Hybrid planning lets finance teams use SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC) for planning while keeping selected models or processes in SAP Business Planning and Consolidation (BPC). The design depends on which BPC configuration you run and where you want approved plan data to reside.
This guide compares BPC Standard import and return, BPC Embedded live planning, and direct financial plan integration with SAP S/4HANA. Each route handles data entry, storage, and write-back differently.
Compare the Three Planning Options
Table 1 shows where planning takes place and how the approved plan reaches its destination.
| Integration | Where Users Plan | How Plan Data Is Saved or Transferred |
|---|---|---|
| BPC Standard import and return | In an SAC model populated with imported BPC data. | Return approved data to supported BPC models through export or supported story write-back. Check the requirements for your model and release. |
| BPC Embedded live planning | In an SAC story using a supported BPC Embedded live connection and planning-enabled query. | Write plan changes back to BPC using the supported live planning workflow. Check licensing, authorizations, and supported functions. |
| SAP S/4HANA financial plan integration | In SAC using the relevant financial planning model. | Transfer approved financial plan data to SAP S/4HANA through a supported integration for the target edition and release. For example, SAP documents an ACDOCP export route for Private Edition. |
BPC Standard: Import, Plan, and Return
Import the required BPC data into SAC, map the dimensions, and schedule refreshes where supported. Finance can then build scenarios or update a forecast in SAC. Decide which approved version to return to BPC, and verify how the target category, fiscal periods, and currency map before sending data back. An import refresh updates the SAC copy. Returning the approved plan requires a separate export or supported write-back action.
For example, a manufacturer can import its BPC operating expense baseline, update the forecast in SAC, and return the approved values to the designated BPC forecast category. Reconcile totals by company code or entity, cost center, account, fiscal period, and currency before using the forecast downstream.
BPC Embedded: Live Planning and Write-Back
A supported live connection lets users enter plan data in an SAC story and write it back to BPC Embedded. Test the actual planning-enabled query, data-entry and save behavior, and any planning sequences your process requires. SAP specifies an SAC planning license for write-back to BPC Embedded. Confirm the supported backend, model, and connection for your landscape, particularly if you use BPC for SAP S/4HANA.
SAP S/4HANA: When the Approved Plan Belongs in ACDOCP
If SAP S/4HANA reporting needs the approved plan in ACDOCP, the financial plan data table, evaluate direct SAC-to-S/4HANA integration for your edition and release. This is a separate design decision from returning plan data to BPC. Confirm the supported interface, plan category, fiscal period mapping, and how repeated transfers update the target.
What to Test Before Go-Live
- Identify which system owns the approved plan and where users enter and approve changes.
- Confirm the supported backend release, BPC configuration, SAC model, connection, and licenses.
- Test a small slice from input through save or export, including mappings, authorizations, and locks.
- Reconcile totals in the target, then repeat the transfer to verify how existing values are updated.
See SAP Help for BPC import requirements, supported BPC export targets, BPC Embedded live connections, and S/4HANA Private Edition export jobs.
Glossary
ACDOCP
The SAP S/4HANA table that stores financial plan data for uses such as plan-to-actual reporting.
BPC Embedded
A configuration of SAP Business Planning and Consolidation that uses SAP Business Warehouse planning capabilities. With a supported live connection and a planning-enabled query, users can enter and save plan data in BPC from an SAP Analytics Cloud story.
BPC Standard
A configuration of SAP Business Planning and Consolidation that uses BPC models for planning. In the import-and-return workflow, users plan on a copy of the data in SAP Analytics Cloud and transfer approved values back to a supported BPC model.
Hybrid Planning
A setup that combines planning in SAP Analytics Cloud with selected models, processes, or storage in SAP BPC or SAP S/4HANA.
Import Connection
A connection that copies source data into a model in SAP Analytics Cloud. Refreshing the import updates the copy in SAC. Sending approved changes back requires a separate step.
Live Connection
A connection that queries data in the source system as users work. With a supported BPC Embedded setup, it can also save planning changes back to the source.
Plan Category
A target-system label that separates sets of plan data, such as an annual budget and a rolling forecast. Map the approved SAC version to the intended category before transferring the data.
SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC)
SAP’s cloud application for analytics and planning. Finance teams can use it to enter budgets and forecasts, model scenarios, and review results.
Write-Back
Saving plan values entered or changed in SAP Analytics Cloud back to a supported source model, such as BPC Embedded.
About the Author
Johannes Le Roux is an SAP S/4HANA financial solution architect who writes about SAP finance and planning. He wrote the original version of this article for the ERPCorp SAP FICO Blog. ERPCorp updated the integration guidance for this edition.