STUDENT BOOK

CMAS Costa Rica Team

Unit 1
SAP Systems

Created by: Pablo Alpizar Nunnari

1 Student Book

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Unit 1: SAP Systems ................................................................................................................................................................................... 2
History ................................................................................................................................................................................................... 2
SAP Software Portfolio .......................................................................................................................................................................... 3
SAP NetWeaver technology, concept, features and properties ............................................................................................................ 3
AS ABAP and AS Java ............................................................................................................................................................................. 5
SAP System: Layers and tiers distribution ............................................................................................................................................. 6
Reference .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 7

1|P a g e
2 Student Book

UNIT 1: SAP SYSTEMS

HISTORY

SAP started in 1972 by five former IBM employees with a vision of creating a standard application
software for real-time business processing. SAP stands for Systems Applications and Products in Data Processing.
Since its inception SAP has issued several releases, such as SAP R/1, SAP R/2, and SAP R/3. The R in these releases
stands for “Real-Time” data processing. The 3 in the R/3 stands for three-tier client-server architecture.

SAP Foundation, it started with five former IBM employees start a company they call SAP Systemanalyse und
Programmentwicklung ("System Analysis and Program Development"). Taking the initial form of a private
partnership under the German Civil Code, the company establishes its headquarters in Weinheim, Germany,
and opens an office in nearby Mannheim. However, SAP's five founders spend most of their time in the data
centers of their first customers, which include the German branch of Imperial Chemical Industries in Östringen.
At the end of its first year in business, SAP employs nine people and generates DM 620,000 in revenue.

In 1973, SAP matures the idea of "Modularity" by completing 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. Around the same Year, New customers came in from southwest Germany
are running SAP software, including the tobacco company Rothändle in Lahr and the pharmaceutical firm Knoll
in Ludwigshafen. Meanwhile, SAP itself is using IBM servers and the DOS operating system.

2|P a g e
3 Student Book

SAP SOFTWARE PORTFOLIO

SAP is the market leader in business management software. SAP offers a wide list of products,
applications and services to enterprises of different sizes.

Among all offerings, SAP offers its main product called “SAP Business Suite”. It’s composed of the following
applications: SAP ERP (SAP Enterprise Resource Planning), SAP CRM (SAP Customer Relationship Management),
SAP SRM (SAP Supplier Relationship Management), SAP SCM (SAP Supply Chain Management), SAP PLM (SAP
Product Lifecycle Management). All these applications are based on SAP’s technology called “SAP NetWeaver”.

SAP is market and technology leader in business management software, SAP offers a wide range of products,
applications and services to enterprises of different sizes.

The hearth of SAP portfolio is the SAP Business Suite, which contains applications and industry specific solutions
providing a stable core upon which enterprise can manage their business.

Complemented by the integration of the SAP Business Objects portfolio customer can access a range of analysis
and business intelligence features to help them analyze and make better business decisions.

Most of these applications and innovations from SAP are based on common technology platform called SAP
NetWeaver, which provides a foundation and integration platform for SAP solutions.

SAP Portfolio systems:

• SAP ERP: Enterprise Resource Planning.

• SAP CRM: Customer Relationship Management.
• SAP SRM: Supply Relationship Management.
• SAP SCM: Supply Chain Management.
• SAP PLM: Product Live Cycle Management.

SAP NETWEAVER TECHNOLOGY, CONCEPT, FEATURES AND PROPERTIES

NetWeaver is the technological platform for SAP, this platform allows us to support it no matter what
kind of system is being used. The most part of systems from SAP are based on NetWeaver technology.

The SAP NetWeaver Technology platform is a reliable, secure, and scalable foundation for running business
applications, such as “SAP Business Suite” and “SAP Business Objects” applications. It also enables large
enterprises to perform mission-critical business processes.

3|P a g e
4 Student Book

Is a reliable, secure and scalable foundation for running business applications such a SAP Business Suite and
Business Objects applications. Also, enables large enterprises to perform mission critical business processes.

