Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Copyright
- This document is in parts based on publications for the TERP10 course mySAP ERP
integrated business processes those parts are subject to the copyright of SAP AG.
- All figures used within this course are created in the style of the TERP10 if not labeled
otherwise. Those parts are subject to the copyright of SAP AG.
- All screenshots used within this document, even if displayed in extracts, are subject to
the copyright of SAP AG.
- Distribution and reproduction of this document or parts of this document in any
form is prohibited without the written permission of Prof. Dr. Heimo H. Adels-
berger, Dipl.-Wirt.-Inf. Pouyan Khatami and Dipl.-Wirt.-Inf. Taymaz Khatami.
Table of Contents
COPYRIGHT ........................................................................................................................... 2
TABLE OF CONTENTS ......................................................................................................... 3
TABLE OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................. 5
LIST OF LITERATURE ......................................................................................................... 7
COURSE OUTLINE ................................................................................................................ 8
COURSE OBJECTIVES ............................................................................................................... 8
STRUCTURE, NOTATION, AND ICONS ....................................................................................... 9
GLOSSARY ............................................................................................................................ 11
1 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................... 17
2 ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING WITH SAP ERP ..................................... 19
2.1 EXCURSUS: SAP THE COMPANY ............................................................................ 19
2.2 THEORY: SAP R/3, SAP ERP AND SAP NETWEAVER .............................................. 22
2.2.1 SAP R/3 ................................................................................................................ 22
2.2.2 SAP ERP ............................................................................................................... 23
2.2.3 SAP NetWeaver .................................................................................................... 30
2.3 ELUCIDATION ............................................................................................................ 42
2.3.1 SAP R/3 ................................................................................................................ 42
2.3.2 SAP ERP ............................................................................................................... 43
2.3.3 SAP NetWeaver .................................................................................................... 44
3 OVERVIEW OF SAP ERP ........................................................................................... 50
3.1 THEORY: SAP ERP BASICS ....................................................................................... 50
3.1.1 Organizational plan of SAP ERP ......................................................................... 50
3.1.2 Master Data, Transactions, and Transaction Data ............................................. 57
3.1.3 Example Processes in SAP ERP........................................................................... 59
3.1.4 Reporting Solutions .............................................................................................. 61
3.2 ELUCIDATION ............................................................................................................ 64
3.2.1 Organizational Plan of SAP ERP......................................................................... 64
3.2.2 Master Data, Transactions and Transaction Data .............................................. 68
3.2.3 Reporting Solution................................................................................................ 69
4 IDES: THE SAP MODEL COMPANY ....................................................................... 70
4.1 EXCURSUS: THE IDES CONCEPT ............................................................................... 70
4.1.1 Characteristics ..................................................................................................... 70
4.1.2 IDES for training .................................................................................................. 70
4.1.3 IDES negotiated agreement ................................................................................. 71
4.2 EXCURSUS: IDES THE COMPANY........................................................................... 71
4.2.1 The IDES Group ................................................................................................... 71
4.2.2 IDES Organizational structure ............................................................................ 77
4.2.3 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 81
4.3 EXCURSUS: INFORMATION ABOUT UCC .................................................................... 82
5 NAVIGATION IN THE SAP SYSTEM....................................................................... 83
5.1 PRACTICE: SAP ERP SCREEN ELEMENTS IN SAP GUI ............................................. 83
5.2 PRACTICE: NAVIGATION IN SAP ERP USING THE SAP GUI ...................................... 87
5.2.1 Overview of Navigation in the SAP GUI .............................................................. 87
Table of Figures
Figure 1: Annual Report 2011 (1) ............................................................................................ 20
Figure 2: Milestones of SAP .................................................................................................... 21
Figure 3: SAP R/3 modules: Nicolescu/Wittges 2006 ............................................................ 23
Figure 4: SAP ERP ................................................................................................................... 24
Figure 5: From SAP R/3 to SAP ERP ...................................................................................... 26
Figure 6: SAP ERP is a solution within SAP Business Suite .................................................. 27
Figure 7: Enhancement Packages ............................................................................................. 28
Figure 8: Quick Facts to enhancement packages ..................................................................... 29
Figure 9: Things You Should Know Before Installing SAP Enhancement Packages ............. 30
Figure 10: SAP NetWeaver ...................................................................................................... 31
Figure 11: SAP Enterprise Service Architecture...................................................................... 33
Figure 12: SAP NetWeaver ...................................................................................................... 34
Figure 13: Integration Levels of SAP: Employees, Customers and Partners - Functions of SAP
NetWeaver in the Area of User Productivity ........................................................................... 34
Figure 14: IT Practices ............................................................................................................. 38
Figure 15: IT Practices and IT Scenarios ................................................................................. 39
Figure 16: Advantages of SAP NetWeaver.............................................................................. 41
Figure 17: IT Scenarios: help.sap.com ..................................................................................... 46
Figure 18: IT Scenario Running an Enterprise Portal: help.sap.com ....................................... 46
Figure 19: Installable Units: help.sap.com ............................................................................... 48
Figure 20: SAP organizational structure: terminology ............................................................ 51
Figure 21: SAP organizational structure .................................................................................. 53
Figure 22: Plants in SAP ERP .................................................................................................. 54
Figure 23: SAP sales areas ....................................................................................................... 55
Figure 24: Purchasing organization in SAP ............................................................................. 56
Figure 25: Customer master records: example ......................................................................... 57
Figure 26: Master Data Example: Material Master .................................................................. 58
Figure 27: Transactions in SAP ............................................................................................... 59
Figure 28: Procurement: example process ............................................................................... 60
Figure 29: Engagement management: sample process ............................................................ 61
Figure 30: Reporting and Analytics ......................................................................................... 62
Figure 31: OLTP versus OLAP ................................................................................................ 62
Figure 32: Overview of IDES group areas ............................................................................... 71
Figure 33: IDES Company Codes ............................................................................................ 72
Figure 34: Company Code 1000 (Germany) ............................................................................ 73
Figure 35: Company Code 2000 (Great Britain) ...................................................................... 74
Figure 36: Company Code 2100 (Portugal) ............................................................................. 74
Figure 37: Company Code 2200 (France) ................................................................................ 74
Figure 38: Company Code 2300 (Spain).................................................................................. 75
Figure 39: Company Code 3000 (USA) ................................................................................... 75
Figure 40: Company Code 4000 (Canada) ............................................................................... 76
Figure 41: Company Code 5000 (Japan).................................................................................. 76
Figure 42: Company Code 6000 (Mexico) .............................................................................. 77
Figure 43: IDES Industry ......................................................................................................... 77
Figure 44: IDES Human Resources ......................................................................................... 78
Figure 45: IDES Financials ...................................................................................................... 78
Figure 46: IDES Sales and Distribution ................................................................................... 79
Figure 47: IDES Sales and Distribution details ....................................................................... 80
List of Literature
This courses content is partially based on the following references:
Course Outline
This course deals with the leading standard software for Enterprise Resource Planning, name-
ly SAP ERP. Covering the content of the SAP-owned course TERP10, this course gives atten-
tion to a bulk of SAP ERP, SAP analysis and the management solution SAP BW (Business
Information Warehouse). Aside from gaining in-depth theoretical knowledge regarding SAP
solutions and components, this course gives you the chance to practically apply your new
knowledge to the SAP system within case studies. The ultimate goal for students in this
course is to gain competencies in the area of SAP ERP standard solutions as well as receiving
a certificate issued by the University of Duisburg-Essen and to take (and hopefully pass) the
TERP10 exam by SAP.
Course objectives
As an SAP consultant, you focus on consulting, sales and implementation of SAP ERP com-
ponents. Therefore, you will need to be familiar with the integrated logistical and financial
processes in SAP ERP and the utilization of analysis components like Business Information
Warehouse (SAP BW).
Conventional courses equip you with concepts, principles and theories by mostly using the
style of a lecture. These courses aim at knowledge transfer and of theoretical links. In Com-
parison to that, case studies will improve your capabilities of analyzing business problems,
developing solutions and decision-making.
The main objective of this course is to give you an understanding of theoretical foundations
and practical application with the leading standard software for businesses. Thus, you will
develop competencies in the area of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). In addition to the
possibility of attaining a certificate by the University of Duisburg-Essen, this course serves as
extensive preparation for the SAP TERP 10 exam.
Aside from script part 12, which does not contain practical work on the system, all script parts
are structured the same way. Those teaching units are structured in Theory, Elucidation,
Practical Application, Excursus and Reflection parts. The following Icons are used all over
this course to identify those script parts. Youll find them in the leftmost position of the page.
Elucidation-labeled sections of this course also deal with the theoretical foun-
dations of SAP ERP. Youll find elucidations at the end of each chapter. These
parts summarize what you should have learned from the given chapter. In the
Elucidations you also will be given an overview of the topics, a better under-
standing of the Theory-labeled script parts, plus some additional information.
