SAP R/3
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SAP R/3 is the name of the main ERP software produced by the SAP company. Its new (modern) name is mySAP (http://www.sap.com/solutions/erp/)
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History of SAP R/3
SAP R/2 was a mainframe based business application software suite that was very successful in the 1980s and early 1990s. It was particularly popular with large multinational European companies who required soft-real-time business applications, with multi-currency and multi-language capabilities built in. With the advent of distributed client-server computing SAP AG brought out a client-server version of the software called SAP R/3 that was manageable on multiple platforms, which opened up SAP to a whole new customer base. SAP R/3, which was launched in 1992. The official launch date was 6 July 1992, which is why the Administration account created during the installation has the password 06071992, SAP came to dominate the large business applications market over the next 10 years.
Reasons for success
From the 1960s to the 1980s there was a concern that software development was too complex, and liable to go wrong. One of the solutions to this proposed by many people including Fred Brooks was the development of a modular approach in order to maximise software reuse.
SAP software comes with customisable processes which a company uses in the modelling of its business. Traditionally, software purchases had provided tools for building applications, but these tools did not provide business processes. SAP provided standarised processes, which were termed best-practices solutions of processes. The implementation of SAP software commonly required the expertise of knowledgeable external consultants, who were familiar with these best practices.
Organization
SAP R/3 is arranged into distinct functional modules, such as Sales & Distribution, Finance, Human Resources and Materials Management. Each module handles specific business tasks on its own, but is linked to the others where applicable. For instance, an invoice from the Billing portion of Sales & Distribution will pass through to accounting, where it will appear in accounts receivable and cost of goods sold.
SAP has typically focused on best practice methodologies for driving its software processes, but has more recently expanded into vertical markets. In these situations, SAP produces specialized modules geared toward a particular market segment, such as utilities or retail.
Using SAP often requires the payment of hefty licence fees, as the customers have effectively outsourced various business software development tasks to SAP. By specialising in software development, SAP hopes to provide a better value to corporations than they could if they attempted to develop and maintain their own applications.
Technology
SAP R/3 is a client/server based application, utilizing a 3-tiered model. A presentation layer, or client, interfaces with the user. The application layer houses all the business-specific logic, and the database layer records and stores all the information about the system, including transactional and configuration data.
SAP R/3 functionality is structured using its own proprietary language called ABAP (Advanced Business Application Programming). ABAP, or ABAP/4 is a fourth generation language (4GL), geared toward the creation of simple, yet powerful programs. R/3 also offers a complete development environment where developers can either modify existing SAP code to modify existing functionality or develop their own functions, whether reports or complete transactional systems within the SAP framework.
ABAP's main interaction with the database system is via open SQL statements. These statements allow a developer to query, update, or delete information from the database. Advanced topics include GUI development and advanced integration with other systems.
The most difficult part of SAP R/3 is its implementation. Simply because SAP R/3 is never the same. For instance, Atlas Copco can have a different implementation of SAP R/3 than Procter & Gamble and so on. For this, these companies recruit highly skilled SAP consultants to do the job. The implementation must consider the company's needs and resources. Some companies may like to implement only a few modules of SAP while others may want all modules.
SAP has several layers. The Basis System is the heart of the data operations and should be not evident to higher level or managerial users. Other customizing and implementation tools exist also. The heart of the system from a manager's viewpoint are the application modules. These modules may not all be implemented in a typical company but they are all related and are listed below:
- FI Financial Accounting
- designed for automated management and external reporting of general ledger, accounts receivable, accounts payable and other sub-ledger accounts with a user defined chart of accounts. As entries are made relating to sales production and payments journal entries are automatically posted. This connection means that the "books" are designed to reflect the real situation.
- CO Controlling
- represents the company's flow of cost and revenue. It is a management instrument for organizational decisions. It too is automatically updated as events occur.
- AM Asset Management
- designed to manage and supervise individual aspects of fixed assets including purchase and sale of assets, depreciation and investment management.
- PS Project System
- is designed to support the planning, control and monitoring of long-term, highly complex projects with defined goals.
- WF Workflow
- links the integrated SAP application modules with cross-application technologies, tools and services.
- IS Industry Solutions
- combine the SAP application modules and additional industry-specific functionality. Special techniques have been developed for industries such as banking, oil and gas, pharmaceuticals, etc.
- HR Human Resources
- is a complete integrated system for supporting the planning and control of personnel activities.
- PM Plant Maintenance
- In a complex manufacturing process maintenance means more than sweeping the floors. Equipment must be serviced and rebuilt. These tasks affect the production plans.
- MM Materials Management
- supports the procurement and inventory functions occurring in day-to-day business operations such as purchasing, inventory management, reorder point processing, etc.
- QM Quality Management
- is a quality control and information system supporting quality planning, inspection, and control for manufacturing and procurement.
- PP Production Planning
- is used to plan and control the manufacturing activities of a company. This module includes; bills of material, routings, work centers, sales and operations planning, master production scheduling, material requirements planning, shop floor control, production orders, product costing, etc.
- SD Sales and Distribution
- helps to optimize all the tasks and activities carried out in sales, delivery and billing. Key elements are; pre-sales support, inquiry processing, quotation processing, sales order processing, delivery processing, billing and sales information system.
See also
External links
- Company's web site (http://www.sap.com/)
- mySAP Business Suite ERP (http://www.sap.com/solutions/business-suite.asp)
- SAP Online documentation (http://help.sap.com/)de:SAP R/3