crawl phase first, introduce components that are necessary, that are required, that you know the business will adopt and start using, and you can get the benefits right away.”

A powerful application of this is in demand planning. Gundapaneni explained that rather than attempting a complete overhaul, a crawl phase could involve using SAP IBP’s forecast automation for 70-80% of SKUs with stable histories.

“This delivers immediate efficiency by freeing planners from tedious manual adjustments. They can then evolve to a walk phase, dedicating their expertise to the high-value 20% such as new product introductions, volatile A-SKUs, and phase-outs, where strategic input is crucial,” he said. “Similarly, when approaching a complex tool like the SAP IBP Optimizer, the crawl approach means enabling only a few key functions for a limited dataset to prove value before a broader run phase rollout.”

Data Governance and Building Trust

The second pillar is a dual focus on data governance and building user trust. The effectiveness of SAP IBP is directly dependent on the quality of the data. Gundapaneni provided a specific example of issues discovered during consolidation. “[In this phase, organizations often] realize, ‘Hey, this is supposed to be a comma. It’s not a decimal point.’ So suddenly, numbers that were in 1000s ended up being in hundreds,” he said. “These hidden inconsistencies must be resolved before they can corrupt the entire planning model.”

Beyond data integrity, building user trust is paramount. This extends to senior leadership, who often abandon system dashboards for Excel. As Gundapaneni pointed out, this is because they don’t trust black box numbers. He noted that if they don’t understand how a KPI is derived, they won’t use it.

“The solution is to involve stakeholders in dashboard creation and empower them to build their own reports that they feel comfortable with the data,” Gundapaneni recommended.

Likewise, user training must evolve. Gundapaneni concluded, “Instead of cramming technical details before go-live, effective change management involves starting early, using real-life scenarios for comparison, and providing a safe environment for users to learn the tool, ensuring they are confident and ready on day one.”

What This Means for SAPinsiders

• Partners like CloudPaths ensure data governance and user adoption. CloudPaths partners with organizations by embedding strict data governance and human-centric change management directly into the implementation fabric. For data governance, the partnership involves a hands-on validation of data quality early in the project, moving beyond client assumptions to proactively identify and cleanse the hidden inconsistencies that often derail implementations. To ensure high adoption, the partnership introduces the ‘Crawl, Walk, Run’ methodology, as highlighted by Gundapaneni, to match system complexity with team readiness. This approach deploys proven change management techniques, such as early, scenario-based training and stakeholder-led report building, to foster deep user confidence and ownership.
• Address disparate data systems proactively. Consolidating data from independent systems often exposes hidden process and data inconsistencies for the first time. As Gundapaneni’s comma-versus-decimal example illustrates, these seemingly minor discrepancies can cause significant errors in a unified IBP environment. SAPinsiders must ensure that a thorough data cleansing, standardization, and governance effort is a non-negotiable prerequisite for success while implementing SAP IBP in their organization.
• Watch for both planner and leadership adoption warning signs. An unhealthy SAP IBP implementation model has clear symptoms. At the planner level, SAPinsiders must watch for excessive manual overrides of system-generated results. At the leadership level, it is a major red flag if executives are abandoning SAP IBP dashboards for their spreadsheets. This indicates that the system is not providing transparent, easily understood, and decision-ready information, and trust is eroding.