What is SAP?

S System A Application P Products in data processing

Definition
Systems Application and Products in Data Processing. A company that develops software which allows business to track customers and business interactions. SAP is well known for its Enterprise Resource Management (ERP) and data management programs.

Introduction of SAP:
The SAP is an acronym of German language description, Systemanalyse und Programmentwicklung which means System Analysis and Program Development. After some time the acronym was changed as Systeme, Anwendungen und Produkte in der Datenverarbeitung which means Systems, Applications and Products in Data Processing SAP is a table drive customization software. It allows businesses to make rapid changes in their business requirements with a common set of programs. Userexits are provided for business to add in additional source code. Tools such as screen variants are provided to let you set fields attributes whether to hide, display and make them mandatory fields.

What does SAP do?

Delivering on the promise of e-business integration to help our customers faster growth, innovation and value SAP stands for increased efficiency, streamlining the supply-chain network and overhauling the entire business process of the organization. Companies that adopt SAP can look forward to a total makeover before they are done. The transparency that follows, enables faster information processing and making decisions with ease and no fear of risk. SAP, having evolved for over 3 decades is agile enough to adapt to most industries. SAP is not offered in modules any more but available as various solutions tailored to each industry. Enterprises must acknowledge that humans are as much a part of the chain and focus their efforts on making their personnel proud stakeholders in their new venture. To leverage SAP functionality SAP training courses are invaluable. SAP courses can help executives, finance managers, accountants, engineers and IT mavens. SAP functionality is truly enterprise wide. If one wants to replace an outdated and inefficient IT architecture, if one wants to implement business

process change, if one want parts to maintain a competitive advantage in the field, SAP is the answer. In a standard SAP project system, it is divided into three environments, which are Development Quality Assurance and Production The development system is where most of the implementation work takes place. The quality assurance system is where all the final testing is conducted before moving the transports to the production environment. The production system is where all the daily business activities occur. It is also the client that all the end users use to perform their daily job functions.

History of SAP:
On April 1, 1972 five former IBM employees y y y y y Dietmer Hopp Hans-Werner Hasso Plattner klaus Tschira Claus Wellenreuther

Founded SAP as System analyses and Programmentwicklung (Systems Analysis and Program Development) in Mannheim, Germany. Over the years, it has grown and evolved to become the world premier provider of client/server business solutions for which it is so well known today. The original SAP idea was to provide customers with the ability to interact with a common corporate database for a comprehensive range of applications. Gradually, the applications have been assembled and today many corporations, including IBM and Microsoft, are using SAP products to run their own businesses. SAP is a German software corporation that provides enterprise software applications and support to businesses of all sizes globally. Headquartered in Walldorf, Germany, with regional offices around the world, SAP is the largest enterprise software company in the world (as of 2009). It is also the largest software company in Europe and the fourth largest globally. The company's best known products are its SAP Enterprise Resource Planning (SAP ERP) and SAP Business Objects software.

SAP currently has:

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More than 51,000 employees in over 50 countries developing, marketing, and selling applications and services 82,000 customers of all sizes across 25 industries and in over 120 countries It is available in 37 different languages 75 offices in all over the world

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More Company detail: Key numbers for fiscal year ending December, 2010: Sales: $16,517.3M One year growth: 8.0% Net income: $2,403.9M Income growth: (4.0%) Employee growth: 12.5%

Mission statement
To be the focused service provider of the SAP capital management solutions. To support our customers through all phases of their SAP lifecycle to better leverage and understand the complexities of the SAP environment so that they can realize the inherent benefits of the total SAP solution

Vision of SAP
To develop Standard Application Software for real-time business Processing

Working region of SAP: 1. 2. 3. 4. SAP operates in three geographic regions which are, EMEA (representing Europe, Middle East, and Africa) Americas Asia Pacific Japan (APJ, representing Japan, Australia, and parts of Asia)

Version of SAP:
These are the three versions of SAP.which are 1. SAP R/1 system 2. SAP R/2 system 3. SAP R/3 system

SAP R/1:
SAP completes its first financial accounting system RF. This system serves as the cornerstone in the ongoing development of other software modules of the system that will eventually bear the name SAP R/1. R stand for real time data processing and 2 stand for two tier.. It is ongoing process.

SAP R/2:

In the late 1970s, SAP R/2 was released with IBMs database and a dialogue-oriented business application. The SAP R/2 system attains the high level of stability of the previous generation of programs. Keeping in mind its multinational customers, SAP designs SAP R/2 to handle different languages and currencies. With this and other innovations in SAP R/2, SAP sees rapid growth. It is base on Mainframe computer. This is made to understand Programming language ABAP (Advanced Business Application Programming). It was particularly popular with large multinational European companies who required soft-real-time business applications, with multicurrency and multi-language capabilities built in. SAP's close relationships with customers led to continuous enhancements in the existing program modules, while important new additions were made, such as the Cost Accounting (RK) System. The R/2 System was now ready for the international market. New computers with drastically improved price/performance ratios helped expand the customer base, and SAP raised its profile still further by appearing at the Systems trade fair in Munich - the company's first-ever presence at an industry trade show. In 1982, SAP celebrated its tenth anniversary, with sales soaring 48% to over DM 24 million. By the end of the year, 236 companies in Germany, Austria and Switzerland were working with the SAP standard programs. Sales continued to climb in the following year, increasing by 45%. In 1984 SAP took additional steps into the international arena with the founding of SAP (International) AG in Switzerland, whose focus was to increase sales of the R/2 System in international markets. Development teams began work on two new applications, Personnel Management and Plant Maintenance, while the Production Planning and Control System was installed at its first pilot customers.