Often some technical details will be explained in an everyday speech kind of language.
From a scientific point of view, those passages might not be completely accurate but it will
give you a less abstract view on the subject matter. Although the information provided in the
elucidations is not primal for the SAP exam, you should consider it in your learning. I would
never recommend that you completely ignore the Elucidations. At least read them and try to
understand the content. Most of the content of the Elucidations are summaries of the Theory
chapters, anyway.
In the Reflection section, you will answer questions concerning the covered top-
ics for revision purposes. This section is not compulsory but highly advisable
with respect to the SAP exam.
Additionally, there are three further sub-icons that are used in this course within the different
parts (see icons above). The following sub-icons are accompanied with italic formatting:
The Note icon is mostly used in the theory parts. The icon indicates an additional
piece of information.
Caution is mostly used in the practical application parts. The icon is always used
in steps that are error-prone. If you see this icon, you should read the instruction
very carefully to avoid any mistakes.
Glossary
This Glossary contains a variety of terms that are used in context with SAP
products. You do not need to learn those terms for the SAP exam. The Glossary
is only meant as a look-up table.
er. They are used to register user behavior (passwords, personal data, which
pages the user calls up most often). In the context of the Workplace, cookies
are one of the options for implementing Single Sign-On.
CRM Customer Relationship Management: umbrella term covering all aspects of
business relationships with customers with the aim of fostering long-term
customer loyalty.
CSS Cascading Style Sheet: enhancement that provides greater flexibility in the
design of HTML pages and enables you to define frequently-used format
templates and font types once only.
CUA Central User Administration: a system group includes several SAP systems
with several clients. The same users are often created and the same roles
assigned in each client. Central User Administration is designed to perform
these tasks in a central system and distribute the data to the systems in the
system group.
Customizing Settings that you need to make when implementing a system, for example,
to adjust the company-independent functions provided to the business re-
quirements specific to your company.
Digital certificate Dynamic Information and Action Gateway: protocol for communication
between the SAP GUI and the application server (also known as the SAP
GUI protocol).
DlAG Digital document that contains the information required to verify a users
identity and the keys used for encrypting and decrypting messages. The
most commonly used format for client certificates is the X.509 standard. In
the context of the Workplace, cookies are one of the options for implement-
ing Single Sign-On.
DME Data medium exchange
Drag-and-drop You can use Drag & Drop to select objects in one area (source) with the
mouse and then move them to another area (target).
Drag-and-relate Browser-based navigation tool that enables you to link data from one appli-
cation with another application. This includes both SAP applications and
applications on the Web.
Drag-and-relate servlet Processes information requests that are launched in the mySAP.com Work-
place system landscape from a source system using Drag & Relate.
EAI viewer Enterprise Application Integration is a set of technologies that allows the
movement and exchange of information between different applications and
business processes within and between organizations.
ECL viewer Optional component for visualizing files in cFolders
EDI Electronic data interchange
ERP Enterprise Resource Planning: ERP systems ensure enterprise-wide resource
planning by using targeted workflow management. ERP includes back-
office systems such as, for example, production, financial, human resource,
sales and materials management systems.
ESA Enterprise services architecture
ESS Employee Self-Service: enables employees to be actively involved in hu-
man resource business processes. Employees can display, create and main-
tain certain types of data, anytime and anywhere with an easy-to-use Web
browser.
EWB Engineering Workbench
Field attribute In Central User Administration, you can specify a field attribute for every
element of the user master data. This defines the system in which you must
maintain that field entry and how the entry is distributed to the relevant
component systems.
Firewall Protects a local network against unauthorized outside access.
Flow logic Flow logic is a programming model provided by the Internet Transaction
Server for creating Web applications and it is stored as a file in XML-
enabled format on the AGate.
Frame A WWW page can consist of several HTML pages that are separated by
visible or invisible frames.
Front End Work station
Global user manager In the Global User Manager, the system administrator in the central system
has an overview of all the users in the system group, existing user groups,
the systems in the system group and roles. The system administrator can use
this overview to make changes and distribute them to the relevant systems.
GSS-API Generic Security Services: standardized security interface with a standard
communication model for abstracting from the individual products and their
characteristics.
GSS-API V2 Standard interface for security functions that are used by SNC.
GUI Graphical user interface
HTML Hyper Text Markup Language. Contains formatting instructions (that the
Web browser can interpret) and links to other documents or objects.
HTML Business SAPs own macro language that includes statements used to merge R/3 data
dynamically into the HTML business templates of Internet applications that
are driven by the Internet Transaction Server (ITS).
HTTP HyperText Transfer Protocol: protocol between the Web server and the
Web client.
HTTPS Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure Sockets. Data packets that are trans-
ferred using an HTTPS connection are encrypted using SSL.
IAC Internet Application Component: easy-to-use application in the mySAP.com
Workplace. These components enable even first-time users to execute sim-
ple Web applications.
IDES Internet Demonstration and Evaluation System that contains model compa-
nies to map the relevant business processes in the mySAP.com system.
Incoterms International Commercial Terms
Internet Business Frame- Enables the integration of users, applications and data distribution by sup-
work porting XML on all architecture levels. Cross-company business processes
can be triggered at Workplace level from various internal applications and
external Internet services.
ISAPI Internet Server Application Programming Interface: Microsoft software
interface for application programs for creating Web applications.
ITS Internet Transaction Server: interface between the component systems and
the Internet. The ITS enables Internet and intranet users to communicate
directly with SAP systems by starting business transactions, function mod-
ules and reports as Internet applications. It consists of two main components
the WGate and the AGate.
KW Knowledge Warehouse: integrated environment for creating, translating,
presenting, distributing and administering multimedia content. The
Knowledge Warehouse provides a comprehensive range of tools and func-
tions to support corporate knowledge management and transfer.
LaunchPad Role-specific list of activities in the Workplace containing links to SAP
components and to the Web.
LIS Logistics information system
Logical system System on which applications that are integrated and have a common data-
base run. In the SAP environment, this corresponds to a client in an SAP
System.
LTI Long Term Incentives
Marketplace Electronic marketplace that companies use to provide information, content
and products.
Migration Data transfer from one software system to another (for example, master data
and transaction data).
MiniALV List display in a small display area of the browser window. The MiniALV
(SAP List Viewer) can be used either as a MiniApp in its own right or as
part of another MiniApp.
MiniApp Intuitive, easy-to-use Web application or Web document. When the user
starts the mySAP.com Workplace, MiniApps provide the user with an over-
view of and access to his or her most important information on the initial
screen. The WorkSpace can contain several MiniApps.
MPS Master Production Scheduling
MRP Material Requirements Planning
mySAP Business Suite SAPs comprehensive solution concept for optimum integration of all rele-
vant business processes on the Internet. mySAP Business Suite provides
seamless, complete integration between SAP solutions and non-SAP sys-
tems across all business processes, thereby, delivering a complete e-
business environment.
NSAPI Netscape Server Application Programming Interface: Netscape software
interface for application programs for creating Web applications.
OLAP Online Analytical Processing
OLE Object Linking and Embedding: enables objects from one application to be
linked to another application.
OLTP Online Transaction Processing
One-Step Business Dovetailing of business processes between business partners, for example,
using a marketplace.
Partner profiles Definition of parameters for the electronic interchange of data with a trading
partner using the IDoc interface: which message is interchanged how in
which direction?
Plug-In Additional program that enhances a software systems functionality.
Portal Pages that serve as initial screens for Internet users immediately provide
relevant information and form a platform for visiting other Web sites.
PortalBuilder ITS service responsible for the HTML page structure. The PortalBuilder
also takes over role-dependent administration of the LaunchPad and Min-
iApps. The PortalBuilder communicates directly with the Workplace Server
for displaying the Workplace on the front-end.
Profile (Authorization) Summarizes authorizations. A user s authorization profiles are stored in the
user master record.
Protocol Collection of rules for formats and types of data transmission between dif-
ferent computer systems.
Remote system Independent system in a different location with which your system can
communicate.
Repository Central storage facility for all ABAP Workbench development objects.
RFC Remote Function Call: SAP interface protocol, based on CPI-C. An RFC
enables you to call and execute predefined functions in a remote system or
even in the same system.
Role In the mySAP.com context, a role is a collection of activities that are re-
quired for participation in a business scenario. The Workplace offers a role-
based view of all functions that the user requires for his/her business scenar-
io.
Role maintenance You can use the Profile Generator to create authorization profiles based on
the activities (transactions) contained in a role.
SAP English: Systems, Applications, & Products in Data Processing
German: Systeme, Anwendungen, Produkte in der Datenverarbeitung
address).
