Evolving Your Planning: From CM25 to SAP embedded PP/DS
For years, your team has effectively managed production with the CM25 Planning Board, appreciating its visual layout and scheduling capabilities. Now envision a direct, superior evolution: SAP ePP/DS. This is not about starting from scratch; it is about upgrading to the next generation of your familiar planning tool, designed for the modern SAP S/4HANA landscape. It empowers you to achieve everything you currently do, but with greater efficiency, accuracy, and future readiness.
As CM25 falls into SAP's compatibility scope and therefore is set to conclude by December 31, 2025, transitioning to SAP ePP/DS is not just an enhancement — it is an important step to maintain uninterrupted, robust planning capabilities within your SAP S/4HANA environment.
Here is how SAP ePP/DS directly replaces and substantially enhances your current CM25 capabilities:
Your Familiar Views, Elevated as Fiori apps
This is the most direct evolution. Like CM25, SAP ePP/DS provides a highly visual, Gantt-chart-style overview of production orders and operations across resources. You will still see activities laid out over time, but with a cleaner, more intuitive interface, enhancing clarity and detail.
- Direct CM25 Feature Enhanced: The primary graphical display of orders and operations on a timeline against resources.
You value CM25's manual drag & drop scheduling. SAP ePP/DS retains and elevates this. You can still manually move operations and reassign them, but now SAP ePP/DS instantly validates these changes against critical constraints such as material availability. This ensures your manual adjustments are inherently smarter and prevent impossible plans.
- Direct CM25 Feature Enhanced: Manual drag & drop scheduling of operations and orders with additional advanced checks.
Just as you could toggle between resource and individual order views in CM25, SAP ePP/DS offers the same crucial perspectives, as well as stock, order networks and more.
- Direct CM25 Feature Enhanced: Ability to view the planning board from a resource or order perspective.
Enhanced Control & Proactive Management
Capacity Overview:
Understanding resource load was important in CM25. SAP ePP/DS provides a significantly more robust and intuitive capacity overview, allowing you to quickly identify overloaded or underloaded resources with clearer visuals and the ability to drill down into contributing orders for precise, actionable insights.- Direct CM25 Feature Enhanced: Visual indication of resource load and capacity utilization.
Advanced Dispatching Functions (Automated Scheduling Actions):
While CM25 allowed basic sequencing, PP/DS introduces powerful standard dispatching functions (heuristics). Beyond manual sequencing, SAP ePP/DS can automatically sequence operations based on defined rules—like minimizing setup times or prioritizing urgent orders—freeing your planners from tedious tasks for more complex issues.
- Direct CM25 Feature Enhanced: Sequencing and dispatching operations on a resource.
Alerts & Problem Identification (Targeted Focus):
Where CM25 might show limited conflicts, SAP ePP/DS offers a sophisticated alerting mechanism. It immediately highlights potential problems like material shortages, capacity overloads, or late orders directly on the planning board, guiding planners to critical issues for proactive resolution.- Direct CM25 Feature Enhanced: Visual indications or warnings for conflicts.
Fiori apps for SAP embedded PP/DS:
The Fiori apps designed to operate with embedded PP/DS, are not just capable but superior replacements for the planning functions you have relied on in CM25. They offer a modern, intuitive user experience while leveraging the powerful, intelligent planning engine of PP/DS.
- The "Advanced Scheduling Board" and "Capacity Scheduling Board" are direct replacements.
They offer:- Modern, intuitive, and highly configurable Gantt chart visuals.
- Enhanced drag & drop with real-time validation and immediate alerts from SAP ePP/DS.
- Improved drill-down capabilities into order and operation details.
- Live updates reflecting the current state of production. Performs the complex calculations for finite capacity scheduling, optimization, and constraint-based planning.
Every core function your team relies on CM25 for today i.e. visualizing, interactive scheduling, sequencing, and capacity understanding - is not merely replicated in SAP PP/DS, but fundamentally enhanced. This is the familiar, vastly improved, and critically, the future-proof solution SAP is building on, integrating seamlessly with your SAP S/4HANA landscape.
Tangible Benefits of embedded SAP PP/DS
- Enhanced Control
Intuitive drag & drop planning, real-time alerts, and constraint-based scheduling.
- Greater Accuracy
Finite capacity management prevents overloads and unrealistic schedules, leading to fewer production delays.
- Automated Planning
Built-in heuristics provide the possibility to schedule orders according to advanced rules, leading to fewer manual work.
- Smarter Decisions
Built-in optimization tools reduce setup times and prioritize urgent orders, improving through put.
- Fewer Disruptions
Material availability checks highlight shortages before they impact production, reducing costly last-minute issues.
- Integrated Landscape
Fully embedded within your SAP S/4HANA system, including MRP, ATP, MES, and execution, ensuring seamless data flow.
Our Phased Rollout Approach
Phase 1 – Baseline Readiness (5 - 6 months)
Focus on setting SAP PP/DS up and implementing core embedded PP/DS planning board functionality, ensuring continuity from CM25, and stabilizing your planning processes.
Phase 2 – Enhancement & Optimization (2026 onwards)
Activate advanced features like heuristics and pegging, tailor planning logic to your unique operations, and align with broader transformation initiatives.
How msg Supports Your Transition
We bring proven expertise in SAP Supply Chain Planning, from blueprint to go live and beyond:
- End-to-End Project Delivery: Scoping, configuration, deployment, and ongoing support.
- CM25 Logic Migration: Expertly translating your existing CM25 logic into embedded PP/DS-compatible enhancements.
- User-Focused Empowerment: Comprehensive training and change management to ensure your planners confidently leverage PP/DS from day one.
- Holistic Integration: Seamless integration with your IBP or S/4 Core planning.
- Proven Methodologies: Utilizing templates and best practices to avoid common pitfalls and accelerate your return on investment.
Why Partner with msg?
At msg, we do not just implement tools; we enable transformation. Our consultants combine deep SAP technical knowledge with a practical understanding of real-world manufacturing challenges.
- Trusted SAP Partner with extensive SAP embedded PP/DS project experience.
- Focused on measurable results and alignment with your business objectives.
- Committed to supporting your users, not just your systems.
Ready to ensure your planning capabilities are future-proof and optimized for SAP S/4HANA? Let us discuss how we can help you make a seamless and impactful transition to SAP PP/DS.
When can we advise you?
Please fill in the form to contact us. We will get in touch with you as soon as possible.
Joschka Argast
Lead Sales Manager