BPC Upgrade Guide Whitepaper 09242015

BPC
UPGRADE GUIDE
version 7.x to version 10.x
PRESENTED BY
BPC
UPGRADE GUIDE
CONTENTS
Executive Overview............................................................................................................................4
Thoughts on Preparing for the Upgrade.............................................................................................6

Process Guides.......................................................................................................................12
Detailed Insights.................................................................................................................................14

EPM Roadmap....................................................................................................................... 14
Technical Considerations When Upgrading BPC...............................................................................15
NW Technical Comments.............................................................................................15
Microsoft Comments.....................................................................................................17

New Features...........................................................................................................................19

Web Interface ..............................................................................................................19

EPM Add-In (Word, PowerPoint and Excel)..................................................................19

Move Away from EV Formulas......................................................................................19

Technical Upgrade Process......................................................................................................20
Proper Care and Usage Regimen for BPC........................................................................................28

Building a Competent Team....................................................................................................28

Attend Events........................................................................................................................ 29

Use Tools for Support and Validation.....................................................................................
29
Extended Support........................................................................................................ 30
Managed Service......................................................................................................... 30
Hosting........................................................................................................................ 31
Conclusion........................................................................................................................................ 33
Contact Us.........................................................................................................................................34
Confidential. Do not distribute, copy, or reproduce in whole or in part without express written permission of Column5
Consulting. All rights reserved. Column5 Consulting Group, LLC
EXECUTIVE
OVERVIEW
BPC
UPGRADE GUIDE
EXECUTIVE OVERVIEW
SAP Business Planning & Consolidation (BPC) is a powerful
solution that is used by thousands of significant organizations
around the world to perform functions associated with Enterprise
Performance Management (EPM). While the solution is ranked
at the top of the market by Gartner, and many customers are
successful with the product, for many others their BPC experience
could be greatly improved.
A challenge with EPM solutions is that they can be implemented
with a very wide degree of flexibility, and the access to data
that clearly spells out preferred approaches is very limited. The
purpose of this document is to help BPC owners of versions 7.x
and earlier make the most of their upgrade to version 10.x. The
powerful features of v10.x contain great potential to improve the
user experience delivered by earlier versions, while the upgrade
process provides an opportunity to significantly expand the value
BPC returns to the business as an EPM solution.
Column5 is a market leader among all types of firms that offer
SAP EPM professional services. The comprehensive capabilities
offered by our team are unique in the marketplace, as is the
value partnering with our organization can deliver for any size/
complexity organization. For more information about Column5,
our services, and how they can assist you in your EPM journey,
please see www.column5.com.
I invite you to use this document as a guide to help your
organization advance your EPM capabilities, improve your user
experience, and increase your success with BPC. Should you
have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact our organization or me personally.
Best of luck with your upgrade,
David Den Boer

CEO
Column5 Consulting
ddenboer@column5.com
+1.480.779.6906
BPC
UPGRADE GUIDE
DISCLAIMER
All recommendations made throughout this document are based on the best available information
as of the date this document was published, and are subject to change as new information becomes
available. Column5 believes these to be accurate and correct to the best of our knowledge, and it is our
intent to update this document from time to time as more information is analyzed.
Upgrades can be a turning point where new functionality and improved performance is released to
users to their delight, or they can be a disruptive and frustrating experience. At Column5, we believe that
frustrations are not often experienced because of a single bad decision, but rather are the cumulative
result of a series of overlooked opportunities to take a better approach; therefore, knowing what needs
to be done to get it right throughout the upgrade project is essential to a successful outcome.
Some BPC customers will leverage the upgrade as a point of inflection on their EPM journey to expand
and enhance their solution. Others will try to make the change as seamless as possible with very little
change, and at the lowest possible cost. Whichever scenario is your objective, following our suggestions
can save time and money, while expanding the opportunity to have a superlative result with the upgrade
process.
THOUGHTS
ON
PREPARING
FOR AN
UPGRADE
Our team was extremely pleased with the technical

expertise Column5 provided in an engagement to upgrade
BPC v7.5 MS to v10.0 MS. From the advice/guidance
that was purely technical (i.e., tuning the servers, etc.)
to the application support, we could not have been more
pleased. The project was completed on time and on budget.
In addition to the onsite consulting that was provided,
we also took advantage of the excellent educational
opportunities Column5 provides. Through a combination
of remote and online training, the finance team was well
prepared to assume ownership of the application to
ensure a successful budget process.
- Vice President
Cincinnati Childrens Hospital Medical Center
BPC
UPGRADE GUIDE
THOUGHTS ON PREPARING FOR AN UPGRADE
Like most undertakings, proper planning
is essential to increase the likelihood
of success. Before we discuss specific
approaches, lets set the right context
for the upgrade and answer questions
around the when, what, how and who of
the upgrade process.
When and why do we need to

upgrade?
SAP BPC is a very sophisticated software
application with numerous dependencies on
underlying components. The most popular
reporting interface is Microsoft Excel, in addition
to other members of the MS Office suite. BPC sits
on top of a database, and depending on which
version you have, relies on certain components of
that platform as well as webserver components.
Any one of those objects could be patched to
upgrade its functionality at any time, and this
patching of dependent components and sometimes
indirectly related software modules, can and often
does introduce some compatibility issues to BPCs
otherwise smooth operation.
For previously resolved issues reported to

the support desk, there will be no change.
The support personnel will direct you to the
existing SAP note that addresses that issue.
For newly reported issues reported to the support
desk, a determination will be made as to the
severity of the issue. Issues deemed to be below
very high (see definitions here) will no longer be
fixed. You will be encouraged to upgrade to the
latest version or implement a work around. While
the fees for Priority One support are included in
your full maintenance payment, the remedies
available to you will be reduced.
It will be up to each organization to determine
how comfortable it is with the amount of risk
introduced with this change in the support terms.
We believe many should be motivated to make
plans to upgrade before any changes are made
to the available support options that may increase
the risk of BPC problems in your environment.
Recently, several Microsoft patches for Office

products have interfered with BPCs functionality.
As time goes on, we predict more of this will
occur as the patch levels of Office, Windows, and
other components further diverge from BPCs
SAP has announced for every version an end of compatibility. This will result in your IT department
mainstream support date, which means that the burdened with controlling which patches are applied
services available via support will start to change. to your key software applications to accommodate
Change how? Mainstream support will come to BPCs end of mainstream support. Column5s
an end and then Priority One support may be assessment is that this state of uncertainty will
available. The following information is according to be progressively less desirable than the benefits
this SAP site (click here) on Priority One support. of being on a fully supported version, therefore
our recommendation is to upgrade as soon as is
Under Priority One, Enterprise Support Service practicable.
Level Agreements will no longer be delivered.
BPC
UPGRADE GUIDE
What can be done to elevate my EPM
program ROI and increase the value of
my business case?
BPC has likely been part of your organizations process
for a few years now, and you may feel that there is some
distance to go to realize all you had hoped in the initial
ownership period. At the same time, you may feel you
have a complete understanding of BPC and EPM value in
your organization. However, before fully embarking on an
upgrade, it is an ideal time to revisit the original intent of
the investment in EPM, assess the progress made to date,
and determine what further steps can be taken as part of
the upgrade and beyond to achieve the next level of EPM
value.
Column5 offers an EPM Assessment that covers these
very topics to help organizations focus their investments in
the highest impact areas. More details about the value of
establishing an EPM Roadmap are discussed on page 14.
What should we seek to accomplish

