Juraj Puljić Bianca Fiedler

Systems, Applications & Products in Data Processing

Essay

University of Zagreb Faculty of Economics and Business

Enterprise Information Systems

Zagreb, April 2015

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 3 1.1 Essay Scope and Purpose ....................................................................................... 3 1.2 Data Sources and Collection Methods ................................................................... 3 1.3 Essay Content and Structure .................................................................................. 3

2 SHORT DESCRIPTION OF SAP .......................................................................... 4 2.1 Short Description ...................................................................................................... 4 2.2 Link to Software Homepage .................................................................................... 4 2.3 Software Screenshot ................................................................................................ 5

3 TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS ............................................................................ 5 4 DETAILED SOFTWARE DESCRIPTION & HISTORY ......................................... 7

4.1 Software Functions & Business Usage ................................................................ 15 4.2 Tutorial - Purchase Order Creation ....................................................................... 17

5 SOFTWARE SETUP ........................................................................................... 38 6 COMPETITION .................................................................................................... 39 7 ADVANTAGES & DISADVANTAGES ................................................................ 40 8 SWOT ANALYSIS ............................................................................................... 42 9 STARTING COSTS ............................................................................................. 43 10 STATISTICS ...................................................................................................... 44 11 SOFTWARE UPGRADE ................................................................................... 46 12 CONCLUSION .................................................................................................. 47 13 REFERENCES & LIST OF WEB LINKS .......................................................... 48 14 LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................ 51 15 ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................... 52 16 AUTHORS’ CV .................................................................................................. 53

1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Essay Scope and Purpose The purpose of this essay is to introduce SAP SE (Systems, Applications & Products in Data Processing), which is an Enterprise Information System. The essay will show the various ways it is used and applied in everyday corporate life. The essay aims to help students reach a better understanding of the practical side of business and the role that this information system plays in it. 1.2 Data Sources and Collection Methods The data in this essay were collected from various sources, mostly online, including the official website of SAP SE, market research, companies’ history archives, and various other analyses. The sources used are considered reliable and they are useful with respect to the purpose of this essay. They can be found at the end of the essay, under the chapter “Bibliography”. 1.3 Essay Content and Structure This essay is split into 12 chapters: it starts with the introduction, where the main purpose of the essay is briefly explained, along with the short description of the data collection methods used, and the content structure. It then goes on to give basic information on the topic, like the short description and technical requirements, before proceeding into more detail, history and describing its usage in business. After that, the essay takes into consideration some macro-elements, like the competition and SWOT analysis, and names the advantages and disadvantages of SAP, as well as looking at the costs, statistics and upgrades. The essay ends with a general conclusion of the authors and lists the references and sources in the alphabetical order, and the abstract to wrap up.

2 SHORT DESCRIPTION OF SAP 2.1 Short Description Headquartered in Walldorf, Germany, SAP is the world leader in enterprise applications in terms of software and software-related service revenue. SAP sells licenses for its software, as well as offering consulting, training, etc. for its solutions. SAP, by definition is also name of the ERP (Enterprise Resource Planing) software, as well the name of the company.1 At $149 per user per month, only Salesforce.com is priced higher. Based on market capitalization, they are the world’s third largest independent software manufacturer. They have locations in more than 130 countries, 282,000 customers and more than 74,400 employees around the world. Their innovative solutions combine break-through technologies, applications, analytics, mobile, databases, and cloud.2 2.2 Link to Software Homepage http://go.sap.com/index.html

1 Guru99, What is SAP? Definition of SAP ERP Software; more at: http://www.guru99.com/what-is-sap-definition-of-sap-erp-software.html 2 SAP at a glance: company information; more at: http://www.sap.com/corporate-en/about/our-company/index.html

2.3 Software Screenshot

Picture 1: SAP Offers Small Businesses More Visibility and Control, source: http://www.news-sap.com/tags/screenshots-2/

3 TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS SAP supports over 40 data sources, including ODBC, JDBC, Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Access, Microsoft Excel, Oracle Database, BM DB2, Teradata, Progress OpenEdge, Pervasive, PostgreSQL, salesforce.com, and more. The latest official technical requirements necessary to run SAP are:3 • Disk space: 2GB available hard drive space for English only, 4 GB for all

languages (French, German, Japanese, Spanish, simplified Chinese, Italian, Dutch, Russian, Korean, traditional Chinese, Brazilian Portuguese, Swedish, Polish, Danish, Norwegian, Thai, Czech, Hungarian, Slovakian, Finnish, Romanian)

3 Technical Details and System Requirements; more at: http://www.sap.com/croatia/solution/sme/software/analytics/crystal-reports/implement/requirements.html

• Operating systems: Microsoft Windows 7, Windows Vista SP2, Windows XP SP3, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008 SP2, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003 R2 SP2, Windows Server 2003 SP2

4 DETAILED SOFTWARE DESCRIPTION & HISTORY SAP AG is the fifth largest independent software producer worldwide and the largest producer of standard enterprise-wide business applications for the roughly $9 billion global client-server software market. The company’s principal business activities are the development and marketing of an integrated line of prepackaged computer software for over 1,000 predefined business processes, from financial accounting, human resources, and plant maintenance to quality assurance, materials management, sales and distribution, and business workflow. Its two major products, the R/2 and R/3 suite of business software applications, are used by over 4,000 companies in the oil and gas, banking, insurance, utilities, telecommunications, pharmaceuticals, consumer products, automotive, retail, health care, chemicals, and high tech and electronics industries. Through its 28 international subsidiaries, led by its U.S. subsidiary SAP America, SAP AG markets its software and consulting, training, and support services in more than 50 countries. 4 The very basic question is why Enterprise Resource Planning, also called ERP is required. To answer this, let’s examine this typical business scenario:5 Sales Team approaches the Inventory department to check for availability of the product. In case the product is out of stock, the sales team approaches the Production Planning Department to manufacture the product. The Production planning Team checks with inventory department for availability of raw material. If raw material is not available with inventory, the Production Planning team buys the raw material from the Vendors, and then Production Planning forwards the raw materials to the Shop Floor Execution for actual production. Once ready, the Shop Floor Team forwards the goods to the Sales Team, who in turn deliver it to the client. The Sales Team updates the Finance with revenue generated by sale of product. Production planning Team update the finance with payments to be made to different vendors for raw materials. All departments approach the HR for any Human Resource related issue. That is a typical business process of in a manufacturing company. Some key inferences one could derive from the scenario would be: • A typical Enterprise has many Departments or Business Units. • These Departments or Business Units continuously communicate and exchange

data with each other. • The success of any organization lies in effective communication, and data

exchange, within these departments, as well as associated Third Party such as Vendors, Outsourcers, and Customers.