URL Uniform resource locator: internet address (e. g. http://www.mysap.com)
User interface Work station
User master record/ Records with important master data of a particular user in SAP. User master
User master data records are used to assign user menus including particular authorizations for
activities to a user.
VBM Value based management
WAP Wireless Application Protocol: protocol that defines the transmission and
display of special Internet content on devices with limited display capabili-
ties, for example, cell phones.
Web application builder Tool for developing Internet applications driven by the Internet Transaction
Server (ITS). You can use the Web Application Builder to create all the
files required to run an application on a Web browser.
Web browser Simple navigation program with GUI interpreting and displaying html doc-
uments from the internet.
WebDav Web-based distribution authoring and versioning: http-extension enabling
the joint access of documents via internet.
WebFlow SAP WebFlow enables the running of SAP business workflow via internet.
WebServer Server managing connections to the internet.
WGate WebGateway: component of the internet transaction server (ITS); connects
the ITS with the web server. WGate receivers queries from the web browser
via web server and forwards them to AGate.
Wizard Software assistant displaying instructions for running particular actions
within applications.
WML Wireless markup language: internet standard language to characterize pages
for mobile WAP devices.
Work item Runtime representation of steps to define a workflow or task.
Workflow IT-enabled processing of structured, interrelated and repetitive business
processes.
Workplace Role-based, personalized web browser portal for SAP systems, external
systems and internet applications.
Workplace middleware Communication software on a server replicating, synchronizing, monitoring
and distributing data between the center (network) and external users, e.g.,
business warehouse or mySAP ERP system.
Workplace middleware Part of the workplace architecture consisting of a web server, an internet
transaction server and optional drag-and-relate services.
Workplace server Main server to store information about the workplace user roles.
WorkSpace Right hand side of the mySAP.com workplace browser window displaying
MiniApps, Transactions and web sites.
XML Extensible markup language: standard for the definition of individual dis-
play languages characterizing structured information with tags. Like html,
xml is a link-oriented language for internet content.
1 Introduction
This introduction script will give you an overview of SAP ERP and the required capabilities
to deal with this complex standard software.
In chapter 2 Enterprise Resource Planning with SAP ERP, you will familiarize yourself
with
- the software producer SAP,
- the differences of SAP R/3 and its successor SAP ERP and
- the technical platform for SAP ERP, i.e., SAP NetWeaver.
In chapter 4 The Model Company IDES, you will find an excursus briefly outlining the
model company IDES. Being an SAP-created sample for education purposes, all relevant
business processes of SAP ERP can be implemented in IDES.
In chapter 5 Handling and Navigation in SAP ERP, you will be actively involved with
the SAP ERP system for the first time. You learn how to use the SAP Graphical User Inter-
face (GUI) by using the different navigation methods and the integrated help function. Final-
ly, you will work on a navigation case study that will enable you to process case studies on
your own.
We will hold our discussion on detailed module description at this point. This monolithic
structure of the unitized design was a proper solution to include all relevant business process-
es back in the 1990s; however, new requirements for companies revealed a lack of flexibility
of this design. Especially with respect to the integration of external systems (non-SAP sys-
tems), of customers and vendors of the supply chain, a new way to represent business pro-
cesses became necessary.
SAP ERP is a standard software package that covers all vital business processes within a
company and provides functions for both corporate headquarters and small subsidiaries. SAP
ERP is a combination of components that integrate people, information and processes com-
prehensively and flexibly. Thereby, it is designed in such a way that companies can imple-
ment only the business functions they need when they need them, thus, simplifying upgrades
and reducing total cost of ownership.
SAP ERP is embedded in SAP NetWeaver, which is the basis for almost all SAP products.
The following figure displays the integration capabilities of SAP NetWeaver. You can inte-
grate almost every business application with SAP ERP by using SAP NetWeaver technology.
Therefore, it is possible to integrate Independent Software Vendor solutions, self developed
software solutions or non-SAP solutions. Furthermore, Java and .Net-Frameworks are inte-
grated with SAP NetWeaver.
With SAP ERP, SAP has set a new standard for ERP systems. It provides the applications to
cover the main functional areas of every company from an information technology point of
view. This solution incorporates SAP ERP Financials, SAP ERP Human Capital Man-
agement, SAP ERP Operations and SAP ERP Corporate Services solutions.
- SAP ERP Financials: The aim of this solution is to utilize a companys funds effec-
tively and, therefore, increase profitability in the long term.
- SAP ERP Human Capital Management: Every company has employees. They are
important resources and SAP ERP HCM enables a company to utilize them effectively
toward achieving company goals. This solution covers all aspects of human resources,
from recruitment and training through payroll.
- SAP ERP Operations: SAP ERP Operations provides an extensive operations solu-
tion for automating and streamlining procurement and logistics execution, product de-
velopment and manufacturing and sales and service.
- SAP ERP Corporate Services: SAP ERP Corporate Services introduces service solu-
tions for end-to-end life cycles for travel management, environment, health and safety
and real-estate management. It also addresses the development of efficient incentive
programs.
SAP ERP Central Component (SAP ECC) is the evolutionary successor of SAP R/3 and it is
the main component of the SAP ERP solution. SAP ERP ECC 6.0 is the latest version of
SAP's ERP solution. Figure 4 shows that this solution is no longer based on the core compo-
nent SAP Basis, but the complete integration into the SAP NetWeaver concept is in place.
For each new release of SAP R/3 and later SAP ERP, the functions of the software have been
extended, applications have been optimized and interfaces to other software components have
been enhanced. SAP R/3 was developed by using ABAP, SAPs own programming language.
In SAP ERP, ABAP has still a dominating role but Java-based applications and XML-based
Web Services (service-oriented architecture of SAP NetWeaver) are becoming more and more
important in new ECC releases.
Along with other SAP components, SAP R/3 Enterprise is included in SAP ERP as well. That
is why customers wanting to upgrade their present SAP R/3 Enterprise to SAP ERP are not
required to perform technological changes. With the introduction of SAP ERP in 2003, many
new components are available to support and enhance ERP business processes. At that time,
SAP R/3 Enterprise was one of those components. As you can see in the following figure,
SAP ERP at that time already consisted of more components than merely SAP R/3 Enterprise
and SAP NetWeaver and featuring many new functional enhancements, e.g., self-services,
SAP SEM, Internet Sales, etc.
Please note that SAP ERP is not meant to be a remake of R/3 but a solution for a service-
oriented architecture. As opposed to SAP R/3 (monolithic structure, applications were linked
to the business logic), SAP ERP is based on the open, service oriented architecture of SAP
NetWeaver. The technology platform allows SAP R/3 customers to overcome the costly and
timely problems of real-time business regarding integration of application and external sys-
tems as well as maintenance of interfaces.
SAP Business Suite is a complete package of enterprise solutions that link people, infor-
mation and processes and, therefore, improve the effectiveness of business relationships. It
consists of individual SAP solutions. SAP Business Suite features the following business so-
lutions that need to be licensed separately:
- SAP ERP SAP Enterprise Resource Planning
- SAP CRM SAP Customer Relationship Management
- SAP PLM SAP Product Life-Cycle Management
- SAP SRM SAP Supplier Relationship Management
- SAP SCM SAP Supply Chain Management
All SAP solutions are based on the new service-oriented architecture paradigm. Accordingly,
SAP Netweaver is the technical platform that powers the SAP Business Suite. SAP NetWeav-
er will be discussed in the next chapter.
customers can isolate the impact of software updates and bring new functionality online more
quickly through shortened testing cycles.
SAP enhancement packages are currently available for SAP ERP and SAP NetWeaver. They
are planned for other Business Suite applications as well.
From a content perspective, each enhancement package either focuses on a dedicated set of
business processes that are improved or adds new processes to the SAP ERP Solution Map.
Those improvements are grouped thematically, which a company can install with a new ap-
proach. The new capabilities, included in an enhancement package, focus on the following
four areas:
- Simplification: new capabilities designed to simplify business processes as well as
user interfaces
- Generic enhancements: new generic capabilities for Financials, Human Capital Man-
agement, Operations and Corporate Services
- Industry-specific enhancements: new capabilities delivered for particular industries
- Enterprise Service Bundles: New enterprise services that illustrate the value of the
service-oriented architecture along business scenarios and needs, extending the func-
tionality of SAP ERP and enabling innovative composite applications to be developed
on top of SAP ERP.
With enhancement package delivery technology, SAP provides customers with new develop-
ments and enhancements of applications for their existing SAP installations. This means that
they can use new developments that are offered for their business processes when they want
to and according to their own requirements.
SAP enhancement packages are optional packages that enable companies to take advantage of
ongoing innovations while keeping their core software stable, rather than engaging in large
upgrade projects. Each SAP enhancement package provides a collection of new or improved
business functions. Companies can deploy the enhancements in a modular fashion by activat-
ing only the new features and functionalities they want on their own timetable.
