Introduction to SAP
Responsibility of a Consultant
Responsibility of a Consultant is to
“Configure” and “Customize” SAP to “suit the business process requirements” of
client’s Company.
Creation of new objects in SAP
system is referred to as “Configuration” whereas making changes to existing
objects is called as “Customization”.
ERP stands
for Enterprise Resources Planning
Resources can be classified in to 4
categories, they are
1.Men
2.Machines
3.Material and
4.Money
The objective of an Enterprise is to
get maximum profit from their investments.
The exercise “Planning” gives an
Enterprise, the direction. Planning helps us to take decision by providing
inputs required.
As this software helps Enterprises
in planning their resource utilization, it is called as Enterprise Resource
Planning Software.
Modules in SAP
SAP is an Enterprise level
application. It is difficult for a person to understand and work with the
entire Organization. So, for the convenience the Product is divided in to
smaller parts called “Modules”.
When the product is divided in to
Modules, business functions are taken as basis. All business functions like
Planning, Procurement (Purchases), Marketing, Accounting, Costing etc. are
identified as “Functional Modules”. As each Module represents a Function in
business, it is called as a “Functional Module”.
Important Functional modules
FI – Financial Accounting
CO – Controlling
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SD – Sales & Distribution
MM – Materials Management
PP – Production Planning
PS – Project Systems
HCM – Human Capital Management (HR)
Etc.
Important Technical Modules
ABAP / 4 – Advanced Business
Application Programming (4th Generation)
Basis – Systems & Database
Administration
Components in SAP Financial Accounting Module
Part A: SAP
Enterprise Structure
Part B: 1.
General Ledger
2.Accounts Payable
3.Accounts Receivable
4.Asset Accounting Part C: Reports
Components in SAP Controlling Module
Part A:
Controlling Area and its supporting objects
Part B: 1. Cost
Element Accounting
2.Cost Center Accounting
3.Order Management
4.Profit Center Accounting
5.Product Costing
6.Profitability Analysis
Integration
1.Integration of FI/CO with MM
Module
2.Integration of FI/CO with SD
Module
Introduction: Integration means
“connecting”. All the Modules in SAP system are already inter- connected with
each other. Under this heading, we do not “connect” all these Modules with each
other. We facilitate “automatic posting” of information between different
modules to save time and effort of the end users. We also maintain “Integrity”
of the data by integrating all these Modules with each other.
SAP Name and Architecture
SAP stands for Systems, Applications
and Products in Data Processing
R/3 – Real time – 3 Tier
Architecture
3 Tier Architecture:
1.Application Server
2.Database Server
3.Presentation Server (Client)
ECC stands for “Enterprise Central
Component”.
Data processing Methods
There are two methods of processing
data. They are
1.Batch processing
2.Real time processing
SAP is predominantly a Real time processing
system. Batch processing functionality is also available basin on the
requirements of different components.
Consultant:
Consultant in SAP context is a person who understands client company’s
requirements and configures / customizes SAP to suit the business process
requirements of Clients Company.
End user:
Employee working in a Client’s company is referred to as“End user”or“User.
Implementation Partner: Company
which implements SAP for a client company is called as implementation partner
in SAP practice.
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Client: This term
is used in our classes in two different contexts with two different meanings.
1.In Networking context: A machine
in a Network which depends on a Server for resources.
2.In Business context: An entity
getting services from a professional is known as Client.
Business Process:
The step-by-step procedure used to carry out a business activity is known as
“Business Process”
Brief Notes on Components in SAP FI
Module
Basic Settings / SAP Enterprise
Structure: In Basic Settings, we create the Enterprise Structure and all the
supporting objects required to create Master records and to post all types of
GL documents.
We have 4 Components in FI Module.
They are
1.General Ledger
2.Accounts Payable
3.Accounts Receivable and
4.Asset Accounting
General Ledger
In this component, we learn topics
like creation of GL Master record, posting documents, displaying balances in GL
Accounts, using tools like Sample documents, Recurring documents, creation of
documents in Foreign currencies, setting up of “automatic calculation of
Interest” mechanism etc. Objective of this component is to enable the users to
create all GL Accounts required and post entries pertaining to all possible
business transactions. We also need to facilitate generation of all Reports
required.
Accounts Payable
Objective of this component is to
facilitate identifying and making all payments to Vendors in time. We learn
topics like creation of Vendor master record including all supporting objects
required, posting of all possible business transactions like purchase invoice,
vendor payment, vendor down payment etc.
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The most important topic in entire
SAP FI/CO curriculum is Automatic Payment Program (APP) and is a part of this
component. The next important topic in this component is configuration of
Withholding Tax (TDS).
Accounts Receivable
Accounts Receivable component is
just a replica of Accounts Payable in terms of the functionality offered.
Objective of this component is to facilitate receiving monies from Customers in
time. We learn topics like creating Customer master record, posting of all
possible transactions with customers, including calculation of VAT. The second
most important topic in FI/CO Module is Dunning (which means reminding
customers).
Asset Accounting
We deal with only Fixed Assets in
this component. Objective of this component is to facilitate posting of all
possible business transactions related to Fixed Assets like purchase of Assets,
sale of Assets, scrapping of Assets etc. and configuration of automatic
calculation of Depreciation. When we run Depreciation program as part of period
closing, system picks up all important details like acquisition value,
acquisition date, depreciation method to be used, depreciation rate to be
applied, and business / legal rules to be applied and accordingly calculates
Depreciation, creates an accounting entry also automatically.
Reports
In this component, we learn the art
of identifying a suitable Report for every information / reporting requirement.
If the required report is not available, then we need to create a Report. We
have tools like Report Painter and Report Writer to create Reports on the fly.
If creating a Report involves writing ABAP Code, we just need to communicate
the requirements, by writing a Functional specifications document, to an ABAPer
in our Project team.
