Are there CPQ solutions that leverage the VC Knowledge base and integrate with other CPQ solutions and Salesforce.com?
This is very possible today. A year ago, only one well known CPQ solution provider had anything close, but no integration with Salesforce.com (SFDC).
eSpline developed an extract, translate and load for BigMachines, now Oracle CPQ, and it has been available since 2015. You can ask eSpline for a demonstration of the complete end-to-end process that includes: Extract, Translate and Load (ETL) a VC model, see how the translated rule patterns equate to and behave as the originals, then see quote creation and sending the order back to SAP. 
Working with and talking with literally hundreds of SAP VC customers, we have heard that number one, VC is going to stay. Period! No questions about that! The question then becomes "how do we take advantage of using configurable products modeled in SAP's VC into a Salesforce.com application and in a cloud environment"? You probably have seen some CPQ solutions if you are in process of looking for answers and you might have said to SFDC "Our products are complex and the SFDC configurator (formerly called Steelbrick) is not made for our level of complexity". The SFDC CPQ also does not leverage SAP VC rules or the VC knowledge base content unless they referred you to one of the three CPQ solution providers that offers the ETL capability.
Additionally, many CPQ solution providers claim or advertise an integration with SAP and many do a good job of moving customers and non configurable products to their CPQ solution, one offers the inclusion of SAP pricing procedures; but only a very select few actually use the VC KB contents to leverage your investment in the VC rules.
Furthermore, there are several middleware solutions that provide for SAP integration to other CPQ solutions and you may have one of these: SAP PI, MuleSoft, Jitterbit, Apache Camel, etc. They alone do not offer moving configurable product rules or configured line items.
CPQ solution providers that leverage VC
There are at least three (3) and soon (Jan 2018) to be four (4) well known (non SAP) CPQ solutions that:
- (a) run in the cloud,
- (b) integrate with SFDC,
- some integrate with Microsoft Dynamics,
- some integrate with Microsoft Dynamics,
- (c) extract, translate and load ("ETL") the SAP VC rule patterns to the specific CPQ solution's rule patterns,
- (d) create quotes and orders in their application
- generate configurable quotes
- generate configurable quotes
- (e) return the complete configured, priced, quote or order back to SAP,
- (f) each has its own merits
- some come with easy to use admin capabilities,
- some offer status inquires inside SAP on an order created in CPQ,
- available to promise (ATP) information is usually available,
- order cancellation capability is limited to a few providers,
- bi-directional synchronization for order changes is not universally offered,
- etc...
Three CPQ solutions provide for the order integration with SAP SD and importantly the product characteristics are the same, so SAP will not hiccup on the customer's configurable product order.
One CPQ solution provides for quotes only to be sent to SAP, assumes SAP to be the source for creating orders from a quote, and incorporates the ETL capability, but no integration with SFDC (at least not published that they do).
We see a demand from SAP VC customers that want this capability. We believe it has arrived! Give us your feedback for what you are experiencing.