SAP R/3:
With the R/3 System release in mid-1992, SAP began to penetrate the mid-size market, and into branches and subsidiaries of large companies. The release of the R/3 client/server system was the most significant event in SAP's history and started a record of growth that even SAP's most optimistic planners had not predicted. SAP took top position among German software vendors in 1993. On an international scale, the company moved to 7th place among software companies, establishing a clear lead in the global business applications software market. Sales surpassed the important DM 1 billion mark for the first time in 1993, and the global customer base stood at 3,500 companies. SAP made an investment in iXOS Software GmbH with the aim of developing and marketing graphical user interfaces and optical archiving of documents.

SAP R/3 was unleashed into the market, the client-server concept, uniform appearance of graphical interfaces, consistent use of relational databases and the ability to run on computers from different vendors met with an overwhelming approval. The client-server architecture moved to a more flexible and scalable architecture. Going by this technology, the processing of an application could be split between the server and workstations the server handling the centralized functionality, while the client workstation maximized for users. The data management was separate from the server. SAP ushered in a new generation of enterprise software from mainframe computing to the three-tier architecture consisting of the Database layer, Application (business logic) layer, and user interface layer. Today is the day for client-server architecture, where one can make changes or scale on layer without having to retool the whole system. The term SAP R/3 stands for runtime system three and the client-server environment provides a set of business application for the system. The R/3 architecture allows distribution of the workload to multiple PC's connecting in a network. The SAP runtime system is designed in such a way that it distributes the presentation, application logic and the data management to different computers.SAP R/3 which was renamed SAP ERP and later again renamed ECC (ERP Central Component). SAP came to dominate the large business applications market over the next 10 years. SAP ECC 5.0 ERP is the successor of SAP R/3 4.70. The newest version of the suite is SAP ERP 6.0.

SAP R/3 all versions Releases:

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SAP SAP SAP SAP SAP SAP SAP SAP SAP SAP

R/3 R/3 R/3 R/3 R/3 R/3 R/3 R/3 R/3 R/3

Release 1.0A Release Date 6 July 1992 Release 4.0B Release Date June 1998 Release 4.5B Release Date March 1999 Release 4.6A Release Date 1999 Release 4.6B Release Date Dec 1999 Release 4.6C Release Date April 2001 Enterprise Release 4.70 Release Date March- Dec 2003 Enterprise Edition 4.7 Enterprise Central Component 5.0 Enterprise Central Component 6.0 (2010)

The success of R/3 has propelled SAP to the top of the global software market. IT is undergoing yet another revolution with the advent of the Internet, and SAP is again there with a solution: the latest version of R/3 provides the first comprehensive, Internet-enabled business application package. Release 4.0, which is already in

development, further increases the attractiveness of the R/3 System by making it more user-friendly. Small and mid-sized businesses should especially welcome this development. The R/3 System is here to stay, and users can look forward to its continuing enhancement. SAP R/3 was arranged into distinct functional modules, covering the typical functions in place in an organization. The most widely used modules were Financial s and Controlling (FICO), Human Resources (HR), Materials Management (MM), Sales & Distribution (SD), and Production Planning (PP) Each module handled specific business tasks on its own, but was linked to the others where applicable. For instance, an invoice from the billing transaction of Sales & Distribution would pass through to accounting, where it will appear in accounts receivable and cost of goods sold. SAP typically focused on best practice methodologies for driving its software processes, but more recently expanded into vertical markets. In these situations, SAP produced specialized modules (referred to as IS or Industry Specific) geared toward a particular market segment, such as utilities or retail. SAP based the architecture of R/3 on a three-tier client/server 1. Presentation Server(GUI) 2. Application Server 3. Database Server SAP allows the IT supported processing of a multitude of tasks, accruing in a typical company or bank. SAP ERP is differing from R/3 mainly because it is based on SAP Net Weaver: core components can be implemented in ABAP and in Java and new functional areas are mostly no longer created as part of the previous ERP system, with closely interconnected constituents, but as self-contained components or even systems. Presentation Server The presentation server is actually a program named sapgui.exe. It is usually installed on a user's workstation. To start it, the user double-clicks on an icon on the desktop or chooses a menu path. When started, the presentation server displays the R/3 menus within a window. This window is commonly known as the SAPGUI, or the user interface (or simply, the interface). The interface accepts input from the user in the form of keystrokes, mouse-clicks, and function keys, and sends these requests to the application server to be processed. The application server sends the results back to the SAPGUI which then formats the output for display to the user.

Application Server An application server is a collection of executable s that collectively interpret the ABAP/4 (Advanced Business Application Programming / 4th Generation) programs and manage the input and output for them. When an application server is started, these executable s all start at the same time. When an application server is stopped, they all shut down together. The number of processes that start up when you bring up the application server is defined in a single configuration file called the application server profile. Each application server has a profile that specifies its characteristics when it starts up and while it is running. For example, an application server profile specifies:
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Number of processes and their types Amount of memory each process may use Length of time a user is inactive before being automatically logged off.

The Application layer consists of one or more application servers and a message server. Each application server contains a set of services used to run the R/3 system. Not practical, only one application server is needed to run an R/3 system. But in practice, the services are distributed across more than one application server. This means that not all application servers will provide the full range of services. The message server is responsible for communication between the application servers. It passes requests from one application server to another within the system. It also contains information about application server groups and the current load balancing within them. It uses this information to choose an appropriate server when a user logs onto the system. The application server exists to interpret ABAP/4 programs, and they only run therethe programs do not run on the presentation server. An ABAP/4 program can start an executable on the presentation server, but an ABAP/4 program cannot execute there. If your ABAP/4 program requests information from the database, the application server will format the request and send it to the database server.

