SAP F&R and SAP CAR UDF differences

[former_member1156900]

Dear experts,

I found a lot of information and documentation about the benefits of implementing SAP CAR UDF module within an existent SAP F&R system, but I did not find any info about which are the main differences?

I understood that UDF perform Forecast calculation using similar features used by F&R, but, considering a complete new implementation, which is the best solution? Implement both or only F&R or UDF?

Thanks in advance.

[former_member429678]

I am really looking for the same answer since a while ago and can see that there is no one can answer for the time being, since both products are new from SAP.

[SylviaLudwig · Accepted solution]

Hello everybody

just came across this and would like to add some comments as well:

UDF has similar concepts as the forecast in F&R (e.g. usage of DIF, high degree of automation) for some points, but also new/different features :

• True-day forecast with additive and multiplicative models
• Improved model with Bayesian statistics and prior usage, thus better support of new listings and lifecycle products
• Simulation capabilities
• Usage of a consistent forecast across Retail applications in SAP CAR (Promotion Management, Allocation Management etc.)

So it definitely makes sense to consider for an F&R implementation to use UDF, there is a Standard Integration available, described in SAP note

2367172, especially if CAR and apps on top of CAR are being used already

Hope this helps!

Sylvia

[former_member335292]

Hi Karim,

As you may be aware UDF is one of the key components of CAR when it comes to demand modeling and forecasting.It uses a wide range of sales data from POS,Online,ECC sales orders etc(Multichannel sales) data combined with store/date/time combinations etc to predict the demand for a product at a store at a given point in time.Yes you are right it provides insights into the forecasting numbers however you can use Analyze forecast Fiori App for example to visualise the data for better planning etc.As pointed out by Sylvia from SAP you can also get the forecast numbers from UDF to external systems such as F&R for further processing.Also the numbers can be given as an input internally within CAR for the Promotional planning based on demand influencing factors.

NOTE : In order to implement you need to have DDF fully installed and configured and SAP suggests to have atleast 2 years of historical sales data for accurate forecasting numbers.

Hope it helps.

Thanks,

Aram.

[former_member429678]

Hello Aram,

From what I have practiced during the implementation of CAR, UDF is greatly processing and providing the forecast, and to deepest levels plant, material bases that is in addition to trends and real time activities of the stock movement patterns. But at the end UDF is only a dashboard (or a sort of reports). On the other hand F&R actually perform the PRs and POs itself upon configuration.

Can you confirm this, I haven't reach the stage to implement F&R yet. although we are planning to implement after a year of implementing CAR with its on top features, UDF, RIV and OSA.

[former_member429678]

Hello Aram,

From what I have practiced during the implementation of CAR, UDF is greatly processing and providing the forecast, and to deepest levels plant, material bases that is in addition to trends and real time activities of the stock movement patterns. But at the end UDF is only a dashboard (or a sort of reports). On the other hand F&R actually perform the PRs and POs itself upon configuration.

Can you confirm this, I haven't reach the stage to implement F&R yet. although we are planning to implement after a year of implementing CAR with its on top features, UDF, RIV and OSA.

[former_member335292]

Hi Mario,

As you may be aware UDF definitely uses few concepts from F&R such as Generic DIF concepts,strict abstraction from business context and regression based models. Moreover you can use Production Forecasting or What-If Forecasting(currently used by PMR) depending on the business need.Moreover UDF has taken the Mixed model and Prior concepts from DMF as well for Modelling and Forecasting with the help of DIFs(such as offer,tactics,seasonality etc)

So Essentially the decision would depend on your business requirements,your future roadmap whether are you going to consider on boarding PMR into CAR in the near future etc.

Thanks,

Aram.

[tva]

Since UDF only performs forecast, you would still need F&R for the replenishment part after feeding UDF forecast into F&R (which is not too complicated).

So asking for the benefits of implementing CAR UDF compared to only using F&R, you would have to the previous into account, and then compare the working of UDF to the forecast in F&R. At this moment my feeling is that UDF takes some work out of the hands of the end-user compared to F&R, especially when it comes to Demand Influencing Factors: instead of having to define them manually (appart maybe for promotion DIF's), UDF uses all kinds of input to determine DIF's automatically, via so called system DIF's. User DIF's still exist in the UDF world, but are not really to be maintained by end-users as GUI front-end for maintenance is missing in UDF: there is no DIF-workbench like F&R has.

[former_member232581]

Hello

Even I have wondered about this for a while and my understanding is for demand modelling and forecasting CAR UDF is better as it provide results based on unified and real time data. F&R should consume this unified and real time information for efficiently performing required operations.

As far as deployment is considered I think it depends on size of business operation. If its small then F&R can be excluded from landscape.

Thanks

Vibhor