SAP Best Practices have a few of these highlights pre-configured such as New General Ledg-
er and Analytics, others need to be evaluated on a project basis.
SAP enhancement packages allow updating a subset of the software components that are part
of an existing SAP ERP 6.0 implementation. For example, a company is now able to update
parts of its SAP ECC Server. The selection of software components is driven by the function-
al enhancements that the company plans to implement. The following figure displays how
new HCM functionalities (Selective Update - Example) are installed by updating only EA-HR
(version 602) on the SAP ECC Server. Thereby, the enhancement package is "set on top" of
the existing SAP HR application.
The following key points summarize important facts about the enhancement package concept
and recommended approaches:
- SAP enhancement packages are cumulative, which means that each new enhancement
package includes new innovations of its own as well as all innovations delivered with
previous packages.
- SAP recommends that you install the latest available enhancement package version.
- You install enhancement packages and Support Packages in a single step.
- SAP enhancement packages have their own Support Packages, starting with Support
Package Version 01, which are equivalent to the Support Package versions for the
underlying release.
- SAP enhancement packages have the same maintenance period as the underlying core
application, SAP ERP 6.0.
- You install only selected parts of the enhancement package. The selection is driven by
functional need from a business point of view.
- Installations of enhancement packages, as well as the activation of business functions, are
irreversible. Test the installation process and activation of new functions in advance on a
sandbox system. Ensure that you evaluate the runtime and the system behavior, its
dependencies and impacts. Make sure that the installation is free of errors before going
live.
- Installation of an SAP enhancement package has no impact on existing business processes
or user interfaces as long as no business function has been activated. Activation of
business functions is only possible in ABAP-based systems and not in Java-based
systems. Enhancement Packages in Java-based systems are active after installation.
Enhancement Packages of SAP NetWeaver are active after installation. It is not possible to
mix the installation of different enhancement package versions in your ABAP system. Only
one enhancement package version is allowed.
Figure 9: Things You Should Know Before Installing SAP Enhancement Packages
to technical infrastructure. An open application and integration platform is required for calling
technical applications and seamlessly integrating external third-party systems. SAP NetWeav-
er covers this key role and is, thus, the company-wide infrastructure for all business applica-
tions.
One main advantage of using open standards and a uniform basis, which can operate or inte-
grate all company systems is the considerable reduction of the total cost of ownership not
only for SAP solutions, but for the entire IT landscape. SAP NetWeaver helps companies to
use existing IT investments in a way that adds value while also creating a foundation for fu-
ture cross-enterprise processes.
represent complex business functionality. Next is a list of the hierarchy, starting with a single
service to a complete xApp:
Currently, SAP, SAP partners and third party providers cover multiple business processes
using xApps. However, more time is required before a complete coverage of business pro-
cesses using xApps can be accomplished. Nevertheless, even today SAP offers many Best
Practice solutions based on xApps.
These SAP NetWeaver subareas contain multiple capabilities, which are explained in the fol-
lowing.
Figure 13: Integration Levels of SAP: Employees, Customers and Partners - Functions of SAP NetWeaver
in the Area of User Productivity
Employees, Customers and Partners - Functions of SAP NetWeaver in the area of User
Productivity
People integration is the top-level integration layer of SAP NetWeaver and is the point-of-
access to SAP (regardless if it is an ERP, a BW or CRM system, etc.) and Non-SAP systems.
It combines functions that users need for their every-day work, regardless of whether it con-
cerns one system or applications on many distributed systems. Since access to the portal is
role-specific, it can be used for customers, vendors or employees in equal measure.
Along with functions in the area of Mobile Business and Search, like they are provided
through the Enterprise-Search-Application, the SAP NetWeaver Portal is the central compo-
nent in the area of User Productivity.
The portal (SAP Enterprise Portal) is a single point of contact and access to all sources of in-
formation and is, thus, a consistent user interface for accessing applications of a business pro-
cess with all role-specific content and personalization functions. All SAP-systems, data ware-
houses, desktop files, web content, Web Services and third-party systems of an enterprise are
comprised in one single GUI. Using single sign-on, a facilitated method for authentication
and communication processes between different IT systems is implemented. Furthermore,
portal knowledge management can be used to transform unstructured data into important
company information. The collaboration function facilitates inter- and intra-company group
efforts.
All operations and all work performed in a company are controlled through business process-
es. Along with these processes data is exchanged between employees. This data exchange can
be accomplished manually without any help from software. But it can also be supported by
software preventing data redundancies and data entry errors.
The term Process Integration encompasses a set of different requirements, which SAP
NetWeaver covers with its components. These requirements are:
- Modeling of business processes
- Customizing of applications that support a business process
- Data exchange between applications and systems within a business process
The components that SAP NetWeaver provides for these purposes are, among others:
- Solution Manager: Supports system Customizing
- SAP NetWeaver Process Integration: Data exchange between applications and sys-
tems
- SAP Business Workflow, ccBPM, SAP NetWeaver Business Process Manage-
ment: Tools for process automation and modeling
Information Management
SAP BusinessObjects BI and SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse supports companies
with data collection and analyzing key figures. With these applications you can define goals
and monitor whether or not they are achieved. The analysis of business processes allows im-
proving your company's operations making them more efficient, reducing costs and enhancing
customer satisfaction. The tools provided by SAP NetWeaver BI and SAP BusinessObjects
BI can easily handle huge amounts of data and also allow end-users to create analyses and
reports fast and comfortably using Web-Reporting applications and publish those reports in
the internet or intranet. With SAP NetWeaver you can publish analyses in the Enterprise Por-
tal and use Knowledge Management functionalities like rating, feedback, notes, subscriptions
etc.
The technical basis for the integration platform SAP NetWeaver is the SAP NetWeaver Ap-
plication Server. It supports J2EE and ABAP in a single runtime environment. It allows you
to develop Web Services in a development environment, which supports all common stand-
ards like Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP), Web Service Description Language
(WSDL) and Universal Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI). New applications can
be defined based on Internet standards like HTTP, HTTPS, HTML, XML and JavaScript.
SAP NetWeaver is, furthermore, completely compatible with Microsoft.NET and IBM Web-
Sphere, which increases the potential of reusability of software significantly.
As of SAP Web AS 6.40 customers are provided with a Web Service Framework, which al-
lows creating and publishing of Web Services as well as executing applications and Enter-
prise Services.
IT Practices
With the SAP NetWeaver platform, a company can implement crucial IT Practices in a
flexible, step-by-step approach at low cost. Immediate IT needs can be addressed first and
since the platform components are tightly integrated, the practice projects can be expanded
over time within a sustainable cost structure.
SAP NetWeaver enables the following IT Practices. For each practice, SAP NetWeaver sup-
ports a variety of key IT activities, all of which are easy to perform using the platforms inte-
grated components.
- User productivity enablement: Helps users and groups improve their productivity
through enhanced collaboration, optimized knowledge management and personalized
access to critical applications and data.
- Data unification: Consolidates, rationalizes, synchronizes and manages all master
data for improved business processes.
- Business information management: Increases the visibility, reach and usefulness of
structured and unstructured enterprise data.
- Business event management: Ensures that business events from multiple systems are
distributed to the appropriate decision makers in the context of the relevant business
processes.
IT Scenario
An IT Scenario supports a process-oriented implementation approach. IT Scenarios quickly
and easily help to:
- develop, compose and run applications
- build, enhance and operate an IT infrastructure
- integrate people, information and processes
Usage types are built from technical software components that form an installable and con-
figurable unit. They are reusable, installed and preconfigured units and can be built upon oth-
er usage types.
Components
- SAP NetWeaver Application Server: Supports platform-independent Web services,
business applications and standards-based development, enabling a company to
leverage existing technology assets for Web-services-oriented solutions.
Tools
- Adaptive Computing Controller: Provides a central point of control for assigning
computing resources and optimizing their use.
- SAP NetWeaver Composition Environment: Provides a robust environment for
design, deployment and running of composite applications that comply with a service-
oriented architecture.
- SAP NetWeaver Developer Studio: Offers a convenient user interface and rich
functionality for developing J2EE applications.
- SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer: Simplifies the creation of portal content and
analytics applications, enabling business analysts to build or customize applications
using a visual user interface rather than manual coding.
- SAP Solution Manager: Facilitates technical support for distributed systems with
functionality that covers all key aspects of solution deployment, operation and
continuous improvement.
opment strategies and distribution activities and also offers competence and support centers.
The integration of SAP NetWeaver with IBM and Microsoft solution is possible on all layers
and, thus, involves integration of people, information and processes. Hence, IT investments
and employee qualifications already in place can be used optimally.
2.3 Elucidation
What have we learned so far?