Database Server The database server handles the user's request for addition, retrieval and modifications in the data. What is client?

A client is a unique one in organizational structure, can have one or more company codes. Each company code is its own legal entity in finance.

Core Process of SAP R/3:

SAP are categorized into 3 core functional areas:

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Logistics  Sales and Distribution (SD)  Material Management (MM)  Warehouse Management (WM)  Production Planning (PP)  General Logistics (LO)  Quality Management (QM)

Financial  Financial Accounting (FI)  Controlling (CO)  Enterprise Controlling (EC)  Investment Management (IM)  Treasury (TR) Human Resources  Personnel Administration (PA)  Personnel Development (PD)

Sales & Distribution (SD):

The SAP sales and distribution is part of the logistics module that support your customers, starting from quotations, sales order and all the way towards billing the customer. It is tightly integrated with the MM and PP functional modules. It allows companies to input their customer sales price, check for open orders and forecast etc. The most important basic functional features in the sd module are: Pricing Credit Management Output Determination Tax Determination Availability Check Material Determination Text Processing Account Determination

Material Management (MM):

SAP MM ( Material Management ) is one the largest functional module in SAP. This module mainly delas with Procurement Process,Master Data (Material & Vendor Master),Inventory Management,Valuation of Material & Account Determination,Material Requirement Planning,Invoice Verification etc. It supports all the phases of materials management from materials planning and control, purchasing, goods receiving, inventory management and the final payment to vendor.The Purchasing function includes creation of requisitions, requisition approval, purchase order generation, and receipt of goods and services. It Integration with other modules like Material management, Financial Accounting, Cost Accounting, Human Resources & Development, Sales and Distribution etc adds on to reliability of the production planning system in SAP R/3. The system is a real time system. The changes in demand (cancelled or added sales order etc) and supply (high/low rejection, early/late supply from supplier, breakdown of facilities etc) are reflected in real time and the production controller can react fast to these changes..

Warehouse Management (WM):

Processes in the area of Inventory Management address the recording and tracking of materials on a quantity and value basis. This includes planning, entry, and documentation of stock movements such as goods receipts, goods issues, physical stock transfers, and transfer postings as well as the performance of physical inventory (stocktaking). Warehouse Management Processes cover warehouse-internal movements and storage of materials. The SAP WM ( Warehouse Management) application provides flexible, automated support to assist you in processing all goods movements and in maintaining current stock inventories in your warehousing complex.It handles the warehousing processes like Define and manage complex warehousing structures, Optimize material flow using advanced put away and picking techniques, Process goods receipts, goods issues and stock transfers quickly and easily

Production Planning (PP) :

SAP PP ( Production Planning ) is one the largest functional module in SAP.This module mainly deals with production process like capacity planning, Master production scheduling, Material requirement planning shop floor etc.The PP module of SAP takes care of Master data needed like Bill Of Materials ( BOMs), Routing and Work Centers and stores it in one separate component. Production Planning support the planning for the types and quantities of products on demand to assist production. It includes procurement, warehousing and the transportation of materials and intermediate products from one stage of production to another as well as resource allocation to complete the production process in a timely manner.

General Logistics (LO):

SAP LO ( Logistics ) is a functional module that provides you tools to monitor carrier performance, gain greater visibility into supply chains, and provide accurate and upto-the-minute information about shipments and supply chain performance. You can also anticipate customer demands, develop and market new services, manage your service portfolio, and analyze customer profitability to focus on your most profitable customers.Transportation, purchasing, warehousing are some of the main tasks involved in logistics module.

Quality Management (QM) :

The integration of the QM application component in the R/3 System allows quality management tasks to be combined with those in other applications (such as materials management, production, sales and distribution and cost accounting) and supports tasks associated with quality planning, quality inspection and quality control. In addition, it controls the creation of quality certificates and manages problems with the help of quality notifications

Quality Management focuses on the market requirements for quality management procedures, the business processes in a company, as well as data processing support for integrating quality management functions in the logistics supply chain. The main task of a quality management system is to ensure that at every stage of the logistics supply chain, business processes and the resulting products fulfill the quality requirements that have been laid down for them. It also focuses on prevention and continuous process improvement through collaboration and sustained quality control. The following business goals and objectives can be achieved through the implementation of these processes:
   

Improving Customer Service Increasing Revenue Lowering Working Capital Reducing Operating Costs & Increasing Efficiency

Financial Accounting (FI) :

The SAP FI Module has the capability of meeting all the accounting and financial needs of an organization. It is within this module that Financial Managers as well as other Managers within your business can review the financial position of the company in real time as compared to legacy systems which often times require overnight updates before financial statements can be generated and run for management review. The real-time functionality of the SAP modules allows for better decision making and strategic planning. The FI (Financial Accounting) Module integrates with other SAP Modules such as MM (Materials Management), PP (Production Planning), SD(Sales and Distribution), PM (Plant Maintenance),and PS (Project Systems). The FI Module also integrates with HR(Human Resources) which includes PM(Personnel Management), Time Management, Travel Management, Payroll.Document transactions occurring within the specific modules generate account postings via account determination tables.

