What is SAP?

SAP stands for Systems, Applications, and Products in Data

Processing.
It is a German multinational software corporation that provides
enterprise resource planning.
It was initially started in 1972 by 5 former IBM Employees.
Its headquarter is in Walldorf, Germany but its subsidiaries are
located all around the world.
SAP is a leading enterprise resource planning (ERP) software that
provides solutions for businesses of all sizes.
It offers a wide range of applications for various functions such as
financials, human resources, procurement, sales, and more.
What is ERP?
ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) term used for software that
controls whole organizations different departments.
There is a -
Financial department, Logistics section, HR, Warehousing, Sales and
distribution etc.
All these need to be integrated together for effective functioning.
This is done by a specific software known as ERP.
Use of this package makes it possible to track and manage, in real-
time, sales, production, finance accounting and human resource in
an enterprise.
List of ERP Systems-
SAP
Oracle-Financials
People Soft
Ramco Marshal
JD Edwards
What is SAP HANA?
Simply put, SAP HANA (High-performance Analytic Appliance) is the
database type that runs the most up-to-date versions of SAP's
software-specifically SAP S/4 HANA.
Prior to HANA, all SAP software was run on third-party databases
such as Oracle and others, while HANA is SAP's own in-memory
platform.
This enables much faster access to and analysis of data.
What is SAP S4 HANA?
S4 HANA is the business suite launched as the next-generation ERP
designed to run exclusively on the HANA database.
It was launched as the fourth product generation in 2015, and users
can choose between multiple deployment options, either as a cloud
solution, the on premise solution, or a combination of both.
What makes SAP different?
SAP is best known for its ERP software and has built a reputation for
providing integrated and scalable solutions for managing various
business processes.
Wide range of industries served: SAP's software is used by
organizations across a wide range of industries, including
manufacturing, retail, healthcare, financial services, and more. This
diverse customer base has allowed SAP to develop industry-specific
solutions that meet the unique needs of each market.
Global Presence:
SAP has a strong global presence with a network of offices, partners
and customers in over 180 countries. This gives the company a
unique perspective on the business needs of organizations around
the world and helps it stay ahead of the competition.
Innovative Technology:
SAP is constantly investing in research and development to stay
ahead of the technology curve. The company has been at the
forefront of several technological advancements, including cloud
computing, artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things.
Strong Partnerships:
SAP has built strong partnerships with several leading technology
companies, including Microsoft, IBM, and Amazon Web Services, to
provide customers with a wide range of options and integrations.
Overall, SAP's strong focus on ERP, wide range of industries served,
global presence, innovative technology and strong partnerships are
what make the company stand out in the enterprise software
market.
DIFFERENT MODULES IN SAP
SAP offers a variety of modules for different business processes.
Here are some of the most used SAP modules:
SAP Financial Accounting (FI): Used for managing financial
transactions and accounting processes.
SAP Sales and Distribution (SD): Used for managing the sales process,
including customer order management, shipping, and billing.
SAP Material Management (MM): Used for managing the
procurement and supply chain processes, including purchasing,
inventory management, and invoice verification.
SAP Production Planning (PP): Used for managing production
planning, scheduling, and control processes.
SAP Human Capital Management (HCM): Used for managing human
resources processes, including payroll, benefits administration, and
talent management.
SAP Customer Relationship Management (CRM): Used for managing
customer interactions and relationships, including lead management,
sales forecasting, and marketing campaigns.
SAP Supply Chain Management (SCM): Used for managing supply
chain processes, including demand planning, production planning,
and logistics.
SAP Landscape:
The System Landscape represents the SAP System deployment at
implementation. SAP System landscape consists of below 3 systems.
UAT - stands for User Acceptance Test
Development System: This system is used for configuration according
to the business requirements. All the configurations will be stored in
the respective server tables and saved under Transport request.
QAS: the changes done in the development server we will be copy to
quality server for testing and training activities. The changes will be
moved through transport request.
Production server: this is the end server which is used for posting of
day to day Business transactions by the users.
Transport Request: It is the Media used to move the changes from
development server to quality and production servers. While saving
the changes in development server system will save the data in the
respective tables and stores the information with TR Number. While
moving the TR the table contents of development server will get
copy to respective destination servers.
Types of Data in SAP:
In SAP we will use following types of data.
