 What is SAP?

SAP stands for Systems Applications and Products in Data Processing.

SAP, by definition, is also the name of the ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) software
as well as the name of the company. SAP Software is a European multinational, founded in
1972 by Wellenreuther, Hopp, Hector, Plattner, and Tschira. They develop software
solutions for managing business operations and customer relationships.
SAP system consists of a number of fully integrated modules, which covers virtually every
aspect of business management.

SAP is #1 in the ERP market. As of 2010, SAP has more than 140,000 installations
worldwide, over 25 industry-specific business solutions and more than 75,000 customers in
120 countries

Other Competitive products of SAP Software in the market are Oracle, Microsoft Dynamics,
etc.

 What is SAP ERP? Why is it required?

The very fundamental question for any beginners is why Enterprise Resource Planning
also called ERP, is required? To answer this, let’s examine this typical business scenario.
Suppose a client approaches a sales team asking for a particular product. The sales team
contacts the inventory department to check the availability of the product. To their surprise,
the sales team found out that the product is out of stock. So next time this doesn’t happen,
they have to introduce an SAP ERP tool.

Before we actually see in detail, what ERP is and how ERP can help in your business
process, we will understand how different departments are involved in the whole business
process, right from the ordering of the raw material – to manufacturing goods – to
delivering final products to the customer.

Here is the whole process that is followed by any business unit.

1. Client contacts the sales team to check the availability of the product
2. Sales team approaches the Inventory department to check for the availability of the product
3. In case the product is out of stock, the sales team approaches the Production Planning
Department to manuf
4. acture the product
5. The production planning team checks with inventory department for availability of raw
material
6. If the raw material is not available with inventory, the Production Planning team buys the
raw material from the Vendors
7. Then Production Planning forwards the raw materials to the Shop Floor Execution for actual
production
8. Once ready, the Shop Floor Team sends the goods to the Sales Team
9. Sales Team who in turn deliver it to the client
10.The sales team updates the finance with revenue generated by the sale of the product.
Production planning team update the finance with payments to be made to different vendors
for raw materials.
11. All departments approach the HR for any Human Resource related issue.
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 is also called as ERP.

Decentralized System
Let’s look at Decentralized system first, in a company with Decentralized System of Data
Management. There are two major problems –

 Data is maintained locally at the individual departments.

 Departments do not have access to information or data from other
departments

Some Major problems with the decentralized system are –

 Numerous disparate information systems created 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 reputation
 High Inventory, material, and human resource cost.

These are some major drawbacks for which we need a solution. Well, the Solution lies
in Centralized Systems i.e., ERP.

Centralized System
In a company, with a 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 from other Departments

In this case, all departments update a Central Information System.

 When 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 respond to customer request on time, leading to Increased Revenue and
Customer Delight.
 In case, manufacturing is required the Sales Team update the Centralized Database, so
that all the department remain informed about the product status.
 Production Planning Department is auto updated by the Centralized Database for
requirements. Production Planning Team checks the availability of the raw materials
required via the 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 the recruitment process with considerable
lead time to hire a suitable candidate at market price. Thus labour cost goes down.
 While 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
 SAP software is a type of Centralized System. SAP Systems are the most popularly used in
ERP software.

Key benefits of the centralized system are:

 It eliminates the duplication, discontinuity, and redundancy in data
 Provides information across departments in real time.
 SAP Company provides control over various business processes
 Increases productivity, better inventory management, promotes quality, reduced material
cost, effective human resources management, reduced overheads boosts profits
 Better customer interaction and increased throughput. It also improves customer service
 Hence, a centralized enterprise management system is required.
 SAP Software is a centralized enterprise management system, also known as Enterprise
Resource Planning.
 SAP ERP Technical & Functional Modules Complete
List
SAP Modules can be categorized into
 SAP Technical Modules
 SAP Functional Modules

These functional and technical modules in SAP are tightly coupled. Below is a key SAP
Modules list.

