In modern enterprises, managing incoming requests, ideas, and demands effectively is critical for aligning projects with strategic business goals. SAP Portfolio and Project Management (SAP PPM) Demand Management plays a vital role in capturing, evaluating, and prioritizing these demands before they enter the project pipeline. This ensures that organizations invest their resources in the most valuable initiatives, optimizing their portfolio and driving business success.
SAP PPM Demand Management is a structured process within SAP PPM that helps organizations handle the inflow of demands — which can be project ideas, enhancement requests, product proposals, or change requests — in a controlled and systematic manner. It acts as the first gateway in the portfolio lifecycle, transforming unstructured ideas into well-defined demands ready for evaluation and approval.
Demand Capture
Demands are submitted via SAP PPM portals, email integration, or direct entry by users. These demands include key details such as description, requester, business impact, estimated cost, and strategic alignment.
Demand Enrichment
Demand owners or analysts enrich the submitted demands with additional information like business cases, expected benefits, risks, and resource estimates to support evaluation.
Evaluation and Scoring
Demands are evaluated using predefined criteria such as strategic fit, financial impact, resource availability, and risk. SAP PPM supports scoring models to quantify demand value objectively.
Prioritization and Selection
Based on scores and resource constraints, demands are prioritized. High-priority demands are selected to move into project planning and portfolio management phases.
Approval Workflow
Demand approvals involve stakeholders such as portfolio managers, finance, and business sponsors. SAP PPM facilitates workflow automation and audit trails for accountability.
Conversion to Projects or Programs
Approved demands are converted into projects, programs, or enhancements within SAP PPM for execution.
SAP PPM Demand Management is a foundational process in effective portfolio and project management. By capturing and filtering business demands early, it enables organizations to focus on the right projects, ensure alignment with strategic goals, and maximize return on investment. For enterprises using SAP, integrating demand management with broader SAP PPM capabilities helps create a seamless flow from ideation to project delivery, boosting overall agility and competitiveness.