Controlling (CO) :
The SAP CO (Controlling) Module provides supporting information to Management for the purpose of planning, reporting, as well as monitoring the operations of their business. Management decision-making can be achieved with the level of information provided by this module. Some of the components of the CO(Controlling) Module are as follows:

Cost Element Accounting Cost Center Accounting Internal Orders Activity-Based Costing ( ABC) Product Cost Controlling Profitability Analysis Profit Center Accounting

All data relevant to cost flows automatically to Controlling from Financial Accounting. At the same time, the system assigns the costs and revenues to different CO account assignment objects, such as cost centers, business processes, projects or orders. The relevant accounts in Financial Accounting are managed in Controlling as cost elements or revenue elements. Controlling provides you with information for management decision-making. It facilitates coordination, monitoring and optimization of all processes in an organization. This involves recording both the consumption of production factors and the services provided by an organization. As well as documenting actual events, the main task of controlling is planning. You can determine variances by comparing actual data with plan data. These variance calculations enable you to control business flows. Income statements such as, contribution margin accounting, are used to control the cost efficiency of individual areas of an organization, as well as the entire organization.

Enterprise Controlling (EC) :

In addition to the application component Controlling (CO), whose functions designed primarily for the operational management of occupational areas are be in R / 3 application component of the Enterprise Controlling (EC) further controlling functions made available, based on the entire control of the company relate. In the application component Enterprise Controlling (EC) are the following

components:

Profit Executive

Center Consolidation Information

Accounting System

(EC-PCA) (EC-CS) (EC-EIS)

Business Planning (EC-BP) With the development of the Strategic Enterprise Management (SEM) in conjunction with the SAP Business Warehouse, the sub-components can be in the company controlling be replaced. This does not apply to the profit center accounting. For this reason, the components are shown only briefly. The R / 3 Components have the following correspondence in SEM: Consolidation (EC-CS) SEM-BCS (Business Consolidation)

Executive Information System (EC-EIS) SEM CPM (Corporate Performance Manager) Business Planning SEM-BPS (Business Planning & Simulation) Investment Management (IM): The solution's investment planning capabilities assist telecommunications network operators in making key strategic decisions about infrastructure projects. At the same time, comprehensive cost-controlling features help you keep a tight rein on your investment projects. Business Goals & Objectives which achieve through it Managing Fixed Assets & Resources

Accurately depreciate and value Improve accounting Improve return-on-investment (ROI) of Maintain asset profiles and records
Treasury (TR) :

of fixed

assets processes assets

SAP Treasury solutions ( TR module ) are positioned within SAP Financial Supply Chain management and are an integrated approach to provide better management and control over all the Treasury related processes like Strengthen the return of funds & improve cost-saving,Optimize the working capital & excess cash, Trust the audit controls and reduce operational risk etc.

Using treasury applications from SAP, your treasury and cash managers gain insight and control over hedging transactions, pooling and allocating cash globally, and enabling straight-through-processing of banking, corporate treasury and financial accounting processes. Treasury applications from SAP include the following:
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SAP Cash and Liquidity Management o Helps you monitor and manage cash flow and liquidity o Generates comprehensive and timely cash forecasts and plans SAP In-House Cash o Enables centralized control of banking balances, cash management, and payments o Reduces costs of interunit payments, transfers, and bank fees SAP Treasury and Risk Management o Models risk scenarios and executes mitigation strategies o Reduces your organization's financial risk levels and ensures regulatory compliance SAP Bank Communication Management o Streamlines and optimizes your corporate-to-bank communications o Provides straight-through processing, improved payment control, and lower processing costs SAP Integration Package for SWIFT o Enables direct connection to SWIFTnet, the secure bank payments network o Reduces complexity by providing a single point of connectivity to multiple banks

Personnel Administration (PA):

Personnel Management provides a streamlined, comprehensive and fully integrated personnel data structure. Its user-friendly and intuitive online navigation coupled with its process-oriented data entry provide for speedy and efficient data maintenance. It also use in Recording employee data for administrative, time recording, and payroll purposes is of primary importance for master data administration in HR. In the SAP System, the information units used to enter master data are called infotypes. Infotypes are used to group related data fields together. They provide information with a structure, facilitate data entry, and enable you to store data for specific periods. Structure

Infotypes are characterized by the following:

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Infotype Structure Data Entry Time-Dependent Storage of Infotype Data

Infotype Structure To the user, infotypes appear as data entry screens. They contain whole series of information (for example, last name, first name, date of birth) that you enter in data fields. Data fields concerning the same or similar subject matter are combined into data groups or information units. In database terms, infotypes represent a data structure or set of related data records. When you update an infotype, old data is not lost but is instead stored in the system for historical evaluation purposes.

Data Entry perform data entry as follows:

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Your entries are automatically checked for accuracy and against table entries. Predefined default values help you to enter and maintain data. Checks and default values depend on the employees organizational assignment. The organizational assignment determines the relevant information used from time recording, wage type and pay scale structure.

Time-Dependent Storage of Infotype Data When you update an infotype, the old data may not be lost. Instead, it must be retained so that past data can be evaluated. When you update an employees personal data, the old data is automatically time-delimited. The system creates a validity period for each infotype record. As a result, each employee infotype has several data records that differ from each other by their validity periods.

Personnel Development (PD) :

The HR Module Personnel Development supports the Human Resources department in setting up qualification catalogs. You can store position requirements and qualifications of employees in the company in your qualifications catalog and later analyze this data by means of profile matchups.Integration with Training and Event

Management enables you to offset any qualification deficits by enrolling employees for further training in good time.