 SAP Technical Modules:-

 SAP BASIS
 SAP SECURITY
 SAP ABAP

 SAP Functional Modules

 SAP FI Module – FI stands for Financial Accounting

 SAP CO Module – CO stands for Controlling
 SAP HCM Module – HR stands for Human Resources
 SAP MM Module – MM is Materials Management
 SAP QM Module – QM stands for Quality Managemential
 SAP PP Module – PP is Production Planning
 SAP SD Module – SD is Sales and Distribution
 SAP BW Module – where BW stands for Business (Data) Warehouse
 SAP CRM – where CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management
 SAP HANA – where Hana stands for High-performance Analytic Appliance.
 SAP EC Module – where EC stands for Enterprise Controlling
 SAP TR Module – where TR stands for Treasury
 SAP IM Module – where IM stands for Investment Management
 SAP IS – where IS stands for Industry Specific Solution
 SAP SCM- where SCM stands for Supply Chain Management
 SAP PLM- where PLM stands for Product Lifecycle Management
 SAP SRM- where SRM stands for Supplier Relationship Management
 SAP CS- where CS stands for Customer Service
 SAP SEM – where SEM stands for STRATEGIC ENTERPRISE MANAGEMENT
 SAP RE – where RE stands for Real Estate
 SAP PM Module– where Plant Maintenance is the PM
 SAP Security Learn more about SAP Security
 SAP FSCM – where FSCM stands for Financial Supply Chain Management
 SAP Net Weaver
 SAP XI – where XI stands for Exchange Infrastructure
 SAP Solution Manager – Learn more about Solution Manager
 SAP LE – where LE stands for Logistics Execution
 SAP APO- where APO stands for Advanced Planning and Optimization
 SAP AFS – where AFS stands for Apparel and Footwear Solution
 SAP CC – where CC stands for Convergent Charging
 SAP ITS – where ITS stands for Internet Transaction Server
 SAP ICM – where ICM stands for Incentive and Commission Management
  SAP MDM – where MDM stands for Master Data Management

 What is SAP R/3?

SAP R/3 is a 3 tier architecture consisting of 3 layers

1. Presentation layer
2. Application layer
3. Database layer

In simple words, it’s a client server architecture.

 R signifies Real-time system

 3 represents – 3-tier architecture.

User’s PC:- Users can access SAP system in two ways:-

How to write a TEST CASE Software Testing Tutorial

1. Through SAP GUI

2. Through Web browser

It’s called front-end. Only the front-end is installed in the user’s PC not the application/database
servers.
Understanding different SAP layers

 SAP LANDSCAPE
Landscape is like a server system or like a layout of the servers or some may even call it
the architecture of the servers viz. SAP is divided into three different landscape DEV, QAS
and PRD.

 DEVELOPMENT : is where the the consultants do the customization as per the

company’s requirement.
 QUALITY : is where the core team members and other members test the
customization.
 PRE PRODUCTION: is where the business members test the requirment.
 PRODUCTION : is where the live data of the company is recorded.

Types of Landscapes:
 1 system landscape
 2 system landscape
 3 system landscape
 Multi system landscape
1 system landscape: DEV, QAS and PROD will install in one system.

2 system landscape: DEV, QAS servers installs in one system, PROD server install
in one system.

3 system landscape: 3 servers will be available in 3 different systems.

Multi system landscape: 4 or more servers.
 SAP INSTANCE, SID AND CLIENT

What is SID?
SID is a unique identification code for every R/3 installation (SAP system) consisting of a
database server & several application servers. SID stands for SAP System Identification. SAPSID
— a three-character code such as C11, PRD, E56, etc.)

Logical System Names: –

When data is distributed between different systems, each system within a network has to be
clearly identifiable. The “logical system” deals with this issue.

A logical system is an application system in which the applications work together on a common
database. In SAP terms, the logical system is a client.

Since the logical system name is used to identify a system uniquely within the network, two
systems cannot have the same name if they are connected to each other as BW systems or as
source systems, or if there are plans to connect them in any way.

Example for production system logical system name might be:-

SID – PBG

SID Description – P= Production (type), B=BW (component), G=Germany. (Plant name)

Logical System name-

PBGCLNT100.This form is easy to understand.

