How Accurate Was SAP on the PP/DS Optimizer?

ByShaun Snapp

Executive Summary

  • For years SAP has said that the PP/DS optimizer is useful for performing production planning and scheduling.
  • In this article, we review the accuracy of this claim. 

Video Introduction: What SAP Said About its the PP/DS Optimizer

Text Introduction (Skip if You Watched the Video)

The PPDS Optimizer is part of the SAP APO suite. It is designed to provide a detailed schedule, down to the minute. It is supposed to allow companies to constrain and to develop an optimal production plan and schedule. However, analysis of PPDS implementation and first-hand experience indicates that the PPDS optimizer is rarely used. There are several reasons for this. PPDS is cost optimization, and cost optimization is not an appropriate objective function for production planning. In nearly all cases that we could find, companies removed the PPDS optimizer either before or not long after the PPDS applications went live. You will learn the accuracy of SAP’s PPDS optimizer.

Our References for This Article

If you want to see our references for this article and other related Brightwork articles, see this link.

Notice of Lack of Financial Bias: We have no financial ties to SAP or any other entity mentioned in this article.

  • This is published by a research entity, not some lowbrow entity that is part of the SAP ecosystem. 
  • Second, no one paid for this article to be written, and it is not pretending to inform you while being rigged to sell you software or consulting services. Unlike nearly every other article you will find from Google on this topic, it has had no input from any company's marketing or sales department. As you are reading this article, consider how rare this is. The vast majority of information on the Internet on SAP is provided by SAP, which is filled with false claims and sleazy consulting companies and SAP consultants who will tell any lie for personal benefit. Furthermore, SAP pays off all IT analysts -- who have the same concern for accuracy as SAP. Not one of these entities will disclose their pro-SAP financial bias to their readers. 

The Truth About the PP/DS Optimizer

In reality, the PP/DS Optimizer has turned out to be one of the most excellent bait and switch functionality offerings in the supply chain space. The PP/DS Optimizer can be taken live, but only if user acceptance testing is skipped to meet the go-live date. In our evaluation of projects, the implementing company invariably gives up on the PP/DS Optimizer and switches back to using another approach in PP/DS called heuristics. Secondly, SAP and many SAP implementation companies certainly know this, and they continue to recommend using the PP/DS Optimizer for its illusory benefits. We covered these issues in the article The Failed PP/DS Optimizer and Replacing the SNP and PP/DS Optimizer.

Conclusion and Calculation

SAP receives a 0% accuracy rating on SAP Optimizer.

Link to the Parent Article

This is one of many research articles on a specific topic that supports a larger research calculation. For the overview of the research calculation for all of the SAP topics that were part of the study, see the following primary research A Study into SAP’s Accuracy.