SAP

SAP Resources
We find that many people have heard of SAP but have little knowledge as to what it is or why employers are looking for people with SAP expertise. This brief article should go some way in demystifying SAP. If after reading this article you have more specific questions including what area of SAP is right for you to specialize in then please email us on chak@integraservices.co.uk

What is SAP?
SAP is the worlds largest business software (or Enterprise Resource Planning software) company with over 43,000 customers worldwide. It has come a long way from its humble beginnings back in 1972 when five German engineers looked at creating business software which updates itself in real time enabling a company to see immediately what is happening within its organization in an instance. The company they founded was called Systems Applications and Products in Data Processing. The SAP software has evolved over the years adding more and more functionality based upon best business practices for each business process. These business processes are offered as modules so for instance the SD module which stands for Sales and Distribution deals with a companys sales cycle from customer order capture to delivery to invoicing. MM or Material Management deals with the movement of stock through a companys supply chain from procuring products from the vendor to stocking and dispatching to its customers and everything in between. The most important thing about these modules is that they are seamlessly integrated with one another to build up a complete and integrated solution. There are many modules (also known as core modules or R/3 modules) in the SAP suite including

SD Sales and Distribution MM Material Management PM Plant Maintenance HR Human Resources FI Financials CO Controlling

In addition to these R/3 core modules there are new dimensional products which are have been developed to integrate with SAP and non SAP solutions. These include:

BI Business Intelligence APO Advance Planner and Optimizer CRM Customer Relationship Management

In addition to modules and new dimensional products, SAP have created 21 industry specific solutions (known as IS solutions) which are designed around the needs of a particular industry e.g. IS Oil IS Utilities IS Banking

IS Retail IS Automobiles These industry solution specific offerings can be very different to the standard modules so if a company wants to implement an industry specific solution then they need to employee consultants who know the specific SAP industry solution.

How is SAP implemented?

A company purchases the SAP software and licenses having decided which of the modules/industry/new dimensional products they wish to use. The software is installed by a system administrator who is trained to install and maintain the SAP software and its communication with the database which holds the underlying data (ie Oracle database) The SAP solution comes pre-configured meaning that in theory a company needs to merely set up master data (e.g. material, customer, vendor, pricing records etc) in the SAP system and start transacting on the new system. This however rarely happens as all companies are different in some way so normally the standard settings are copied and modified as per need. The modules are implemented by functional consultants who analyses the requirements of the business and configures the SAP system accordingly. If a requirement cannot be met by the changing the settings of the module such as the need for a new report, new screen layout or interfaces between SAP and existing systems then new code will need to be created. The SAP code is known as ABAP (Advanced Business Application Programming) and requires a programmer (commonly referred to as an ABAPer) to make the changes requested. These changes are normally outlined on whats called a functional spec which is usually written by the responsible functional consultant. If a company is implementing SAP for the first time it normally hires the services of a consultancy firm. The firm then implements the SAP system to meet its customers requirements in a series of steps. These steps are normally part of whats call a methodology. A typical methodology would be: 1) Project preparation Determine the project team both from the business and from the consultancy firm, its location etc. 2) Business blueprint Conducting workshops to gather requirements from the business and come up with business blueprint document which outlines what the system will perform once configured. This document should be signed by the relevant parties to ensure that all everyone concerned understands what is to be achieved by the implementation. 3) Build Configuring the SAP system as per blueprint including ABAP developments so that there is a working solution. 4) Go-live prep Loading master data into the system, end user training and final preparations for go-live.

5) Go-live The day the system is switched on. 6) Go-live support Supporting the system once its gone live to ensure that any issues which my come up are resolved speedily. These are the general steps of a SAP implementation which would be the case for any major IT implementation project. As you can imagine with the breadth of SAPs offerings and the number of companies which use SAP there is a great deal of demand for those who have knowledge in SAP all across the world. There are four types of SAP roles: End user As SAP is business software then there needs to be end users who have been trained In using the software for their day to day business. So for instance a sales clerk would be trained to enter orders into a SAP system, a warehouse person to goods receipt stock sent by a vendor into the SAP system, an accounts person checking that payments made to vendors or to be received by customers are being done in a timely manner. Consultant A consultant trained in a particular area of SAP may be employed by a consultancy firm or the business itself to implement a SAP solution Support Support roles are those normally where the SAP solution is has been implemented and there is a need to deal with end user queries about further enhancements, resolving issues preventing an end user from performing their task etc. Contractor These are individuals who offer their services to end user companies or consultancies that do not have the relevant SAP resource in-house so need to look to the open market for those specific skills. SAP roles will take place in two types of business environment: End User These are basically companies which are not consultancy firms whose business model is to go and implement IT solutions. These are companies which has SAP in order to support their business be it manufacturing, retail, services etc. Consultancy These are companies whose business model is to implement and support SAP implementations If you would like to know more about SAP Implementation and benefits, please follow the link which will provide you customer success stories. http://www.sap.com/uk/about/success/video/index.epx (Disclaimer: This link will take you to SAP Official Website, Our company has no obligation towards the contents of the downloads).

