Project experiences with SAP Fashion Management Solution

With introduction of SAP Fashion Management Solution for Fashion and Retail industries, lot of changes and projects are happening now across the globe. I had the privilege to be a part of few early projects in this space and I thought of sharing some of the early challenges that I have faced in SAP FMS Projects.

1. Change Management – If the SAP FMS is adopted at the expense of SAP AFS then people working on SAP AFS should get used to work on SAP FMS. This is a big step and change even though as it does not seems so. The skill requirement will be different and will need lot of re-skilling and trainings. Change Management and Training & Learning department within the organization will have a lot of work to plan and execute.

2. Architecture Realignment - Assuming that only SAP Retail is being upgraded to SAP FMS, the challenges are limited. The only challenge then will be to accept and adopt the new functionalities provided by SAP FMS. However if your system architecture included both SAP AFS and SAP Retail, then you have some tough decisions to make. This realignment will include the decisions like keeping SAP AFS coexisting and running it in parallel with SAP FMS with same functionalities present in both systems. It will also include the plan on how the other applications integrate with your new architecture. The situation will be a complex one to manage if coexistence of SAP AFS and SAP FMS happens and if both of them need to integrate with your current applications for the same processes (viz. manufacturing) and if both of them need to be in sync with each other.

3. Custom code and programs - If an organization runs both SAP Retail and SAP AFS, then one big challenge will be to migrate and test the custom codes from both systems and make them work on SAP FMS in case of coexisting solutions. This is one big challenge that I have faced recently.

4. Hardware performance - Though the SAP FMS will be typically implemented on HANA, we need to keep in mind about the code optimization that had been carried out in SAP FMS. This will call for a careful impact analysis, thorough regression and performance tests in every SAP Retail to SAP FMS migration.

5. Service pack upgrades – SAP FMS being the new solution from SAP, it will be prone to upgrades quite frequently based on the market needs. Any IT program which involves the SAP FMS implementation or migration should have the strategy about upgrades clearly worked out which should minimize the impact on business operations. 

SAP is changing its game in Planning for Retail and Fashion Industries!!

I always feel that for Retailers to succeed in any market and condition, they need to Plan well, Execute well and Report well.

Getting straight to the subject, I also feel that SAP was doing well in the execution and reporting side of Retail and Fashion industries with its Industry specific solutions for Retail and Fashion but with some of the recent innovations, they have upped the ante for the Planning function within these industries.

Key planning areas that Retailers or Fashion houses always look for optimization are Promotions and Markdowns, Assortment Management, Allocation Management and Merchandise Management. Some of the recent products from SAP cater to these business functions. All these applications are built on top of the Customer Activity Repository (CAR) on HANA. The HANA engine fuels the high-volume analytics and reporting much faster than good old days. Coupled with a visually attractive and multi-platform front end on FIORI, these packages deliver highly accurate planning figures by analyzing the enormous transaction data in real time.

All these applications are called the SAP CAR Retail Applications Bundle and a very brief overview of each of these applications are outlined below:

MPR on CAR – This application is meant for the planners who want to leverage the optimization from this tool to project the accurate inventory and order receipts based on the operation sales plan developed at corporate level. The planning can happen either at the channel mix or channel plan level. The most recent version of this application had also enabled the version management in the Category planning workbooks.

APR on CAR – This application is meant for optimizing the assortment mix. The application uses the UDF (Unified Demand Forecast) framework within CAR to propose the demand for the season based on historical data and store locations. Cluster planning, Location Planning and Pre-season planning are some of the key functions that can be executed using this application.

PMR on CAR – Another very interesting reinvention from the old PMR. With HANA and CAR backed analytical capabilities, the Promotion handling is more strategic and real time. Also with the Omnichannel Promotion Pricing engine within PMR, the optimized promotion price become very relevant. Also, the flexibility within this application makes it a good choice for phased adoption.

AMR on CAR – This application had brought the more analytical insights into the traditional Retail allocation planning. I feel that this is a complete innovation compared to other applications on CAR because until now, the allocation planning was more transactional. But with new analytical capabilities of CAR, AMR is more analytical and planning oriented than just being transactional.

With these cutting-edge planning applications, I feel that SAP is very well placed to offer the best in class planning and transaction system for its customers in the Retail and Fashion Industry and help them achieve the Plan Well, Execute Well, Report well motto.