SAP Centre of Excellence – Supply Chain Planning: Demand Planning and S&OP

Act as a technical expert for SAP Integrated Business Planning (IBP) Demand Planning and Sales & Operations Planning, ensuring stable, performant, and reliable planning operations in a time-series-based planning environment.

The role is responsible for the technical design, configuration, operation, and support of SAP IBP Demand Planning and S&OP solutions, including advanced troubleshooting, performance optimization, and lifecycle management.

The function provides L1/L2/L3 technical support for global Demand Planning and S&OP users, safeguards data quality and system stability, and ensures reliable monthly S&OP cycles, including scenario management, heuristic and optimizer-supported planning.

Through proactive monitoring, continuous improvement, and structured enhancement handling, the role contributes directly to planning stability, forecast reliability, and executive decision confidence, in close integration with SAP S/4HANA and the global SCM target architecture.

Goal of function:

Ensure the stable and accurate operation of SAP IBP Demand Planning solutions by providing high-quality technical support, reliable enhancements, and consistent demand planning functionalities.

Career Path

 Please specify from Senior level on:

 No allocation because below Senior level        Expert career   Project Management career     Line Management career

Tasks*

1) Main tasks:

Solution Design

• Design, build, and configure SAP IBP Demand Planning and S&OP solutions in a time-series-based planning environment
• Act as technical solution Expert for IBP Demand Planning & S&OP
• Translate business requirements into robust technical IBP solutions, including planning areas, planning levels, key figures, time profiles, planning methods etc.
• Ensure alignment of IBP Demand & S&OP solutions with global SCM processes and the SAP S/4HANA target architecture
• Assess technical feasibility, system impacts, and performance implications of enhancement requests

User/System Support

• Provide L1 / L2 / L3 technical support for SAP IBP Demand Planning and S&OP to the global SCM community
• Analyze and resolve issues related to:
  • Forecast calculation and demand time series
  • S&OP planning runs, scenarios, and versions
  • Optimizer and heuristic results in the S&OP context
• Realize Enhancement Requests with an end-to-end mindset, including:
  • Solution proposal and technical design
  • Solution build and configuration
  • TUT / FUT execution
  • UAT support, training activities, and hypercare

• Advanced configuration of:
  • IBP key figures and calculation logic
  • Planning operators and methods (forecast, S&OP heuristics, optimizer)
  • Attributes, planning levels, and planning views

Performance, Stability & Monitoring

• Monitor, analyze, and optimize IBP Demand Planning and S&OP performance, including:
  • Planning run performance
  • Optimizer runtime
  • Data volume and calculation complexity
• Proactively identify stability, data quality, and performance risks and drive corrective actions
• Perform root cause analysis for recurring incidents and implement sustainable stabilization measures

Technical Data & Master Data

• Support integration to SAP S/4 HANA and non-SAP ERP via CI/DS, CI and RTI

• Ensure data consistency and data quality across IBP, SAP S/4HANA and all connected Planning Systems
• Analyze master data and transactional data issues impacting planning results

Release- & Lifecycle-Management

• Assess SAP IBP releases, identify impacts, and plan adoption of new functionalities
• Support regression testing, release readiness, and post-release stabilization

2) Secondary tasks:

• Support integration and handover of Demand Planning and S&OP results to SAP S/4HANA
• Support testing, go-live, and Hypercare phases during projects
• Collaborate with ITS SMEs, business SMEs, and Global Process Owners to implement enhancements, support releases, and stabilize planning functionalities.
• Create/maintain System documentation and knowledge base articles.

3) Miscellaneous tasks:

• Support crisis or high-priority incidents impacting forecasts, S&OP cycles, or system availability 
• Support analytics and reporting initiatives (Power BI dashboards, KPI automation).

Qualifications, experience, know-how and skills critical for success*

1) Required training and education:

University degree (bachelor) in informatics / economics / business informatics / egingeering. Advanced Degree desirable.

2) Required professional experience (in years):

• 3-5 years of experience in Demand Planning roles.
• Solid Experience in Demand Planning roles is a big plus
• 3–5 years hands‑on experience with SAP S/4HANA, SAP IBP, or APO.
• Experience working in global supply chain or GBS/CoE environments.

3) Important personal qualities:

• Strong analytical mindset with advanced quantitative skills.
• Ability to interpret complex data and translate into actionable insights.
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills.
• High level of accuracy, attention to detail, and process discipline.

4) Other specialized knowledge:

a) Technical knowledge

•  Deep technical expertise in SAP IBP, with strong focus on Demand Planning and S&OP, including advanced configuration and optimization in a complex supply network.
• Proven experience across multiple SAP IBP modules such as Resonse and Supply
• Sound technical understanding of System Integration into SAP S/4HANA

b) IT skills

• SAP IBP
• SAP S4/Hana is a plus
• Advanced Excel skills

dc Product knowledge