during the upgrade?
Some customers view moving to a new version as a simple
lift and shift experience, with only subtle changes needed.
With v10, several new features, including a new reporting
interface, have been introduced, so the potential to slip in the
new version without the users noticing is likely not possible.
Whether the appetite for the amount of change during the
upgrade is minimal, or this pivot will be leveraged to introduce
more sweeping changes, it is important to identify what is
eligible for change, and allocate sufficient time to make
changes, test, and train before deploying for best results. A
list of items that could be changed are:
Performance improvements
User Interface (UI) enhancements
New UIs (web, mobility, MS Office: Excel/Word/

PowerPoint)
HOT TIP!
It is a risk to not
focus on those
issues most
visible to your
user community
as a top priority.
Prepare a list of
known issues that
are expected to
be resolved due
to the software
upgrade or
related services
so the delivery of
these solutions
can be validated
during testing.
BPC
UPGRADE GUIDE
Workflow & other process support
New function coverage (strategic planning,

CapEx, HCM, OpEx, S&OP, & more)
Automation (transaction load, master data

load, report distribution, logic runs)
Improved integration (reporting to ERP

transaction detail & BI/EDW)
Automated variance
For most BPC owning organizations, the

above list contains the potential for major
enhancements. Which are right for your usage
of BPC? This document will provide more
information about some of these items, but the
best way to determine what is best for your
situation is to get educated on the functionality
directly. To facilitate learning, Column5 offers
recorded webinars and demos in our Webcast
Library. Alternatively, custom demonstrations
of the latest BPC product can be requested for
your organization.
What can be done to reduce the

risk of disruption & frustration?
With any change, there is the potential to have
users feel alienated with their familiar environment
being taken away and some new experiences
being thrust upon them. Several steps can be taken
to avoid this perception. They include:
ORGANIZE: Have users nominate a review

committee to be involved in the upgrade.
COMMUNICATE:
In
our
experience,
disenfranchised users that have the ability to
claim, I wasnt aware this was happening
or I had no influence are going to be the
most motivated critics. A strategy of proactive
engagement will help convert critics to advocates
early.
EDUCATE: Involve influential users in the

educational process mentioned above so they
can build a sense of anticipation for the new
version. Consider forwarding links to Column5s
Webcast Library for demos on v10 functionality,
HOT TIP!
To save time and money while preparing for

the upgrade, assemble an inventory of all
existing Report and Input Schedules that
exist in the current system. Prioritize the list to identify which are critical to have
operational by the targeted go-live. Then look for reports which are no longer used
or may be out of date; these will be candidates to be excluded from the migration.
Also be sure to interview all users for one-off reports they may have created to
satisfy a local need. Once you are confident you have the complete list, prioritize
the list to indicate which are critical for go-live. Many times, the complete list
cannot be rebuilt (if needed) by the targeted go-live date for the completion of
the upgrade, and those can be divided up among users for conversion at a later
date.
10
BPC
UPGRADE GUIDE
or arranging a demo of BPC focused on your
organizations areas of interest.
TRAIN: Train power users at the earliest

possible opportunity when they can
begin to interact with v10 in a development
environment, and have them take on some
of the report conversion tasks. When the
interfaces are theirs they will be much more
likely to be supportive.
What resources should I plan

to make available during the
upgrade?
Your organization will need to make both technical

and functional staff available. In addition to this, a
qualified third party is highly recommended. The
Column5 team is not aware of many upgrades
that have been successfully completed by
TEST PLANNING: Having a proper testing clients without the benefit of experienced third
plan that simulates performance loads and party resources. Securing a commitment from
mitigates challenges before going live is selected users will also be very useful to ensure
essential to make the experience wholly the system is well received. Depending on the
nature of changes made during the upgrade,
positive.
executive process owners may be required to help
TEST GROUPS: Giving users an opportunity advance capabilities of EPM processes around
to identify concerns early and have those the organization.
addressed before going live will build empathy
for the upgrade team should any challenges How does this specific upgrade
be encountered after go-live.
Is having a qualified third party

participate in the upgrade
recommended?
Has user adoption been a challenge in the

past? We recommend engaging a third party
for Organizational Change Management, with
specific experience with EPM solutions.
Do you already experience performance or

stability issues? Have a plan to address these
concerns prior to the upgrade by working with
a highly competent third party with specific
offerings for BPC performance tuning.
Do your users feel competent working

independently with the solution? Train your
end-users, ranging from eLearning to custom
onsite training content to build users familiarity
with BPC v10.
(to v10.x) differ from upgrades I

have done in the past?
The biggest change with this upgrade is the new

reporting interface. The potential exists to create
a very dynamic reporting capability that our
clients report is much easier to use. While some
navigational experiences may receive a facelift
that looks more professional, the Excel reports
most are accustomed to will not necessarily look
different depending on your existing solution.
By taking advantage of some of the new features
present in v7.x that were not deployed for whatever
reason, plus the significant technical advances in
v10.x, this upgrade can be a major turning point in
the users perception of BPC.
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BPC
UPGRADE GUIDE
THOUGHTS ON PREPARING FOR AN UPGRADE
Process Guides
Your upgrade should follow a structured process
to ensure the best possible outcome. You will want
to ensure your project includes a detailed planning
phase, followed by the technical upgrade process.
Once the technical foundation is laid, the work
can begin on building the v10.x system in detail.
Testing, performance tuning, and go-live will round
out the steps to complete the upgrade.
With each organizations BPC solution specifics,
and their desire for change (or not), the volume of
tasks at each stage will vary.
All upgrade steps should follow a comprehensive