 SAP Logon: GUI & Navigation Tutorial

What is SAP Logon?

SAP Logon is used initiate a user session in a desired SAP Server. The same SAP Logon pad can be
used to login into different SAP ERP environments. SAP Logon is a client side software usually
used by Consultants, developers and end-users

Following Video will take you through the various screen elements observed in the SAP –
Graphical User Interface (GUI)

 To access SAP, double click in the SAP logon PAD.

 You are shown a list of servers that you could log into right now there is only one server.
 But you see multiple servers like one for production, one for Testing one for development.
 Select the server and click the Log On Button. In the next screen, enter your user id and
password. You are taken to Sap’s easy access menu

 At the top, you will see the menu bar. Next you will see the standard tool bar where you
options to Print , Save Find , Scroll etc

 To view or maintain any data in SAP or access different business process you need to know
the corresponding transaction. Every transaction has a unique code.

 For example, transaction number to maintain a PA data is PA30

 To access the transaction, in the command prompt enter PA30 and hit enter.
 If you notice the title bar changes in accordance with the transaction, you are currently in.

 To go back to the initial screen click the back button

 Alternatively, if you do not remember the transaction code, a tree is provided with all the
transaction available.
 Navigate in the tree. Double click in the corresponding transaction. Suppose you do not
want to navigate so much to access a transaction, right click on it and select Add to
favorites

 The transaction is added to your favourites. At the bottom of a screen you will notice
Message Bar. This Bar has three colors
 Red – for errors
 Yellow – for warnings
 Green – for success
  If you double click on the bar, detailed information of the message is reflected
 At the bottom, you will see various system related information like the client or the
program you are currently in.
 To get help in SAP, select on the corresponding screen element and press F1
 Suppose, I want help on command prompt, pressing F1 gives me a very detailed help
document.
 That’s it to the SAP GUI

SAP GUI Navigation

When you logon to SAP or you open a new session- you will see the following screen

Lets look into the various screen elements-

SAP User Menu

The SAP User Menu is tailored to the user's specific needs. It includes all transactions relevant to
a user, grouped under relevant folders
SAP Easy Access Menu
The SAP Easy Access Menu includes all transactions offered by SAP, grouped in folders according
to SAP modules (FI/CO, MM, etc.). It is not tailored to the user's specific needs

SAP Menu Bar

The SAP Menu Bar CHANGES from one screen to another. You follow a menu path to access a
function or a transaction.
SAP Standard Tool Bar
The SAP Standard Toolbar does NOT change from one transaction to another. You can use the
SAP Standard Toolbar to execute various functions.

 Buttons available are enabled

 Buttons not available are disabled
 In the "Transaction Box", you can directly access a transaction, without using the SAP
Menu, by entering the transaction code

General Icons and their Description

Hint: You open a maximum of 6 different SAP session at a time

SAP Application Toolbar

The SAP Application Toolbar CHANGES from one screen to another.
SAP Status Bar
The SAP Status Bar does NOT change from one screen to another. It tells you WHERE you are in
SAP:

 Which environment you are using (Production , Development , Quality).

 In which session you are in (as you can open up to 6 sessions).
 What client you are using.

Clicking on   button gives more information –

SAP Function Keys

Functions keys are just another way of navigating around SAP. The availability of function
keys CHANGES from one screen to another While in a transaction , right click on your mouse ,
you will see a list of function keys available
How to get HELP in SAP
More often than not while using SAP you will need HELP. You can access in-built SAP Help
functionality for ANY screen element (like text fields , buttons ,labels etc ) for ANY SAP Screen In
this training , we will assume you need help for the following field –

You can access help in three different ways

1. Clicking on the “Help” button.

2. Right-clicking on your mouse and selecting “Help”.
3. Pressing the F1 button on your keyboard.

A Performance Assistance Screen Opens-

1. It gives you information on how to fill the specific field on screen

2. Clicking on Technical Information Button gives you information like program name , table
name and other technical details which comes in very handy at times

3. Clicking on portal button gives you access to the online SAP Library available via the internet.