Sunday, February 15, 2009

Overview of SAP R/3 and SAP Implementation

By Eugene Diaz

SAP can be thrived as Systeme, Andwendungen, Produkte in der Datenverarbeitung in German or Systems, Applications and Products in Informations Processing in English. The German organization set up in the yr 1972 published module R/1 and module R/2 earlier. Still, with the advent of the client server architecture the module R/3 was released by the corporation in the year 1992 and is a business management application settled on this architecture. The reply to the application has been tremendous and it can be told that the R/3 module has read the global software industry by storm.

The R/3 module can be better identified as a comprehensive and integrated information system.SAP R/3 is a now being widely utilized around the universe and is easy customizable for various companies depending on their sizes of procedure due its ABAP/4 programming language. The R/3 architecture is a 3 tiered 1 which includes a user interface, a software application and database server and is compatible with a variety of hardware configurations. The R/3 module includes different operational modules example financial control, human resources, materials management, sales and distribution in addition to production planning. Though every of these modules executes their procedures singly they are integrated unitedly wheresoever applicable. This feature makes accessing the finished business activities of a organization feasible to all it employees. The module too gains through it is good to use interface and online assistance functionality.

The SAP R/3 module is offered to the customer with standard features turned on and a host of optional features disabled. An organization can manipulate the software according to their proper needs by altering the settings of the database and tables in the module. However, the module with its superior features comes with a high cost tag. The cost of the R/3 module ranges anywhere between US$1.5million and US$5million.

Though the functionality of the module is highly stunning implementing the R/3 module is a tiring task not to name the high prices involved. Implementation and maintenance costs lead between US$10million to US$100million and include the service charges of the SAP consultant who helps in the operation. By And Large the implementation procedure asks a lot of changes within the company and can be distributed into 4 main stages the project training stage where SAP technical support company is set and preparating the SAP demands of the corporation are guaranteed.

In the second stage, the blueprinting stage analysis of the cost of ownership, high availability and disaster recovery demands, staffing the support organisation and educating are executed. In the third functional management stage the varieties that the organization need to undergo are plotted and the SAP systems management and SAP computer procedures are made. The phase likewise involves testing the SAP system before execution. The ultimate preparation stage involves other testing process and the cutover phase where the corporation plans the operation of transmission from the older system to a newer one.

It is evident that the SAP R/3 module is a extremely functional and integrated system for companies. Though the price of the application, maintenance and implementation are high the functionality of the module overweighs the costs required. Numerous enterprises around the world have implemented the R/3 module and benefitted tremendously.

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