Current Products of SAP?

SAP's products focus on Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). The company's main product is SAP ECC. The current version is SAP ECC 6.0 and is part of the SAP Business Suite. SAP ECC NetWeaver platform Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) Radio-frequency identification (RFID)

S AP ECC:
SAP ECC is used extensively in medium to large-sized corporations. This module will be useful to those working in such corporations as daily users, or to those looking for an introduction to the basic theory and functioning of the SAP graphical user interface as a stepping stone to advanced topics such as configuration and implementation ECC is stand for Erp Central Component SAP ECC is one of five enterprise applications in SAP's Business Suite. The other five applications are:
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Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) Supply Chain Management (SCM) Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)

Other major product offerings include: the NetWeaver platform, Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) solutions, Duet (joint offering with Microsoft), Performance Management solutions and RFID. SAP offers SOA capabilities (calling it Enterprise SOA) in the form of web services that are wrapped around its applications.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM):

It is a widely-implemented strategy for managing a companys interactions with customers, clients and sales prospects. It involves using technology to organize, automate, and synchronize business processesprincipally sales activities, but also those for marketing, customer service, and technical support. The overall goals are to find, attract, and win new clients, nurture and retain those the company already has, entice former clients back into the fold, and reduce the costs of marketing and client service. Customer relationship management describes a company-wide business strategy including customer-interface departments as well as other departments

Unlike other CRM software, the SAP Customer Relationship Management (SAP CRM) application, part of the SAP Business Suite, not only helps you address your shortterm imperatives to reduce cost and increase your decision-making ability but can also help your company achieve differentiated capabilities in order to compete effectively over the long term. The SAP CRM application is an integrated customer relationship management (CRM) software manufactured by SAP AG that targets business software requirements of midsize and large organizations in all industries and sectors. The three phases in which CRM support the relationship between a business and its customers are to:
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Acquire: CRM can help a business acquire new customers through contact management, selling, and fulfillment Enhance: web-enabled CRM combined with customer service tools offers customers service from a team of sales and service specialists, which offers customers the convenience of one-stop shopping Retain: CRM software and databases enable a business to identify and reward its loyal customers and further develop its targeted marketing and relationship marketing initiatives.

Benefits of CRM The use of a CRM system will confer several advantages to a company:
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Quality and efficiency Decreased costs Decision support Enterprise agility

Product Lifecycle Management (PLM)

In industry, product lifecycle management (PLM) is the process of managing the entire lifecycle of a product from its conception, through design and manufacture, to service and disposal. PLM integrates people, data, processes and business systems and provides a product information backbone for companies and their extended enterprise. Product lifecycle management is one of the four cornerstones of a corporation's information technology structure. All companies need to manage communications and information with their customers (CRM-Customer Relationship Management), their suppliers (SCM-Supply Chain Management), their resources within the enterprise (ERP-Enterprise Resource Planning) and their planning (HCM-Human Capital Management). In addition, manufacturing engineering companies must also develop, describe, manage and communicate information about their products. Recent (as of 2010) ICT development (EU funded PROMISE project 2004-2008) has allowed PLM to extend beyond traditional PLM and integrate sensor data and real time 'lifecycle event data' into PLM, as well as allowing this information to be made available to different players in the total lifecycle of an individual product (closing the information loop). This has resulted in the extension of PLM into Closed Loop Lifecycle Management (CL2M).

A generic lifecycle of products Benefits of PLM y y y y y y y y Reduced costs Better business results Higher product quality Faster development Improved manufacturing operations Higher productivity Better business decisions Lower cost of ownership

Areas of PLM Within PLM there are five primary areas; 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Systems Engineering (SE) Product and Portfolio Management (PPM) Product Design (PD) Manufacturing Process Management (MPM) Product Data Management (PDM)

Supply Chain Management (SCM)

"Design, planning, execution, control, and monitoring of supply chain activities with the objective of creating net value, building a competitive infrastructure,

leveraging worldwide logistics, synchronizing supply with demand and measuring performance globally is called Supply Chain Management (SCM) Supply chain management (SCM) is the management of a network of interconnected businesses involved in the ultimate provision of product and service. It also helps in Supply chain management spans all movement and storage of raw materials, work-in-process inventory, and finished goods from point of origin to point of consumption

Supply chain management (SCM) optimizes value creation and delivery along the entire chain of supply and demand partners operating in global markets. SAP SCM offers customers a complete set of tools and capabilities that enable customers to perform supply chain networking, planning, execution, and coordination. Supply chain management is a cross-function approach including managing the movement of raw materials into an organization, certain aspects of the internal processing of materials into finished goods, and the movement of finished goods out of the organization and toward the end-consumer. As organizations strive to focus on core competencies and becoming more flexible, they reduce their ownership of raw materials sources and distribution channels. These functions are increasingly being outsourced to other entities that can perform the activities better or more cost effectively. The effect is to increase the number of organizations involved in satisfying customer demand, while reducing management control of daily logistics operations. Less control and more supply chain partners led to the creation of supply chain management concepts. The purpose of supply chain management is to improve trust and collaboration among supply chain partners, thus improving inventory visibility and the velocity of inventory movement.

Supplier Relationship Management (SRM):

Supplier relationship management (SRM) is the proactive management of an ongoing business relationship to secure a competitive advantage for your own organisation The SAP Supplier Relationship Management (SAP SRM) application automates, simplifies, and accelerates procure-to-pay processes for goods and services. With SAP SRM, you can reduce procurement costs, build collaborative supplier relationships, better manage supply bases, and improve your bottom line with innovative offerings and a faster time to market.