Based on the manner in which communication and data exchanged is managed, Enterprise Systems can be broadly classified as: 1) Decentralized System 2) Centralized System, which are also called as ERP. Let’s look at Decentralized system first: 4 Company History; more at: http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/sap-ag-history/ 5 Guru99, What is SAP? Definition of SAP ERP Software; more at: http://www.guru99.com/what-is-sap-definition-of-sap-erp-software.html

In a company with Decentralized System of Data Management, Data is maintained locally at the individual departments; Departments do not have access to information or data of other Departments. To identify problems arising due to decentralized Enterprise management system let’s look at the same business process again. The Customer approaches the sales team for a product, but this time around they need the product, on an urgent basis. The Sales Team do not have real-time information access to the products inventory. So they approach the Inventory department to check the availability of the product. This process takes time and customer chooses another vendor. Loss of Revenue and Customer Dissatisfaction. Now, suppose the product is out of stock and the Sales Team approaches the Production Planning team to manufacture the product for future use. Production Planning Team checks the availability of the raw materials required. Raw Material Information is separately stored by Production Planning as well as Inventory Department. Thus Data Maintenance Cost (in this case Raw Material) goes up. A particular raw material required to manufacture the product is available in the inventory, but as per the database of the production planning team, the raw material is out of stock. So , they go ahead and buy the raw material. Thus, material as well inventory cost goes up. Once the raw material is available, the shop floor department suddenly realize they are short of workers. They approach the HR, who in turn hire temporary employees at higher than market rates. Thus Labor Cost increases. The production planning department fails to update the finance department on the materials they have purchased. The finance department defaults the payment deadline set by the vendor causing the company loss of its repute and even inviting a possible legal action. This is just a few of many a problems with decentralized systems. Some major problems with the decentralized system are: • Numerous disparate information systems are developed individually over

time which are difficult to maintain • Integrating the data is time and money consuming • Inconsistencies and duplication of data • Lack of timely information leads to customer dissatisfaction, loss of revenue and

repute • High Inventory, material and human resource cost. These are some major drawbacks for which we need a solution. The solution lies in Centralized Systems, i.e. ERP. In a company with Centralized System of Information and Data Management: 1) Data is maintained at a central location and is shared with various Departments. 2) Departments have access to information or data of other Departments. Let’s look at the same business process again to understand how a Centralized Enterprise System helps overcoming problems posed by a Decentralized Enterprise System. In this Case, all departments update a Central Information System. When a Customer approaches the sales team to buy a product on an urgent basis, The Sales Team has real-time information access to the products in inventory which is updated by the Inventory Department in the Centralized System. Sales Team responds on time leading to Increased Revenue and Customer Delight. In case manufacturing is required, the Sales Team update the Centralized Database. Production Planning Department is auto updated by the Centralized Database for

requirements. Production Planning Team checks the availability of the raw materials required via Central Database which is updated by the Inventory Department. Thus Data Duplication is avoided and accurate data is made available. The Shop Floor Team update their Man Power Status regularly in the Central Database which can be accessed by the HR department. In case of shortage of workforce. HR team starts recruitment process with considerable lead time to hire a suitable candidate at market price. Thus labor cost goes down. Vendors can directly submit their invoices to the Central Enterprise System which can be accessed by the Finance Department. Thus payments are made on time and possible legal actions are avoided. The key benefits of the centralized system are: • It Eliminates the duplication, discontinuity and redundancy in data • Provides information across departments in real time • Provides control over various business processes • Increases productivity, better inventory management, promotes quality, reduced

material cost, effective human resources management, reduced overheads boost profits

• Better Customer Interaction, increased throughput. • Improves Customer Service Hence, a Centralized Enterprise Management System is required. And that is what SAP is and how it works. SAP AG was founded in 1972 by five German engineers with IBM in Mannheim, Germany; interestingly four of the founders — Hasso Plattner, Dietmar Hopp, Klaus Tschira, and Hans Werner Hector — were still with SAP in early 1996. When an IBM client asked IBM to provide enterprise-wide software to run on its mainframe, the five began writing the program only to be told the assignment was being transferred to another unit. Rather than abandon the project altogether, they left IBM and founded SAP in Walldorf, near Heidelberg. While the company originally took its name from the abbreviation for Systemanalyse und Programmenentwicklung (German for: systems analysis and program development), SAP eventually came to stand for Systeme, Anwendungen, und Produkte in Datenverarbeitung (German for: systems, applications, and products in data processing). Without the benefit of loans from banks, venture capitalists, or the German government, SAP began popularizing its software business gradually through the cash flow generated by an ever-growing stable of customers. Working at night on borrowed computers to land their first contracts, Plattner and colleagues built SAP's client list with German firms in its region, beginning with a German subsidiary of the global chemical company ICI and later adding such major German multinationals as Siemens and BMW. Operating in a corporate computing climate in which business programs were designed to provide only specific, isolated solutions with no relevance to a company’s other applications, let alone any outside company’s needs, the idea of a fully integrated software product that could be tailored to any company’s business proved a hard sell at first. However, because SAP produced software, a non-labor-intensive product, it was able to avoid the labor agreements and high costs that dog

many German manufacturing startups. In 1976 SAP declared itself a GmbH (Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung) corporation, or limited liability company, and by 1978 it was selling its financial accounting software to 40 corporate customers.6 In 1978 SAP began developing, and the following year released, R/2 (R for “real-time”), a mainframe-based, standard business software suite in which integratable modules for accounting, sales and distribution, and production enabled customers to consolidate their financial and operational data into a single database and eliminate costly paperwork and data entry. Because the modules were self-standing, businesses could select only those they needed, which could then be further customized to their unique requirements. The promise of real-time integration of mission-critical corporate data, viewable through the spreadsheet-like windows of specialized software, offered the potential for uniform data flow, streamlined business operations, and centralized decision-making. Relying on word of mouth filtering through the overseas branches of its German customers, SAP soon began selling its software outside Europe. With corporate giants like Dow Chemical and Bayer already running R/2, SAP could rely on the fear of obsolescence of its customers' rivals to sell its software to the major competitors in each industry. Among the large corporations who began to adopt R/2 were Dupont, General Mills, Goodyear Tire and Rubber, Heinz, and Shell Oil, as well as 80 of the 100 largest companies in Germany, such as Hoechst, Daimler Benz, and BASF. By 1991 R/2 had gone through four releases or versions and had established itself as the standard for integrated corporate business software in Europe. By 1994, SAP could claim more than 1,400 R/2 installations worldwide.7 As R/2’s potential began to peak in the mid-1980s, Plattner and company’s former employer, IBM, announced a new “system applications architecture” (SAA) technology in which all IBM operating systems and platforms would be fully harmonized such that code written for one product would work with any other. Seeing the ramifications of such integratability for its own products, in 1987 SAP began developing R/3 for use in the decentralized, non-mainframe computing environment known as client-server. In client-server arrangements, data is processed not by a single costly mainframe but by many cheaper networked “server” computers, which display their data on flexibly arrangeable PCs called “clients”. While R/2 focused on providing data processing solutions for static, individual functions of business operations, such as inventory tracking or shipping, R/3 was designed to allow a business to view its entire business operation as a single integrated process in which data entered into any single application in the system would simultaneously be registered in every other. In theory, a company’s entire data network would now be a cohesive, interpretable whole that would enable management to more efficiently allocate resources, develop products, manage inventory, forecast trends, streamline manufacturing processes, and automate routine operations. R/3 itself consisted of IBM’s OS/2 operating system as its “front end” or user interface, IBM’s DB2 program as its database component, and SAP’s own 6 1970s Founding, Company History; more at: http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/sap-ag-history/ 7 R/2 in the Late 1970s, Company History; more at: http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/sap-ag-history/