What is SAP ?
Primary objective of a company is to make money. A business produces either a product or a service in order to make money. Products or services are sold to customers. The raw material and operating supplies are purchased from vendors. The company needs to manage customers and vendors. Also the company would produce reports each month (or each period) showing the progress of the business. Also the company would need to manage all aspects of the business e.g. employees, bank accounts, inventory etc.In order to make things manageable there would be various departments in the company each looking after a particular aspect of the business e.g. Finance Department, Manufacturing Department, Human Resources Department etc. Each department would need to use some kind of software in order to manage their day to day activities. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software is an enterprise wide solution. ERP software consists of modules. Each department of the company could use one or more modules (specific to that department) of the ERP software in order to manage its day to day tasks. All modules of ERP software are connected. This way management can have a view on the company as a whole. SAP is leading ERP software with largest market share. Usually the term SAP refers to both the company and its software.SAP AG is a company based in Walldorf, Germany. AG in German stands for "Incorporated". SAP is pronounced as s-a-p, not as sap. SAP was founded in 1972 in city of Mannheim, Germany. SAP AG is an older company than both Oracle and Microsoft. A group of five ex-IBM engineers formed this company. The idea was to develop a software that integrates business functions in a manner that reflects industry best practices. This way a company could replace multiple software (financial, warehousing, production planning) with one single software having integrated modules. Maintaining a single version of truth results in: synergies and communication benefits. This idea soon evolved into a product called "System, Applications, and Products in Data Processing" (SAP). In German SAP stands for "Systemanalyse und Programmentwicklung". SAP was designed in such a way that it could be installed on a variety of hardware platforms and could work with variety of back-end databases This gave its customers flexibility and is a major factor in propelling SAP into forefront. SAP supports:

More than 40 languages More than 50 currencies More than 30 industry specific solutions More than 20 combinations of hardware platforms/database/operating systems

Within two decades of its birth, SAP was not the only business software vendor. IBM was facing a tough competition from SAP Various players emerged including:

BAAN Oracle Corporation PeopleSoft JD Edwards

Some small players start gaining grounds as well including:

Great Plains Navision SAP remained the leader throughout, mainly due its support for diverse platform.

JD Edwards was purchased by PeopleSoft, which was later on purchased by Oracle Corporation. Currently, Oracle Corporation is number one rival for SAP with its software called Oracle E-Business Suite. SAP AG is based in Germany and listed on New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the symbol of SAP. The company has about 43,000 employees. SAP has about 2000 support partners. About 46,000 customers have purchased SAP software and more than 100,000+ installations are in place around the globe. The company does business in more than 50 countries. There are more than one million SAP end-users. Primary competitors of SAP are Oracle and Microsoft. All three, SAP, Oracle, and Microsoft provide:

Business software for large enterprise Solutions for small and medium sized business Software development platforms Ability to tie together disparate systems (Integration Solution)

All three help sustain one another. Examples are:

Most installation of SAP runs on Oracle database (Oracle Corporation makes database as well as their own business software). Microsoft Windows is most popular desktop operating system to access SAP software

SAP Products

SAP software is a family of components and products. Product in turn consists of modules.

SAP software is a group of products SAP product is a group of modules

It is within a particular module that business processes are configured. SAP is built on the concept of specialization and integration. Specialization refers to the fact that each product within the family meets a particular need. Integration refers to the fact that products can communicate with each other (transfer data and share data). SAP software can be broken down into following products:

SAP NetWeaver SAP Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) SAP Product Lifecycle Planning (PLM) SAP Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) SAP Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

SAP is well known for reflecting industry's best practices. A company can grow faster and serve its stakeholders much efficiently by following best practices. Reflecting best practices has been a major reason in SAP's success.SAP offer industry solutions for most industries. Mainly you can divide the industry solutions into three main categories:

Manufacturing Service Industries Financial/Public Services

The above mentioned categories include Aerospace and Defence, Automotive, Banking, Chemicals, Consumer Products, Engineering and Construction, Health care, High Tech, Insurance, Media, Oil and Gas, Pharmaceuticals, Public Sector, Retail, Telecommunications, Utilities, etc. Industry Solutions are installed on top of SAP's core products. A company can choose to implement core SAP product and customize it according to its requirements. Or a company can simply choose to deploy specific industry solution.SAP product or component can be broken down into modules. The term product and component is used synonymously. For example SAP ERP is a product. It has various modules with it for example:

Financials Sales Distributions Human Capital Management etc

Modules can be defined as portion of business functionality within products. This portion of business functionality is discrete in nature. Each module serves a area of business for which a department is responsible for. All departments work together to do the business. If SAP is used across the board then consistency is achieved, as modules are integrated. Management gets the high level visibility it needs to

make necessary decisions. (Again because modules are integrated).SAP software is more about the big picture of connecting people, resources, and processes across the enterprise.

SAP Architecture
SAP Web Application Server
SAP products are built on a platform called Web Application Server (WebAS). WebAS is a very powerful and highly standardized platform. WebAS could be installed on a variety of hardware and could work with various databases. This gives IT department great flexibility in terms of SAP`s installation. WebAS supports popular programming language and protocols including Web Services, XML, HTML, ABAP, and Java.ABAP is SAP's traditional programming language. Hence WebAS is very flexible in terms of its development capabilities as well.

