What’s New in SAP IBP 2605: Key Highlights and What They Mean for You

The 2605 release of SAP Integrated Business Planning (IBP) is around the corner and brings a series of useful enhancements across integration capabilities, performance, planner workspaces and order-based planning. In this blog, we’ll walk through McCoy top picks for SAP IBP release 2605!

General Enhancements

SAP HANA Execution Engine (HEX)

A major technical milestone in this release is the availability of the SAP HANA Execution Engine within the planning areas app. This enhancement enables more efficient execution of application jobs and data integration, improving performance and scalability especially for complex planning scenarios.

Improvements to Planner Workspace

The planner workspace continues to evolve into a central hub for planners, with several new capabilities:

• Telemetry Visibility
  Dashboards and planner workspaces are now visible in the telemetry app, providing better transparency into usage and performance.

• Master Data Maintenance
  Users can now create master data directly within the planner workspace using the master data view component. This reduces dependency on external apps and streamlines workflows.

• Controlled Planning View Calculations
  A new global parameter allows you to control the maximum amount of planning view calculations. This gives administrators better control over system performance and resource consumption.

• Cross-Planning Area Reusability
  Planner workspaces can now be copied between planning areas, significantly reducing setup effort and promoting standardization across environments.

Integration Updates

Transition Away from CIDS

SAP Cloud Integration for Data Services (CIDS) will no longer be available for new SAP IBP licenses. Instead, SAP recommends using SAP Cloud Integration for scenarios not covered by Real-Time Integration (RTI).

It’s important to note:

• Existing projects using CIDS are not affected.

• This change primarily impacts new implementations, encouraging a shift toward more modern and flexible integration tools.

SAP Datasphere Integration

SAP Datasphere is now generally available for integration with SAP IBP, supporting both:

• Master data integration

• Transactional data integration

This opens the door for tighter alignment between planning and enterprise data landscapes, enabling more advanced analytics and data-driven decision-making.

Order-Based Planning Enhancements

Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) Support

One of the most notable functional additions in this release is support for Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI)within SAP IBP.

With this capability, companies can now:

• Perform replenishment planning on behalf of key customers

• Strengthen collaboration and improve service levels

Key elements introduced include:

• A new location attribute and plant type to identify VMI customers

• New order types such as:

• VMI Sales Orders

• VMI Deliveries

This enhancement is particularly valuable for organizations operating in highly collaborative supply chains, where supplier-driven replenishment is a competitive advantage.

Interested in what SAP IBP can do for your organization? Feel free to reach out for a free demo or a cup of coffee!