It is a comprehensive approach to managing an enterprise's interactions with the organizations that supply the goods and services it uses. The goal of supplier relationship management (SRM) is to streamline and make more effective the processes between an enterprise and its suppliers just as customer relationship management (CRM) is intended to streamline and make more effective the processes between an enterprise and its customers. SRM includes both business practices and software and is part of the information flow component of supply chain management (SCM). SRM practices create a common frame of reference to enable effective communication between an enterprise and suppliers who may use quite different business practices and terminology. As a result, SRM increases the efficiency of processes associated with acquiring goods and services, managing inventory, and processing materials. According to proponents, the use of SRM software can lead to lower production costs and a higher quality, but lower priced end product. SRM products are available from a number of vendors, including 12 Technologies, Manugistics, PeopleSoft, and SAP. SAP SRM simplifies and automates procurement. The SAP SRM process integrates supplier qualification, negotiation, and contract management more tightly and costeffectively with other enterprise functions and their suppliers processes through a single framework with support for multichannel suppliers.

The SAP SRM application is designed as a long-term foundation to secure the cost and quality advantages of center-led purchasing and broadened supplier involvement for enduring value and long-term results.

What is ERP?
An ERP system is a business support system that maintains in a single database the data needed for a variety of business functions such as Manufacturing, Supply Chain Management, Financials, Projects, Human Resources and Customer Relationship Management.

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)

An ERP system is a business support system that maintains in a single database the data needed for a variety of business functions such as Manufacturing, Supply Chain Management, Financials, Projects, Human Resources and Customer Relationship Management

SAP ERP consists of several modules including: utilities for marketing and sales, field service, product design and development, production and inventory control, human resources, finance and accounting. SAP ERP collects and combines data from the

separate modules to provide the company or organization with enterprise resource planning. Characteristics of ERP:
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An integrated system that operates in (next to) real time, without relying on periodic updates A common database, that supports all applications. A consistent look and feel throughout each module. Installation of the system without elaborate application/data integration by the Information Technology (IT) department

Functional areas of ERP: y y y y y y y y Finance/Accounting Human Resource Manufacturing Supply Chain Management Project Management Customer Relationship Management Data Services Access Control

Implementation of ERP: ERP's scope usually implies significant changes to staff work practices. Generally, three types of services are available to help implement such changesconsulting, customization, and support.Implementation time depends on business size, number of modules, customization, the scope of process changes, and the readiness of the customer to take ownership for the project. Modular ERP systems and can be implemented in stages. The typical project for a large enterprise consumes about 14 months and requires around 150 consultants. Small projects can require months; multinational and other large implementations can take years. Customization can substantially increase implementation times. Implementing ERP software can overwhelm inexperienced technicians. As a result, hiring professionally trained consultants to implement these systems is common. Consulting firms typically provide three areas of professional services: consulting, customization, and support. The client organization can also employ independent

program management, business analysis, change management, and UAT specialists to ensure their business requirements remain a priority during implementation. Although there can be major benefits for customers of SAP ERP, the implementation and training costs are expensive. Many companies experience problems when implementing SAP ERP software, such as: failing to specify their operation objectives, absence of a strong commitment or positive approach to change, failing to deal with organizational differences, failing to plan the change to SAP ERP properly, inadequate testing. All these factors can mean the difference between having a successful implementation of SAP ERP or an unsuccessful one. If SAP ERP is implemented correctly an enterprise can go from its old calculations system to a fully integrated software package. Potential benefits include: efficient business process, inventory reduction, and lead time reduction.

ERP advantages and disadvantages:

Advantages
y y y y y

Allows easier global integration (barriers of currency exchange rates, language, and culture can be bridged automatically) Updates only need to be done once to be implemented company-wide Provides real-time information, reducing the possibility of redundancy errors May create a more efficient work environment for employees Vendors have past knowledge and expertise on how to best build and implement a system

Disadvantages
y

y y y

Locked into relationship by contract and manageability with vendor - a contract can hold a company to the vendor until it expires and it can be unprofitable to switch vendors if switching costs are too high Inflexibility - vendor packages may not fit a company's business model well and customization can be expensive Return on Investment may take too long to be profitable Implementations have a risk of project failure

NetWeaver platform:
SAP NetWeaver's release is considered as a strategic move by SAP for driving enterprises to run their business on a single, integrated platform that includes both applications and technology. Industry analysts refer to this type of integrated platform offering as an "applistructure" (applications + infrastructure). According to SAP, this approach is driven by industry's need to lower IT costs through an enterprise architecture that is at once (1) more flexible; (2) better integrated with applications; (3) built on open standards to ensure future interoperability and broad integration; and, (4) provided by a vendor that is financially viable for the long term.

SAP is fostering relationships with system integrators and independent software vendors, many of the latter becoming "Powered by SAP NetWeaver". SAP NetWeaver is part of SAP's plan to transition to a more open, service-oriented architecture and to deliver the technical foundation of its applications on a single, integrated platform and common release cycle.

Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC)

Governance, Risk, and Compliance, almost always referred to as GRC, is the latest addition to the parade of three-letter acronyms that are used to describe the processes and software that run the business world. The goal of GRC is to help a company efficiently put policies and controls in place to address all its compliance obligations while at the same time gathering information that helps proactively run the business. Done properly, GRC creates a central nervous system that helps you manage your business more effectively. You also derive a competitive advantage from understanding risks and choosing opportunities wisely. In other words, GRC helps you make sure

that you do things the right way: It keeps track of what you are doing and raises an alert when things start to go off track or when risks appear.