proprietary application component, which was based on AT&T’s Unix operating system because it offered the greatest functionality with other vendors’ systems. Thus was created the three-tiered architecture — interface or desktop + database + application — on which all later versions of R/3 would be based. By 1987 SAP had grown to 450 employees and boasted sales of DM150 million. And although no less than 27 percent of this was plowed back into research, in 1988 SAP GmbH formally converted itself to a publicly traded Aktiengesellschaft (AG) to raise even more capital for research and development. SAP had established its first operations outside Germany in the mid-1980s, but it was not until the creation of a Swiss-based subsidiary, SAP International, in the late 1980s that it began the expansion that would make it a truly international player in the global client-server software market. In 1988, it established SAP America in Philadelphia, staffing it initially with transplanted German managers. SAP executives soon realized, however, that an American team was more likely to be able to maneuver through the idiosyncrasies of the U.S. software market and soon began hiring U.S. professionals. One not unimportant result was the abandonment of traditional German business practices in favor of a more American approach: lifting limits, for example, on how much salesmen could earn in commissions and submitting budgets in which fully one-third of all annual resources were devoted to product marketing. Fueled by the release of R/3 in 1992, SAP America began to grow into SAP AG’s most profitable subsidiary, expanding from two U.S. offices to twenty between 1992 and 1995 alone.8 After five years in development, R/3 had been launched with the expectation that it would complement R/2’s multinational-oriented niche by extending SAP’s reach into the mid-sized, less mainframe-dominated business software market. Unexpectedly, however, R/3’s release coincided with a growing trend toward corporate downsizing, and even SAP’s largest customers began eyeing R/3 as a less labor-intensive replacement for R/2. As a result, in the space of one year (1992-93), the percentage of SAP America’s total revenue generated by R/3 catapulted from five to 80 percent, and R/2’s status as SAP’s flagship product dwindled from 95 percent of revenues to only 20 percent. R/3 was suddenly hot, and virtually overnight SAP had translated its reputation as Germany's wunderfirma to the global stage. On the strength of R/3’s rocketing sales, by the mid-1990s SAP had traveled from the relative anonymity of 1992 to the business applications vendor of choice for nine of the ten largest U.S. corporations, one-third of the Fortune 500, seven of the ten largest Business Week Global 1000, and 80 percent of the Fortune 100 companies in software, computers, peripherals, and semiconductors. Total sales revenues had nearly tripled between 1991 and 1995 to DM 2.7 billion and had increased 66 percent between 1993 and 1994 alone. Such major corporations as Apple, Chevron, Colgate-Palmolive, Digital Equipment, and Polaroid were jumping on the R/3 bandwagon, and by September 1995 SAP could claim over 1,100 installations of R/3 for companies with $1 billion or more in sales (in addition to 700 R/2 installations) and more than 1,300 installations in smaller companies (with 800 R/2 installations). SAP’s share price had in the meantime grown 1,000 percent since its introduction on

8 R/3 Development in the 1980s, Company History; more at: http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/sap-ag-history/

the German stock exchange in 1988, and by 1996 it ranked as the highest valued company in Germany.9 Two years into the R/3 boom, SAP’s sales to German companies, once its sole market, had fallen to 37 percent; North American sales accounted for one-third of all revenues; and the Asia-Pacific market was expected to reach the same level by the year 2000. With two-thirds of all sales revenues now coming from its foreign subsidiaries, in 1996 SAP relocated most of its marketing operation to its Wayne, Pennsylvania, complex. Between 1992 and 1996, it opened subsidiaries in South Africa, Malaysia, Japan, the Czech Republic, Russia, mainland China, and Mexico among others, and was making R/3 available in 14 foreign languages including Russian, Mandarin Chinese, and Thai. As SAP’s global market share in client-server applications began to climb toward 30 percent, new versions of R/3 were released to enhance customizability, reduce installation time, and extend the number of business processes the product addressed. Version 3.0, released in 1995, offered modules in four basic business areas: financial, sales and distribution, manufacturing and logistics, and human resources. A complete R/3 system involved more than 75 modules, 7,000 tables controlling over 3,000 processes, as many as 17 million lines of code, and an installation time of seven to nine months. While individual modules were priced at about $100,000 each, the total installation tab for the average customer (excluding consultants' fees) amounted to $1 million. Complete installations, however, including software, hardware, and system integration, were known to climb as high as $30 million. If the corporate world's sudden enthusiasm for the R/3 solution at times resembled a religious conversion, there was never a scarcity of heretical dissent. Some customers began to complain of the extreme complexity of R/3’s structure, which forced users to search through several layers of menus before finding the application they wanted to run. Configuring the product to conform to the highly particular needs of corporate clients took months, and sometimes over a year, to complete, and the third-party consultants hired to guide clients through the installation ordeal often had little practical experience or abandoned customers for more lucrative projects midway through. Moreover, the rule of thumb that corporations should prepare to spend one dollar on consultants for every dollar spent on software became an object of nostalgia as consultant-to-software expense ratios for R/3 installations rose to four and even ten to one. As SAP began to enjoy the monolithic status of Microsoft and IBM it was also accused of arrogantly forcing its system on customers who could not use R/3 unless it was modified to conform to their unique business practices. Finally, some corporate information technology managers, taking the dictum “You don’t get fired for buying SAP” too close to heart, were convincing their companies to invest in R/3 without examining whether they really needed so robustly featured a system or whether it could create, for them, the efficiencies that would justify its cost.10 SAP’s two major competitors, Oracle Systems (United States) and Baan (the Netherlands), were meanwhile making inroads into SAP’s market share. Although 9 Introduction of R/3 in the 1990s, Company History; more at: http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/sap-ag-history/ 10 Foreign Markets in the 1990s, Company History; more at: http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/sap-ag-history/

