The Great APS Rush & the S/4HANA Trigger

Why Everyone Suddenly Cares About Advanced Planning (and Why S/4HANA Is the Real Trigger)

In recent months, the demand for Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) solutions has skyrocketed. APS consultants are booked solid, RFPs are flying, and companies are frantically comparing tools like SAP IBP, OMP, Kinaxis, and homegrown platforms. But this isn't a coincidence-and it's not because of COVID-19, digital transformation buzzwords, or newfound enthusiasm for AI.

It's because of SAP S/4HANA.

More precisely, it's because a decade of delay is coming to a head - now.

The Real Cause: S/4HANA Is the Trigger, APS Is the Consequence

Let's make it explicit: the current APS wave is a direct byproduct of the global S/4HANA migration effort.

Here's how the dominoes fall:

1. SAP ECC Is Retiring

SAP announced years ago that ECC support ends in 2027 (or 2030 with premium support).
That triggered a global wave of S/4HANA migration programs, many of which are now hitting key deployment phases in late 2025

2. S/4HANA Does Not Include APO

In the ECC world, most companies used SAP APO (Advanced Planner & Optimizer) for supply planning
In S/4HANA, APO is no longer supported or available
That means: migrating to S/4 automatically forces companies to replace their entire APS stack

There is no middle ground. If you're going to S/4, you must pick a new APS - either SAP IBP or an external solution (OMP, Kinaxis, BlueYonder, etc.)

3. Most Companies Delayed This Decision Until the Last Moment

Rather than redesigning planning processes early, many S/4 programs focused purely on the ERP core (finance, logistics, master data)
Planning tools were left "for later."
Now, as go-lives approach (typically Q3/Q4 2025), these same companies are realizing they're weeks or months away from having no planning system at all

Why September 2025?

If you're hearing September as a recurring theme, it's not random. It's a structural outcome of the SAP ecosystem:

Fiscal Year Planning: Many companies go live in September to stabilize before year-end
Project Timelines: SAP integrators started key S/4 programs in 2023, with typical 18-24 month runways
APO Sunset Pressure: As ECC systems are switched off, APO becomes technically obsolete - no integration, no support

That's why September 2025 is ground zero for the combined ERP + APS transition.

What This Means for Planning

For many companies, this is the first time in 20 years they are rethinking how they plan:

No more copy-paste of legacy APO logic
No more bolt-on safety stock formulas
No more custom Z-tables to fudge master data

This is a clean break - and an opportunity to design modern planning from the ground up, with solvers, optimization models, and integration logic that reflect today's reality.

The catch? Doing this under time pressure - while also managing S/4 cutover - is incredibly risky.

What to Do Now

If your company is going live with S/4 in 2025 or early 2026, and you haven't already locked down your APS strategy, you're behind. The market is already saturated. Resources are constrained. Tools take months to configure and test properly.

This is not an IT project. It's not a migration. It's an end-to-end redesign of your supply chain brain.

Done well, APS becomes a competitive weapon. Done poorly - or rushed - it becomes a source of friction, cost, and chaos.

Final Thought

APS is not trending because of post-pandemic soul-searching or some vague digital awakening. It's because S/4 is forcing everyone's hand, and planning can't be ignored anymore.

If you're serious about preparing for the next decade of supply chain execution, APS is not optional - and September 2025 is closer than it looks.Why Everyone Suddenly Cares About Advanced Planning (and Why S/4HANA Is the Real Trigger)