Introduction to SAP

Introduction to SAP

1) What SAP?
2) SAP Business Suite…
3) Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
4) SAP Modules…
5) The Environments for SAP ERP
5) Types of SAP Jobs
6) SAP Testing

1) What is SAP?

> SAP was started in 1972 by five former IBM employees in Germany. It stands for Systems, Applications and Products in Data Processing.

> SAP SE, a global software company, is one of the largest vendors of ERP and other enterprise applications.

> In 1973, SAP released R/1, a financial accounting system. R/1 ran on IBM servers and DOS, and it had a single-tier architecture in which presentation, applications and data were on one platform.

> In 1979, SAP released R/2, a mainframe system that provided real-time data processing across accounting, manufacturing, supply chain and human resources. R/2 used a two-tier architecture, where presentation was on one platform and applications and data were on another. R/2 helped power SAP’s growth,

> In 1992, SAP released R/3, which represented a switch from mainframe computing to the client-server model, and from a two-tier to a three-tier architecture, in which presentation, applications and data were housed separately. R/3 was a critical product for SAP that launched the company onto the world stage.

2) SAP Business Suite…

> SAP Business Suite is collection of fully integrated applications such as,
i) SAP Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP),
ii) SAP Customer Relationship management (CRM),
iii) SAP Product Lifecycle Management (PLM),
iv) SAP Supplier Relationship Management (SRM), and
v) SAP supply Chain Management (SCM) Etc…

> Most people relate SAP with its ERP offering. But SAP now offers variety of products to address varied needs of an organization.

3) Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)

> ERP term used for Software that controls whole organizations different departments.

> i) JD Edwards: Account Software
ii) Peoplesoft: HR
iii) Sieble: CRM
iv) Oracle Applications: Finance
v) Microsoft Dynamics
vi) SAP: All Modules

JD Edwards is popular for accounting Software, People is popular for HR Software, Sieble is popular CRM Software, and SAP is popular for all Modules.

Note: SAP is the number one vendor in ERP Solutions.

> Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is built to organizations belonging to different industrial sectors, regardless of their size and strength.

> The ERP package is designed to support and integrate almost every functional area of a business process such as procurement of goods and services, sale and distribution, finance, accountings, human resource, manufacturing, production planning, logistics & warehouse management.

Introduction To SAP

4) SAP Modules

> Module: Each Functional division within an organization is divided into modules.

> You take any Enterprise like Chemical, Auto-mobile, Pharmaceuticals etc…they have various divisions/departments like Materials, Marketing, Sales, Accounts, Finance, Human Resources, and Services etc…to automate/computerize these divisions/departments a well defined ERP software like SAP is required.

> SAP was started with financial application, modules such as Logistics, HR were added later on.

There are Three Types of SAP ERP Modules,

a) Technical Modules
b) Functional Modules
c) Techno-Functional Modules

> SAP has nearly 25 modules, however all the 25 SAP modules are not applied. The most implemented modules are the most successful and has the highest job opportunities. Such vital SAP Modules utilized by numerous organizations are as follows,

a) Technical Modules

i) SAP Basis
ii) SAP ABAP -Advanced Business Application Programming
iii) SAP HANA -High Performance Analytic Appliance
iv) SAP NetWeaver Etc…

b) Main Functional SAP ERP Modules

i) FICO (Finance & Controlling)
ii) HR (Human Resource)
iii) PP (Production Planning)
iv) MM (Material Management)
v) SD (Sales & Distribution)
vi) PM (Plant Maintenance)
vii) PS (Project System)
viii) QM (Quality Management) Etc..

c) Techno-Functional Modules

1. ABAP + HR
2. ABAP + SD
3. BIW (Business Information Warehouse)

5) The Environments for SAP ERP

i) Supported Operating System for SAP

The SAP business suites can be installed on the following platforms (Operating systems):

a) MS Windows NT
b) OS/400
c) Unix
d) Solaris
e) AIX
f) HP UX
g) Sinux

ii) Supported Database for SAP ERP

SAP is a back-end-free ERP system which co-operate with many database companies. That means companies have many choices. The database is common for all modules and avoids duplication of maintaining master records. For e.g. the customer records will be maintained in SD module like customer code, customer type, Credit/payment terms, address etc. The same would be used by the FI module while perusing the customer accounts or entering the receipt of payments. Similarly the sales manager can view the customer balances in the FI module for follow up with the customer.

The following Database can be used in SAP software. The functionality/programming technique is same for all database system.

a) Oracle
b) MS SQL
c) Informix
d) Sybase
e) Adabas D
f) DB2 for AIX
g) DB2/400

iii) Supported Hardware for SAP ERP

SAP can be installed on many system platforms. The functionality and programming technique is same for all systems.

a) HP
b) IBM
c) Sun
d) AT&T
e) AS400
f) Bull
g) Sequent
h) SNI
i) Compaq Digital

6) Types of SAP Jobs

i) SAP Developer (ABAP Developer, BW Developer etc…)

ii) SAP Consultant (SAP Technical Consultant, SAP Functional Consultant etc…)

iii) SAP Administrator (SAP Security Administrator, SAP Basis Administrator etc…)

Note: Programming knowledge is required for SAP Developers Job, however ERP Domain knowledge is required for all types of SAP Jobs.

7) SAP Testing

> Many Organizations implement SAP ERP to manage their business operations efficiently. SAP Testing is about testing the functionality of various SAP modules and to ensure that they perform as per the configuration.

> SAP Testing is not a different kind of Testing, It is same as Software Application Testing however here the applications is SAP ERP. At whatever point you make a change in SAP Software, Test Cases need to be created to check the new functionality.

> SAP Testing can also involve – Performance Testing. (to check speed of SAP Applications).

Skill Set to become a SAP Tester you need following,

i) Testing knowledge
ii) Functional knowledge of the Module being Tested.
iii) Knowledge on SAP Software Environment

 

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