blueprinting phase that covers a right-sized agenda
calibrated to match how aggressive the upgrade
approach should be. A more detailed discussion
of the importance of plotting an EPM roadmap
is located further on in this document. Once the
blueprint is agreed upon, the flow of every upgrade
should follow this diagram as closely as possible
for best results.
TECHNICAL UPGRADE
FUNCTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
System Landscape
Installation
Performance Tuning
Post Go-Live Support
Design
Replicate Existing
Interfaces
Create New
Interfaces
Migrate Data
Integration
Enhance Automation
TESTING
TESTING
Functional Regression
Systems Integration
Performance Remediation
Disaster Recovery
User Acceptance
A key to the success of the project will be the Functional Regression Testing
prior to the Systems Integration Testing. Conclude the Testing Phases with
User Acceptance Testing to be sure nothing has been missed. The Go-Live
and Post Go-Live Phases will include migration to production and support
and maintenance of the upgrade post go-live.
12
DETAILED
INSIGHTS
BPC
UPGRADE GUIDE
DETAILED INSIGHTS
Making your BPC upgrade successful is
our primary goal, and the place to start
is agreeing on how you define success.
At Column5, we have a very broad view
of the potential value of an EPM solution.
We believe that EPM is one process that
every single business must operate, and it
should cover the entire enterprise (thats
why they call it Enterprise Performance
Management). We further believe that
more competitive companies (measured
in market share, profitability, market
capitalization, etc.) are also superior
EPM process operators. Said another
way, to the extent your organization has
a superior EPM processyour company
will be more competitive in your market.
Some customers only strive to replace manual
processes with automated
versions of the
same basic capability. Others focus exclusively
on financial processes, omitting Strategy and
Operations planning functionality. Regardless of
how you have deployed BPC to date, an opportunity
for improvement near the top of every list is
improved performance and stability. How should
you approach the project to leverage this upgrade
as a major advancement in your EPM journey?
EPM Roadmap
the overarching purposes you are aiming to achieve.

In our surveys, 75% of customers do not have an
EPM roadmap despite implementing BPC. This
number is in line with scores for other EPM products,
and maybe not surprisingly, as it correlates to the
reported 70% of survey respondents that report a
struggle to clearly achieve positive value with their
EPM investments.
The upgrade process presents an opportunity to
unlock that hidden value, and revisit how well you
are using EPM for current objectives, and identify
major capabilities you may aspire to include. From a
people perspective, getting a vision clearly outlined
can align your team around a more valuable
blueprint for EPM in your organization and industry.
Defining this vision, and the value from a more
capable platform, can help you make clear priority
decisions on which projects to do and when, and
what features to include and why.
At Column5, we encounter customers from
other partners who spent significant resources
on developing complex tasks that unfortunately
achieved minimal process value. More than merely
missed opportunities, unnecessary complexity and
low usability can present a major issue with user
satisfaction, and can lead to poor performance and
even staff turnover.
Column5 has an EPM Framework that is part of our
PAVE methodology Process to Achieve Value with
EPM that helps avoid these oversights, missed
opportunities, and dissastisfaction. Applying these
principles can bring structure and clarity to any
organizations intended ROI.
As previously stated, the first step is to define your

organizations vision for upgrade success. To our
team, that means taking a step back and evaluating
14
BPC
UPGRADE GUIDE
DETAILED INSIGHTS
TECHNICAL Considerations When Upgrading BPC
Of all the new features with v10, some
of the most anticipated and impactful
will be the performance and stability
enhancements. This section will review
the details of the various improvements
for each platform option.
NetWeaver (NW) Technical
Comments
BPC v10.x for the NetWeaver platform contains
architectural enhancements that enable new
features, and performance improvements stemming
from numerous platform refinements. First, the
.NET server is no longer required for BPC v10.x.
This enhancement removes a communication (and
performance) bottleneck, and removes another
layer requiring management. Communication now
flows directly from BPCs front-end user interface
to the ABAP layer.
BPC v10 for NW includes some major performance

improvements. The SAP EPM 10 client and the
BPC components no longer have to be on the same
service packs. This allows the freedom of adding
fixes to the front-end without having to complete an
upgrade to the back-end. The enhancements on
the front-end have made significant performance
improvements. The new EPM client also has two
versions, the Standard and Big Volume. The Big
Volume EPM client takes advantage of Microsoft
Office 64-bit and enables reports that return
datasets with larger volume.
Transports used to migrate objects in the BPC
environment (formerly known as appset) in BPC
v7.x required that the whole environment be
transported each time. In BPC 10.x, transports
are now more granular allowing portions of
the environment contents to be targeted when
operating transports. Normal mode and Delete
mode of transports are now supported.
With BPC v7.x systems, it was not possible to

From a security perspective, further enhancements integrate BPC into a Central User Administration
have been made. ABAP users are now created (CUA) environment. For this reason, BPC system
with BPC v10.x users, and Active Directory users security was handled separately and could not
are no longer required. This provides for more be a part of CUA implementation. With BPC v10.x
detailed tracing of specific activities to individuals systems, BPC can be tightly integrated in a CUA
as opposed to Active Directory users that were tied landscape. There are a few additional steps to
to three generic ABAP user profiles: BPC_USER, enable and activate this configuration. If a CUA
BPC_ADMIN, and BPC_SYSADMIN. Because landscape is your preference, contact Column5s
the individual user was not identified in ABAP, technical services team today.
debug users had to be created for troubleshooting
BPC v10.1 integrates more tightly with other
purposes.
products that may aid in expanding the reach
15
BPC
UPGRADE GUIDE
of your EPM capability. For example, BPC v10.x
now offers mobile support for the Apple iPad and
RIM BlackBerry PlayBook tablets. This capability
is enabled by SAPs use of an HTML5 toolkit UI5
that has no software prerequisites. This flexible
platform offers greater support for mobile devices
and touchscreens. UI5 also provides a new Web
admin client, now called the BPC Admin Console,
in BPC v10.1 and replaces the v7.x Admin client.
All administration activities including maintenance
of environments, dimensions and models, user
security and role creation, etc. are now handled
using BPC Admin Console. Where the v7.x Admin
client required SAP Cryptographic Software, the
enhanced BPC Admin Console does not have this
prerequisite.
BPC v10.1 also has a Unified version which
combines the best parts of SAP IP/PAK and BPC.
The models use BW InfoObjects rather than
BPC dimensions, and Planning related functions
are developed using IP functionality. Clients
that desire this integration with BW InfoObjects
may benefit from simpler support and greater IP
Planning performance. The Unified version will
require BPC v10.1 to be installed on HANA.
implementing a special Meta Data caching

mechanism for Reports that are used often. This
is made available starting in BPC v10.0 SP8.
Support for Time Dependent Hierarchy is also
available in BPC v10.x. This will enable users to
see data reflected differently based on changes to
master data over time. Users will be able to toggle
to different versions of hierarchy by selecting a
key date within EPM Add-In and web reporting
with reports and input forms. Models with timedependent hierarchy enabled allow users to
select the key date with both reporting UI for
reports and input forms. For more info on this see
Note 1800842 - Time-dependent hierarchy for
Planning and Consolidation 10.0. This note gives
a description, instructions on how to activate, and
settings.
BPC 10.1 requires a minimum of NetWeaver 7.4
SP5, so this takes full advantage of enhancements
contained within the latest NetWeaver version.
BPC v10.1 supports the latest operating
systems and databases. This allows access to
improvements made in the latest versions of
underlying technologies, which again improves
BPC. The HANA database is also supported in
BPC v10.x.
Parallel Data Manager Loading is now available in