Capabilities:

• User Productivity: Provides enhance collaboration and optimize knowledge management on intuitive
search in Business Objects and unstructured content.
• Business Intelli9gence: Provides comprehensive BI functionality that can empower users to make
effective informed decisions based on data and data analysis. Minimal dependence on IT resources and
developers to access format, analyze, navigate and share information access organization.
• Business process composition: Enables users to design, model, implement, run, monitor, operate and
improve business process.
• Enterprise Information Management: Business activity of creating, cleansing, integrating, managing,
governing, archiving the structure and unstructured data.
• Service Oriented Architecture: IT professionals can rely on open and stands based platform to accelerate
business integrations.
• Custom Development: Custom applications using Java – ABAP.
• Security and Identity management: Can introduce safeguards to protect these businesses while helping
users to proceed unhindered by security operations.
• Life cycle management: Process, tools, services to manage SAP and non-SAP apps.

Benefits:

• SOA: Delivers a comprehensive set of middleware sessions in a modular software environment. These
functions help reduce IT complexity and increase flexibility across heterogeneous IT landscapes.
• SAP NetWeaver provides IT organizations with the lowest cost of operation and best business availability
for SAP applications across heterogeneous IT landscapes. Low cost operations and business availability
are made possible thru unifies life cycle management, identity management, secure communications,
end to end monitoring system.
• Provides the flexibility to integrate an extend business process across SAP certified partners and custom
build applications. From pre-build integration content and enterprise services and model driven tools
that support rapid deployment in SAP NetWeaver.
• Business process management, monitor efficiency, integrity, end security of mission critical business
process. Business users can define business roles to ensure consistency across a business network.
• SAP NetWeaver Integrates and connect people, information and business process across technologies
and companies. Enables companies to maximize the benefits from their software and systems.
• Non-uniform technology, predefined business content making easy maintain.

4|P a g e
5 Student Book

AS ABAP AND AS JAVA

SAP platform can be installed on three different scenarios: we will find systems NetWeaver Application
Server ABAP, NetWeaver Application Server Java and a combination of both called: Dual Stack. A very interesting
difference about these 2 technologies, is that the ABAP programming is centralized while on Java is
decentralized, meaning that on ABAP systems any programming of new code will be done directly on the server.

SAP NetWeaver application Server provides the runtime environment for the applications. Together Database,
SAP NetWeaver application server is the platform for SAP Systems.

Properties of SAP NetWeaver Server:

• Reliable and extensively tested runtime environment.

• Framework for executing complex business process, meet high security standards.
• Reliable and user-friendly development environment.
• Supports open standards as http, https, SMTP, WebDAV, SOAP, SSL, SSO, X509, Unicode, html, xml and
wml, Java SE, JSR, SAML.
• High scalability.
• Different Operating systems and database platforms.

Basic SAP Systems:

• ABAP runtime environment: Language developed by SAP. Many applications are writing in ABAP.
Customer can use workbench to create new programs or change standard ones.
• Java runtime environment: Based on Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) standard. Object Oriented and
independent programming language. Client/Server applications. Decentralized environment.

Clients and Servers:

• Hardware View: Server is the central in a network that provides data, memory and resources to work
station (clients).
• Software View: Client and server are defined at process level (service). For SAP we focus on software-
oriented view.

5|P a g e
6 Student Book

SAP SYSTEM: LAYERS AND TIERS DISTRIBUTION

During the installation is required to distribute the layers in hardware and can be as follows:

• Single -Tier Configuration: One PC runs the three kinds of processes. Demonstration SAP on laptop.

• Two -Tier Configuration: Usually database and application run on one server and presentation process
runs at final user computer.

• Three – Tier Configuration: Each layer runs in a host. It can be accessed by several users, if many users
access it can be a bottle neck, in that case is required to add more servers on application layer.

Installed software system that provides a defined set of functions that are part of SAP Solution. Implemented in
a set of software components. Consists of a database, one or more application server instances identified by
SAP system ID.

SAP Instance: Administrative Unit that combines the SAP system components together to provide one or more
services. The services provided by an instance are started and stopped together. A common instance profile is
used to set the parameters of the components in an instance. Each instance has its own buffer areas and
instance runs in one physical computer but is possible for multiple instances to exist on one computer. Instance
is identified by SID and system number.

Central Instance: Main instance of an SAP system that offers the principal services that no other instance offers.
On AS ABAP we can mentioned enqueue and message server process.

Dialog Instance: All other application server different than central is called dialog instance.

6|P a g e
7 Student Book

REFERENCE

This material is taking from SAP Learning HUB, SAP Netweaver AS - Implementation and Operation I-Part 1 ( e-
book TADM10_1_EN_Col15 ).

7|P a g e