An Introduction to SAP

SAP was founded in 1972 in Walldorf, Germany. It stands for Systems, Applications and Products in Data Processin . !"er t#e years, it #as rown and e"ol"ed to $ecome t#e world premier pro"ider of client%ser"er $usiness solutions for w#ic# it is so well &nown today. '#e SAP (%) enterprise application suite for open client%ser"er systems #as esta$lis#ed new standards for pro"idin $usiness information mana ement solutions. SAP product is considered e*cellent $ut not perfect. '#e main pro$lems wit# software product are t#at it can ne"er $e perfect. '#e main ad"anta e of usin SAP as your company +(P system is t#at SAP #a"e a "ery #i # le"el of inte ration amon its indi"idual applications w#ic# uarantee consistency of data t#rou #out t#e system and t#e company itself. In a standard SAP pro,ect system, it is di"ided into t#ree en"ironments, De"elopment, -uality Assurance and Production. '#e de"elopment system is w#ere most of t#e implementation wor& ta&es place. '#e .uality assurance system is w#ere all t#e final testin is conducted $efore mo"in t#e transports to t#e production en"ironment. '#e production system is w#ere all t#e daily $usiness acti"ities occur. It is also t#e client t#at all t#e end users use to perform t#eir daily ,o$ functions. 'o all company, t#e production system s#ould only contain transport t#at #as passed all t#e tests. SAP is a ta$le dri"e customi/ation software. It allows $usinesses to ma&e rapid c#an es in t#eir $usiness re.uirements wit# a common set of pro rams. 0ser1e*its are pro"ided for $usiness to add in additional source code. 'ools suc# as screen "ariants are pro"ided to let you set fields attri$utes w#et#er to #ide, display and ma&e t#em mandatory fields. '#is is w#at ma&es +(P system and SAP in particular so fle*i$le. '#e ta$le dri"en customi/ation are dri"in t#e pro ram functionality instead of t#ose old fas#ioned #ard1coded pro rams. '#erefore, new and c#an ed $usiness re.uirements can $e .uic&ly implemented and tested in t#e system. 2any ot#er $usiness application software #a"e seen t#is ta$le dri"en customi/ation ad"anta e and are now c#an in t#eir application software $ased on t#is ta$le customi/in concept.

In order to minimi/ed your up radin costs, t#e standard pro rams and ta$les s#ould not $e c#an ed as far as possi$le. '#e main purpose of usin standard $usiness application software li&e SAP is to reduced t#e amount of time and money spend on de"elopin and testin all t#e pro rams. '#erefore, most companies will try to utili/e t#e a"aila$le tools pro"ided $y SAP. What is Client? What is the difference between Customization and Configuration? '#e difference $etween customi/in and confi uration is3 1 4!56IG0(A'I!53 we will confi ure t#e system to meet t#e needs of your $usiness $y usin t#e e*istin data. 1 40S'!2I7I5G3 we will customi/e or adapt t#e system to your $usiness re.uirements, w#ic# is t#e process of mappin SAP to your $usiness process. 1 48I+5'3 A client is a uni.ue one in or ani/ational structure, can #a"e one or more company codes. +ac# company code is its own le al entity in finance. Configuration vs. Customization W#en considerin enterprise software of any type, it is important to understand t#e difference $etween confi uration and customi/ation. '#e cru* of t#e difference is comple*ity. 4onfi uration uses t#e in#erent fle*i$ility of t#e enterprise software to add fields, c#an e field names, modify drop1down lists, or add $uttons. 4onfi urations are made usin powerful $uilt1in tool sets. 4ustomi/ation in"ol"es code c#an es to create functionality t#at is not a"aila$le t#rou # confi uration. 4ustomi/ation can $e costly and can complicate future up rades to t#e software $ecause t#e code c#an es may not easily mi rate to t#e new "ersion. W#ere"er possi$le, o"ernments s#ould a"oid customi/ation $y usin confi uration to meet t#eir oals. Go"ernments also s#ould understand t#eir "endor9s particular terminolo y wit# re ard to t#is issue since words li&e :modifications: or :e*tensions: often mean different t#in s to different "endors. What is SAP R3? We &now t#at SAP (%) is software, it particular it is client1ser"er software. '#is means t#at t#e roups%layers t#at ma&e up a (%) System are desi ned to run simultaneously across se"eral separate computer systems. W#en you install 2icrosoft +*cel on your P4, eac# component of +*cel ;printin components, rap#in components, word processin components, and etc.< is stored, mana ed, and processed "ia t#e #ardware of your P4. W#en a company installs SAP=s software eac# component ;or :layer> in (%)=s case< is stored, mana ed, and processed "ia t#e #ardware of separate and speciali/ed computer systems. +ac# of t#e "arious layers is capa$le of callin upon t#e specialty of any of t#e ot#er installed layers in order to complete a i"en tas&.

