1. How do companies organize their ERP projects?

Based on our observations, there are three commonly used ways of installing ERP. The Big BangIn this, the most ambitious and difficult of approaches to ERP implementation, companies cast off all their legacy systems at once and install a single ERP system across the entire company. Though this method dominated early ERP implementations, few companies dare to attempt it anymore because it calls for the entire company to mobili e and change at once. !ost of the ERP implementation horror stories from the late "#$s warn us about companies that used this strategy.%etting everyone to cooperate and accept a new software system at the same time is a tremendous effort, largely because the new system will not have any advocates. &o one within the company has any e'perience using it, so no one is sure whether it will wor(. )lso, ERP inevitably involves compromises. !any departments have computer systems that have been honed to match the ways they wor(. In most cases, ERP offers neither the range of functionality nor the comfort of familiarity that a custom legacy system can offer. In many cases, the speed of the new system may suffer because it is serving the entire company rather than a single department. ERP implementation re*uires a direct mandate from the +E,. Franchising strategyThis approach suits large or diverse companies that do not share many common processes across business units. Independent ERP systems are installed in each unit, while lin(ing common processes, such as financial boo((eeping, across the enterprise. This has emerged as the most common way of implementing ERP. In most cases, the business units each have their own -instances- of ERPthat is, a separate system and database. The systems lin( together only to share the information necessary for the corporation to get a performance big picture across all the business units .business unit revenues, for e'ample/, or for processes that don"t vary much from business unit to business unit .perhaps 0R benefits/. 1sually, these implementations begin with a demonstration or pilot installation in a particularly open2minded and patient business unit where the core business of the corporation will not be disrupted if something goes wrong. ,nce the pro3ect team gets the system up and running and wor(s out all the bugs, the team begins selling other units on ERP, using the first implementation as a (ind of in2house customer reference. Plan for this strategy to ta(e a long time. Slam d n!ERP dictates the process design in this method, where the focus is on 3ust a few (ey processes, such as those contained in an ERP system"s financial module. The slam dun( is generally for smaller companies e'pecting to grow into ERP. The goal here is to get ERP up and running *uic(ly and to ditch the fancy reengineering in favor of the ERP system"s -canned- processes. 4ew companies that have approached ERP this way can claim much paybac( from the new system. !ost use it as an infrastructure to support more diligent installation efforts down the road. 5et many discover that a slammed2in ERP system is little better than a legacy system because it doesn"t force employees to change any of their old habits. In fact, doing the hard wor( of process reengineering after the system is in can be more challenging than if there had been no system at all because at that point few people in the company will have felt much benefit.

The Internet Business Framework provides several integration technologies that enable multi-level communication between different SAP systems or between SAP and non-SAP software. According to your plans and projects you can choose from various technologies using Idocs, !", #APIs, $%&' and different protocols to transmit, receive, change or generate data.

Application Link Enabling (ALE) is a set of business processes and tools that allow applications on different computer systems to be linked. The main objective is to distribute data from a main system to a subsystem following certain rules. This is possible between different A! systems as well as between A! and non" A! systems. The used technology is #doc messaging via t$%&. The SAP Business Connector is a '(' enabling technology based on web)ethods '(' #ntegration erver. #t allows you to integrate with $*+ via open and non proprietary technology.

A! '& uses the #nternet as communication platform and ,)L*-T)L as data format. Thus it seamlessly integrates different #T architectures with A! systems. The A! 'usiness &onnector is a main part of the A! #nternet #nitiative.

The A! 'usiness .bjects are an essential part of the 'usiness %ramework and the prere/uisites for interoperability. A! 'usiness .bjects cover a broad range of A!0s business data and processes and can be accessed using open1 stable and standardi2ed methods " BAPIs (Business Application Programming Interfaces). They allow e3ternal or remote A! systems to access business objects by calling the respective methods. The A! 'usiness .bjects and their 'A!#s thus provide an object"oriented view of A! business functionality. #f you need to take over data from your legacy system to an A! system it is advisable to use our DX- orkbenc!. The 4,"5orkbench helps you map your data to $*+ and import them to the new system using either 'A!# technology1 batch input or direct input. SAP Business orkflo" provides the infrastructure and tools to allow business processes that encompass more than one department or software component to be managed1 automated and analy2ed as related entities across the entire company. Employees are integrated in the automated processes1 eliminating the need to perform redundant1 manual functions. 5ith m#SAP$com %obile orkplace& A! as the leader in inter"enterprise software solutions will take care that our customers can benefit from the trends of mobile computing. A! will provide the architecture and the necessary solutions within my A!.com to fulfill customer needs. A! )obile &omputing e3tends A!6s business solutions to users that did not have access to any A! product so far. At the same time1 it will make people who are already users of my A!.com more fle3ible and more mobile. #t will take integrated business solutions to the ne3t level.

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A! )obile Engine 78 things to know about A! mobile computing

The SAP Internet 'ransaction Ser(er (I'S) converts A! $*+ screens into -T)L format1 making it possible to access A! systems with user"friendly 5eb technology.