SAP AG (NYSE: SAP), Waldorf, Germany, has released the SAP Net Margin Analysis analytic application, which provides a comprehensive financial view of an enterprise’s business-to-business (B2B) operations. The application uses advanced analytics to capture cost-to-serve metrics — the indirect costs hidden in supply chains that service and support customers.

The application goes below the surface to uncover expenses and lines of profit that were not visible before. SAP estimates that enterprises can save up to 5 percent on indirect costs in the first year after implementation.

“SAP Net Margin Analysis provides actionable data on costs that up to this point were below the radar of many enterprises,” said Karen Lynch, VP, SAP Global Wholesale Distribution. “Previous offerings could only provide a ballpark figure on such costs. Users can now drill down into that data and isolate it precisely to see who their profit and cost generators are. Detailed metrics that took months to produce can now be viewed and acted upon immediately.”