Oracle’s database product was the program most often used as R/3’s database component — making SAP the largest value-added reseller of Oracle products — in 1995 Oracle announced it would overtake SAP as the world’s leading provider of industry-specific software within three years. Baan, though dwarfed by SAP in sales and customers, scored major coups in the mid-1990s when both Boeing and German giant Siemens Nixdorf rejected R/3 in favor of Baan’s quick-installing business software package. SAP board member Henning Kagermann dismissed the setbacks, telling the Deutsche Presse Agentur, “If SAP wins a large order, it’s accepted as natural. When we lose a potential customer, immediately it’s a big headline”. SAP management also dispelled the severity of the threat posed by Oracle, pointing out that it in head-to-head competition SAP still won the contract 80 percent of the time. Two public relations disasters in the mid-1990s suggested not only the extent of the controversy that had begun to surround R/3 but also SAP's savvy in handling criticism. In March 1995 the German business magazine Wirtschaftswoche published an article accusing SAP of accepting commissions from hardware vendors for computers sold to SAP customers and quoting several users’ disparaging remarks about the expense and installation time required by R/3. As share prices nose-dived, SAP lashed back. Its hardware partners unanimously denied any kickback arrangement with SAP, and SAP itself took out a court order on the magazine for inaccuracy and deliberate misquotation and ran four-page ads in major German print outlets in which the article's sources claimed they were misquoted and expressed satisfaction with R/3. Then, in early 1996, U.S. computer industry analyst Forrester Research published a study in which it argued that SAP’s R/3 was based on an obsolete architecture that could not keep pace with the open, nonproprietary architecture increasingly favored by the software industry. SAP, Forrester claimed, knew that R/3 would be obsolete by 1997 and secretly planned to foist a brand new “object-based” system called R/10 on its customers in 1999, masking its deployment through a series of add-ons to R/3. All SAP customers, Forrester advised, should minimize their dependency on R/3 and prepare “exit strategies” to avoid being trapped into an expensive installation of a new SAP product. SAP reacted by prematurely releasing quarterly financial figures showing that R/3 sales had not in fact peaked and by vehemently denying that it was planning to abandon R/3. It further vowed to spend DM3 billion on R&D over the next five years and announced plans for new versions of R/3 that reflected its willingness to make the product, which was based on its own proprietary programming language, more open to integration with other vendors’ products. SAP, moreover, signaled it was embracing the Internet-driven trend toward “object-oriented” software in which applications could be embedded with other vendors’ mini-programs (called “objects” or “applets”). The strategy worked, and Forrester Research was soon announcing that SAP was “leading in the new Internet game”.11 In the mid-1990s industry observers agreed that SAP’s continued dominance of the client-server business software market rested on its ability to stay ahead of the

11 Competition and Other Challenges, Company History; more at: http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/sap-ag-history/

breathtaking pace of change in the global software market. In the mid-1990s, for example, SAP was directly affected by the rise of the “intranet”, a microcosmic version of the Internet created by companies as in-house data networks, mirroring the structure and appearance of the World Wide Web but protected from the cybersurfing public by so-called firewalls. By seeming to offer the potential to perform many of the same business applications and data processing features of R/3, such intranets represented a plausible threat to SAP’s market leadership. SAP responded by announcing new features that would turn R/3 into an Internet-capable tool. Using a browser connected to the Web, for example, two companies with R/3 installed in their systems could process orders in real time over the Internet, while consumers could order products electronically from a company’s online catalog and be confident the order was registered immediately in the company's R/3 system. SAP’s ability to sustain its success also depended on its willingness to continue working, a la Microsoft, with its hundreds of strategic partner firms throughout the computer and services industries. SAP’s Platform Partners program, for example, had enabled it to cooperate with computer manufacturers such as Compaq and IBM in tailoring SAP products to new hardware developments. And its partnership program with such Big Six accounting firms as Arthur Andersen and Price Waterhouse had spawned a lucrative new subindustry of R/3 consultants whose institutional independence from SAP enabled it to focus more of its resources on improving its product. Finally, SAP’s participation with other software vendors in industry-wide initiatives (such as the Open Application Group) to determine standards for new technologies demonstrated its willingness to cooperate with potential competitors to ensure the continued functionality and influence of its products. Significantly, in 1994 SAP formed an alliance with America’s software giant Microsoft to make SAP software integratable with such Microsoft products as Windows NT, an operating system for networked computers, and SQL Server, a database product. In 1995, Microsoft returned the favor by selecting R/3 for its global finance and accounting data system. In early 1996, Microsoft founder and chairman Bill Gates paid a symbolic visit to SAP AG’s German headquarters to talk up the two megacompanies’ budding relationship. “We love SAP”, he said. “SAP has had more impact on our general product direction than any other software company we have worked with … [Microsoft and SAP] are the two best companies to be in”. By learning how to quash media and public relations flare-ups and better market its products, by continuing to modify R/3 to capitalize on new technologies like the Internet, and by encouraging third-party vendors to develop specialized add-on applications to extend the number of business areas in which R/3 could be used, SAP appeared to have positioned itself to remain a formidable presence in the global business software market.12

12 The Future, Company History; more at: http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/sap-ag-history/

4.1 Software Functions & Business Usage The main reason behind SAP ERP’s popularity is its ability to bring together all of the major business processes in any industry. Once installed, it can integrate HCM (human capital management), CRM (customer relationship management), finance, business sales and services, manufacturing, logistics and materials management and procurement – giving an enterprise the ability to centrally coordinate all its business areas. SAP offers features across the business areas; some of the main functions include:13 • Accounting tools give complete control over the company’s accounting needs.

Managing ledgers, cash flow, payables & receivables, and assets - all integrated with the business processes. SAP has a strong set of accounting features. With SAP’s billing & invoicing feature it is easy to create invoices and bill clients right from the software, eliminating the inefficiency of manually doing so.

• Business intelligence tools allow to leverage company data to make better-informed business decisions. Use in-depth reports to monitor the health of any stage of the company’s operations, including financials, production, sales, etc. SAP module has a strong set of business intelligence features, making it a good choice. With the custom reports & dashboards, it is possible to segment data to gain insight into specific aspects of the business that go beyond the usual reporting tools included in most business intelligence tools.

• Human resources tools give complete control over administrative employee functions such as recruiting, benefits, etc. Using integrated data and a centralized repository for employee data will streamline the HR process. SAP has a wide array of human resources features. With complete payroll management, SAP can handle all aspects of the payroll process - calculation, tax withholdings & returns, virtual & printed paychecks, time & attendance, and more - saving the time and effort of performing these functions with an outside program. It is even possible to track employee training programs to make sure everyone’s up to speed with company policies and necessary skills.

• Inventory management tools give oversight over product counts, material stocks, and company assets, including their locations, movements, transactions, and more. Quickly realize an increase in ROI by reducing or eliminating idle inventory and shortages. SAP is pretty average in terms of inventory management features. While SAP does not have the most robust inventory management functionality, it does have a fleet management feature - important for keeping track of vehicle location, financing, and maintenance.

• Supply Chain: With supply chain management tools, it is possible to control every aspect of the supply chain from beginning to end: sending requests for proposal (RFP) to potential suppliers, receiving vendor bids, processing orders, and more.

• Manufacturing tools give complete oversight over the manufacturing processes, including bills of materials (BOM), manufacturing resource planning (known in the industry as MRP II), scheduling of machines & labor, and more. Any firm in the manufacturing industry should definitely have this module as a part of their ERP to

13 SoftwareInsider, SAP Features; more at: http://erp.softwareinsider.com/l/218/SAP

reap the potential efficiency gains. Even though SAP doesn't have the most manufacturing features, it is still possible to manage many of the company’s manufacturing processes. Notably, though, it will not interface with computer-aided design (CAD) software, which is likely a deal-breaker if the company uses such software for product engineering and design (to compare CAD software options, see our CAD Software Topic). It also lacks a sampling feature, which allows you to easily establish acceptance criteria, track a sample to a certain heat number or batch code, account for the sample's raw materials and machine hours used, etc. Performing this function manually could lead to inefficiency.

• Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tools will help streamline the customer service process, increase customer retention, decrease customer acquisition costs, accelerate your team's performance and leverage customer data to increase the effectiveness of marketing campaigns. With a variety of customer service tools including a call center and help desk, SAP allows to assist customers whether they inquire via phone or the web.

4.2 Tutorial - Purchase Order Creation First you need to check the availability of raw materials at your warehouse. The row material “KAMEN DIABAZ” is stored on “Production plant BP01”, on the storage location “004 Sirovine”.

1. By clicking SAP menu – Logistics – Materials Management – Inventory Management – Environment – Stock – MB52 – Warehouse Stock you will open the transaction for checking the status of the stock (Picture43). But first, just select the transaction.

Picture 1: MB52 Warehouse Stock transaction in SAP menu

2. Put transaction MB52 – Warehouse Stock on the favorite list by clicking with the right mouse button on it as shown in Picture 44.

Picture 2: Adding MB52 - Warehouse Stock to Favorites

3. Now run the transaction MB52 – Warehouse Stock by double left clicks. The new window will appear like the one in Picture 45.

Picture 3: Display Warehouse Stocks of Material Window

4. You should fill in three cells: Material, Plant and Storage Location. First click the

icon to select the Material. A new window will open (Picture 46).

Picture 4: Material Number Window

5. To select the Croatian language click on the icon on the Language Key cell (Picture 47).

Picture 5: Language Select

6. Then click the start search as shown in Picture 48.

Picture 6: Start Search

7. A new window will appear (Picture 49) where you should select the raw material called “KAMEN DIABAZ X” by double left clicks. “X” refers to your username number, for example if you log in with username “korisnik021” you should select the material called “KAMEN DIABAZ 21”.

Picture 7: List of Materials

8. Click the icon on the second cell to select the Plant. In the newly created window (Picture 50) select “BP01 Production plant”.

Picture 8: Plants List

9. Finally you should select the Storage location on the third cell. Click the icon to select the new window storage location called “004 Sirovine” as shown in Picture 51.

Picture 9: Storage Locations List

10. After filling in all the three requested cells (Material, Plant and Storage Location) you should have a window the one in Picture 52.

Picture 10: Filled in cells

11. Click the Execute button (Picture 53) or press F8 on the keyboard to see the Display Warehouse Stock of Material like the one in Picture 54. If you notice that there is not enough stock at the warehouse, you should order additional “KAMEN DIABAZ” material.

Picture 11: Execute button

Picture 12: Display Warehouse Stocks of Material Report

12. To go back to the main screen, click the Exit button or press SHIFT+F3 on the keyboard (Picture 55).

Picture 13: Exit Button

13. By clicking SAP menu – Logistics – Materials Management – Purchasing – Purchase Order – Create – ME21N – Vendor/Supplying Plant Known you will open transaction for creating purchase order (Picture 56). A new window will open as shown in Picture 57.

Picture 14: ME21N - Vendor/Supplying Plant Known transaction in SAP menu

Picture 15: Create Purchase Order Window

14. In the top left corner, the first cell should show “Standard PO”: now you need to

select a vendor by clicking the icon (Picture 58).

Picture 16: Selecting Vendor Cell

15. A new window will open (Picture 59) with tab Vendors (General) view. You can change views by clicking on different tabs as shown in Picture 60 or by using navigation buttons (Picture 61).

Picture 17: Vendor Selecting Window

Picture 18: Vendors Search Criteria

Picture 19: Navigation buttons

16. Click the Start Search button (Picture 62) to open a list of vendors as shown in Picture 63.

Picture 20: Start Search

17. Select the vendor called “DEKO-KAMEN D.O.O. X” by double left clicks. “X” refers to your username number, for example if you log in with username “korisnik021” you should select the vendor called “DEKO-KAMEN D.O.O. 21”.

Picture 21: List of Vendors

18. The vendor’s number will show as in Picture 64. Now, you should fill in the organization data: Purchasing Organization, Purchasing Group and Company Code.

Picture 22: Organization Data

19. For Purchasing Organization select “BP01 Org. nabave BP01” (Picture 65).

Picture 23: Purchasing Organization

20. For Purchasing Group select “001 Grupa nabave 1” (Picture 66).

Picture 24: Purchasing Group

21. For company code select “BP01 Šifra kompanije BP01” (Picture 67).

Picture 25: Company Code

22. After selecting all the requested data, your window should look like the one in Picture 68.

Picture 26: Organization Data – fill ined

23. Then click on the cell Material in the row bellow (Picture 69).

Picture 27: Purchase Order Creation - Data Row

24. First, you should select the material: to do that click the icon to select it. A new window (like the one in Picture 46) will open.

Picture 28: Material Number Window

25. To select the Croatian language click the icon on the Language Key cell (Picture 71).

26. Click the Start Search button (Picture 72) to open a list of vendors as shown in Picture 73.

27. Select the raw material called “KAMEN DIABAZ X” by double left clicks (Picture 73). “X” refers to your username number, for example if you log in with username “korisnik021” you should select the material called “KAMEN DIABAZ 21”.

28. Then enter the quantity of the purchased goods. Enter 15 tons.

Picture 29: Language Select

Picture 30: Material Number Window after Language Select

Picture 31: List of Materials

29. After that, select the Delivery date. Select today’s date from the calendar (Picture 74).

Picture 32: Calendar

30. You should also select the place where the goods will be delivered. In the cell Plant select “BP01 Production Plant” as shown in Picture 75.

Picture 33: List of Plants

31. For Storage Location select “004 Sirovine” as in Picture 76.

Picture 34: List of Storage Locations

32. After filling in all the requested data you screen should look like the one in Picture 77.

Picture 35: Purchase Order - Data Row – fill ined

33. At the end you need to fill in the Payment terms. Click on the Delivery/Invoice card (Picture 78) and select the Payment terms.

Picture 36: Delivery/Invoice card

34. From the list of payment terms (Picture 79) select “0001 Payable immediately Due net” by double left clicks.

Picture 37: List of Terms of Payment

35. Check the Purchase Order by clicking the Check button (Picture 80) or by pressing CTRL+SHIFT+F3 on the keyboard. You should get the message like the one in Picture 81.

Picture 38: Payment terms fill ined and Check

Picture 39: Message after Check

36. Finally, click the Save button (Picture 82) or press CTRL+S on the keyboard.

Picture 40: Save button

37. You will get a message like the one in Picture 83 and your Purchase Order will be created.

38. Your Purchase Order Number is: ____________________________________ 39. Save the first screenshot in MS Word and name it: “PROCUREMENT - Order

Form Screenshot”

Picture 41: Standard Purchase Order Created

40. Close the SAP system by clicking the Close button (Picture 39). When the Log off message appears, select YES to close the system (Picture 84).

Picture 42: Log off message

5 SOFTWARE SETUP 1. Download Setup Files • http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/scn/nw-downloads • Setup Files are available in 2 parts: NWASABAPTRIAL70206.part1.rar and

NWASABAPTRIAL70206.part2.rar. • After downloading, place these two in the same folder and Extract. 2. Start Installing SAP NetWeaver AS ABAP 7.02 SP6 32-bit Trial Version • First of all before starting main installation do some settings like Virtual Memory. • For setting up Virtual Memory Right Click on My Computer and from the appearing

window go to Advanced tab like the screen below. Click on the Settings button. • After Selecting the Settings button on window with Title Performance Options will

appear, in this window you will see a part with the heading Virtual Memory, click the change button.