Three-Tiered Architecture
SAP software uses a three-tiered architecture. In a three-tiered architecture there are three nodes:

Presentation Layer or Client Business Logic or Application Server Database Server

Presentation Layer
Various devices could be used to access SAP business software. For example: desktop, mobile devices, laptops, and so run. This device would be called a presentation layer. You might have to install a piece of software on these devices so that they could talk to the application server (computer running the actual SAP software). You could also use your web browser to access SAP application. Whatever the case may be, the front end device would communicate with the application server. The device would simply display you a presentation layer while the application is actually running on the application server. The device is also called a "client".

Application Server

The actual SAP software runs on an application server. Client node simply displays the image of the screen that is actually being produced on the application server. It is important to note the application server only runs SAP software. Data is not stored in application server

Database Server
Data is stored on a separate machine called database server. Presentation layer communicates with application server to retrieve the screen image to be displayed to the user. Application server in turn communicates with the database server to write data to the database and to retrieve data from the database. The database server would be hosting a database management system like Oracle. Oracle is the most popular choice of database to be used with SAP software. Other databases could be used as well e.g. SQL Server (from Microsoft) and DB2 (form IBM).

Network
Network is an important part of a three tiered architecture. The client computer would connect to the application server through internet, or company specific intranet, local area, network, dial up line etc. Similar media is used by application server to communicate with database server. This way user can run business application virtually from anywhere.

Scalability, Flexibility, and Ease of Maintenance

Three-tiered architecture provides scalability and flexibility. If overtime, load is increased on the application server, then another application server could be added. Or simply more memory or CPU could be added to the same application server without disturbing other nodes. Similarly database server could be upgraded without touching the other nodes. Also when it is time to upgrade the business logic to a newer version, only application server absorbs the new business logic patches.

Service-Oriented Architecture
SAP is SOA enabled. SOA (pronounced as so-uh) stands for Service-Oriented Architecture. SOA architecture is based on NetWeaver technology. Being SOA enabled means that SAP software support service calls. Any program (even external to SAP) can make a service call to SAP to retrieve some useful information or to register new information. For example lets say you have developed an external website that needs to retrieve current pricing information from SAP software. Instead of retrieving information from the database (by writing SQL) your website will make a service all to SAP requesting prices on selected items. Also your website may make a service call to SAP to register a new customer. The information might arrive to your program responsible for generating website in an XML (Extensible Mark-up Language) format.XML is a popular choice of protocol for data exchange. You can then parse this data and display it to the website in any layout you like using HTML (Hypertext Mark-up Language). Websites are built using HTML language. This is the language that your browser can decode. SOA architecture brings flexibility to the table. It makes it easy for external applications to communicate with SAP.

SAP Releases
SAP R/2
Initial SAP release was known as SAP R/2. This release was designed to work on mainframe computers. Mainframe computing is two tier architecture. The database and application sits on the mainframe computer and users access the application through terminals. Terminal is simply a dumb box without a CPU; keyboard and a monitor is attached to this box. In comparison to three-tiered architecture you can think mainframe as applications server and a database server combined and a terminal as a presentation layer

SAP R/3
The next generation of SAP software was called SAP R/3.This was the most popular release. Even today the term SAP is used synonymously with SAP R/3 (the usage may not true anymore). SAP R/3 was based on client server architecture. The presentation layer and the business logic would reside on a desktop. The database would run on a database server. All desktops would connect to the database server to write and read data. If one has to upgrade the business logic then the entire desktop would need to be patched.

SAP ECC
Finally SAP ECC arrived. ECC stands for ERP Central Component. SAP ECC is based on three tiered architecture (Presentation Layer, Business Logic Layer, Database Layer).This architecture is very flexible and scalable and would also support SOA as well. The main strength of SAP ECC in the NetWeaver software running underneath it as a common technology. SAP ECC is the latest generation of SAP business software. Primary objective of a company is to make money. A business produces either a product or a service in order to make money. Products or services are sold to customers. The raw material and operating supplies are purchased from vendors. The company needs to manage customers and vendors. Also the company would produce reports each month (or each period) showing the progress of the business. Also the company would need to manage all aspects of the business e.g. employees, bank accounts, inventory etc.In order to make things manageable there would be various departments in the company each looking after a particular aspect of the business e.g. Finance Department, Manufacturing Department, Human Resources Department etc. Each department would need to use some kind of software in order to manage their day to day activities. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software is an enterprise wide solution. ERP software consists of modules. Each department of the company could use one or more modules (specific to that department) of the ERP software in order to manage its day to day tasks. All modules of ERP software are connected. This way management can have a view on the company as a whole. SAP is leading ERP software with largest market share. Usually the term SAP refers to both the company and its software.SAP AG is a company based in Walldorf, Germany. AG in German stands for "Incorporated". SAP is pronounced as s-a-p, not as sap. SAP was founded in 1972 in city of Mannheim, Germany. SAP AG is an older company than both Oracle and Microsoft. A group of five ex-IBM engineers formed this company. The idea was to develop a software that integrates business functions in a manner that reflects industry best practices. This way a company could replace multiple software (financial, warehousing, production planning) with one single software having integrated modules. Maintaining a single version of truth results in: synergies and communication benefits. This idea soon evolved into a product called "System, Applications, and Products in Data Processing" (SAP). In German SAP stands for "Systemanalyse und Programmentwicklung".