1. Configuration or customization data
2. Master data
3. Transactional data
Configuration data: the configuration must be done only in
development server to meet the business requirement. System will
generate Transport Request while saving the configuration data.
Ex: Interest calculations settings, Enterprise structure, depreciation
terms, AP, AR, Asset management settings etc...
Master data: all transactional data get posted into SAP with
reference to Master data.
Note: There will be no TR generated for master data and
transactional data. This data must be maintained by the business
users in the respective servers.
Ex: GL A/C's, Vendor Masters, customer masters, asset masters, cost
centre, production order.
Transactional Data: The Day to Day business transactions are called
as Transactional data
Ex: Sales posting, Asset Purchases, Depreciation calculations etc...
SAP
Real Time Content
ASAP METHODOLOGY: (Accelerated SAP Methodology)
It is a method/Process which we used to implement SAP to our
Clients
Successfully.
It Contains road map of 5 Phases.
1. Project Preparation Phase.
2. Business Blue print Phase.
3. Realization Phase.
4. Final Preparation Phase.
5. Go Live & Support Phase.
1. Project Preparation Phase:
✓ Servers set up.
✓ Resource Recruitment.
✓ Conducting SAP awareness training to core team members.
✓ Prepare the project charter.
✔ Project planned.
✓ Gathering ASIS documents from client.
✓ Kick off.
2. Business Blue Print Phase:
✓ Conducting work shops (By Consultants)
✔ Preparation of GAP analysis documents.
✔ Preparation of Configuration documents.
✔ Writing functional specification.
✓ Preparation of all Deliverable documents like BPML, BPP, BDD.
3. Realization Phase:
✓ Configure the system as per configuration document.
✓ PRICEFW objects developing by technical team.
✔ Provide test data for development objects.
✓ Preparation of end user Manuals.
✓ Resolved defects raised during testing.
✔Involved in Unit testing and Integration testing.
4. Final Preparation Phase:
✓ Conduct end user training.
✓ Involved in cut over Simulation Plan.
SAP
✓ Involved in Cut over activities.
5. Go Live and Support phase:
✓ Move Transport request in to production system.
✓ Provide continuous Support.
✓ Involved post implementation support activities.
Real Time Content
Phase0 Planning phase
1.Define project goals and high-level issues to be resolved
2. Develop the SAP implementation strategy
3.Conceptualize the new system
4.Budget, creating overall project schedule, and organization
Phasel Project preparation phase
1.Develop project plan
2.Understand BPR strategy
Phase2
Business blueprint
1.Designing new business processes
2.System configuration
3.Define add-on functionality to be developed
4.Obtain an authorization on project plan
Phase3-1 Realization-1
Baseline Prototype
1.Define the main new business process
2.Complete system configuration
3.Design add-on functionality
4. Prepare master data
5.Create overall migration plan
Phase3-2
Realization-2
Final Scope
1.Complete testing of the new business processes
2. Develop and conduct unit testing
3.Create a business migration plan
4.Create a training plan
5.Create a system operating plan
Phase3-3 Realization-3
Integration testing-completion of the new system
1.Final testing of the new system
2.Conduct a cutover rehearsal
3.Create operation manuals
4.Conduct user tainting
5.System testing and tolerance testing
Phases Go Live and post go-live user support
1.Post go-live support
2. Evaluate implementation benefits
3.Closing project and final sign-off
Phase4 Final Preparation
1.User acceptance testing 2. End-user training
3.Complete migration preparation
4.Final migration
5.Go or no go confirmation
SAP Activate methodology
The Activate methodology consists of six phases.
Discover:
In this initial phase, the goal is to understand the scope and benefits
of the SAP system for the business. It's about exploring whether SAP
is the right fit.
Example: A small retail company wants to upgrade its inventory
management. During the Discover phase, they learn how SAP can
help streamline their inventory processes and decide it's worth
pursuing.
Prepare:
Here, planning and preparation for the project take place. This
includes setting up the project team, defining roles, and outlining the
project plan.
Example: The retail company forms a project team, assigns roles (like
project manager and IT leads), and creates a detailed timeline and
budget for the SAP implementation.
Explore:
In this phase, the team works on understanding the detailed
requirements of the business and how the SAP solution can meet
these needs. It involves workshops and discussions to align the
solution with business processes.
Example: The project team holds workshops with the store managers
to understand their inventory challenges and maps these needs to
SAP's features, ensuring the solution will address real-world issues.