BPC v10.x. This enhancement will allow you to run
Specific Data Manager packages in Parallel and As of BPC v10.0 SP9, MDX on HANA is a new
will greatly improve the run time of long-running option. The MDX syntax has been known to cause
significant adverse performance impacts in BPC
and large data loads from Data Manager.
v7.x, so this new option can be a major improvement
Special Caching Mechanism for Report Meta in functionality for those who require it.
Data will further improve BPC read time by
16
BPC
UPGRADE GUIDE
MICROSOFT (MS) COMMENTS
Clients on BPC 7.x for the Microsoft platform can
also receive many benefits by upgrading to BPC
10.1 at each tier of the technology stack. This
includes specific Office, SQL Server, Windows,
and BPC functional items.
CLIENT SIDE
EPM Add-In: Flexibility & Power
Flexibility In SAP BPC v7.x for the Microsoft
version, if there was a need to upgrade the server
side components to a higher Service Pack or
patch, it was a requirement to have the versions
match on the client side as well. This required
having all users on the old BPC client to first
uninstall the old version, then download the newest
and reinstall. Several challenges arise from this
process, not the least of which was invoked by
policies where users did not have rights to install
new software of their local machines.
BPC v10.1 MS allows support for MS Office 32-bit

and MS Office 64-bit. There are now two versions
of the EPM Add-In (BPC Client): one which
utilizes the standard 32-bit Office (.NET 3.5), and
the second is the high data volume EPM Add-In
BIG VOL. version that works with Office 64-bit
(.NET 4). Of course by using the 64-bit version
of Office you are able to also make use of higher
amounts of RAM on the client machine for larger
volumes of data sends.
Administrative Console (optional)
In SAP BPC v7.x MS, there are two portions

to the Administrative client. There is a webbased segment that includes application set
parameter setup, application parameter setup,
audit activity and setup, report publishing, and
edit drill through. The other portion includes a
thick client that gets installed on a workstation
that handles security, security management,
application
set
management,
application
management, dimension management, business
rule management, work status setup, journals
In the latest version of BPC v10.1 MS, the EPM management, and script logic management.
Add-In no longer requires the client and server
side versions to match. In fact, there is more In the latest version of SAP BPC (BPC v10.x), the
flexibility as several versions of the EPM Add-In Administrative Client no longer utilizes any web
can be installed on various workstations without services and is unified into one thick client that
any issues. For example, if a bug was discovered handles all administrative tasks.
within a couple of workstations in Europe but was
not being witnessed elsewhere, you could simply SERVER SIDE
upgrade both workstations without impacting
COM+ Components
other users.
Better Design The Microsoft version of
SAP BPC v7.x was developed using COM+
In SAP BPC v7.x MS, the only acceptable and Components, an extension of Microsofts
supported version of Microsoft Office that could Component Object Models (COM). COM+ is both
be used was a 32-bit edition. This limited the size an object-oriented programming architecture and
of files and amount of data sent within MS Excel. a set of operating system services which handles
many of the resource management tasks needed
Improved Query & Data Handling Power
17
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to run BPC. This original design relied heavily on
DLL files being of the right version and properly
registered within the system. Under certain
circumstances, these files could fail to register
during upgrades causing unstable environments
and poor performance. Many times these small
programs would crash, causing users to receive
errors and experience erratic performance and
instability. Maintenance was required each time
a new BPC Service Pack or patch was applied
to each relevant components application pool, a
property used for multiple application process calls.
This detailed requirement has been inconsistently
adhered to, and our team sees a correlation to
clients who upgrade hoping to improve stability
and their experience has not improved.
64-bit support on all BPC, server, and client

components and provide a broader selection of
installation languages.
In BPC v10.x MS, SAP has redesigned their

product and has removed all major dependencies
on COM+ Components (there is only 1 left) and
has replaced those objects with web-services
(IIS Internet Information Services) creating better
performance, stability, and usability.
Better Web Client - BPC v10.x MS extends

the web deployment options for customers by
leveraging a new HTML5 client for reporting and
inputs. With this new HTML5 client, customers
now have greater flexibility in areas such as
standardization of text with browser options, easier
navigation, more flexibility with comment viewing,
and greater control over locked dimensions and
customizations.
Server & RDBMS Version

Broader Platform Choice Upgrading to BPC
v10.x provides clients the opportunity to take
advantage of the most up-to-date Operating
Systems and Relational Database Management
Systems, such as Windows Server 2012/R2,
Microsoft SQL Server 2012/2014 and the latest
Office versions. These platforms allow for full
Microsoft Analysis Services has always offered

Partitioning that allows for making smaller sets
of data to improve input schedule and report
performance. This can enable a 50% gain in
retrieve performance when using the BPC client
software. SAP has added some great functionality
to the newest versions of BPC with respect to
Analysis Services Partitions. Instead of performing
this function in Analysis Services manually, they
now have a wizard to perform the job for you.
Web Interface/HTML5
The strategy to adopt HTML5 development

standards has removed the need for Adobe Flash
Player, which has been known to have support
and compatibility issues with some web browsers
including Microsoft Internet Explorer.
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DETAILED INSIGHTS
NEW FEATURES
WEB INTERFACE
A new HTML5 Interface provides enhanced
Web Reports and Web Input Form capabilities.
Comments have been enhanced with new
features to view history and see comments in a
column right next to the data or a variance on the
Web. For Web Reports, the charts and graphs
have also been improved. Business Process
Flows have been enhanced along with improved
Automated Variance Analysis options (Microsoft)
and Web-based System Reporting.
The Administration Interface, now 100% Webbased (NetWeaver) has been improved in the
HTML5 interface with the ability to graphically
modify hierarchies and also graphically create/
modify formulas, logic, and business rules.
Consolidation features for Journals and the
Ownership Manager have been enhanced in
the HTML5 interface for both platforms. The
NetWeaver platform has additional graphical
consolidation capabilities with a Process Monitor
and a Controls Monitor which provides the ability
to perform incremental currency translation, as
well as incremental consolidation.
EPM ADD-IN GETTING COZIER

WITH OFFICE
A new and improved Office Interface called the
EPM Add-In provides a major leap forward in
capabilities to interact with the back-end database
(read and write) from Word, PowerPoint, and
Excel [up to Office 2013]. There are two new
tabs in the Excel ribbon an EPM tab and a Data
Manager tab. The EPM tab is consistent across
all of the Office solutions, and nearly all of the
Excel report Data Manager functions have been

placed onto a separate tab for ease of use and
better visibility.
New capabilities include the ability to Drag & Drop
within the Excel sheet for report writing and input
form creation. This makes it much more intuitive
to design and modify templates. Also, Member
Recognition allows users to simply type members
into the spreadsheet and the members are
automatically recognized by the database. If there
is a member that is not recognized, a selection
box will appear with alternate suggestions for the
ambiguous term. You can also type in your own
formulas and you have an option of automatically
applying a database-level formula and saving it
in the template as a Local Member. There is also
a new graphical interface (similar to the graphical
EvDRE interface) called the Report Editor that
provides Drag & Drop capabilities and additional
options when building a Report or an Input Form
Advanced Ranking, Filtering, and Sorting.
Microsoft PowerPoint and Word integration has
been vastly improved, as it is much more user
friendly with the same interface that is used for
Excel, including the EPM Tab, the EPM Context
(formerly Current View), and the EPM Pane
(formerly Action Pane).
MOVE AWAY FROM EV