SAP was designed in such a way that it could be installed on a variety of hardware platforms and could work with variety of back-end databases This gave its customers flexibility and is a major factor in propelling SAP into forefront. SAP supports:

More than 40 languages More than 50 currencies More than 30 industry specific solutions More than 20 combinations of hardware platforms/database/operating systems

Within two decades of its birth, SAP was not the only business software vendor. IBM was facing a tough competition from SAP Various players emerged including:

BAAN Oracle Corporation PeopleSoft JD Edwards

Some small players start gaining grounds as well including:

Great Plains Navision SAP remained the leader throughout, mainly due its support for diverse platform.

JD Edwards was purchased by PeopleSoft, which was later on purchased by Oracle Corporation. Currently, Oracle Corporation is number one rival for SAP with its software called Oracle E-Business Suite. SAP AG is based in Germany and listed on New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the symbol of SAP. The company has about 43,000 employees. SAP has about 2000 support partners. About 46,000 customers have purchased SAP software and more than 100,000+ installations are in place around the globe. The company does business in more than 50 countries. There are more than one million SAP end-users. Primary competitors of SAP are Oracle and Microsoft. All three, SAP, Oracle, and Microsoft provide:

Business software for large enterprise Solutions for small and medium sized business Software development platforms

Ability to tie together disparate systems (Integration Solution).All three help sustain one another. Examples are:

Most installation of SAP runs on Oracle database (Oracle Corporation makes database as well as their own business software). Microsoft Windows is most popular desktop operating system to access SAP software

SAP Project Basics

Project Phases

Building business Roadmap is phase 1 of the project. In this phase you identify what how the business processes should be re-engineered in order to capture the broader vision. Building business Blueprint is phase 2 of the project. In this phase you define the "target business processes". You map business software's (SAP in this case) functionality to the target processes.

Importance of Stakeholders
Just after the project is started, it is a job of a project manager to clearly identify the stakeholders. Their expectation should be noted down. If necessary their expectation needs to be adjusted. If they are expecting too much out of the project then they would be eventually unhappy. The success of the project depends on the satisfaction level of the stakeholders. It is important that stakeholders are kept in the loop through out (via meetings and emails etc). Also it is important that stakeholders should be involved in all aspects of the project in order to keep their satisfaction level high.

SAP GUI
In order to access SAP software, a user interface software need to be installed on your desktop. This user interface software is called SAP GUI (pronounced as goo-ee).

GUI stands for Graphic User Interface. There are various flavours of SAP GUI available. Most popular choice is WinGUI. WinGUI is also known as fat client. WinGUI is a SAP user interface for Microsoft Windows. It uses lots of disk space and memory. Another popular choice is Java GUI. Java GUI is also a thick client in terms of computer resources. You can access SAP through Java GUI from non-Microsoft based desktops or clients. If the client device does not have too many resources available then SAP software could also be accessed via Internet Explorer (IE). Using IE is easier to maintain. It comes with Windows Operating System and does not have to be installed and maintained on desktops by the IT department. In terms of network traffic, IE is not as efficient as WinGUI and Java GUI. Citrix's Presentation Server is also an alternative to access locally installed SAP software. Citrix uses very small network bandwidth and is very fast in performance.

SAP Session
Session Basic
Each time you log into SAP, you start a new session. An SAP session simply means you have started the SAP GUI and have established a connection with an SAP system. At any given time you can start multiple sessions (using the same User ID) with multiple SAP products like SAP ERP, SAP CRM etc.

Or at any given time you can start multiple sessions with the same SAP product e.g. SAP ERP. When you are connected the number of current session is displayed in the status bar

Multi-Tasking
Opening multiple sessions at a time allows you to multi-task. You can do an order entry and at the same time run a financial report. You don't have to stop entering the order in order to run the report. By default you can start up to six sessions. System Administrator can increase this limit.

SAP Projects
Both technical and functional jobs are created when a company plans to SAP implementation or when a company maintains already implemented system. Following roles come into play in a new SAP implementation and in an environment where SAP is already implemented:

Super Users Functional and Technical Analysts System Administrator

Programmers Project Managers

Super Users
In any SAP environment, a gap has to be bridged between business requirements and business processes. When a company undergo SAP implementation, it needs personnel who can champion business solution for their team. These are called super users. Super users have little bit of IT knowledge as well. They have the ability to bring along those as well who are challenged by new technology. Super users are the first one to get training on SAP software. They work closely with SAP functional consultants. This makes easy for super users to gain SAP knowledge.

