IBP Lead Architect- SME

Role Summary

The SAP Integrated Business Planning (IBP) Subject Matter Expert (SME) is responsible for providing functional expertise and coordination for SAP IBP services within the Application Management Services (AMS/CAS) landscape.

The SME supports the Application Service Manager (ASM) in customer engagements, service delivery governance, prioritization, de-escalation activities, change reviews, and continuous improvement initiatives while ensuring high-quality service delivery aligned with contractual obligations and service standards.

Responsibilities

• Support the Application Service Manager (ASM) with customer alignment, service scope clarification, prioritization, and de-escalation activities related to SAP IBP.
• Act as a senior functional expert and be involved in activities beyond regular ticket processing, including customer meetings, issue resolution, service reviews, and change request assessments.
• Review and validate functional Change Requests, including solution design, effort estimation, impact analysis, and resource assessment.
• Advise customers and delivery teams on SAP IBP standardization, optimization, planning process improvements, and system enhancements.
• Ensure efficient, high-quality delivery of AMS/CAS services in line with defined processes, SLAs, and contractual commitments.
• Act as the functional coordination point within the delivery team for SAP IBP-related activities.
• Coordinate and review change, testing, enhancement, and improvement activities to ensure compliance with delivery standards.
• Identify opportunities for planning automation, process standardization, and supply chain optimization.
• Mentor team members, share domain expertise, and promote continuous knowledge development.
• Represent the delivery team in customer and internal governance meetings, providing updates on service performance, risks, issues, and improvement initiatives.

Key Tasks

• Act as the primary functional contact for SAP IBP-related topics within the core delivery team.
• Ensure efficient service delivery and continuous value addition to the customer.
• Coordinate functional activities across core team members.
• Conduct internal status meetings in collaboration with the ASM, focusing on SAP IBP service performance and critical issues.
• Identify, assess, and mitigate functional risks impacting planning and supply chain processes.
• Drive standardization, optimization, continuous improvement, and proactive service initiatives in collaboration with customers and delivery teams.
• Coordinate and maintain solution documentation in accordance with customer standards and AMS/CAS processes.
• Validate functional Change Requests raised by consultants, including: Solution approach review, Effort estimation validation, Resource requirement assessment, Impact and risk analysis.
• Support the ASM and delivery team by: Participating in customer meetings and service reviews, Presenting SAP IBP-specific topics during project kick-offs and governance discussions, Supporting functional de-escalation activities, Prioritizing incidents, service requests, defects, and enhancement activities.
• Provide recommendations for demand planning optimization, inventory reduction, supply planning improvements, and business process enhancements.

Required Skills

• Strong hands-on experience in SAP Integrated Business Planning (IBP).
• Expertise in: IBP for Demand Planning, IBP for Supply Planning, IBP for Inventory Optimization, IBP for Response and Supply, Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP), Demand Sensing and Forecasting, Supply and Capacity Planning, Inventory Planning and Optimization, Control Tower Monitoring, Scenario Modeling and Simulation, Time-Series Planning, Heuristic and Optimizer-Based Planning, Planning Area Configuration, Key Figures and Attributes, Supply Chain Analytics and Reporting, Excel Add-in and Planning Dashboards, Master Data and Data Integration, Exception-Based Planning and Alert Management.
• Strong understanding of integration with: SAP S/4HANA, SAP ECC, SAP APO / PPDS, SAP MM, SAP SD, SAP EWM, SAP TM, SAP CPI-DS.
• Experience with incident management, problem management, and change management processes in AMS environments.
• Ability to perform effort estimations, impact assessments, and solution reviews.
• Strong customer-facing, stakeholder management, and communication skills.
• Experience working in global delivery and support environments.