These companies increase visibility across risk and compliance initiatives, and they do so efficiently to minimize the cost of governance, risk, and compliance (GRC). Achieving effective and efficient operations and reporting requires a clear, unified GRC strategy that guides people, standardizes processes, and integrates technology to embed GRC at every organizational level. SAP BusinessObjects governance, risk, and compliance solutions (SAP BusinessObjects GRC solutions) close the gap between strategy and execution and establish a clear path to long-term value by enabling a preventative, real-time approach to GRC across heterogeneous environments. The solutions provide complete insight into risk and compliance initiatives and enable greater efficiency and improved flexibility. GRC is not just about complying with requirements for one quarter or one year. Rather, those who are serious about GRC, meaning just about everyone these days, seek to create a system and culture so that compliance with external regulations, enforcement of internal policies, and risk management are automated as much as possible and can evolve in an orderly fashion as business and compliance needs change. Thats why some would say that the C in GRC should stand for controls: controls that help make the process of compliance orderly and make process monitoring and improvement easier.

Duet:
Duet software brings together the best of these industry leaders to provide information workers with an unprecedented level of information access. Duet brings to the desktop of every Microsoft Office user a comprehensive set of functionality from SAP applications.

The basic architecture of Duet software consists of the following major elements:
y y y

Duet client add-on for the Microsoft Office environment Duet add-on for SAP software Duet server, which facilitates deployment and communication between the two environments

The following figure provides an overview of the software architecture.

Figure 1 - Architecture of Duet Software

Duet Client Add-On The Duet client add-on is installed as a typical "plug-in" to Microsoft Office with standard remote installation tools, such as Microsofts Systems Management Server (SMS). Once installed, the add-on automatically gives information workers the ability to perform processes necessary for their work by propagating the corresponding components and definitions to each client based on user role. Any subsequent modifications will be similarly propagated and become automatically available on client desktops. These data flows are discussed in further detail later. The Duet client

add-on houses several important modules to support integration with the Microsoft Office Suite, including:
y y

Runtime engine - Interprets user interface metadata to represent the Duet software components within the users Microsoft Office software Secure client cache - Stores metadata and data pertaining to supported enduser task sequences, where a persistence feature permits the cache to be used as offline storage Output queue - Triggers updates once the client is back online

Duet Add-On for SAP Software The architecture of the Duet add-on for SAP software leverages metadata storage in all Duet components to ensure that Duet delivers the users query response and the process logic, business rules, and configuration parameters resident in the SAP software. This ensures that there is no adverse impact on the underlying SAP software and no need to recreate the upper-level process logic. The architecture of the Duet add-on for SAP software encompasses the following major elements:
y

Service-bundling engine - Assembles service requests and supports asynchronous service calls to the SAP software, with an interface that exposes Web services Item handler - Receives processing results of a client request from the SAP software and converts them to a format understood by the request handler in the Duet server; also derives the mapping between the SAP software and the Microsoft Active Directory user Metadata repository - Provides tools to configure metadata of the Duet software and map it to Web services provided by SAP and to the existing configuration tables of the underlying SAP software components

Duet Server This software serves as the deployment and communication facilitator for the client and the SAP software. The server contains the following:
y y

Authorization module - Maps Duet users to roles in SAP software; is based on the authorization management module Runtime metadata service and repository - Stores the metadata describing the user interface, configuration, and routing information for each user role defined in the Duet software Request handler - Formats and routes information to Microsoft Office clients via Microsoft Exchange Server

Deployment module - Automatically propagates the latest updates of the metadata and associated binaries and data references to client systems when updates are made.

The deployment mechanism depends on how Duet defines the users role. The mechanism also deploys logic (Microsoft Office .NET components) and forms (Microsoft Office InfoPath forms and Windows Forms) to the client machines upon client request.

Performance Managenent:
SAP released new performance management software yesterday that it says will help companies better manage sustainability programs by spending less time collecting and organizing data. Most companies are currently keeping track of sustainability data with Excel spreadsheets, email and phone calls, or with homegrown applications. SAP's new performance management software instead collects data directly from enterprise applications and organizes it into a scorecard, from which customers can generate reports or further analyze the data. SAP BusinessObjects Sustainability Performance Management also includes a library of key performance indicators (KPIs) that SAP developed with companies such as Nestl. The embedded analytics help companies see how they're executing on those KPIs. It also includes out-of-the-box integration with SAP software. This is a great opportunity for businesses to reduce the cost and complexity of trying to understand their sustainability performance. It's part of a push by SAP to release more software that will help companies attain sustainable business practices. The new performance management application is the first to be certified by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Certified Software and Tools Program, a catalog of indicators designed to represent a company's sustainable performance. Customers using the software seem to be pleased with it. SAP HR has the performance management system that helps enterprises to align their workforce with overall strategy. Comprehensive solutions for objective setting, appraisal and performance based pay combined with people development and learning applications ensure that employees are best suited and motivated to work towards enterprise goals. This business scenario describes how corporate goals are translated into employee objectives. Based on regular feedback sessions, line managers ensure that employees work in sync with the overall strategy. Individual contribution is measured and rewarded. Succession for key positions is ensured.