Functional and Technical Analysts

Analysts could be divided into two types: functional and technical. Analysts are also referred to as consultants. Functional analysts are also called configuration leads, business analysts; business process owners. Technical analysts are also called functional developers or configuration experts. Both functional and technical analysts role are aligned with a particular SAP module or group of modules. Analysts work with client's business-side counterparts or super users, to implement SAP. More modules a company will implement, more analysts will be required. Job of a functional analyst is to gain business requirements, by working closely with super users. The functional analyst would then work with technical analyst of that module, to have SAP configured according to the business requirements captured. Analysts roles are vital for an SAP implementation. These roles require a person to have excellent coordination expertise.

System Administrator
System Administrator is an expert on Basis module of SAP. This person often takes team lead role or architect role. The person is expected to design overall technical strategy.SAP security also comes under Basis. Person responsible for implementing security works closely with functional team to make sure security is implemented as per business requirements.

Programmers
SAP programmers are specialized in programming language called ABAP. ABAP stands for: Advanced Business Application Programming. Most of the SAP software is written in ABAP language. ABAP is a C like language. Programmers are also called developers and ABAPers (pronounced as ah-bop-ers). Besides ABAP, programmers are also expected to know Java, .NET, SAP Business Intelligence, SAP Process Integration, and SAP Enterprise Portal etc. Programmers mainly come into the picture when customization is needed. Customization simply means modifying the code such that the functionality of the application fits the business requirement. Software code is only modified if team is unable to achieve the desired results using functional configuration. Programmers are also required when interfaces need to be written. Interfaces connect SAP with external software.

For example if a company is using SAP Financials and Oracle Manufacturing then programmers will write interface so that both business software could communicate with each other.

Project Management
Project Manager is responsible for managing SAP implementation project or an upgrade project. There is a high demand for project managers specialized in SAP. Demand for project managers is increasing as number of SAP implementations and upgrades are increasing. Upgrades are something that will keep on happening, as new product releases will keep on occurring. Companies have to keep pace with the new releases in order to keep their SAP support valid. SAP AG would not support software if it is too old. Many consulting companies have established Project Management Offices (PMOs) in order to coordinate groups of project managers. You can consider breaking into SAP arena as a project manager. PMP (Project Management Professional) certification from PMI (Project Management Institute) would come handy if you wish to go this route.

SAP Business Blue print

Business Blueprinting
SAP software expects that your business processes are accordingly to industry standards so that system could be used efficiently. In most SAP implementing projects, client end up re-engineering their business processes as well, along with implementing business software. Implementing SAP without streamlining business processes is not a very ideal solution.

Before you implement SAP you need to perform blueprinting. Blueprinting means:

Defining company's "to-be" business processes. Identifying gaps between current state and the target Identifying how SAP's functionality could be mapped to the "to-be" business processes. Identifying the gaps between SAP's functionality and "to-be" business processes.

Infrastructure Technology
When implementing SAP software, three infrastructure technologies come into play: Hardware Operating System Databases Hardware, operating System, and databases are underlying technologies or foundations for SAP business software solution. A week foundation could weaken the whole SAP system sitting on top of the foundation. These layers are also called solution stack or technology stack.

Selecting Infrastructure Provider

Do not make your hardware, OS, and database selection based on what your company is already familiar with, within the context of desktop applications. Choosing an SAP infrastructure partner is a serious business. First get a sense of what you might be already comfortable with. Then investigate other prospective infrastructure providers. Factors you need to look at are:

What kind of relationship the vendor has with SAP? Do they have a long history of partnering with SAP? Are they certified SAP partners. Do they possess SAP's Global Technology Partner" status?

Also you should consider:

Checking references by contacting existing SAP customers Attending SAP trade-shows. For example SAP TechED, ASUG, SAP Insder conferences

SAP Hardware
Hard is an essential component of a SAP system. Hardware consists of:

Servers (middle tier and database tier computers) Disk Storage System Network Gear (routers, switches etc) Take Backup Units

All of these components work together to create a healthy system. Failure of even one component could halt the whole system, costing the company millions of dollars. All kind of systems are available in SAP hardware marketplace, from small and medium user platforms to large and highly resilient platforms.

Some large platforms are also capable of scale on the fly to meet the changing needs. When making a hardware purchase decision, solutions from different vendors should be compared. Most solutions cannot be compared as apples to apples. E.g. one solution could support the same workload as the other system but the level of scalability, availability, and reliability offered by the two systems could differ considerably. Spending little more money upfront could save the company tons of dollars on monthly maintenance and downtime costs.

Server Hardware
Server hardware comes in three main categories:

Small Medium High

A server can cost from a few thousand dollars to several million. Servers vary in performance as well. Main factors influencing server performance include:

CPUs Speed of CPUs Amount of RAM Internal server architecture Support for high-speed disk operations

Servers also vary in terms of configuration flexibility and adaptability.

SAP Hardware Solution

An SAP solution may utilize severs from any of the three categories. Typically high performance servers are used at database tier, while a middle tier could utilize inexpensive servers. Some businesses choose to utilize high performance machines at all tiers. Machines could be carved up into partitions or virtual machines. While other businesses might decide to go with low end hardware across the board relying on SAP's horizontal scalability.

Propriety Platforms
Most large hardware vendors use proprietary CPU (Central Processing Units) chips in their machines. Also most large vendors support only proprietary OS (Operating System) Examples are:

IBMs POwerPC chip running AIX operating system. HPs end-of-plife PA-RISC running HP-UX operating system. HPs Itanium2-based IA64 running HP-UX operating system.

