SAP stands for Systems Applications and Products in Data Processing. Designed and developed by

5 IBM engineers during the 1970s as a standards based software alternative to custom built ERP

software, SAP has come a long way. SAP has been in the forefront of ERP software ever since.

SAP develops ERP products to be used by companies to manage their enterprise. This includes

managing their day to day operations, logistics, finances, month end, quarter end and yearly

activities, reporting, HR etc. Although there are a couple of other ERP vendors who do the same, the

key differentiator for SAP is the way in which SAP integrates all these operations and makes for a

seamless system that is both easy to use and at the same time sophisticated enough to include all

kinds of complex activities that are needed for any kind of enterprise. Examples of some of these

activities could, be running Material resource planning, recruiting and managing an employee’s

lifecycle, disbursing payrolls, recording all financial transactions and drawing balance sheets and P/L

statements of the company etc. Now imagine a single system that takes care of all these diverse

activities and still keep them well integrated.

SAP was initially designed to be run on the mainframe and was called that release was called R/2

(Release 2). SAP quickly caught on to the client server model with a later release called R/3 and this

was the most popular version of SAP. After R/3, later versions of their core software were launched

called Enterprise Central Component (ECC).

The automation needs of an enterprise are endless. SAP soon realized that corporations needed

business intelligence to mine data from their daily operational data and extract meaningful trends

that could enable further business opportunities. SAP BW was born and morphed into BI after

buying out Business Objects (BO).

After the hugely successful R/3, SAP created more and more niche software like Customer

Relationship Management (CRM), SRM, XI (now called Process Integration or PI) and once again

living up to the standards of SAP by maintaining tight integration with their core ECC software.

Through the process of developing these software components, SAP has slowly moved from

standard client server architecture to a completely web-based architecture where every transaction

can be run from just a browser. These new dimension products developed on the web standards

based framework (NetWeaver) are all under new umbrella called mySAP.

What’s in it for me ?SAP is all-powerful software and everything, but you might ask “How does it help me?” Roughly

more than 70% of all Fortune 100 and more than 50% of all Fortune 500 companies use SAP as

their core ERP software.

What this gives you is tremendous job opportunities with these companies. These companies have

enormous appetite for qualified IT consultants in the field of SAP. These jobs are not just for

computer engineers or the likes of them. There are multiple tiers of consultants working in SAP for

these companies. SAP is one of the very few software’s where there is a clear distinction between

functional and technical areas of expertise. For companies, this means that there is a clear and

logical division of the type of work performed and hence leads to increased productivity and efficient

implementation and maintenance lifecycles. For individuals like you, this means more jobs and more

specialization required for the same.

We can classify them as

1. Functional Consultants: These are folks who have tremendous industry experience in their

respective area (Like HR, Finance, Logistics modules like Sales, Procurement etc ) . An example

would be a hard-core sales manager with extensive Sales domain experience, working as an SAP

SD functional consultant. Another example would be a CPA working to configure an SAP FICO

system in a company. The strength of these consultants would like in their deep understanding of

the core business processes that are key to the enterprise. A CPA would understand the General

Ledger, Balance Sheet or a reconciliation account more than somebody with just pure technical

knowledge.

2. Technical Consultants: These are folks who have very good engineering or other academic

backgrounds and have a very strong understanding of programming languages. SAP’s own

4th General Programming language is called ABAP. ( Advanced Business Application Programming).

In the mySAP suite of products, programming can be done in Java as well. Also there are

specialized skills like configuring and customizing SAP’s own middleware XI(Exchange

Infrastructure), MDM ( Master Data Management) etc.

3. System Administration: This is managing the SAP software itself (The Netweaver Core ). These folks

are called SAP Basis consultants and they come from some kind of System Administration

background (*NIX, Windows or Database Administrators). The job includes, installation, upgrades,

patching and general maintenance of the SAP system. They also take care of maintaining the entire

system landscape.

Get more information on the SAP job market from http://www.magnatraining.com/sap-job-market.

For quality and affordable SAP Training and Access, visit SAP Training and SAP Access

 

 

 

 

 

Modules, Suites and More..1990s saw a tremendous change in SAP. Early 1990 is when SAP’s R/3 captured the ERP market.

The core ERP product comprised of the following modules.

1. FICO – Finance & Controlling

2. SD – Sales & Distribution

3. MM – Materials Management

4. PP – Production Planning

5. SM – Service Management

6. QM – Quality Management

7. WM – Warehouse Management

8. TM – Transportation Management

9. HR – Human Resources

10. PS – Project Systems

In the later part of 1990s, SAP diversified into many niche products expanding beyond just its core

ERP product space and venturing into new dimension products. Some of these products are

mentioned here. They were grouped under the term SAP Business Suite.

1. CRM – Customer Relationship Management

2. SRM – Supplier Relationship Management

3. APO – Advanced Planner and Optimizer

4. PLM – Product Lifecycle Management

5. SCM – Supply Chain Management

6. e-Procurement

7. FSCM – Financial Supply Chain Management

8. EHS – Environment Health and Safety

9. SEM – Strategic Enterprise Management

10. BI – Business Intelligence

11. PI – Process Integration

12. EWM – Extended Warehouse Management

13. and counting….

Parallelly, SAP has been working on Industry specific solutions (SAP – IS ) which are written with

collaboration with specific industries. For example, SAP implements at Nike and has gathered

tremendous information on how the footwear and apparel industry works. Naturally SAP has come

up with a version of ERP called SAP – IS AFS (Apparel & Footwear). SAP also has many other

Industry solutions. For a complete list, visithttp://help.sap.com and click on “SAP for industries”.