FORMULAS
There are a new set of formulas/functions that
all begin with EPM and you can still retrieve
and send a single cell with EPMRetrieveData
and EPMSaveData. While the new functions
communicate with the database more efficiently,
most of the old EV functions will work. Basic
EvDREs will also work, but more complex,
multi-nested EvDREs will most likely need to
be rewritten using the new EPM Add-In due to
the advanced nesting capabilities that are now
available.
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UPGRADE GUIDE
DETAILED INSIGHTS
TECHNICAL UPGRADE PROCESS
Once you have evaluated your EPM process for landscape as part of the upgrade.
effectiveness and identified enhancements via the
EPM roadmap, checked the new feature list to see Key questions to ask:
if your organization could benefit from functionality Will you upgrade in place or migrate BPC to a
new or upgraded hardware platform?
added to v10, and reviewed your system to identify
performance and stability improvements, you Will you upgrade the database, OS, or
are ready to begin the technical aspects of your
middleware as part of the upgrade?
upgrade.
Does
BPC or any other component
change
trigger new software compatibility
Column5 recommends this comprehensive
requirements?
process:
1. System Landscape Design
2. Prepare for Upgrade

3. Create v10 Technical Environment
4. Upgrade Environment from v7 to v10
5. Upgrade & Adapt Each Object to v10
Standards
6. Testing
7. Performance Tuning
8. Disaster Recovery Plan, Configure, & Test
9. Post Go-Live Support Plan
Following this process is very important to get the
most out of the new system and to ensure users
are not disrupted. Done properly, there should be
increased functionality, value, and user satisfaction
from the upgrade process.
1) SYSTEM LANDSCAPE DESIGN

Given the numerous improvements in database
technology, and the architectural changes
impacting where the processing loads occur with
both BPC versions (Microsoft & NetWeaver), every
organization contemplating an upgrade would be
well advised to consider reconfiguring their BPC
Do you need to reconfigure your hardware to

address past performance challenges, adapt
to changing pressures of the new version, and
prepare for future needs as your system usage
grows?
Using expert resources from a third party who is

deeply familiar with the technical aspects of how
BPC works, and how the processing loads are
distributed during normal usage evolutions is
highly recommended to get the best experience
during and after the upgrade.
2) PREPARE FOR UPGRADE

Preparing for the upgrade from a technical
standpoint is important. You wouldnt want to be
left with a partially functioning system should the
worst case occur. While there are many specific
steps to prepare for the platform and nuances of
your exact scenario, the following apply broadly
across all scenarios:
Has the hardware been provisioned and

configured per your design above?
Have you identified the version and patch level

of the intended upgrade destination?
20
BPC
UPGRADE GUIDE
Have all prerequisites been thought through

and software (files/media), licenses, and
compatibility been confirmed as available and
accessible?
Do system, administrative, and application

users have access to needed server
components?
Has the development environment been

refreshed from production, reflecting the latest
configuration changes?
Has a window been identified to cease

developing new objects in v7.x if possible?
Do you have scheduled availability for internal

and external resources needed to support
these steps? (eg: DBA, Infrastructure, BPC
Administrators, third party technical experts,
etc.)
this product and gloss over the detailed steps

necessary for success.
Our recommendation is to obtain the best available
third party resources who have the experience,
skill, and volume of experience to justify placing
your trust for this critical step in them. Having
experience installing SAP products, Microsoft
products, or even BPC a few times before does
not necessarily produce equal results when BPC
specific nuances are considered.
How will our technical policies impact how

BPC should be installed?
How will our usage profile and system load

change over time?
Which options should we select when creating

this environment to enable current desired
functionality and functionality likely to be
desired in the future?
How do we structure the environment to make

best use of available resources in the right
proportion to allow for best performance during
different usage scenarios?
How do we configure the environment with

proper tasks to heal the environment on
an automated basis to ensure the system
monitors itself for emerging challenges and
proactively repairs or notifies of potential
adverse performance or stability impacts?
3) CREATE V10 ENVIRONMENT

BPC v10 for both MS and NW platforms require a
specific order with which to build the environments.
Installing and configuring the operating system
(OS), the database layer, the web server,
application server, and configuring each to access
available resources, operate within the security
structure, and leverage preferred networking
communication protocols is a complex series of
events that must be done to the right specification
and in the right sequence to make sure no stone
is unturned. Failing to do this in the right order
may leave a flaw embedded within the system
that will be difficult to locate should you run into
any challenges.
Bringing the design, all the preparation steps,
and the hardware/software together to form a
solid and well-performing BPC platform requires
technical talent and familiarity with the myriad
of configuration options. A powerful and flexible
system like BPC is also sophisticated enough to
ensnare those who assume it is easy to install
4) UPGRADE ENVIRONMENT
FROM V7 TO V10
SAP has released a utility (UJ_Migrate for
NW and Migrate Environment for MS) that will
upgrade an Environment (formerly known as
AppSet) from v7.x to v10. This wizard will move
basic structures from one version to the next, but
it is far from an automated upgrade solution with
the wave of a magic wand. In fact, it only ensures
the underlying stored procedures, Built-in Data
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BPC
UPGRADE GUIDE
Manager Packages, and a few other items are
updated, but does none of the other aspects of
the upgrade process. Additionally, the Wizard
has not always worked in a few different service
packs and these steps must be completed
manually. Column5s comprehensive technical
services ensure, regardless of service pack, that
these critical steps are completed properly even
if the Wizard does not work correctly.
Database objects will be migrated, but security
settings and object version compatibility will
not be included. Any adjustments made on any

aspect of the solution to ensure compatibility,
improve performance, increase usability,
address previous defects, or to take advantage
of new capabilities are not included. Many users
may conclude that virtually all of their desired
changes are not included in the upgrade utility.
Still, the upgrade utility does have a role to play
in the process by starting out in v10 with a bare
bones environment that reflects the same design
previously configured in v7.x.
Some users will feel that there are issues with
BPC 7.x such that they do not want to start by
running this utility, but rather rebuilding in v10
from a clean slate. Depending on the complexity
of your environment, this decision may add a day
or two of time to your upgrade timeline. On the plus
side, making such a decision creates complete
knowledge that every object was created in v10
in a clean manner. Some organizations enjoy this
peace of mind as several such upgrade utilities in
the past inadvertently introduced instabilities into
the AppSet (Environment)/Application (Model)
objects.
Column5 believes the currently available utility to
be free from such defects, but as stated above,
the expectations should be set conservatively to
rely on the upgrade tool for just minimal structural
migration from v7 to v10, not as a utility that will
create all that is needed to produce a ready
to use v10 environment. Further, full testing to
validate that steps handled by the utility were
done properly is still highly recommended.
However your organization decides to move
your v7 app to v10, by running the utility and then
upgrading each object or by cleanly rebuilding
each object in v10relying on a qualified third
party or following all available instructions to
the precise letter is highly recommended, if not
required.
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BPC
UPGRADE GUIDE
5) UPGRADE AND ADAPT EACH
OBJECT TO V10 STANDARDS
A typical BPC environment contains many objects
that have been customized to each clients needs.
Dimensions, business rules, logic, data manager
packages, reports & input templates, Excel objects,
report & input template web objects, EPM Unwired
& other mobility interfaces, integrations with third
party products like ETL, EDW, and BI solutions,
workflows, custom menusand the list goes
on. While SAP has made every effort to support
backward compatibility for all the major objects, it
is impossible to account for every customization
you may have present in your system.
Even objects like an EvDRE report from v7 may
be functional in v10 or it may not. SAP says
v10 may not support advanced EvDREs. The
definition of advanced is not clearly spelled out,
so the upgrade contains some risk if a detailed
effort is not made to go through each component
to ensure compatibility with version requirements.
Additionally, SAP has released functionality on the
client to improve performance of the rest of the
product by specifically disabling EvDRE functions
in some scenarios.
was set to 10 characters, but the actual length was