You gained a first look at what SAP as a company does, what products it sells,
and how these products are embedded in the SAP product portfolio (Business
Suite). There were some technical aspects discussed that seem to be very com-
plicated. However, you do not need to understand every last technical detail but
you should get a clear view on the big picture. Let us now paint that picture.
The following key points summarize important facts about the enhancement package concept
and recommended approaches:
- SAP enhancement packages are cumulative.
- The latest available enhancement package version should be installed.
- Single step installation of enhancement packages and Support Packages.
- SAP enhancement packages have their own Support Packages.
- SAP enhancement packages have the same maintenance period as the underlying core
application, SAP ERP 6.0.
- You install only selected parts of the enhancement package. The selection is driven by
functional need from a business point of view.
- Installations of enhancement packages, as well as the activation of business functions, are
irreversible.
- Installation of an SAP enhancement package has no impact on existing business processes
or user interfaces, as long as no business function has been activated.
o Activation of business functions is only possible in ABAP-based systems, not
in Java-based systems.
o Enhancement Packages in Java-based systems are active after installation.
- Enhancement Packages of SAP NetWeaver are active after installation. Only one
enhancement package version is allowed in an ABAP system
IT Scenario
An IT Scenario supports a process-oriented implementation approach. IT Scenarios quickly
and easily help to:
- develop, compose and run applications
- build, enhance and operate an IT infrastructure
- integrate people, information, and processes
- implement a defined IT concept such as evolving a companys system landscape into a
services-based architecture
To stick with the Enterprise Portal IT Scenario, you can see from the SAP documentation that
the Installable Units Application Server Java, the Enterprise Portal Core (EP Core) and the
Developer Infrastructure must already be available in the company's NetWeaver installation
to implement this IT Scenario.
Usage types are built from technical software components that form an installable and con-
figurable unit. They are reusable, installed and preconfigured units, and they can be built upon
other usage types.
Tools
- Adaptive Computing Controller
- SAP NetWeaver Composition Environment
- SAP NetWeaver Developer Studio
- SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer
- SAP Solution Manager
The SAP ERP system offers multiple objects that can be used to accomplish this mapping.
SAP ERP systems are client-based. This allows the integration of multiple commercially
independent companies in one single system.
Flexible organizational elements in the SAP System enable more complex enterprise
structures to be represented. If there are many organizational elements, the legal and
organizational structure of an enterprise can be presented in different views. By linking the
organizational units, the separate enterprise areas can be integrated and the structure of the
whole enterprise can be represented in the SAP System. Organizational units and their
relationships are defined in SAP ERP system's customizing.
A client is the highest-level unit in a SAP system. Each client represents the enterprise,
company or business, depending on the size. Thus, a client is an organizationally, data model-
wise and legally closed unit. A client includes a set of tables and data, which are separate from
other clients. In SAP, clients are identified through their client number. You can find which
client you will be using from your access data in the welcome mail.
Another important term is Company Code. You will primarily use the Company Code 1000
(Germany) within the case studies. Furthermore, you will learn the terms Plant, Storage
Location, Purchasing Organization, Shipping Point, Sales Organization, Controlling Area, etc.
You can find an overview of this terminology in the following figure.
Organizational levels, like client, may be used by all SAP ERP applications, organizational
levels such as a plant, can be used by multiple applications (e.g., SAP MM - Material Man-
agement, SAP PP - Production Planning), and finally organizational levels, such as a sales
organization, are used by a single application (SAP SD - Sales and Distribution).
Subsequently, you will now read about the relevant organizational units in this course. At the
beginning of each case study, you will get a short overview of the particularly important
organizational units of the given functional area. In the following, you will become
acquainted with the most common organizational units in SAP ERP and to which functional
area (application) they belong to.
SAP ERP is structured into three major functional areas (applications). Each
application contains further sub-applications. The following list displays the
most important ones:
- Accounting (SAP FI, SAP CO)
- Logistics (SAP LO, SAP SD, SAP MM, SAP PP)
- Human Resources (SAP HCM)
Company Code
Company structure determines whether a self-contained set of accounts is required for exter-
nal reporting purposes or not. Therefore, SAP ERP features the Company Code as an organi-
zational level. It is the smallest organizational unit for which a self-contained set of accounts
is possible according to commercial law; a complete profit and loss statement can be issued. If
a business organization consists of more than one company (i.e., a group), Company Codes
represent the particular companies of the group from an accounting point of view.
The Company Code is the central organizational element of Financial Accounting.
Business area
You can organizationally structure a company in distinct business areas to facilitate external
reporting (balance, profit and loss statement). The decisive characteristics are different prod-
ucts or product groups. Thus, a business area is a product-based view across the organization
allowing for a condensed view on particular products or product groups.
Controlling Area
In SAP ERP, the organizational level for planning, allocating and monitoring costs is the con-
trolling area. You can assign multiple Company Codes to a particular controlling area, de-
pending on size and structure of a company. A group can, for example, show internal activity
allocation via multiple companies (cross-Company Code cost accounting). A controlling area
is a separate organizational structure for which costs and revenue can be controlled and cred-
ited. It is a separate controlling unit.
The controlling area is the central organizational element of Management Accounting (Con-
trolling).
Operating Concern
Usually, results of a controlling area are multi-dimensional. To facilitate structuring, operat-
ing concerns can be created as result subsets. Thus, operating concerns filter the overall result
based on defined criteria. In turn, these particular characteristics can be analyzed across con-
trolling areas. Operating concerns can be structured in event objects, which are important for
market analysis.
Division
Production of goods depends on size and structure of a company. Products, materials and ser-
vices can be assigned to divisions. Since different Sales Organizations can distribute the same
products, divisions can be assigned to multiple Sales Organizations. Accordingly, one Sales
Organization can contain multiple divisions (M:N). A division is an organizational unit that
can determine customer-specific agreements, e.g., partial delivery or payment conditions.
SAP ERP can identify the Distribution Channel and the corresponding business unit by using
the division stated in the material master.
SAP ERP uses Sales Organizations to distribute produced materials and offered services of a
company. Thus, a Sales Organization is the rough structure for distribution. One or more
Sales Organizations can be assigned to a particular Company Code (N:1). Correspondingly,
goods distribution can be structured regionally, since it is possible for Sales Organizations to
distribute goods from more than one Plant at the same time (M:N). Accounting is conducted
on Company Code level.
Sales Office
A Sales Office is a sales unit from an organizational point of view. It can be compared to a
distribution branch where intermediates distribute products and services.
Distribution Channel
A Distribution Channel is the organizational unit to enable distribution of produced and mar-
ketable goods and services. There are multiple channels for the distribution of products. Since
there are customers who request to receive goods over distinct channels, more than one Dis-
tribution Channel can be assigned to a Sales Organization. Additionally, a Distribution Chan-
nel can be assigned to multiple Sales Organizations.
Sales area
The combination of Sales Organization, Distribution Channel and division is called a sales
area. It is used for analysis and pricing.
Storage Location
A storage location is an organizational unit enabling local distinction of material stock within
a Plant. Quantitative inventory management and inventory are conducted on storage location
level. A storage location is part of a Plant; a Plant can contain multiple storage locations
(1:N).
Purchasing Organization
The purchasing organization is the core element of a company. Alternative procurement of
materials is possible, i.e., the purchasing organization may order for the group (i.e., all Com-
pany Codes), a single Plant, all Plants, or hybrid forms. Furthermore, the purchasing organiza-
tion negotiates procurement terms and conditions with vendors.
Personnel Area
Personnel area represents a distinct organizational unit for human resources administration,
time management and billing. You can assign multiple personnel areas to one Company Code
(N:1).
Personnel Subarea
A personnel subarea represents a distinct part of a personnel area for human resources admin-
istration (HR), time management and billing. You can assign multiple personnel subareas to
one Personal Area (N:1).
Employee Group
In HR, you can define personnel-related conditions for an employee group as particular or-
ganizational unit. The same HR conditions are applicable for each employee group (e.g., re-
tired persons, freelancer).
Employee Subgroup
An employee subgroup is the organizational unit under the employee group. Within an em-
ployee group, employee subgroups define conditions in more detail, e.g., regarding non-pay
scale employees. You can assign multiple employee subgroups to an employee group (N:1).
The following figure displays another important type of master data: the material master. The
material master contains all of the key information a company needs to manage a material
within its organization. The material master defines, among other things, how a product is
sold, manufactured, purchased, inventoried and priced. The information in the material master
is grouped into views that are organized by business function. As you can see from the figure
(and you will witness later in the practical parts of this course), the data in the material master
is grouped into views that are organized by business function
- General data: material number, short text, volume, etc.
- Sales and distribution data: delivering plant, tax category, etc.
- Material planning data: stock valuation, planning parameter, etc.
- Inventory data: requirements planning parameter, inventory management, etc.
