What Is SEM and BPS

What is sem & bps? Where and why we use those in relation to sap-bw?
Business Planning (BW-BPS) enables you to produce planning applications. You can either develop your own planning application or use the Business Content delivered by SAP. The area of application stretches from simple data input through to complex scenarios with data extraction, automatic planning preparation, manual data input, controlling the planning process, and retracting plan data. The architecture of BW-BPS is structured so that you are able to implement simple scenarios without great effort but are equally able to build sophisticated business-wide planning processes.
Strategic Enterprise Management - Business Planning and Simulation (SEM-BPS) is SAP's new dimension product focusing on Financial Planning. It is intended to replace all financial planning functionality that exists within R/3. SEM-BPS is a BW (Business Warehouse) based application which allows for multi-dimensional planning, complex calculation programming, etc. It allows for multiple types of front-ends. Two of the biggest are the MS Excel front-end and Web enabled planning folders and layouts.
SEM-BPS is a planning system, in which you can record and evaluate aggregated plan data. It is suitable for the collection and maintenance of data from the various functional plan sections in one uniform view.
Business Planning (SEM-BPS) enables you to produce a group-wide strategic business plan. The business plan adds an overall plan to the detailed plans that have been put together using the transaction systems' components. The aim of strategic business planning is to produce a consistent and realistic plan from various perspectives. The plan should improve the efficiency of the enterprise and the management process. Here, the issue is – in contrast to the operational subplans – less the level of detail, but rather planning the enterprise's development over the longer term.
SEM-BPS supports Web-based planning with the help of planning applications and a Status and Tracking System. With these means you can also form planning scenarios in companies with many different branches in different locations, though the technical administrative effort is limited to the availability of an internet connection.

You carry out manual planning using planning layouts. You can configure these planning layouts as you wish. Here, you can use the characteristics and key figures from the data basis, and you can also define formulas for locally-calculated key figures. The planned data is saved bottom-up, which means that data from a lower level is aggregated to the next highest level.
The SEM-BPS planning applications are used to solve standard tasks of business planning, for example balance sheet or profit planning, with as little configuration work possible.