12, the system would truncate the extra characters.
Now you will get an error or the dimension will not
process.
Reports should be revisited as a separate initiative
altogether. Recommended processes on how to
deploy and manage the new reporting interface
contain one approach that is appropriate for the
short term to facilitate completion of the upgrade
and go live, and another, longer term approach
to building an internal competency on the new
version. Deciding which report will be subject to
which approach is essential to have a smooth
upgrade. Identifying a reasonable plan that doesnt
assume users with v7 experience will be quickly
competent to migrate reports and input templates
to v10 for example, will determine the risk level of
the upgrade process.
6) TESTING
Throughout
this
document,
numerous
opportunities and potential risks are discussed.
Ensuring that some combination of workable
objects with a top tier priority is able to go live by
the intended date should be the primary focus of
the upgrade team. Every single object, process,
If you change the database or middleware version or function should be thoroughly tested to ensure
be sure to double check business rules and data that risks to a successful upgrade are identified
import/export packages to ensure compatibility. If and mitigated before your BPC system is live and
you also change office versions, be sure to check in jeopardy of being adversely impacted by some
all MS Office integrations (including Excel) for unforeseen complication. Testing is key, especially
for the most critical objects.
continued function.
If you intend to enhance any aspects of your
solution, each affected object will need to be
adjusted to the extent they are impacted. New
dimensions or properties can have far-reaching
impacts across many objects. Refined business
rules may require changes in how the logic is
triggered or scoped in both default and manually
invoked configurations. Even simple things like
property lengths in dimensions are now enforced.
In the past, for example, if a dimension property
A good test plan is required and competent third

parties will have several layers of testing involving
development resources (System Integration
Testing or SIT) and another round involving
users (User Acceptance Testing or UAT).
An experienced third party will offer testing
processes and standards that instill confidence
that successful completion of those checklists will
truly reduce risk of failing to catch a defect before
go-live.
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BPC
UPGRADE GUIDE
7) PERFORMANCE TUNING
During testing it is a recommended step to tackle
performance challenges via a concerted tuning
effort. Performance is one of the most common,
but also the most nebulous, complaints about BPC.
Some customers feel performance is the result of
a single error or oversight, but this is incorrect.
The perception of performance fast or slow
is the cumulative impact of every functional and
technical decision/configuration in your solution.
Is the technical landscape properly sized for the
scale of your solution and intended usage profile?
If not, then any load you process through your
platform will forever have your system gasping for
breath. While having a properly sized environment
is mandatory to make possible BPC experiences
of performance and stability, a properly sized

platform by itself is not an absolute guarantee for
a perfect performance experience.
One aspect of the technical configuration with
respect to performance is the initial settings of
memory for the different back-end services. When
a system is installed, the Column5 team relies on
our time-tested guidelines on how to optimize the
available server memory parameters. However,
only performance tuning based on metrics
captured while the system is busy under load from
users will give the most accurate picture on how
the values should be set.
Overarching design themes (such as dimension
configuration, logic approach, and the scope of the
challenge tackled by BPC with an Excel interface)
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BPC
UPGRADE GUIDE
set the stage for success or struggle. Add to this
a qualitative assessment where even a properly
sized technical landscape with appropriate design
themes can suffer from poor quality development
executionand thus performance will be perceived
as poor. Navigating these complex layers and
the proportional and sequential impacts how
each tier is configured has on the perception of
performance by users is a complex task best left to
qualified resources who can measure empirically
how a given process traverses each tier.
An ideal time to proactively identify any gaps in
configuration is before you go live, not after. Testing
is a great opportunity to have technical resources
monitoring the system for any runaway processes,
disproportionate resource consumption, and
other telltale signs of an impending performance
challenge. Before going live, the upgrade team has
ample room to identify and mitigate these issues
before user satisfaction is adversely impacted.
changes to component changes made during

the upgrade. Since your upgrade may well have
included many aspects of your platform, this plan
may be quite comprehensive. Once the plan
is updated, you will need to implement those
changes in your environment.
The DR configuration needs to be tested before
complete confidence can be placed in your plan.
This should also be done prior to going live, to
make sure that there is no period where your
system is at risk without knowing you have a
basic insurance plan in place to minimize the risk
of loss.
A system that fails a DR test is strongly
recommended not to go live before correcting this
condition.
9) POST GO-LIVE SUPPORT
Despite all the efforts to think of everything and

Column5 has extensive experience in identifying plan for the worst, sometimes things still go wrong.
and mitigating such challenges proactively and Having an appropriate plan to report incidents
reactively. We can deploy a variety of methods from users and escalate internally to SAP or to
to quantify the scalability of your solution up to a third party needs to be provisioned in advance.
and including making use of solutions like HP Having this chain of communication prepared and
LoadRunner to ensure your system will perform procedures well-understood will ensure a smooth
process for all involved.
well under peak usage scenarios.
The above is appropriate for a major challenge or
outage. But what about early warning indicators
and symptoms that could be caught by a process
that runs health checks proactively and routines
It is quite likely that a number of major components to optimize and re-optimize conditions and
have changed with BPC and in the tiers below. variables in advance of having any kind of adverse
As a result, there are likely to be impacts to your experience? These are possible when there is a
needed disaster recovery configuration. No one proactive plan for support in place.
likes to be told when there is a catastrophic failure
that all or much of their data has been lost when The time to think about a support plan for post goyour system fails under load. A little planning and live is before your v10 solution goes live and there
are numerous options.
preparation goes a long way here.
8) DISASTER RECOVERY PLAN,