Objective setting and appraisals:

The objective-setting and appraisal capabilities of SAP HR allow measurable comparisons, support performance-based compensation, and promote personnel development that is in line with corporate objectives. Both the goals and personal contributions to attaining them are highly visible, which inspires trust in both managers and their employees. This in turn improves the performance and morale of your teams. Objective setting: Integration of the Balanced Scored with SAP HR greatly facilitates the objective-setting process. You can transfer departmental goals relevant to employees directly from the departmental scorecard into an individuals objective-setting agreement. Continuous feedback: Employee reviews during the year enable you to monitor objectives continuously. You can set dates for reviews in the system during the objective-setting phase. During the review, you can delete objectives that are no longer relevant or adjust agreed-upon objectives to meet new requirements. Appraisals: Appraisals from employees superiors, their colleagues, and other managers can be integrated into the appraisal process. Permission-based access to information ensures that employees can access only their own data and that their superiors can access appraisals of all their subordinates. Performance based pay: The system can generate automatic suggestions for compensation adjustments based on overall performance, or the achievement of a single objective. Personnel development planning: Line managers can change requirements for positions within their area of responsibility via Manager Self-Service (MSS), due to organizational or strategic changes within the company. To enable employees to follow-up with their new requirements, manager and employee can set up individual development plans based on generic templates delivered by the HR department. Fully integrated with Objective settings and appraisals, the individual development planning can be triggered within the objective setting. The progress of the individual development can be monitored as part of the continuous feedback process. Learning: Line managers can directly assign training courses (instructor-led, web-based, curricula) to employees or whole organizational unit as mandatory and monitor participation and success. Employees can benefit from a personalized learning environment that helps them in qualifying according to their personal and the company's needs.

Career and succession planning: Line managers can name potential successors for their own position and key talents for key positions within the company. Based on the named key talents, the HR department can fill vacancies and is prepared with potential successors for key positions.

Radio-frequency identification (RFID)

It is a technology that uses communication via radio waves to exchange data between a reader and an electronic tag attached to an object, for the purpose of identification and tracking. It is possible that by 2030, RFID technology will have inserted itself into our daily lives the way that bar code technology wrought unobtrusive but remarkable changes when it was new. RFID technology makes it possible to give each product in a grocery store its own unique identifying number. Compare that to the situation today, with bar codes, where it is only possible to identify the brand and type of package. Furthermore, RFID tags can be read if passed within close enough proximity to an RFID tag reader. It is not necessary to "show" them to it, as with a bar code. Some tags can be read from several meters away and beyond the line of sight of the reader. The application of bulk reading enables an almost-parallel reading of tags. Radio-frequency identification involves interrogators (also known as readers), and tags (also known as labels).

Most RFID tags contain at least two parts: one is an integrated circuit for storing and processing information, modulating and demodulating a radio-frequency (RF) signal,

and other specialized functions; the other is an antenna for receiving and transmitting the signal. SAPs goal is to be a leader in what it sees as an emerging market for systems that create "real-world aware" supply networks that can quickly adapt to changes in the marketplace. RFID products will be key components in the 21st-century business model that SAP calls the Adaptive Business Network. "Auto-ID enables the truly adaptive business," Blanchard says. "Unless you actually know where goods are and where they've been, you're just guessing. This takes all the guesswork out of it. Business managers will know where goods are in the back room of a retailer and where supplies are in a factory. This isn't just a demand-side benefit; it affects the whole supply chain." Blanchard declines to give specific launch dates for SAP products. But he says the company will roll out software applications supporting RFID within the next year. At the heart of SAP's RFID strategy is a networked software platform called Auto-ID Infrastructure (AII). Developed over the past two years by SAP corporate research in conjunction with several of the company's product and industry teams, AII will collect, analyze and manage high volumes of real-time information from tagged items, environmental sensors, global positioning systems and wireless data. The Auto-ID Infrastructure will be integrated with SAP and non-SAP supply chain applications. The company will not make an announcement about the availability of the platform until it's complete, which will depend, in part, on industry developments, including the formalization of standards.

SAP Products for ERP Solution:

SAP offers his ERP solution in four categories, which are; 1. 2. 3. 4. Enterprise Solution Solution for small & midsize companies On demand Solution Repid deployment Solution

Enterprise Solution:
These are the solution software for any Enterprise  SAP Business Suite o SAP Customer Relationship o SAP ERP o SAP Product Life Management o SAP Supply Chain Management

             

o SAP Supplier Relationship Management SAP Manufacturing SAP Service and Asset Management Alloy Duet Duet Enterprise Mobile Application,Platform, and Service SAP Business Objects Analytic Solution SAP Business Objects Business Intelligence Solution SAP Business Objects GRC Solution SAP Crystal Solution SAP Solution For auto-ID and Item Serialization SAP Solution For Enterprise Information Management SAP Solution For Sustainability Solution Extensions

Solution for small & midsize companies

Following solutions software are for small & midsize companies     SAP Business All-in-one SAP Business By design SAP Business One SAP Business Objects Portfolio o SAP Business Objects Edge o Free Trial  SAP Crystal Solutions

On demand Solution;
SAP offer different solutions on the company demands or their requirments, following are the solutions which are SAP offers       SAP SAP SAP SAP SAP SAP Business Objects BI on demand Business By Design Carbon Impact CRM One Demand Solutions E-Sourcing One Demand Solution StreamWork

Repid deployment Solution

 Repid Deployment of SAP Business Communication Management  Repid Deployment of SAP CRM

   

Repid Deployment of SAP IT Service Desk Operation Repid Deployment of SAP Business Objects Spend Performance Management Repid Deployment of Sustainability Analytics Sybare Mobile Sales Repid Deployment Solution Of SAP CRM