Planning Integration Architecture in SAP BDC

A global enterprise wants:

Actuals from S/4HANA
Budget planning in SAC
Forecast simulations
Write-back to S/4HANA
One harmonized Revenue & Cost model

BDC becomes the central data foundation between operational ERP and planning tools.

End-to-End Planning Architecture

🔹 1️⃣ Actuals Integration (S/4 → BDC)

Data extracted from S/4:

Universal Journal (ACDOCA)
Cost Centers
Profit Centers
Sales Data

Flows into BDC via:

CDS-based extraction
Replication mechanisms

BDC harmonizes:

KPIs
Master data
Fiscal calendars
Currency conversions

🔹 2️⃣ Planning Model (BDC → SAC)

BDC exposes:

Harmonized Analytical Models
Standardized dimensions
Clean measures

SAC consumes this data to create:

Planning models
Forecast versions
Budget allocations

🔹 3️⃣ Planning Execution (Inside SAC)

Users perform:

Driver-based planning
What-if simulations
Scenario comparison
Top-down & bottom-up planning

Example:

Increase sales volume by 5%
Simulate impact on margin

🔹 4️⃣ Write-Back Architecture (Optional)

Planned data can:

✔ Stay in SAC for reporting
✔ Be written back to BDC
✔ Be pushed to S/4HANA for operational execution

Write-back scenarios:

Financial plan to ACDOCP
Cost center budgets
Sales forecast integration

Architecture Flow

SAP S/4HANA (Actuals) ↓ SAP Business Data Cloud (Harmonization + Semantic Layer) ↓ SAP Analytics Cloud (Planning) ↓ Scenario Simulation / Forecast ↓ Optional Write-Back to S/4

Why Use BDC in Planning Architecture?

✔ Single version of truth
✔ Harmonized actuals + plan comparison
✔ Cross-domain integration (HR + Finance + Sales)
✔ Reduced reconciliation effort
✔ AI-ready forecasting foundation

Common Challenges

Version management complexity
Data reconciliation between actual vs plan
Performance during write-back
Master data alignment
Fiscal calendar mismatches

🔥 Interview-Ready 30-Second Answer

In a planning integration architecture, SAP Business Data Cloud acts as the harmonized data foundation that provides standardized actuals to SAP Analytics Cloud for planning and forecasting. It ensures consistent KPIs, master data alignment, and enables optional write-back to S/4HANA, delivering an integrated plan-to-actual framework.

You can also checkout ebooks for SAP BDC – Quick Revision – using the link :
Part 1 : https://topmate.io/vartika_gupta11/1954785

Part 2 : https://topmate.io/vartika_gupta11/1956232

Also can schedule a mock interview either by me or my team at topmate for SAP BDC – 35+ Minutes : https://topmate.io/vartika_gupta11/1962923

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