3.1.2.2 Transactions
Transactions are applications running business processes in the system, e.g., creating a sales
order, posting incoming payments or checking absence requests. Transaction data is short-
term, activity-related data (e.g., orders) which are assigned to particular master data (e.g., cus-
tomers).
Whenever possible, master data is copied during transaction processing, thus, avoiding re-
entry of data. For example, when executing the transaction Create Sales Order, the user must
enter the customer master number; this number is copied into all of the relevant customer in-
formation. Likewise, once the material master numbers are entered for the items being or-
dered, the relevant material data will be copied into the sales order.
In addition, when performing each transaction, applicable organizational units must be en-
tered. For example, by specifying the sales organization information, the appropriate sales
statistics of the sales organization will be updated. Similarly, the designation of the plant and
storage location determines the location for product sourcing.
When a business process transaction is executed in the system and saved, a document is cre-
ated. This document is a data record of the transaction containing all of the relevant prede-
fined information from the master data and organizational elements. For each business pro-
cess transaction carried out, a document is created in SAP.
The Payment Process usually takes place in Financial Accounting. It is here that decisions
are made about the payment process such as, for example, the payment methods and the bank
settlement.
Product sale ex stock: In this process, a sales order is created for material, which is kept in
inventory. Costs and revenues are derived automatically from the material production costs or
from the SD sales prices. An outbound delivery document is created. The delivery cannot be
billed until the goods have been removed from the stock and posted as goods issue. You can
create a Transport Order that generates a transfer order. The required goods are removed
from the stock and prepared for delivery. The goods to be delivered are posted as Goods Is-
sue. In MM, a goods issue document and an accounting document in FI are created. The last
step in the sales and distribution process is Billing. An invoice document is created in SD and
a printed invoice is sent to the customer. Billing is also the point when revenues are trans-
ferred to Controlling. When the Payment has been made by the customer, you receive your
money and post the receipt of payment in FI.
apply. The cost bearer sales order item can be posted for all transactions of the service gener-
ation directly. When the service is completed, you can pass on the costs and revenues to the
profitability analysis (CO-PA) via the Order settlement.
In the following figure you can see that data created as a result of processing business transac-
tions in SAP ECC (data stored in tables) can be accessed in reports available in SAP ECC or
the information can be pulled into BW and reported there.
OLTP environments are fundamentally different from OLAP environments. Both reporting
types are available in ECC.
- The OLTP (operational) layer stores data with a very detailed level of information.
The stored data record is the source of information.
- The OLAP (informational) layer of the data warehouse is compressed for high-
performance access and analysis and is stored in summary level detail (aggregation).
A complete business intelligence solution is subdivided into various areas. SAP brings to-
gether a powerful business intelligence infrastructure, a comprehensive set of tools, planning
and simulation capabilities and data-warehousing functionality delivered through enterprise
portal technology. This enables strategic analysis and supports decision-making within a
company. Authorized employees can access and evaluate historic and current data in different
levels of detail.
SAP BW provides data analysis from operative SAP applications as well as from all other
business applications and external data sources, e.g., databases, online services, the internet.
Administrator Workbench (AWB) functions enables controlling, monitoring and maintaining
of all data procurement processes.
SAP BW features online analytical processing (OLAP) for information processing in case of
large amounts of both operative and historical data. OLAP enables multidimensional analyses
with respect to various business characteristics.
The BW server, which is pre-configured by the business content for the core areas and pro-
cesses, features various views on companywide relationships. Business content provides tar-
geted information for a company, which will be divided into roles. This helps employees to
complete their work. Besides roles, business content features other pre-configured compo-
nents, e.g., queries, key figures or characteristics. These objects facilitate SAP BW implemen-
tation.
The Business Explorer (BEx) component offers the user extensive options for analysis.
In the following units of this course, you will learn about the particularly relevant information
systems.
3.2 Elucidation
What have we learned so far?
The major outcome of this chapter was the organizational model of SAP ERP
and the difference of master and transactional data. Furthermore, you saw sev-
eral example processes and the reporting solution in SAP ERP. This chapter is
considered to be an overview only. All introduced information will be covered
in great detail in the following teaching units.
Client
- The Client is the highest organizational level in a SAP ERP system.
- A SAP ERP system can host multiple Clients. Each client hast its own set of tables
and data. For instance, a customer that exists in Client 900 is not available in Client
901 on the same SAP system.
- One can say that the Client is the whole enterprise (e.g., Siemens) and all other organ-
izational units of that enterprise belong to that Client.
3.2.1.1 Accounting
Company Code
- A Company Code is a unit included in the balance sheet of a legally-independent en-
terprise and is the central organizational element of Financial Accounting (SAP FI).
- Company Codes represent companies in an enterprise from the financial and fiscal
point of view. For instance, the Company Code 1000 might be the German head quar-
ter of Siemens and Company Code 2000 might be the British head quarter of Siemens.
- Every time a process that has money involved is accomplished, youll need to specify
a Company Code!
Controlling Area
- Controlling Areas represent the cost structure of an enterprise. Objects like cost cen-
ters or costing types are defined in reference to Controlling Areas.
- Controlling Areas are the central organizational elements of Management Accounting
(SAP CO).
- A Controlling Area can be responsible for the costing of 1 to N Company Codes. For
instance, depending on the organizational structure, Siemens might have a joint Con-
trolling Area 1000 for the companies in Germany and Great Britain.
Operating Concern
- Operating Concerns are used for profitability analysis, profit center analysis, market
segment analysis, etc.
- The outcome of controlling area data is multi-dimensional. That means that arising
expenses and income made can be analyzed in reference to many organizational ele-
ments. For instance, a market segment analysis might look like this (the dimensions of
the market segment are in capital letters): How much money did we make in the
YEARS 2005 and 2006, with our PRODUCT xy, with our CUSTOMER GROUP z in
EUROPE.
- Operating concerns are used for analysis purposes only.
Business area
- Business Areas organizationally structure a company in distinct areas to facilitate ex-
ternal reporting (balance, profit and loss statement).
- Business Area is a product-based view across the organization allowing for a con-
densed view on particular products or product groups; examples of Siemens Business
Areas: Power Train Engineering, Medical Technology, Security Technology, etc.
3.2.1.2 Operations
Plant
- One can say a Plant is a factory. That is where products are manufactured.
- A Plant can be assigned to only ONE Company Code. Whereas, a Company Code can
have multiple Plants assigned. For instance, Siemens has a factory in Munich and an-
other one Berlin. Both factories belong, from a fiscal and financial (balance sheet)
point of view, to the Company Code Germany (1000).
Division
- Products, materials and services can be assigned to Divisions.
- Since different Sales Organizations can distribute the same products, divisions can be
assigned to multiple Sales Organizations. One Sales Organization can contain multiple
divisions (M:N).
- A division can determine customer-specific agreements, e.g., partial delivery or pay-
ment conditions.
- SAP uses a division to identify the Distribution Channel and the corresponding busi-
ness unit that is responsible for a material.
- A Division (Logistic view) can be congruent to a Business Area (Finance view): ex-
amples of Siemens Division might be Power Train Engineering,
Sales Organization
- Sales Organizations are used to distribute produced materials and offered services of a
company.
- One or more Sales Organizations can be assigned to a particular Company Code (N:1).
Correspondingly, goods distribution can be structured regionally, since it is possible
for Sales Organizations to distribute goods from more than one Plant at the same time
(M:N).
- Accounting is conducted on Company Code level.
Sales Office
- From an organizational point of view, a Sales Office is a sales unit.
- It can be compared to a distribution branch, where intermediates distribute products
and services.
Distribution Channel
- A Distribution Channel is the organizational unit to enable distribution of produced
and salable goods and services.
- Examples of Distribution Channels: Direct Sales, End-Customer Sales, Intermediary,
Whole Sale, Internet.
- More than one Distribution Channel can be assigned to a Sales Organization.
- A Distribution Channel can be assigned to multiple Sales Organizations.
Sales area
- A combination of Sales Organization, Distribution Channel and division is called sales
area.
- It is used for analysis and pricing.
Storage Location
- A Storage Location enables local distinction of material stock within a Plant.
- Quantitative inventory management and inventory are conducted on Storage Location
level.
- A Storage Location is part of a Plant; a Plant can contain multiple storage locations
(1:N).
Purchasing Organization
- Purchasing Organizations are responsible for purchasing materials and services for a
company.
- Alternative procurement of materials is possible, i.e., the purchasing organization may
order for the group (i.e., all Company Codes), a single Plant, all Plants or hybrid
forms.
- The Purchasing organization negotiates procurement terms and conditions with ven-
dors.
Personnel Subarea
- A Personnel Subarea represents a distinct part of a personnel area for HR administra-
tion, time management and billing.
- You can assign multiple personnel subareas to one Personal Area (N:1).
Employee Group
- Personnel-related conditions are defined for an Employee Group.