You should also explore the ability of the machine to run other operating system as well. If you seek to retire SAP then you can simply use the same box internally after deploying less expensive operating system like Linux. For example HP's Itanium2-based IA64 also supports Linux and Windows operating systems

X64 Platforms
Late trend is investing in x64 platforms. An x64 platform is a low cost server based on Intel or AMD CPU rather than proprietary CPU. Windows based desktops and laptops that you buy from retail stores are also x64 machines. Recently x64 machines have become very powerful and now are rivalling proprietary systems in terms of high availability and visualization options. HP and Dell are big players in this market. Sun also offers bit of a choice. One time low up front cost should be a decision making criteria. Total cost through the life time of the system should be considered while making a decision.

High Availability
High availability feature is very important for an SAP system. Even if you are incurring additional charges you should consider high availability feature for SAP. High availability is an implementation of features that ensures a certain absolute degree of operational continuity. High availability features include:

Redundant power supplies Disk array controllers (RAID) (array of disks keeps system running even if one disk fails) Support for multiple network cards

Networks should be configured in a redundant fashion as well. Using dual network switches is a good example in this regards.

Disk Subsystem Hardware

Disk subsystems are enclosures for multiple disks. Disk subsystems could be used at database tier or at middle tier. Storage Area Networks (SANs) are example of most robust and high performance disk systems. Network-attached storage (NAS) is example of lesser extent disk systems. SANs and NAS devices are marketed under three categories: low-tier, mid-tier, and high-end.

Storage for SAP

Storage used with SAP system should support redundant connectivity between the storage device and the servers connected to it. This will avoid the single point of failure

RAID
RAID (Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks) should be configured as well. RAID is a technology that allowed computer users to achieve high levels of storage reliability from low-cost and less reliable PC-class disk-drive components. This is achieved by arranging the devices into arrays for redundancy. RAID comes in following levels:

Level 0 Level 1

Level 5 Level 10

Different levels provide various combinations of availability, cost, and performance. RAID 0 is the cheapest and RAID 10 is the most expensive option.

SAP Operating Systems

Operating system is a software that lets applications and other software to communicate with computer hardware. Consider operating system as a layer on top of hardware. All other software runs on top of the operating system. Operating system provides basic services to applications. ,br> Example includes file sharing, support for network connections etc. Examples of operating systems on which SAP software could run include: Microsoft Windows Server, Red Hat Linux, Suse Linux, HP-UX Unix, AIX, Solaris, OS400, z/OS. Solaris is a UNIX version for Sun machines.HP-UX UNIX is a UNIX for HP machines OS400 is an operating system that runs on IBMs AS/400 machines. Z/OS is an operating system that runs on mainframe machines.

Microsoft Windows Server, Red Hat Linux, and Suse Linux could be installed on x64 (Intel/AMD CPU) machines.

Operating System for SAP

Following factors should be considered when deciding which Operating System to use with SAP.

Current skill set of IT staff, cost of retraining, and cost of hiring new staff Support from operating system vendors Confidence on the Operating System and the vendor Verifiable client references Relationship of operating system vendor with SAP

64-bit OS
Starting 2007, SAP software is only supported on 64-bit operating systems. 64-bit hardware is more prevalent. The demand for 32-bit hardware and therefore 32-bit operating system is reducing with time. For SAP systems, only 64-bit hardware should be considered unless you have good reasons to support older versions of SAP or some other related software that only runs on 32-bit environment.

Selecting OS
When making a decision on which Operating System to use with your SAP system, you should keep in mind following features:

Memory Management Crash Recovery Patch Management Security Clustering Capabilities Support for third party management utilities Presence of built-in management utilities

It may or may not be compatible with your IT department's vision to invest in new toolsets. In that case you also have to make sure that your existing monitoring applications, virus scanning software and backup solutions would work with this operating system.

SAP OS Directory Structure

On UNIX and Linux OS, SAP is installed on the directory: /usr/sap On Windows SAP resides in: x:\usr\sap Where x is a drive letter.

On windows the folder x:\usr\sap is shared as SAPMNT. You can access this folder from other machine as \\machinename\sapmnt where machine name is the name or IP address of the machine hosting SAP. If you have multiple SAP instances on Windows machine then all instances must be installed under the same directory SAPMNT. On all OS, UNIX, Linux, and Windows the next directory level is SID. SID stands for SAP system identifier.

SAP Instances

SAP instance resides on an Application Server under the directory: Windows: x:\usr\sap\sapsid Unix/Linux: /usr/sap/sapsid The SAP instance on an Application Server communicates with a database associated with this instance. SAP instance on an Application Server together with its associated database is called an "SAP System". The term "SAP System" is also known as "SAP Installation". When you talk about an SAP System or an SAP Installation, you are talking about an SAPSID folder on an Application Server and the database associated with this folder.