CONFIGURE, & TEST
We recommend revisiting your Disaster Recovery See the upcoming section on proper care and
(DR) plan, and ensure it is up-to-date per any usage regimen for BPC for best results.
25
Column5 has always taken a very professional approach

with our engagements. They are thorough in the project
planning and project management process, which has
resulted in our upgrades coming in on time and on budget.
- SVP, Director of Business Intelligence, Banking
Institution
PROPER
CARE &
USAGE
REGIMEN
FOR BPC
BPC
UPGRADE GUIDE
PROPER CARE & USAGE REGIMEN FOR BPC
Getting your upgrade completed is can just be added to the list of supported systems
covers. In some organizations IT has been told
undoubtedly an important first step in IT
explicitly: Dont touch BPC! Fast forward to SAP
properly caring for your EPM solution, acquiring BPC, where many SAP shops technical
but does this mean your job is done? teams take great pride in their internal capabilities
fully own their systems, and the stage is set for
Column5 does not believe that is the to
potential conflict. It isnt shocking that many of our
case. Continuous enhancement to your clients have come ready to meet the challenge
EPM capabilities will orient your EPM of proper care and usage with an internal team
that is largely IT based. Column5 applauds this
program to return high value for your approach
and has created numerous tools to help
organization. A specialized team that your team succeed.
monitors your technical solution and
Establish an Internal Center of Excellence
EPM processes for effectiveness and (COE)
identifies opportunities to advance
We recommend our clients form an internal EPM
the effectiveness of your capabilities center of excellence or EPM competency center
amidst changing market conditions and with the sole purpose of evaluating how effective
technical capabilities is what is needed. are our EPM processes? on an ongoing basis.
This team should be looking to establish effective
There are two ways your organization can KPIs for your success. These KPIs should cover
approach this: build the internal capabilities to topics like user satisfaction, system errors, scope
meet this challenge head-on, or buy a service of the solution, system performance, and process
that does all this for you. You dont have to select cycle time related to a planning cycle or financial
one or the other of only two approaches, but rather close. Benchmarking available through Column5
use this as a scale which you slide across opting that evaluates your organizations EPM process
to build certain components while buying others. effectiveness against a global dataset from EPMi
The following sections outline tools and functions (EPM International) is an excellent source to
you should be using for proper care and use of identify opportunities to focus on to advance EPM
process maturity. Additionally, your COE can use
your BPC system.
Column5s PAVE (Process to Achieve Value with
Building a Competent Team
EPM) methodology to examine other gaps in
syncing your financial, operational, and strategic
Since its early OutlookSoft days, BPC has always plans. Your COE can benefit from the guidance
been touted as a tool that enables finance teams of an EPM Roadmap (see page 13) to be a key
to own & manage their own systems. Often this component in this groups charter.
Ultimately
translates to a deployment model where the the goal is to make your EPM solution adaptable
assumption is the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) to dynamic needs: improve user satisfaction
model is dependent on the assumption that BPC
Column5 Consulting Group, LLC. Not to be distributed without express permission of Column5.
28
BPC
UPGRADE GUIDE
and engagement, system effectiveness, and
organizational competitiveness.
Grow Capabilities in Your Organization

One of
the
greatest
implementation
misperceptions is the idea that a single training
session at the end of a deployment is all you need
to move forward to unlock full value. As with many
other professional careers, continuing professional
education coursework and training is required to
maintain proficiency. Accountants, doctors, and
lawyers are all examples of this model where a
process is enforced for practitioners to be kept
current of latest changes in the industry for best
results. Given the mission criticality of the EPM
system to your organizations operations, making
a similar commitment to your EPM process will
make the difference to those who experience
increasing proficiency to those who struggle
to keep up with changes. There are several
choices in how to achieve and maintain a high
level of proficiency with an EPM system, and
we encourage you to chart a deliberate course
of learning. Contact our team today to discuss
options.
Attend Educational Events

EPM Leadership Summit
Echoing statements from before, we believe
there are two undeniable facts: 1) Well-run EPM
processes are the cornerstone of effective
financial, operational, and strategic control of
your organization. 2) Technology is constantly
changing. Put these two facts together and
there is an immense need to stay up-to-date on
what is changing, connect with peers and EPM
professionals to share successes and failures,
and lastly capitalize on training related to all of
the above. Having an internal viewpoint and
position on how technologies like the cloud, SaaS,
mobility, predictive analytics, and HANA influence
your potential level of success for EPM processes

in your organization is vital to extract maximum
value from EPM investments. This is exactly the
type of material that is covered at our worldwide
EPM Summits, making this a must-attend event
for any organization that is striving to maximize
the impact of their EPM investment.
EPM Summit Online

Our Annual Pass also includes three online live
events per year in the second, third, and fourth
quarters, with content available on-demand
throughout the entire year. Featuring a growing
number of high quality, deep-dive, EPM sessions,
there are approximately 15 sessions delivered per
live event. Each session is recorded for playback
at your convenience. The Column5 EPM Summit
annual subscription details the latest technology,
product, and best practice updates delivered by
proven experts and customers in three tracks:
Functional, Technical, and Executive. Each track
features 5 hours of sessions with each live session
being worth one CPE credit for participants.
Although attendees wont have time to view all
the sessions during the live event, you are able to
increase your expertise beyond the live sessions
with full access to all three tracks of content in the
virtual environment, year-round.
Use Tools for Support and

Validation
Blogs & Webinars
Column5 is the leading BPC partner committed
to providing original content related to everything
EPM. Have a question on a particular topic?
Trying to prep for your internal COE roadmap
discussion? Try searching our Webcast Library
(of over 70 videos) and use this free information
provided by the experts at Column5 to elevate
your conversation.
29
BPC
UPGRADE GUIDE
EPM International Benchmarking
Gain insight into how your core performance
management
processes,
organizational
structures, and systems for consolidations,
planning, and reporting compare with other
international companies, and assess where you
have a good practice and potential improvement
opportunities.
Two main topics are covered at this level:
Close Cycle Rankings where does your

organization stack up among peers in your
geography, industry, size in terms of the speed
with which you disclose financial results?
This analysis is available customized to your
organization on request.
EPM Process Benchmarking report participate

in our survey to find out how your organization
rates among your peers with process standards
and effectiveness. This is an appropriate way
to identify gaps where your process may lead
ahead of or lag behind industry standards and
competitors opportunities.
Technical Health Check

Even if you are confident in your teams ability,
doesnt an occasional check-up help validate your
teams performance, and more importantly help you
hedge against unseen risks? Periodic environment
reviews and performance tuning are one of the most
prudent steps to help you avoid dreaded downtime
or sluggish performance, which ultimately drives
your user satisfaction down.
Buying an Adequate Level of Service

