With SAP BPC sunsetting their Business Planning and Consolidation (BPC) tool companies face a crossroads: To deepen investments into SAP’s costly cloud platform or to look for other alternatives.
Our advice would be to evaluate other tools on the market. Different tools work in different ways and so do businesses, it makes sense to see whether there is a tool that matches your business more than what you had till now.
What is SAP BPC and why is it getting sunset?
SAP BPC is a corporate performance management (CPM) tool developed by SAP to support Planning, Budgeting, Forecasting and Consolidation.
Coming from SAP, one of its key features was integration with other SAP environments. The product was positioned as a go-to solution for organizations using SAP ECC (ERP system) or SAP Business Warehouse.
SAP however made the decision to sunset BPC as it is built on legacy technology that does not align with SAP’s roadmap.
What does sunsetting even mean & what are the dates?
Sunsetting or end-of-life are quite scary words, however when SAP announces end of life for a product like BPC, it doesn’t mean the system will suddenly stop working but rather be placed in maintenance or extended maintenance modes.
This essentially means that there will be a significant shift in how the product is supported, maintained and developed.
- Reduced Support: Support will be scaled back and more expensive (extended maintenance)
- No more urgent bug fixes and patches: Fixes often take more time and are more expensive
- No new development: This has been the case for some time now with V11.1 released in 2017, however the end-of-life seals the deal with no roadmap planned ever
- Legacy system issues: Legacy systems can have problems integrating with modern tools, and auditors are usually not too happy with outdated systems
- Disappearing Skills and Resources: With skills needed to maintain the solution fading (both internally & external) the whole ecosystem around the solution shrinks. Fewer consultants, developers and support lead to higher cost and time needed to solve even minor issues
The end-of-life dates for different SAP BPC versions:
- SAP BPC for Microsoft platform reaches end of maintenance in 2026
- SAP BPC for NetWeaver enters extended maintenance after 2027
- SAP BPC for BW/4HANA will be supported to 2040 (little to no innovation)
Why should you evaluate options now?
With 2026 around the corner, it is wise to start looking into options now. Implementations of Planning and Consolidation tools for mid-sized organizations rarely take less than 6 months.
Delaying your evaluation can lead to rushed and/or expensive migrations – waiting too long can compress the project timeline, forcing organizations into high-pressure transitions.
Some organizations are holding off on CPM changes due to uncertainty around SAP’s product roadmap or because they’re focused on their SAP ECC to S/4HANA migrations. While understandable, this wait-and-see approach comes with cost.
Planning and consolidation are critical processes that equip the Office of the CFO with the tools needed to drive strategic decision-making. In today’s business climate, delaying modernization in this area can lead to poor forecasting and even missed opportunities.
The bottom line: The earlier you begin evaluating your options, the more control you have over cost, timing, and outcomes. Waiting until 2026 or 2027 may leave your team reacting under pressure instead of following a strategic plan.
What are the alternatives?
SAP provides new alternatives to capabilities of BPC:
- Financial Planning and Analysis: SAP Analytics Cloud
- Supply Chain Planning: AP Integrated Business Planning
- Profitability Analysis: SAP Profitability and Performance Management
- Consolidation: SAP Group Reporting for SAP S/4HANA
However, the transition from BPC to these new alternatives is not an export import endeavour but rather a full new implementation. This fragmentation spreads processes across several tools resulting in a very IT dependent system that can get complex and expensive.
SAP has also received criticism that its licensing models have become increasingly complex, despite its messaging that licensing is undergoing simplification (The Register, 2025).
More about the criticisms from SAP users and experts here.
Our advice would be to evaluate other tools on the market. Different tools work in different ways and so do businesses, it makes sense to see whether there is a tool that matches your business more than what you had till now.
How we do it?
At Inulta, our team of 100+ consultants is helping organizations overcome the challenges traditionally addressed by BPC—with the advanced capabilities of CCH Tagetik.
CCH Tagetik offers a comprehensive solution for financial close and consolidation, designed to support both group and entity-level controllers. It also includes modules for IFRS16, IFRS17, GMT, reporting, disclosure management along with tools for ESG and sustainability performance tracking. The platform is available for deployment both on-premises and in the cloud.
CCH Tagetik’s strengths
- A single platform opposed to SAP and Oracle’s multi-solution approaches
- Prebuilt connectors for SAP and S/4HANA plus a data quality engine for ERP/operational data integration
- Finance owned, not heavily IT dependant
- Strong investment in modern technologies like AI and predictive intelligence