25 SAP IBP Real-Time Scenario-Based Interview Questions

A. IBP for Demand

1. Forecast is not generating for a new product, even though attribute values and history exist. What checks do you perform in master data, planning area activation & forecast model assignment?

2. Customer wants to exclude specific months (e.g., COVID months) from statistical forecasting. How will you configure outlier correction, cleansing profile & forecast automation?

3. Planners uploaded forecast via Excel but values are not appearing in the web UI. How do you troubleshoot base planning level, key figure calculations & filter settings?

4. Demand sensing is giving unrealistic forecast adjustments for a few locations. How do you analyze DS algorithm parameters, lag settings & POS data quality?


🔵 B. IBP for Inventory

5. Safety stock recommendations are zero for some products. What checks will you perform in demand variability, supply variability, EOQ inputs & planning level?

6. Multi-echelon inventory optimization (MEIO) is not pushing results to downstream DCs. How do you check network master data, sourcing priority & aggregation levels?

7. Customer wants different service levels for different regions. How do you configure attribute-based rules & segmentation profiles?


🔵 C. IBP for Supply (Time-Series Based)

8. Supply plan is generating excess production even though customer demand decreased. How would you analyze heuristics, optimizer cost settings & min lot-size constraints?

9. Deployment is not respecting source DC priorities. What checks do you perform in supply attribute master, transportation lanes & optimizer penalty costs?

10. Optimizer is ignoring resource capacity. How do you debug resource calendars, availability %, and cost combinations?

11. Supply projection is creating negative inventory levels. How do you examine sourcing rules, lead times & constraints?


🔵 D. IBP for Response & Order-Based Planning (OBP)

12. Customer orders are not prioritizing high-value customers. What checks do you perform in scoring profiles, priority rules & order attribution?

13. OBP ATP check is confirming orders with components that are out of stock. How do you troubleshoot ATP rules, pegging strategy & alternative sources?

14. Planned orders in IBP are not flowing back to S/4 via CPI. What logs & objects do you review in CPI iFlows, planning operator runs & ID mapping?


🔵 E. S&OP / Integrated Planning

15. Demand and supply plans are not aligning in consensus meeting. How do you configure consensus key figures, version management & planning operator order?

16. New scenario version is not visible for planners. What checks will you do in version permissions, copy operator, and job logs?

17. S&OP process is slow for a large dataset. How would you optimize planning operators, time profiles & key figure calculations?


🔵 F. User Interface / Analytics / Dashboards

18. KPI dashboard in IBP Web UI is showing incorrect values. How do you troubleshoot analytics chart configuration, key figure definition & planning level mismatch?

19. New key figure created is not appearing in Excel Add-In. What checks do you do in planning area activation, permissions, and key figure visibility?

20. Attribute-based filters are not working for some planners. How do you analyze business roles, permission filters & attribute assignments?


🔵 G. Master Data & Integration (CPI-DS / SDI)

21. Master data is not loading from S/4 to IBP via CPI-DS. What steps will you check in CPI agents, job logs, data store mapping & delta loads?

22. Newly created location products are missing in the planning view. How do you validate master data types, attribute values & planning area calculations?

23. Time-series data is duplicated after a load. How do you correct delta load logic, mapping rules & IBP operator recalculation jobs?


🔵 H. Alerts & Control Tower

24. Exception alerts are not triggering after planning run. What would you check in alert definitions, alert subscriptions & planning operator logs?

25. Control Tower dashboard is missing key figures from the supply plan. How do you troubleshoot control tower analytics model, OData service & key figure mapping?