• Select C: and Radio Button Custom size and give 4096 in both Initial Size and Maximum Size text box, now Click Set Button. Now we are ready to Start Setup.

• Note: After setting Virtual Memory you may need to restart your system. • After doing the above setting run the setup of JRE you have already downloaded. • Following Screen with Message of Successful installation will appear, Select Finish

Button to Complete. • Go the Path where you Download and unzip

C:NWASABAPTRIAL70206NWASABAPTRIAL70206SAP_NetWeaver_702e_Installation_MasterIM_WINDOWS_I386 and Run the Setup using the sapinst.exe.

• After selecting Central System, when you Click on the Next button following Message Box will appear, from here you will select OK button after selecting this system will automatically log you off and when you log in again setup start again automatically.

• Log in Again and let the setup again. Setup will start again automatically. • After running the setup again the following window with User License Agreement

will appear, Read and Select I Accept Radio Button and Press Next Button. • Following Summary window will appear after above step you can conform selected

option for installation like then Press Next for start installation. • Finally you will get successful installation Message as below. Press OK Button to

Complete. • You will see SAP Management Console on the Desktop after installation as shown

in below screen. Double Click this Icon to open.14

14 Step by Step Installation Guide for SAP; more at: http://scn.sap.com/community/abap/blog/2012/03/26/step-by-step-installation-guide-for-sap-netweaver-as-abap-702-sp6-32-bit-trial-version

6 COMPETITION SAP’s direct competitors are Oracle, Microsoft and IBM.15 SAP Business ByDesign offers a broad CRM suite along with fully integrated accounting and ERP software. On-demand competitors of similar software scope include NetSuite, Salesforce.com teamed with AppExchange partner FinancialForce.com, Intacct and WorkDay and possibly Zoho for the small business market. Primary on premise competitors include Sage and Microsoft Dynamics CRM along with any of its four ERP lines (AX, Nav, GP and SL), although these competitive products are more closely aligned with SAP Business One and Business All-in-One.16 CRM competitors which also offer third party ecosystems and marketplaces for expanding into vertical markets include Microsoft's Dynamics Marketplace, NetSuite's SuiteApp.com, Sage CRM's Partner Solution Source, Salesforce.com's AppExchange, SugarCRM's SugarExchange and Zoho's online Marketplace. With global distribution, multi-currency management and multiple language editions, SAP Business ByDesign is currently available in China, France, Germany, India, UK, US, Austria, Canada and Switzerland. We expect additional named country support to be announced in the near term. While worldwide market coverage does not yet match SaaS competitors Microsoft, NetSuite, Oracle, RightNow, Salesforce.com or SugarCRM, Business ByDesign is a multi-national solution that competes with other global leaders, irrespective of any particular region. At $149 per user per month, only Salesforce.com is priced higher, and then only with Salesforce.com's Unlimited Edition. However, pricing is subjective as the software scope among competing solutions varies greatly, and Business ByDesign is a very broad software suite where some competitors would be required to team multiple vendor solutions to match. Other high investment cloud solutions come from NetSuite, RightNow and Salesforce.com, while lower subscription and total cost of ownership (TCO) solutions include Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Oracle CRM on Demand and SugarCRM.17

15 Competitors; more at: http://finance.yahoo.com/q/co?s=SAP+Competitors 16 SAP Competitive Landscape; more at: http://www.crmsearch.com/sap-competitors.php 17 SAP Competitive Landscape; more at: http://www.crmsearch.com/sap-competitors.php

7 ADVANTAGES & DISADVANTAGES SAP provides a lot of advantages that made it so useful and popular. Some of the advantages are:18 • Integration: The only real project aim for implementing ERP is reducing data

redundancy and redundant data entry. If this is set as a goal, to automate inventory posting, then it might be a successful project. Those companies where integration is not so important or even dangerous, tend to have a hard time with ERP. It provides real time information.19

• Efficiency: By using SAP, the company or enterprise has a more efficient work environment.

• Cost reduction: It reduces cost only if the company took accounting and reporting seriously even before implementation and had put a lot of manual effort in it. If they did not care about it, if they just did some simple accounting to fill mandatory statements and if internal reporting did not exists or has not been financially-oriented, then no cost is reduced. Less reporting or accounting personnel, but more sales assistants.

• Global: SAP supports global functionality with 45 standard country versions and eight add-on country editions. The application is also scalable to support thousands of concurrent users across multiple locations.

• Industry expertise: Deep industry and vertical market solutions within its six industry sectors of discrete industries, process industries, consumer industries, service industries, financial services and public sector bring focus, domain knowledge and supporting ecosystems of ISV software products and services to these markets.20

Along with the advantages listed above, SAP also has some drawbacks that can be listed as below: • Expensive: This entails software, hardware, implementation, consultants, training,

etc. An alternative is to hire a programmer as an employee and only buy business consulting from an outside source, do all customization and end-user training inside. That can be cost-effective.

• This is not secure as a risk of project failure is there. • A contract is required by the company to use the SAP software. • Rigid: SAP ERP software has earned a reputation of being very rigid. While

configuration is pervasive throughout the application, configuration options are limited and seldom extend beyond the original design intent and software architecture constructs. Although most customers believe ERP software should be flexible enough to accommodate their business processes (which many companies believe represent their uniqueness and competitive advantages), SAP customers

18 SAP ERP Advantages and Disadvantages; more at: http://www.socialerp.com/sap-erp-review.php 19 Advantages and Disadvantages of SAP; more at: http://sapinformations.blogspot.com/2007/06/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-sap.html 20 SAP Software- Advantages and Disadvantages; more at: https://sites.google.com/site/avnet100/sap-software--advantages-and-disadvantages

are often forced to adjust their business processes to accommodate SAP software. This can be a very strong barrier for companies whose business models are in motion (i.e. M&A, divestitures, geo expansions, new products, etc.) or who are increasingly adaptive to fluid market conditions or pursuing more agile business strategies.

• ERP buyers must recognize SAP ERP software is broad, deep and complex, thereby rendering the conditions for a perfect storm.

A lot of advantages and disadvantages are associated with the SAP software, so these should be kept in mind before going for the SAP software.