The solutions and concepts outlined in prior
sections are recommended for all of our clients, but
we have found many clients looking for additional
continued support post go-live. Column5 has
assembled a number of services designed to fill

any gaps in your EPM deployment plan.
Extended Support
Extended Support offers a wide range of
online support sessions and vendor support
issue-tracking for technical and application
issues. Whether you need answers to how
to questions, a health check, performance
tuning, or an investigation of deeper problems,
Column5 Extended Support gives you peace
of mind. Depending on your organizational
needs, Extended Support is available in Basic,
Enhanced, and Premium planseach of which
gives you a preset number of support hours per
month. Options include vendor liaison services to
see software support issues through to resolution,
rapid troubleshooting through the Column5 data
center, and guaranteed response times of 24
hours or less.
Managed Service
Recent trends have led some companies to
outsource all or part of BPC administration and
maintenance. Clients have found that finding and
maintaining their own internal resources to handle
every aspect of their BPC environment can be
tricky. Some companies struggle to support a global
user community with a regional support team.
Almost all find themselves committing significant
resources to handle simple administrative tasks
at the expense of pursuing enhancements to their
EPM capabilities. Column5 Managed Service
offers a remote proactive system administration.
Clients are able to choose any set of support
features applicable to their needs. Examples of
these include: technical server administration,
upgrades, functional system monitoring, planning
support, and even functional enhancements.
30
BPC
UPGRADE GUIDE
Hosting
Column5 offers several deployment options, and
among the most exciting for fast start-up time and
cost efficiency are the cloud offerings. Column5 can
host solutions temporarily internally, can deploy to
the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud, and can
leverage SAPs HANA Enterprise Cloud (HEC)
as just a few of the available deployment options.
As a partner of Amazon Web Services Hosting,
a system that is certified and recommended by
SAP, Column5 can tailor a flexible plan that meets
the needs of our clients. Benefits to the cloud
deployment go beyond guaranteed system uptime
and cost efficient on-demand pricing; Column5
Technical Experts can provide server stewardship,
data direct and other options for data integration,
and lower total cost of ownership. There is no need
for Basis, Database, or operating system support.
31
CONCLUSION
BPC
UPGRADE GUIDE
CONCLUSION
Thank you for downloading our comprehensive
guide on upgrading BPC. It is our hope that many
of the suggestions made throughout this document
resonated with you and apply to your experience
with BPC. However, we anticipate the net effect of
this information may be where do I start?
make the solution stable. While we hope that is not

the case, we speak to customers daily that hold
those views to be true.
Whether you have had a mostly positive experience

or have struggled with the solution, the Column5
team stands ready to assist. A great place to
We know many customers are very happy start in either case is with our EPM Assessment,
with the functionality delivered by BPC in their which is a comprehensive review of your EPM
organization. If that fits your opinion, then the process, BPC solution, and EPM technology
experience will continue to be positive with BPC platform. The primary output of this review is a
10 on either platform. Follow the directions and list of recommendations of actions to take that will
advice contained within this document to proceed improve your experience and the value returned
to the next version and enjoy better performance, by this solution. We encourage all customers to
improved functionality, and more value for your consider the context of the upgrade an opportune
business.
time to reevaluate your EPM progress to date.
On the other hand, perhaps you have experienced If you have any questions or need assistance,
anxiety with BPC wondering Is this how other please contact the Column5 team today.
organizations deploy BPC? Is this really the best
performance BPC can produce? Maybe your view Best of luck with BPC v10.
of BPC is that of a black box and it is impossible
for anyone to understand the inner workings or
33
BPC
UPGRADE GUIDE
CONTACT US
AMERICAS
Column5 Consulting Group, LLC
4800 N Scottsdale Rd. Ste.2300
Scottsdale, AZ 85251
Phone: +1 480.779.6990
US Toll Free: +1 800.360.7839
Email:info@column5.com
EMEA
Column5 Consulting UK Ltd
4th Floor Rex House
4 - 12 Regent St.
London, SW1Y 4RG
Phone: +44 20 7183 0760
Email: UKinfo@column5.com
APJ
Column5 Consulting Pty
BA Lepanto Bldg, 14th Floor
8747 Paseo de Roxas
Makati City, Philippines
Phone: +632 403 5983
Email: APJinfo@column5.com
Column5 is the leading consulting firm

focused on delivering client value by
partnering with our visionary customers to
aid in advancing the effectiveness of their
EPM processes. Our organizations broad
capabilities, coupled with our long history of
solving EPM challenges for a whos who of
leading enterprises around the world, have
uniquely enabled our team to deliver high
value results in complex EPM circumstances
with the most advanced requirements.
Column5s teams provide EPM consulting
services with a special focus on integrating
SAPs EPM portfolio via our global network
and resources in close proximity to our
clients in the Americas, EMEA, and APJ
regions.
Column5 is a proud member of EPM
International, the SAP Partner Ecosystem,
Partner Member of SAPs EPM Advisory
Council, ASUG & SUG UKI Members,
Accredited by SAPs Partner Quality
Program, Named Top 100 Most Promising
SAP Solution Providers by CIO Review,
lauded by Gartner for our leading customer
satisfaction in the 2012 CPM MQ, and 4 time
consecutive winner of Fortune Magazines
Inc. 5000 awards.
www.column5.com
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BPC Upgrade Guide Whitepaper 09242015

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BPC

David Den Boer

Our team was extremely pleased with the technical

When and why do we need to

For previously resolved issues reported to

Recently, several Microsoft patches for Office

What should we seek to accomplish

User Interface (UI) enhancements

New UIs (web, mobility, MS Office: Excel/Word/

Workflow & other process support

New function coverage (strategic planning,

Automation (transaction load, master data

Improved integration (reporting to ERP

For most BPC owning organizations, the

What can be done to reduce the

ORGANIZE: Have users nominate a review

EDUCATE: Involve influential users in the

To save time and money while preparing for

TRAIN: Train power users at the earliest

What resources should I plan

Your organization will need to make both technical

Is having a qualified third party

Has user adoption been a challenge in the

Do you already experience performance or

Do your users feel competent working

(to v10.x) differ from upgrades I

The biggest change with this upgrade is the new

All upgrade steps should follow a comprehensive

Post Go-Live Support

the overarching purposes you are aiming to achieve.

As previously stated, the first step is to define your

BPC v10 for NW includes some major performance

With BPC v7.x systems, it was not possible to

implementing a special Meta Data caching

Parallel Data Manager Loading is now available in

BPC v10.1 MS allows support for MS Office 32-bit

In SAP BPC v7.x MS, there are two portions

64-bit support on all BPC, server, and client

In BPC v10.x MS, SAP has redesigned their

Better Web Client - BPC v10.x MS extends

Server & RDBMS Version

Microsoft Analysis Services has always offered

The strategy to adopt HTML5 development

EPM ADD-IN GETTING COZIER

Excel report Data Manager functions have been

MOVE AWAY FROM EV

2. Prepare for Upgrade

1) SYSTEM LANDSCAPE DESIGN

Do you need to reconfigure your hardware to

Using expert resources from a third party who is

2) PREPARE FOR UPGRADE

Has the hardware been provisioned and

Have you identified the version and patch level

Have all prerequisites been thought through

Do system, administrative, and application

Has the development environment been

Has a window been identified to cease

Do you have scheduled availability for internal

this product and gloss over the detailed steps

How will our technical policies impact how

How will our usage profile and system load

Which options should we select when creating

How do we structure the environment to make

How do we configure the environment with