- The same HR conditions are applicable for each Employee Group (e.g., retired per-
sons, freelancer).
Employee Subgroup
- An Employee Subgroup is the organizational unit under the Employee Group.
- Within an Employee Group, Employee Subgroups define conditions in more detail,
e.g., regarding non-pay scale employees.
- You can assign multiple employee subgroups to an employee group (N:1).
Master data
- Master data are long-term data stored in the SAP ERP system. They are the basis for
each business process.
- Examples of Master data are:
o Customer data
o Material data
o Cost Types
o etc.
- Master data always have an organizational aspect. That is, e.g., the customer Taymaz
Khatami could belong to the Company Code 1000 Germany (Finance view) and to
the Sales Organization 1000 Frankfurt (Logistics view).
- Furthermore, all master data have an organization-independent aspect:
o Materials have a Basic view that is valid for the entire client. That is, you can-
not create the same material twice in the same client.
o The same is true for customer you cannot create the same customer twice in a
client.
o But you can extend the validity of a master record to further organizational
units. That is, customer Taymaz Khatami could also purchase his products
from the company division in Great Britain. Hence his master data record must
be extended to Company Code 2000 Great Britain (Finance view) and to the
Sales Organization 2000 London (Logistics view).
Transactional data
- Transactional data are created when accomplishing processes.
- Examples of transactional data are:
o Sales orders document
o Material documents
o Delivery document
o Billing document
o etc.
- The data entered in particular fields of those documents are derived from the master
data records. Examples are:
o Customer entered in a sales order
o Material entered in a sales order
o Dependent entries like Unit of Measure, Weight, Price-Condition or
Organizational Data are derived from the mater data records you created ear-
lier.
- Every time a transaction is executed to create or change any existing data, some kind
of transactional data and some kind of document is produced.
SAP BW
- A more sophisticated information system is SAP BW (Business Warehouse).
- SAP BW is part of the SAP NetWeaver (Information Integration layer).
- SAP BW is not part of SAP ERP but can be integrated with SAP ERP. Hence, data
from SAP ERP are uploaded to the BW-system for analysis processes.
- SAP BW offers a variety of end-user application tools (Business Explorer) for com-
plex analysis.
4.1.1 Characteristics
The Internet Demonstration and Evaluation System can be characterized as follows:
- completely developed model company
- based on a standard SAP system
- includes master data and transaction data
- complete customizing
- extensive data and process documentation of business processes across components
- online documentation with tutorials for the business processes of the IDES group
The IDES development department is responsible for maintaining and updating organizational
data in IDES, e.g., new planning horizons are created, period-end closings are carried out and
transaction data is created to actualize the information systems. New, interesting business
scenarios are implemented to reveal related functionalities. In detail, this is about the follow-
ing areas:
- organizational structure (customizing)
- new master and transaction data
- period-end and year-end closings
- planning with corresponding horizons
- new business processes
At certain times, data is released from the master system in Walldorf (Germany).
More than 500 (SAP) internal IDES installations are present worldwide as
- training systems,
- demonstration systems and
- consulting systems.
The IDES system is well established as external training and education system. The actualized
group business processes are structured in tutorials. Therefore, the IDES online documenta-
tion is available. Since the integrated processes are completely modeled in the system, IDES
facilitates learning of core functionalities on a step-by-step basis. Detailed process descrip-
tions help users without specific SAP knowledge with a quick start. Additionally, the online
help can be a guideline for internal training and a foundation for the SAP ERP presentation.
Each group area is composed of subgroups, which are in turn composed of companies. The
IDES industry group area consists, for example, of the subgroups IDES Europe, IDES Ameri-
ca and IDES Asia, which in turn consist of their own companies (see the following figure).
Company Codes in IDES are characterized by different focal points, which will be presented
briefly in the following section. Company Code 1000 (Germany) is especially important as it
is used in our case studies.
Different manufacturing functions are assigned to the certain Plants of IDES Germany due to
educational reasons.
the year 2000 was implemented. Additionally, Company Code 2000 is component supplier for
the automotive industry in Plant 2000.
209 personnel master records are maintained and 44 personnel areas are existent. A structured
organizational management is implemented, featuring not only HR but also corporate ser-
vices, financials and administration as well as production and sales. Payroll for employees is
included completely (e.g., wage types, accounting area). Many vacant positions are available,
i.e., hiring and distribution on positions is possible.
You have already learned about the most important terms in this area. With respect to the case
studies implemented in Company Code 1000, it is essential to recognize which chart of ac-
counts, credit control area, and most importantly which controlling area (1000) play a role.
You can learn the following from the figure above: e.g., Sales Organization is Frankfurt
(1000) and the Distribution Channel is for the end customer sales (10).
In a concrete business scenario, only individual organizational units are involved. In this case,
e.g.:
- Company Code 1000 Germany
- Sales Organization 1000 Frankfurt
- Sales Office 1000 Frankfurt
- division 01 Pumps
- Distribution Channel 10 End Customer
- Credit control for debtors takes place in credit control area 1000.
With respect to the case studies, it is important to note that storage locations surrounding a
Plant are numbered consecutively, starting with storage location number 0001. Correspond-
ingly, more than one storage location with number 0001 exists in IDES, but only one belongs
to the Plant 1000 (Hamburg).
4.2.3 Conclusion
You gained a lot of theoretical knowledge about SAP, SAP R/3, SAP ERP, SAP NetWeaver
and IDES. Please bear in mind that this knowledge is the foundation of the following practical
application within the case studies, which are the appeal of this course. So please note that the
theoretical foundations (theory chapters) presented in this teaching unit and in the whole
course are relevant to the SAP certification exam.
Local clients provide the use of the SAP system, accessing the UCC SAP server. Clients (i.e.,
your personal computer) use the latest release of the SAP GUI. The use of the SAP system is
enabled by local single-user installations via remote access.
Note that you must register your IP address each time you want to login to the
SAP system! The registration of your IP address at the servers of the UCC is
valid for one day only. Normally, at 12:00 am the UCC servers reset the IP list.
If that happens you will be kicked out of the system you just need to re-
register your IP address.
Furthermore, your internet provider resets your IP address at least once a day. If that hap-
pens you will be kicked out of the system, too again, you just need to re-register your IP
address.
You should see the log-in screen of the SAP ERP system. Enter the log-in data provided in
the welcome mail.
Now you see the start screen of the SAP ERP system.
- Menu bar
The menu bar is displayed at the top of the screen. The menu items displayed in the
menu bar depend on the current application, i.e., they are context-sensitive.
- Title bar
The title bar names the action you are currently processing.
- Status bar
The status bar displays information about the current system status, e.g., alarm and er-
ror messages.
Favorites
If you use a particular transaction quite frequently, you can drag & drop it into the favorites
list. Then, you can open them from the list by double-clicking them without navigating
through the menu.
To delete particular transactions from the favorites list, select the entry (click on the transac-
tion in Favorites folder once) and select in the application tool bar or press the DEL but-
ton on your keyboard.
Figure 60: SAP Easy Access Menu Delete from Favorites: SAP-System-Screenshot
Transaction code
Entering a transaction code is the fastest way to open a transaction in the SAP system. Usual-
ly, a four-digit transaction code is assigned to each commercial transaction in SAP. If you
know the code for a particular transaction, you can enter it in the command field. After con-
firming with Enter, you can see the initial screen of the particular transaction.
You can find the command field, in which you enter a transaction code, on the upper left cor-
ner of the system function bar. By default, it is hidden. By clicking on the triangular icon
you can unhide it.
To increase learning progress, it is advisable to always look for and run par-
ticular transactions in SAP via the SAP Easy Access menu. Please avoid from
the beginning, retrieving transactions by the means of transaction codes. While
using the SAP Easy Access menu, you will implicitly understand the SAP sys-
tems structure and its interrelation. Accordingly, this will help you in practice to be able to
quickly familiarize yourself with a new scope of duties in SAP.
To display transaction codes in the SAP Easy Access Menu as well, set the flag for display
technical names in the menu bar under extras settings.
Since transactions must be concluded in SAP ERP, you need to either abort
manually or conclude the transaction by saving the data you entered. When
leaving a transaction by using , or , you might be confronted with the
following dialogue screen:
To create a new session from anywhere in the system, choose system create session from
the menu bar of the SAP Easy Access Menu or press in the system function bar.
To close a session, choose system end session or press in the system function bar.
Using F1, you get explanations for fields, menus, functions and messages. With F1, you can
receive technical information as well by using the button.
The following figure shows the usage of the F1-help in transaction VL01N (create delivery)
for the field Shipping Point.
By using F4, you get help regarding input parameters. That is, the system will show you all
entries that are possible for a specific field. You can open the F4 help function alternatively
by using the button right next to a selected field .