Multiple SAP Instances

One Application Server (or host) could contain multiple SAP instances. In other words there would be multiple SAPSID folders under the directory /usr/sap (x:\user\sap on Window). Where SAPSID is the actual name of the SAP identifier; for example: PROD, TEST etc. Each SAPSID folder would point to its own database. SAP System refers to the pair of SAP instance and its database. The folder /usr/sap could contain more than one SAP instance. It is important to know the difference between SAP System (pairing) and SAP instance (folder).

Load Balancing
When number of users increases, load balancing is implemented. The SAPSID folder is simply cloned to more than one Application Servers. Load is shared by making users connect to different Application Servers. Load balancing software controls which user would connect to would Application Server. SAPSID folders on all Application Servers would be talking to the same database. All sibling SAPSID folders together with their database would be called one SAP System. When load balancing is implemented, SAP System would consist of multiple SAPSID folders on difference Application Server machines and a database. An Application Server may host more than one SAP instance under the directory /usr/sap

SAP Process
SAP runs eight different types of processes on Application Server. How many actual processes would be run for each type is dictated by SAP instance profiles (which we will talk about next). These SAP processed are sometimes references as DVEBMSG, where

D - dial work process V - update work processes V1 - high priority update V2 - low priority update E - enqueue B - background/batch jobs M - message service S - spooling (print) G - gateway

System Administrator can monitor these processes through SAP's front end interface.

DVEBMSG Descriptions

Process Name: Dialog Letter: D Description: Process real-time information in the foreground Process Name: Background Letter: D Description: Background processing for long-running processes, reports, and batch jobs. Process Name: Synchronous Update Letter: V1 Description: Processes immediate updates to the database Letter: V2 Description: Processes updates to the database on a lower priority than V1; on time-permits basis. Process Name: Enqueue Letter: E Description: Manages database locks. Process Name: Message Letter: M Description: Manages communication between application servers. Process Name: Spool Letter: S Description: Manages print jobs (the print spool). Process Name: Gateway Letter: G Description: Communicates with other SAP and non-SAP systems.

SAP Profiles
SAP Profiles are text files containing configuration information. There are three SAP Profiles:

Default Profile Start Profile Instance Profile

An SAP System may consists of more than one SAP instance for the purpose of load balancing. Default Profile contains information common to all SAP instances within an SAP system. Start profile contains the executable commands for starting SAP processes. Instance profile contains information specific to an instance. There would be one Instance profile for each SAP instance.

It would contain configuration information like:

Memory configuration Buffer sizes Number of Work Processes

System Administrator can manage SAP Profiles through front-end interface.

SAP Database
SAP supports most databases. However you may be restricted to only a few based on the platform (hardware/OS) you have selected. When selecting a platform you should keep in mind the choice of databases you would be restricted to. Not all platforms supports all databases. SAP supports most databases including:

MAX DB

Microsoft SQL Server IBM DB2 Oracle MaxDB

MaxDB is SAP's own database. It is growing in popularity. It is more common on Linux platform. It is a lowcost alternative to other popular databases.

Log Shipping
Most databases support log shipping feature including Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server. Log shipping is a concept where changes to the database are transferred in regular intervals to another standby database. When production system goes down for any reason, the standby system is ready to be activated as production. This would result in almost zero downtime.

Database Overview
You can imagine database as a filing system that contains useful information. Information is stored in tables within a database. A database could contain many tables

Tables
Table has rows and columns. You can imagine table as a spreadsheet with rows and columns. At the intersection of rows and columns, there are cells. Cells contain values. A table stores information about entities e.g. Employee, Department etc. Something of importance is referred to as entities. The columns of the table represent attributes of the entity. For example Name, Salary, Department Number etc are attributes of an Employee. Each record (or row) of the table represents an instance on the entity. For example Scott and Larry. No two rows could be the same. That is why there are ID columns in tables. ID columns contain incremental values like 1, 2, 3 etc. This creates uniqueness for each row. Each value represent distinct instance of the entity.

Tables Relationships
Tables are tied together through relationships Entities could have one to one, one to many, or many to many relationships with each other. This relationship is represented in tables. Lets take a case of EMPLOYEE and DEPARTMENT tables. In a DEPARTMENT table we would store department IDs and Names. TABLE: DEPARTMENT ID NAME 10 Sales 20 Finance In a EMPLOYEE table we would store employee IDs, Names, and the Department ID in which they work. TABLE: EMPLOYEE ID NAME DEPTID 10 Scott 10 20 Larry 10 30 Peter 20 The DEPTID column of EMPLOYEE table is tied to the ID column of the DEPARTMENT table creating one to many relationship (through a foreign key) Each department could be assigned to various employees. After establishing this relationship the database would not let you insert a value in DEPTID column of EMPLOYEE table that does not exist in ID column of DEPARTMENT table. E.g. you cannot insert 30 in DEPTID because it does not exist in DEPARTMENT table.

The tables are tied to each other through relationships. This is where the name "relational database" comes from.

SAP Components and Databases

SAP software has various components (or products). For example: SAP ERP, SAP CRM etc Each component generally has its own database. If a company is using both components SAP ERP and SAP CRM, then SAP ERP would have its own database and SAP CRM would have its own database as well.