'#ose components%layers t#at are re.uestin ser"ices are called ?clients>, t#ose components%layers t#at are pro"idin ser"ices are called ?ser"ers>. '#us t#e term 1 ?client%ser"er>. What is meant by SAP CC? SAP is an +(P ;+nterprise (esource Plannin < module, +44 is t#e "ersion of SAP, li&e @.A, @.Ac and @.7 in t#at series new "ersion is +441A. Its &nown as +nterprise core component.

What is SAP Landscape? By: Kunal Landscape is like a server system or like a layout of the servers or some may even call it the architecture of the servers viz. SAP is divided into three different lanscape DE ! "AS and P#$D. % DE &ould have multiple clients for e': ()*% Sand+o'! (**% ,olden! (-*% .nit /est. % "AS may a0ain have mutiple clients for e': 1**% 2nte0ration /est! 3** to 3(* /rainin0. % P#$D may have somethin0 like a 4** Production. /hese names and num+ers are the implementer5s discreet on ho& they &ant it or they have +een usin0 in their previous implementations or ho& is the client5s +usiness scenario. 6o& &hatever you do in the Sand+o' doesn5t affect the other servers or clients. 7henever you think you are satisfied &ith your confi0uration and you think you can use it movin0 for&ard! you #E%D$ it in the 0olden client 8remem+er! this is a very neat and clean client and you cannot use it for rou0h usa0e9. As you re%do everythin0 that you had thou0ht &as important and usa+le! you 0et a transport re:uest pop up upon savin0 everytime. ;ou save it under a transport re:uest and 0ive your description to it. /hus the confi0uration is transported to the .nit /est client 8(-* in this e'ample9. ;ou don5t run any transaction or even use the SAP Easy Access screen on the (** 80olden9 client. /his is a confi0uration only client. 6o& upon a successful tranport +y the Basis 0uy! you have all the confi0uration in the /estin0 client! <ust as it is in the ,olden client. /he confi0uration remains in sync +et&een these t&o clients. But in the /estin0 client you can not even access SP#$ 8Display 2=,9 screen. 2t5s a transaction only client &here you perform the unit test. .pon a satisfactory unit test! you move the 0ood confi0uration to the ne't SE# E# 8DE 9. /he incorrect or unsatisfactory confi0uration is corrected in ,olden 8may a0ain as &ell +e practised in the sand+o' prior to ,olden9 and accordin0ly transported +ack to (-* 8.nit /est9 until the unit test affected +y that particular confi0 is satisfactory. /he ,olden client remains the 5data+ase5 8if you &anna call it that9 or you may rather call it the 5ultimate5 reference client for all the 0ood! complete and final confi0uration that is +ein0 used in the implementation.

In summary: Landscape : is the arran0ement for the servers 2DES : is purely for education purpose and is 6$/ 26>L.DED in the landscape. DE EL$P=E6/ %%%? ".AL2/; %%%%? P#$D.>/2$6 DE EL$P=E6/ : is &here the the consultants do the customization as per the company5s re:uirement. ".AL2/; : is &here the core team mem+ers and other mem+ers test the customization. P#$D.>/2$6 : is &here the live data of the company is recorded. A re:uest &ill flo& from Dev%?"ual%?Prod and not +ack&ards. (. Sand+o' server: 2n the initial sta0es of any implementation pro<ect! ;ou are 0iven a sand+o' server &here you do all the confi0uration@customization as per the companies +usiness process. 4. Development Server: % $nce the BBP 0ets si0ned off! the confi0uration is done is development server and saved in &ork+ench re:uests! to +e transported to Production server. 1. Production Server: /his is the last@ most refined client &here the user &ill &ork after pro<ect ,$ L2 E. Any chan0es@ ne& develpoment is done is development client and the re:uest is transported to production. /hese three are landscape of any >ompany. /hey or0anised their office in these three &ay. Developer develop their pro0ram in Development server and then transport it to test server. 2n testin0 server tester check@test the pro0ram and then transport it to Production Server. Later it &ill deploy to client from production server. Presentaion Server% 7here SAP ,.2 have. Application Server % 7here SAP 2nstalled. Data+ase Server % 7here Data+ase installed. What is the meaning of "R" in R/3 systems? #@1 stands for realtime three tier architecture. /his is the kind of architrecture SAP #@1 system has. #@1 means three layers are installed in Different system@server and they are connected &ith each other. (9 Presentation 49 Application

19 Data+ase Why do we ca c ient !!! as go den c ient? ,olden client contains all the confi0uration data and master data so some e'tent. All the confi0uration settin0s are done in 0olden clients and then moved to other clients. Aence this client acts as a master record for all transaction settin0s! hence the name B,olden >lientB.