The following figure shows the usage of the F4-help in transaction VL01N (create delivery)
for the field Shipping Point.
You can find additional help in the help menu. The menu entry application help offers con-
text-sensitive help regarding the current screen you are working with. The link to the SAP
library forwards you to the online help, which you can access via internet as well
(help.sap.com). The menu entry glossary opens an extensive dictionary for SAP-related terms.
Using the SAP Service Marketplace, you will be forwarded to the SAP service website [Link:
service.sap.com].
1. Click on the drop-down-list Standard PO. Scroll the list up to the top. You see that
there are repeating entries for Electronic commerce. Consider that each entry has a
different technical setting for the document that is created due to the usage of that en-
try. However, the SAP guy who set up this configuration was not paying much atten-
tion when editing the description field of those entries.
2. Fortunately, you can display the Technical Key for all entries in SAP. The Technical
Key has to be unique in the systems customizing. Thus, displaying that key will
prevent you from selecting wrong entries in the case studies. Therefore, press the
button and select Options.
3. In the pop-up window, expand the folder Interaction Design/Visualization Interaction
and select Show keys within dropdown lists. Selecting Sort by keys... will display the
keys in alphabetical order in the drop-down-list. Press .
4. Now the Technical Keys for the entries should be displayed and you can easily dis-
tinguish between them.
It is essential for preventing errors in the case studies later on, to set your SAP
GUI in that way that it displays the technical keys.
JavaGUI users can set the technical key in the SAP JavaGUI Logon Pad directly
as described in the following figure.
You can use the -Button to customize the local layout of your SAP GUI to
match your needs. You can set shortcut-keys, you can set the appearance of the
GUI, vary the design, etc. For instance, you can select Design Settings and turn
off the typical (sometimes annoying) SAP GUI sound. However, you can ex-
plore the settings on your own if you want to. The settings apply to your GUI only.
Desktop Shortcut
Another very useful tip is to create a short-cut for the system/client login on your desktop.
The problem with the login is that you always have to enter the client, your user and the
password when logging in to the system. By creating a short-cut, you only need to enter the
password.
1. In the system function bar, press the button .
2. In the following pop-up window, enter a title for the short-cut as well as the client
and the user from your welcome mail. Select English as language and press .
3. Now you will find a short-cut on your desktop. From now on you only need to dou-
ble-click that short-cut and enter your password to access the system
The short-cut does not affect the registration of your IP address with the SAP
servers. That is, you need to register your IP prior to accessing the system an-
yways whether you use the short-cut or the normal SAP logon group.
1. Sessions
How many sessions can you at maximum create at the same time? Use the appropriate button
in the system function bar.
______________________________________________
Every time you see a line like the one above, you are prompted to write down
the answer or the result on the corresponding data sheet. Every teaching unit
has its own data sheet.
After completing a teaching unit, please submit the carefully completed data
sheet via email (using the email address you received with the welcome email
of this course).
2. Transactions
What are the names of the transactions that you find in the SAP standard menu via the follow-
ing paths (SAP Easy Access menu) and what is the corresponding transaction code?
SAP menu Logistics Sales and Distribution Billing Billing Document Dis-
play
VA01: ______________________________________________
MMR1: ______________________________________________
MM01: ______________________________________________
MM02: ______________________________________________
To assign favorites to lists, you should first create folders: Favorites Insert folder. Choose
a user-defined name for the folder. You can create as many folders as you like. You can drag
& drop folders. To create favorites, select particular transactions from the SAP Easy Access
menu that you need for the case studies. Select them and choose Favorites add to Favor-
ites to add transactions to your favorites list. You can move them using Favorites Move
Up/Down. Additionally, you can add favorites by using drag & drop.
F1 help:
Open the transaction VA01 and click in the Sales Organization. Next, choose the F1 help
function. What is a Sales Organization (bullet points)?
_________________________________________
_________________________________________
In case the system displays an empty screen when opening the F1 help function, you can
choose Help Settings and set the button to modal dialog box. Then, SAP F1 help should
work even without performance assistant.
F4 help:
Close the screen displaying the definition of a Sales Organization. However, remain in the
initial screen of transaction VA01. Click in the Distribution Channel field. What are the
names of the first three Distribution Channels and which Sales Organization are they assigned
to?
1. Sessions
How many sessions can you at maximum create at the same time? Use the appropriate button
in the system function bar.
15, in case you try to create another session, you will see the following message:
2. Transactions
What are the names of the transactions that you can open in the SAP standard menu via the
following paths (SAP Easy Access menu) and what are the corresponding transaction codes?
SAP menu Logistics Sales and Distribution Billing Billing Document Dis-
play
You can receive further information about a (selected) transaction by pressing the shift-key
and F11.
You can add URL links by clicking with the right mouse button in the SAP menu on favorite
and choose add other object. Select either web address or file name and confirm by press-
ing Enter.
F4 help:
Close the screen displaying the definition of a Sales Organization. However, remain in the
initial screen of transaction VA01. Click in the Distribution Channel field. What are the
names of the first three Distribution Channels and which Sales Organization are they assigned
to?
6 Data Sheet
Thus, the introductory unit is concluded and you can now start working with the business-
related case studies.
Finally, please submit the carefully completed data sheet to your tutor (use support email
address from the welcome mail) for the case study introduction.
Please comply with the naming rules. Non-compliant data sheets will not be accepted; i.e., re-
name the document that you downloaded from this courses download area as follows:
00-introduction-xxyy-zzz-surname.doc
Thereby, you need to replace xxyy with your user number without the WIP and without the
hyphen (WIP-xx-yy) and replace zzz with the number of the client you are working on.
Example:
Your name is Max Mustermann, you are working on client 901, and your user number is
WIP-99-99. Then, name the document as follows:
00-introduction-9999-901-Mustermann.doc
7 Reflexion
Test your knowledge. In this section you are confronted with some questions
regarding the theoretical chapters of this teaching unit. Try to answer the ques-
tions on your own before taking a look at the standard solutions.
7.1 Questions
True/False Questions
3. Which of the following are reasons to move from R/3 to mySAP ERP?
(2 correct answers)
a. Need to consolidate multiple R/3 systems.
b. Increase the total cost of ownership.
c. Extend the scope of the existing ERP functionality.
d. Need to separate Company data by Client.
6. Which of the following describes data and transactions in the SAP system?
(1 correct answer)
a. Output is created for every transaction in the system.
b. Documents are created by using master data and organizational elements.
c. Master data can be deleted at any time.
d. Master data entered at the client level can only be used by one Company Code.
7. Which of the following are correct regarding the advantages of using Master Data Rec-
ords in an ERP system?
(3 correct answers)
a. Consistency
b. Reduces data redundancies
c. Data conversion is not necessary
d. Improves data integrity
9. The Process Integration component of NetWeaver includes which of the following SAP
product?
(1 correct answer)
a. SAP EP
b. SAP BW
c. SAP XI
d. SAP Web AS
11. Which of the following are external technologies used with NetWeaver?
(2 correct answers)
a. Websphere by IBM
b. Exchange infrastructure by IBM
c. .net by Microsoft
d. SAP Enterprise Portal
13. Which of the following answers are true with respect to the SAP XI?
(3 correct answers)
a. Proxy generation and mapping tools
b. Integration directory with content
c. Consistent storage of master data
d. Enterprise and vendor potential for SAP
True/False Questions
Answer: False
3. Which of the following are reasons to move from R/3 to mySAP ERP?
(2 correct answers)
a. Need to consolidate multiple R/3 systems.
b. Increase the total cost of ownership.
c. Extend the scope of the existing ERP functionality.
d. Need to separate Company data by Client.
Answers: a, c
6. Which of the following describes data and transactions in the SAP system?
(1 correct answer)
a. Output is created for every transaction in the system.
b. Documents are created by using master data and organizational elements.
c. Master data can be deleted at any time.
d. Master data entered at the client level can only be used by one Company Code.
Answers: b
7. Which of the following are correct regarding the advantages of using Master Data Rec-
ords in an ERP system?
(3 correct answers)
a. Consistency
b. Reduces data redundancies
c. Data conversion is not necessary
d. Improves data integrity
Answers: a, b, d
9. The Process Integration component of NetWeaver includes which of the following SAP
product?
(1 correct answer)
a. SAP EP
b. SAP BW
c. SAP XI
d. SAP Web AS
Answers: c
Answers: a, c
11. Which of the following are external technologies used with NetWeaver?
(2 correct answers)
a. Websphere by IBM
b. Exchange infrastructure by IBM
c. .net by Microsoft
d. SAP Enterprise Portal
Answers: a, c
13. Which of the following answers are true with respect to the SAP XI?
(3 correct answers)
a. Proxy generation and mapping tools
b. Integration directory with content
c. Consistent storage of master data
d. Enterprise and vendor potential for SAP
Answers: a, b, d