Programs and Data

You can think of SAP as a combination of two things:

Programs Data

Programs contain application logic. Programs read data from the database and also write data to the database. The database is there to make the data retrieval and data modification easy for the programs. Programs are separate from the database. Programs contain application logic e.g. how to create checks, how validate invoices. Database contain actual data (in tables) that would be retrieved and modified by the programs

SAP Tables
SAP database contains thousands of tables. For example SAP ERP database contains more than 30,000 tables. Some lighter products like SAP NetWeaver Process Integration (PI) contains less than 10,000 tables. In SAP about 10% of the tables contain 90% of the data. That means few tables grow in size while other remains relatively constant. The tables that grow in size are most transactional tables. Transactional tables contain transactions like Invoices, Journal etc. The table that remain unchanged are mostly master tables. Master tables contain master data like list of currencies, list of states within USA etc. Master data does not change as often as transactional data.

Indexes
Tables store data.

Indexes are used to speed up retrieval of data. Imagine a table containing 1 million records. Lets say a program has requested the database to fetch records for all employees whose name is SCOTT. The database would have to start reading the table from row 1 to the last row until it finds all the records where name is SCOTT. This is called a full table scan. Full table scan slows down the performance as it is time consuming. Indexes are created to avoid the full table scan. In this example you would create an index on column NAME of EMPLOYEE table. Imagine index as a table that only contains one or two columns. The actual EMP table could have more than 10 columns. The index on NAME column could be imagined as a table with one column NAME. Now if you ask the database to retrieve all rows where NAME is SCOTT, first the database would visit this index. Index could be scans in a matter of seconds since it is a small object as oppose to the table. Index has pointers pointing to the actual rows of the table. First the database finds all desired values within the index. Pointers could be used to retrieve other attributes of the entity residing in the actual table e.g. SALARY etc.

SAP Indexes SAP relies heavily on indexes to improve the performance. 50% of the SAP database size comprise of indexes.

Technical Road Map

After finishing business blueprint and project management tasks, the next item in line is to create a technical roadmap. Technical roadmap addresses issues like:

Selection of infrastructure platform (hardware, operating system, and database). Installation of SAP Integration of SAP with other applications Development and testing methodology Hardware sizing Network requirements

SAP Installation Guide

Installation process could sound confusing at first look. Key to success is reading and then following. Documentation provided by SAP is excellent. If you are planning to install SAP ERP 6 then start by downloading SAP ERP 6.0 powered by SAP NetWeaver 7.0 Master Guide. The guide will give you a quick insight on what is involved in installation. It will even point out where to download the electronic media from if you don't have SAP DVDs. The guide also covers various installation scenarios including how to install self service applications.

Service Marketplace
The installation guides are available from SAP service marketplace. The website for SAP service market place is http://service.sap.com/ Search under keyword instguides. Relevant notes may be search for at http://service.sap.com/notes

Installation Dependencies
Before you continue you make sure:

You understand the installation procedure You are not missing any piece of software You have all the required patches and updated You meet server and disk platform standards

SAP Sizing
Before SAP software is installed SAP environment must be planned. The process of planning the environment is called "sizing". Following decisions must be made:

How many installations would be there in the landscape (see next article). How many application servers (middle tier) will be deployed to share the load. What SAP components will be deployed. How the components will be they deployed. What would be the size of the database and hence the disk capacity of the database server. How scalable the system needs to be (How fast the company will grow). What would be the disaster recovery plan. What should be the availability of the system. (Time when system is not down). What kind of performance is acceptable especially when workload is high (month-end processes).

The above questions are answered by IT department working closely with SAP's implementation consultants (integrator) and the hardware partners. The design process should start early. Business should be engaged as quickly as possible to gather requirements. Then SAP integrator and hardware partners should translate these requirements into sizing recommendations.

SAP Instances
An SAP environment consists of multiple SAP instances or installations. Most common approach is to have three installations (also refer to as three-system landscape):

Development System - Used by developers to develop or modify the software. Quality assurance or Test System - Used by testers to test the new development. Production System - Used by users to run the business.

When developers modify the applications or functional consultant modifies any setup, changes are first promoted to the Test System where testers test the changes. Once approved changes are moved over to the Production System. Some companies keep a separate installation as "sandbox". Sandbox could be used for technical training. New things could be tried safely in this environment. Some companies also keep dedicates systems for testing new releases. Such systems are called "Stage" systems. Other companies would simply test the new releases on their Test Systems. From a technical roadmap perspective it is important to decide how many SAP installations would be there in your landscape. This has to be figured out before starting the actual installation. This decision is part of the "sizing". Each installation would have its own application tier and a database tier. Hence each installation would be using at least two machines.

Technology Stack: ABAP and Java

SAP components are either built on ABAP technology stack or on Java technology stack. ABAP stands for Advanced Business Application Programming. It is a high level programming language created by SAP. Before sizing the SAP installation it is import to determine which technical stack would be deployed. The SAP NetWeaver platform supports both technology stacks: ABAP and Java. Either one is support as well as both are supported in conjunction. SAP components that are being implemented dictates which technology stack company will end up using. For example Employee Self-Service component requires Java whereas ERP 6.0 component requires ABAP. The SAP Master Guides help you find out which underlying technology stack (ABAP or Java) is behind which module