Roles and Responsibilities of a Consultant
An SAP consultant is a professional who specializes in implementing,
customizing, and maintaining SAP systems for organizations. The role
of an SAP consultant can vary depending on the specific module they
specialize in, but generally, their responsibilities may include:
1. Understanding business processes: SAP consultants work closely
with clients to understand their business processes and
requirements to configure SAP systems accordingly.
2. Implementation and customization: SAP consultants are involved
in implementing SAP software solutions within organizations and
customizing them to meet specific business needs.
3. Training and support: SAP consultants provide training to end-
users on how to use the SAP system effectively and offer ongoing
support to address any issues that may arise.
4. System maintenance and upgrades: SAP consultants are
responsible for maintaining the SAP system, applying patches and
updates, and ensuring that the system is running smoothly.
5. Troubleshooting and problem-solving: SAP consultants
troubleshoot issues that arise in the SAP system and work to resolve
them in a timely manner to minimize disruptions to business
operations.
Types of Projects
• Greenfield Implementation Project
SAP S/4HANA is implemented as a new ERP system for an
Organization replacing the old one
Roll-out Implementation Project
SAP implementation is done for an Organization in one country and
that the same implementation template is rolled out globally to
other companies for the same organization located in different
countries and then country specific changes are made such as local
taxation rules etc.
Brownfield Implementation Project
SAP ERP is migrated to SAP S/4HANA without re-implementation and
without disruption to existing business processes
• Support Project
SAP system is already implemented, and now the support is provided
in case of any errors/issues or any change requests are made by the
Business Users
• Upgrade SAP Version
An Organization wants to upgrade its SAP S/4HANA from 1809 to
1909
Introduction to SAP S/4HANA Finance
• SAP S/4HANA Finance is the first business application developed
for the SAP S/4HANA Business suite
It was previously known as "SAP Simple Finance". This term is no
longer an official brand
• It is available in both On-premise & Cloud versions
• SAP S/4HANA Finance as "SAP Simple Finance" was first released
On-premise in March 2015 as version 1503
The first Cloud version of SAP S/4HANA Finance was released in Mar
2016 as 1603 and with this release "SAP Simple Finance" is known as
"SAP S/4HANA Finance"
SAP FICO - SAP is best known for its SAP FICO is a module of SAP ERP
which is used for financial reporting both externally and internally.
The objective is to record all financial transactions that are posted by
an entity and produce financial statements that are accurate at the
end of the trading period. The SAP FICO full form is FI (Financial
Accounting) and CO (Controlling).
SAP FI is made up of SAP FI sub modules.
The sub-modules that are often used are:
General Ledger Accounting-
All general ledger accounts that are used for reporting are managed
through general ledger accounting. These are the accounts that will
be used for the preparation of financial statements.
Accounts Receivables-
Accounts receivables in FICO SAP is a sub module that captures all
transactions with customers and manages customer accounts.
Transactions in accounts receivables include invoice posting, credit
memo posting, down payments, invoice payment, dunning and
executing customer reports.
Accounts Payables-
Accounts payables is a sub module that captures all transactions with
vendors and manages vendor accounts. Transactions in accounts
payables include invoice posting, credit memo posting, down
payments, invoice payment, automatic payment program and
executing vendor reports.
Asset Accounting-
Asset accounting in SAP FICO manages all transactions related to
assets for an entity. Transactions in asset accounting include asset
acquisition, asset retirement, asset sale, asset transfer, asset
revaluation and asset depreciation.
Bank Accounting-
Bank accounting captures all transactions with the banks. Bank
reconciliation is done to reconcile all transactions recorded on bank
statements comparing them to transactions in the system.
All SAP FI sub-modules are integrated, and transactions are updated
in real time which means accurate financial statements can be
extracted from the system at any time.
The important sub-modules of SAP Controlling (CO) are-
Cost Element Accounting: -
In Controlling, all the costs and revenues are represented through
cost elements. All the cost elements specifies the nature of
expenditure and income. The different types of cost elements are
Primary cost elements and Secondary cost elements.
Cost Center Accounting: -
It provides the information of costs that are incurred in the
organization.
Internal Order Accounting:
It tracks the costs of a specific job, service or a task. Internal orders
are used as a method to collect those costs and business transactions
that are related to task.
Profit Center Accounting: -
Profit center manages and controls the organizations profits and
losses.