A Guide To Sap Software

SAP is a German company founded in 1972 by 5 IBM engineers. It stands for 'Systeme, Andwendungen, Produkte in der Datenverarbeitung'. Which, in English means 'Systems, Applications, Products in Data Processing'.

The company has grown dramatically over the last 30 years and now has subsidiaries in well over 50 countries. They on the third largest software developer in the world employing 27,000 people and have almost 20,000 customers. The annual revenue is almost $8 billion. One final interesting statistic is that there are almost 55,000 installations with more than 10 million users!

SAP R/3 is the ERP software product which put SAP on the map. Their earlier product (SAP R/2) was the first integrated enterprise wide application designed to run on mainframe computers. This product was primarily sold in the German market. In fact, almost every large German company had an installation of SAP R/2.

By the late 1980s mainframe computer architecture had become almost obsolete, with client-server system is gaining in popularity. In 1992 SAP introduced SAP R/3. This ERP application was specifically designed to operate on client-server architecture. It also has the depth of functionality and robustness of R/2.

SAP R/3 is extremely customisable. It ships with the standard processes switched on, but thousands of other optional features switched off. There are about 10,000 tables which allow for thousands and thousands of configurations of the various processes and how they can be executed. By adjusting the values of these tables, if SAP can be configured to perform exactly the way you will need to be. This is the true benefit of the product.

SAP offers true enterprise functionality. Key modules include Financial Accounting, Management Accounting, Sales, Distribution, Manufacturing, Production Planning, Purchasing, Human Resources, and Payroll. Furthermore, these modules of highly integrated.

Unfortunately, the learning curve to master SAP is very steep. To ensure a successful implementation, you will need to get skilled resources. These resources can be supplied by SAP or any of the so-called 'top 8' consultanting companies. Don't underestimate the cost of implementation - it can be four or five times more than the software costs!

SAP also offer a comprehensive training program for its customers. Again, this doesn't come cheap. But it makes sense to invest in training who owns staff as this will offer your company better long-term value and you will be less reliance on expensive external resources.