The importance of trade promotion management (TPM) in an SAP S/4HANA upgrade
Upgrading your SAP system to S/4HANA is a substantial undertaking that touches nearly every part of your organization, including critical third-party applications. Among these, your Trade Promotion Management (TPM) solution demands particular attention to ensure a seamless transition and continued functionality.
Many organizations, when faced with an SAP upgrade, initially focus on core SAP functionalities like master data, pricing procedures, and financial allocations. While these are undoubtedly crucial, it's easy to overlook how deeply intertwined trade promotion management (TPM) is with these areas. Failing to provide early input on master data structures or General Ledger (GL) allocations can lead to missed opportunities for optimizing your trade promotion management tool, potentially impacting its efficiency and effectiveness in the new S/4HANA environment.
Boost your trade promotion performance
TELUS Trade Promotion Management software empowers CPG companies to plan, execute, and optimize every promotional campaign with precision.
Greenfield vs. Brownfield: Different paths, different trade promotion management considerations
The chosen approach for your S/4HANA upgrade will significantly influence how you manage your trade promotion management solution:
Greenfield implementation: This offers a fresh start, allowing you to design your S/4HANA instance from the ground up. Included in this, is the flexibility to define new pricing procedures and master data structures, providing an ideal opportunity to build a trade promotion management (TPM) solution perfectly aligned with your current business needs and future goals. Key advantages for trade promotion management (TPM):
Complete customization of data structures
Optimal integration architecture design
Modern trade promotion management workflow implementation
Enhanced reporting and analytics capabilities
Brownfield conversion: This involves a direct upgrade or "lift and shift" of your existing SAP environment. While it provides less flexibility than a greenfield approach, you can still enhance your core functionality by adding customer or product attributes, adapting your existing trade promotion management setup to the new system. Trade promotion management considerations:
Legacy system compatibility assessment
Data migration validation requirements
Integration point verification
Performance optimization opportunities
Key S/4HANA nuances impacting trade promotion management
S/4HANA introduces changes that differentiate it from previous SAP versions, requiring careful consideration for your trade promotion management strategy:
Business partners: S/4HANA places a stronger emphasis on business partners over the traditional customer hierarchy. While customer hierarchy remains available, understanding the transition and translation to the business partner concept is vital for trade promotion management practitioners to maintain accurate data relationships and ensure continued functionality. Impact on trade promotion management (TPM) systems:
Customer data mapping requirements
Hierarchy relationship preservation
Promotional targeting accuracy
Reporting consistency maintenance
Condition contracts: The rebating tool in older SAP versions is now referred to as condition contracts in S/4HANA. Although much of the functionality is similar, the underlying logic has evolved. This necessitates a thorough understanding of how your trade promotion management tool interacts with these new condition contracts to prevent disruptions.
Critical considerations:
Contract structure modifications
Pricing procedure adaptations
Settlement process updates
Integration workflow adjustments
Why a trade promotion management health check before your SAP project is essential
Given the significant changes and considerations, performing a"health check or comprehensive review of your current trade promotion management deployment before initiating an SAP S/4HANA project is highly recommended.
An upgrade presents a unique and valuable opportunity to:
Streamline spend types: Analyze and consolidate your trade spend categories to improve clarity and efficiency.
Modify general ledger structure: Adjust your general ledger structure to better reflect current trade practices and financial reporting requirements.
Optimize efficiency: Evaluate and enhance how your trade promotion management solution is being used, addressing any inefficiencies or areas requiring excessive manual effort.
Trade practices are constantly evolving. What was effective five or ten years ago may no longer align with the current retail or food service landscape. A pre-upgrade trade promotion management review helps you contemporize your solution, ensuring it incorporates best practices and reflects present-day market realities.
Benefits of pre-migration trade promotion management (TPM) assessment
Cost optimization: Identify redundant processes and eliminate unnecessary complexity before migration
Risk mitigation: Address potential integration issues before they become costly problems
Performance enhancement: Optimize TPM workflows for S/4HANA's advanced capabilities
Future-proofing: Align TPM strategy with modern retail and foodservice requirements
ROI maximization: Ensure both SAP and TPM investments deliver maximum value
Key takeaways: Trade promotion management success in SAP S/4HANA migration
Early planning is critical: Trade promotion considerations must be addressed early in S/4HANA planning to avoid costly integration issues and missed optimization opportunities.
Migration path matters: Greenfield implementations offer maximum trade promotion management customization, while brownfield conversions require careful adaptation of existing systems.
S/4HANA changes everything: New business partner concepts and condition contracts fundamentally alter how trade promotion management systems integrate with SAP.
Health check essential: Pre-migration trade promotion management (TPM) assessment identifies optimization opportunities for spend types, GL structures, and operational efficiency.
Expert guidance required: Specialized trade promotion management and S/4HANA expertise ensures seamless integration and maximizes ROI on both investments.
Future-proof strategy: Modern trade promotion management requirements differ significantly from legacy implementations, requiring modern approaches for today's retail landscape.
Partner with TELUS to optimize your trade promotion management for S/4HANA
TELUS Consumer Goods brings extensive experience in assisting organizations through SAP S/4HANA migrations, ensuring their trade promotion management (TPM) solutions remain robust and optimized. We can help you navigate the complexities and guide you in defining your future-state trade promotion management (TPM) strategy.
Don't delay. The earlier you begin considering the impact of an SAP upgrade on your trade promotion management, the better positioned you'll be for a successful and optimized transition.
Ready to ensure your trade promotion management solution is S/4HANA ready?
Contact us today to discuss your specific needs and explore how we can help you with your next SAP project.
Boost your trade promotion performance
TELUS Trade Promotion Management software empowers CPG companies to plan, execute, and optimize every promotional campaign with precision.