8 SWOT ANALYSIS

SAP is an IT company, so its main strengths include the fact that they have a highly innovative product, being high on R&D, having a good market position, and diversified end markets and geographic reach, while its principal weaknesses are that it is expensive and only offers ERP when compared to its biggest rival Oracle — SAP lacks scale and product diversification.21 There are some opportunities to fix this, since the market is consolidating, and SAP can acquire a few companies to expand the portfolio and become more than just an ERP company. Also, the adoption of cloud computing is increasing, along with the focus on enterprise mobility solutions. Alongside other competition, Oracle is the biggest threat to SAP, and the slowdown in the global economic conditions and the exchange rate fluctuations risk are not helping.22

21 SAP AG SWOT Analysis; more at: http://yousigma.com/swotanalysis/sapag.html 22 Competitive Analysis; more at: http://www.mbaskool.com/brandguide/it-technology/365-sap.html

9 STARTING COSTS The starting price of SAP is $149, but when budgeting for the business management software, how the companies choose to deploy it will impact the pricing options available to them. There are five key areas to consider:23 • Deployment Model: With the standard and starter package deployments,

companies pay up front – pay a flat subscription fee. • Software Licensing: Fees depend on the number of users and the type of access

required. • Implementation: Cost will vary according to the business requirements. • Hardware: Depending on the current hardware, companies may need to budget for

upgrades. With on-demand, it's part of the package. • Maintenance: General maintenance costs, upgrades, new releases, support

services, etc. SAP also offers Business One: a cloud-based software available by subscription. How much does SAP Business One cloud cost? It is a monthly subscription, that is paid quarterly. There is also a low start-up cost to initialize the cloud environment:24 • SAP Business One Cloud Starter Pack - (1 to 5 users only) starting at $155.00 per

user/per month. This solution takes the best of SAP Business One, such as accounting, sales orders, purchasing and item management and removes production and service functionality, which is great for start-ups or small businesses.

• SAP Business One Cloud - (1 to 100 users) starting at $200.00 / $170.00 per user / per month. Low start-up cost, and with a $200/$170 per user / per month cost that is paid quarterly. This solution includes all the functionality of SAP Business One below, including production and service. Great for small to midsize companies.

• SAP Business One Private Cloud - (1 to 100 users) starting at $245.00 / $215.00 per user / per month. This solution includes all the functionality of SAP Business One, and enables businesses to bring add-on solutions (if required) to their environment.

23 Pricing; more at: http://www.k5erp.com/sap-solutions/small-medium-enterprise/sap-business-overview/ 24 SAP Business One Cloud; more at: http://aetherconsulting.com/solutions/erp-systems-for-small-business/106/sap-business-one-cloud/

10 STATISTICS SAP serves more than 282,000 customers in 190 countries, and more than 80% of their customers are SMEs (small or medium enterprises). SAP customers include:25 • 87% of the Forbes Global 2000 companies • 98% of the 100 most valued brands • 100% of the Dow Jones top scoring sustainability companies Their customers produce: • 78% of the world’s food • 82% of the world’s medical devices • 69% of the world’s toys and games 74% of the world’s transaction revenue touches an SAP system. SAP has 74,406 employees worldwide (as of December 2014): • Europe, Middle East and Asia: 33,340 • Americas: 22,071 • Asia-Pacific: 18,995 • >120 nationalities worldwide Revenue for the fiscal year of 2014 was: • Cloud subscription & support: € 1.1 billion (+45%) • SW&Support: € 13.8 billion (+5%) • Total: € 17.6 billion (+5%) Revenue for the fourth quarter of 2014: • Cloud subscription & support: € 360 mn (+59%) • SW&Support: € 4.4 billion (+2%) • Total: € 5.5 billion (+4%) SAP is the fastest growing company at scale in the cloud, with the cloud user base of more than 70 million subscribers. They have the largest cloud portfolio: more than 30 solutions for all lines-of-business (LoB) as well as Business Suite. They’re the leading social business platform with more than 15 million users. They’re the market leader for mobile business applications with more than 130 million mobile users and over 300 mobile apps. Their mobile solutions reach 97% of mobile subscribers via text messaging, and 1.8 billion text messages per day are delivered by the SAP Mobile Platform. Regarding innovation, SAP has: • 14 Development centers (SAP Labs) worldwide • 100 Development locations worldwide • 13 Co-Innovation and Living Labs worldwide • 21 Research locations worldwide

25 SAP Global Corporate Affairs; more at: http://www.sap.com/bin/sapcom/en_us/downloadasset.2015-01-jan-20-01.sap-corporate-fact-sheet-en-pdf.bypassReg.html

• Innovation Center in Potsdam, Germany • Partner network with >12,800 SAP partner companies around the world • Sapphire Ventures: Invested in >150 IT startups globally since 1996

• US$1.4 billion capital under management • Operates independently from SAP • Gives SAP early visibility and access to markets, trends & innovation

All this makes SAP the market leader in enterprise application software.

11 SOFTWARE UPGRADE The Software Update Manager (SUM) is a multi-purpose tool that supports various processes, such as performing a release upgrade, installing enhancement packages, applying Support Package Stacks or updating single components on SAP NetWeaver. To start and use the Software Update Manager, following should be done:26 • Get the Software Update Manager running on the primary application server

instance. • Start the Software Update Manager GUI. • Logon to the Software Update Manager and deploy the SCA file(s). The following link contains the upgrades of SAP: https://support.sap.com/installations.

26 Using the Software Update Manager (SUM); more at: http://help.sap.com/saphelp_nwidmic_72/helpdata/en/f1/aa89158a6d4617878a4827dad07b4b/content.htm

12 CONCLUSION The German-based enterprise software company SAP AG is one of the most powerful companies of its kind in the global corporate world. The company has consistently produced billion dollar revenue figures on a quarterly basis for many years now. It helps companies across different industries and of all sizes innovate by simplifying tasks. SAP helps people and organizations work together more efficiently and effectively to stay ahead of the competition. At its high price point, businesses should analyze the costs and benefits of implementing SAP before reaching a decision. As we have seen, there are many advantages and disadvantages to it, but in the end, the statistics show that many of the most powerful companies in the world have used SAP, therefore practically recommending it.

13 REFERENCES & LIST OF WEB LINKS Guru99, What is SAP? Definition of SAP ERP Software; more at: http://www.guru99.com/what-is-sap-definition-of-sap-erp-software.html Date of access: April 1, 2015 http://go.sap.com/index.html SAP at a glance: company information; more at: http://www.sap.com/corporate-en/about/our-company/index.html Date of access: April 1, 2015 Technical Details and System Requirements; more at: http://www.sap.com/croatia/solution/sme/software/analytics/crystal-reports/implement/requirements.html Date of access: April 1, 2015 Company History; more at: http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/sap-ag-history/ Date of access: April 1, 2015 Guru99, What is SAP? Definition of SAP ERP Software; more at: http://www.guru99.com/what-is-sap-definition-of-sap-erp-software.html Date of access: April 1, 2015 1970s Founding, Company History; more at: http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/sap-ag-history/ Date of access: April 1, 2015 R/2 in the Late 1970s, Company History; more at: http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/sap-ag-history/ Date of access: April 1, 2015 R/3 Development in the 1980s, Company History; more at: http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/sap-ag-history/ Date of access: April 1, 2015 Introduction of R/3 in the 1990s, Company History; more at: http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/sap-ag-history/ Date of access: April 1, 2015

Foreign Markets in the 1990s, Company History; more at: http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/sap-ag-history/ Date of access: April 1, 2015 Competition and Other Challenges, Company History; more at: http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/sap-ag-history/ Date of access: April 1, 2015 The Future, Company History; more at: http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/sap-ag-history/ Date of access: April 1, 2015 SoftwareInsider, SAP Features; more at: http://erp.softwareinsider.com/l/218/SAP Date of access: April 1, 2015 Step by Step Installation Guide for SAP; more at: http://scn.sap.com/community/abap/blog/2012/03/26/step-by-step-installation-guide-for-sap-netweaver-as-abap-702-sp6-32-bit-trial-version Date of access: April 1, 2015 Competitors; more at: http://finance.yahoo.com/q/co?s=SAP+Competitors Date of access: April 1, 2015 SAP Competitive Landscape; more at: http://www.crmsearch.com/sap-competitors.php Date of access: April 1, 2015 SAP Competitive Landscape; more at: http://www.crmsearch.com/sap-competitors.php Date of access: April 1, 2015 SAP ERP Advantages and Disadvantages; more at: http://www.socialerp.com/sap-erp-review.php Date of access: April 1, 2015

Advantages and Disadvantages of SAP; more at: http://sapinformations.blogspot.com/2007/06/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-sap.html Date of access: April 1, 2015 SAP Software- Advantages and Disadvantages; more at: https://sites.google.com/site/avnet100/sap-software--advantages-and-disadvantages Date of access: April 1, 2015 SAP AG SWOT Analysis; more at: http://yousigma.com/swotanalysis/sapag.html Date of access: April 1, 2015 Competitive Analysis; more at: http://www.mbaskool.com/brandguide/it-technology/365-sap.html Date of access: April 1, 2015 Pricing; more at: http://www.k5erp.com/sap-solutions/small-medium-enterprise/sap-business-overview/ Date of access: April 1, 2015 SAP Business One Cloud; more at: http://aetherconsulting.com/solutions/erp-systems-for-small-business/106/sap-business-one-cloud/ Date of access: April 1, 2015 SAP Global Corporate Affairs; more at: http://www.sap.com/bin/sapcom/en_us/downloadasset.2015-01-jan-20-01.sap-corporate-fact-sheet-en-pdf.bypassReg.html Date of access: April 1, 2015 Using the Software Update Manager (SUM); more at: http://help.sap.com/saphelp_nwidmic_72/helpdata/en/f1/aa89158a6d4617878a4827dad07b4b/content.htm Date of access: April 1, 2015

14 LIST OF FIGURES Picture 1: SAP Offers Small Businesses More Visibility and Control, source: http://www.news-sap.com/tags/screenshots-2/ (page 4)

15 ABSTRACT SAP is an important tool in the business world, and not many students know much about it, so this essay’s mission is to describe SAP in a popular, layman way so that anybody could understand it. Along with giving an over view of what SAP (Systems, Applications & Products in Data Processing) is, this essay will describe the technical requirements; provide a software description; tell you about the history and evolution of the product and company; instructions on how businesses obtain, set up, use, finance and upgrade the product; an analysis and comparison of the main competitors with the product and the company; advantages, disadvantages and SWOT analysis; and compare and explain the success and usage through statistics. By the end of this paper the reader should have an in-depth idea of all aspects of what SAP is.

16 AUTHORS’ CV On the next few pages, you can see Juraj Puljić & Bianca Fiedler’s Europass CVs. You can also acces Juraj Puljić’s CV online at this link: https://sites.google.com/a/net.efzg.hr/jurica/

Profile A hard working and motivated Bachelor Degree in Business undergraduate with good communication and numerical skills. Looking to apply solid knowledge of business theory and practices based on knowledge, skills and abilities developed at the University of Zagreb. Eager to learn, wishing to make a positive contribution in every aspect of life.

Experience Treasurer, Leo Club “Tri Kule”; Zagreb, Croatia — March 2014—Present Responsible for the administration of, and appointed to manage the financial assets and liabilities of the non-profit club.

Teaching Assistant, University of Zagreb, Faculty of Economics and Business; Zagreb, Croatia — October 2013—February 2014 Assisted the professors in carrying out the “Informatics” course, room setup, answering students’ in-class questions and additional course material-related questions during the office hours.

Education University of Zagreb, Faculty of Economics and Business — Bachelor’s Degree in Business, Third Year Finished in top 10% of the students at the faculty every year.

Skills & Strengths IT: OS Mac and Windows, proficient in MS Office. Languages: fluent in Croatian and English, speak Spanish.

Good communication and interpersonal skills. Good analytical skills. Focused and punctual.

Interests Charity - part of the Lions Clubs International through the local Leo Club - organization of events, club meetings, charitable club actions.

Traveling - keen to experience different cultures and passion for languages. Memorable trips: Australia, Japan, South Africa, the USA, Canada, the UK, Mexico, Germany, France, Italy, Cyprus, Turkey.

+385 91 5125 996 jpulji@gmail.com Ribnjak 34 10 000 Zagreb Hrvatska

JURAJ PULJIĆ

Bianca  Fiedler  2972  Rockridge  Lane    

Coquitlam  BC,  V3E  2Y1  Canada  fiedlermanagement@gmail.com  

 Skills:    I  am  personable,  outgoing,  hard  worker  who  works  well  with  all  my  coworkers,  adapt  in  all  situations,  problem  solves,  and  always  positive  and  professional.      Work  Experience:    Brand  Ambassador/  Promotional  Model     Voltage  Entertainment  (July  2014  –  Present)     Valley  Entertainment  (July  2013-­‐  Present)     PK  Promotions    (July  2013-­‐  Present)     Girls  of  Glam  (October  2011-­‐  Present)    Server  Assistant     John  B.  Pub  (April  2012  –  July  2012)    Sales       Hollister  Co.  (October  2011-­‐  February  2012)  

Onsite  Photography  (March  2011  –  May  2011)     Beetling  Design  (June  2010  –  August  2011)    Cashier     Wendy’s  (June  2009  –  September  2010)    Hostess     Red  Robin  (March  2007  –  February  2008)      Education:    University  of  Zagreb  –  Zagreb,  Croatia     Bachelor  Degree  in  Business  (Third  Year)    University  of  Victoria  –  Victoria,  BC     Bachelor  Degree  in  Economics  (Transfer  after  First  Year)    Terry  Fox  Secondary  School  –  Port  Coquitlam,  BC    

Certifications:    

• Serving  it  Right  (1202230079R)  • Canadian  Red  Cross  First  Aid  &  CPR  –  Level  C  • Food  Safe  –  Level  1  • Canadian  Red  Cross  Babysitting  Certificate    

 Volunteer  Work:    

• Student  Assistant  at  the  University  of  Zagreb  • Project  Assistant  for  SHARE  Project  in  Croatia  • Purple  Day  Lane  Pull  for  Epilepsy  • “Team  Lina”  –  a  project  to  help  raise  awareness  for  Neuroblastoma  • Theatrix  –  Coached  ages  3-­‐11  in  acting,  singing  &  chorography  • Minor  Hockey  –  singing  the  national  anthem,  scorekeeper  &  timekeeper  • GULU  Walk  • MS  Walk  • JDRF  Walk  

 Hobbies/Interest:    

• Yoga  • Squash  • Charity  Work  • Traveling