Thursday, January 1, 2009

How To Use SAP Modules For Your Organisations

By Donald Howard

SAP is the short form of Systems, Applications and Products. SAP is not simply the name of worlds 1 of the widest software development corporation but too the name of the software product developed by this enterprise. SAP AG, the authorized name of the organisation since it was shaped in Germany, earlier thought of providing customers with a tool with which they can interact with a single master info base for each and every application needed across the organisation.

The idea of the tool got functional in the form of a financial accounting system referred SAP R/1, the beginning version of SAPs iconic enterprise software. The improved version of this application, SAP R/2, was founded towards the end of 1970s, which was mainframe established business application software. Later on, SAP AG launched a client -server version of the software addressed SAP R/3, after the advent of divided client -server computing.

SAP R/3 Functionality:

SAP applications, made around their current R/3 system allows R/3 to treat all performance and management tasks throughout the organization. That implies, SAP R/3 provide the users with the tool to supervise financial, asset, and cost accounting, production processes and materials, personnel, plants, and archived documents. It operates on Advance Business Application Programming (ABAP), which is a 4th generation programming language. The R/3 system is compatible with various platforms including Windows 2000 and applies the client/server model.

SAP R/3 Modules:

SAP R/3 is made up of various individual functional software modules. These modules mix to execute every of the functional and management tasks of any company. All personalized working module addresses particular activities on it's own, but is associated to the others where applicable. The most wide used modules are - Logistics, Accounting and Human Resources.

Logistic Module:

Logistics is the way of completing a process from beginning to complete on request e.g. delivering a product at it's desired location, on request. Several tasks needed in this process are Sales and Distribution, Production Planning, Materials Management, Plant Maintenance and Quality Management etc among others, each of which are integrated by Logistic module. The different components of this module and illustration of their procedures are:

Logistic Module


Sales and Distribution module: Presales support, customer enquiry processing, quotation processing, sales order processing, delivery working, billing and sales information system.

Material Management module: Purchasing processes, warehouse management, inventory, invoicing etc.

Production Planning module: Planning & organizing production operation e.g. transport and storage of raw materials, by-products and waste etc.

Plant Maintenance module: Repair of buildings, maintenance of equipment used in the production procedure, info about machine usage and possible downtime etc.

Quality Management module: Every operations linked to the quality assurance of the product.

Accounting Modules:

This module executes every last financial and accounting actions or in other words this module meets every last financial and accounting needs of the company. It is automated to offer management and reporting of ledger, receivables & payments etc. which in turn allows balance sheets and Profit & Loss (P&L) accounts to be self updated, continuously. Thus, the elementary advantage of this module is that the book reflects the real situation. The several elements of this module are:

Accounting Module Examples

Financial Accounting: Accounting functions like balance sheet, Profit & Loss statements, Compliance with accounting regulations etc.

Controlling: Controls cost as well as corporations aims, Provides information necessary for decision making and future planning.

Enterprise Controlling: Collates internal information with market data to bring out issues in marketing strategies.

Treasury: Corporate banking, Money, budget management etc.

Capital Investment Management: Helps finance organizations in their capital investments and tracking.

Project System: Project Management I, Project budgeting, Project execution/integration, Information system, Operative structures, Project planning etc.

Human Resources Modules

As the words itself defines, Human Resource Modules allows a complete HR management system, dealing fields such as personnel preparation and enlisting, personnel and salary administration, payroll and personnel development.

Initially, SAP executions as well as its training were coordinated on module lines. For illustration, in a training class on Logistics, you would learn many things about SD such as SD-MD, SD-GF, SD-SLS etc but not much about the rest of the SAP system and how SD fits into it. So, the integration between modules was altogether absent. This used to result to that, the results were optimized on the modules, but missed in integration. So, to accomplish that integration, programs are nowadays being organised along the procedure lines such as:

Order to Cash (including parts of SD, FI-AR and probably TY as well)
Purchase to Pay (including MM-Purchasing and FI-AP)
Record to Report (FI-GL etc)

With adaptation of operation lines alternatively of modules for solutions, SAP nowadays are moving away from reporting their system as a set of modules, and now are using the term results. These Fresh Dimension Products can stand exclusively or be integrated with R/3. It's profits include elimination of duplication, discontinuity and redundancy in info and increases the return on investment made on IT implementations. It presents quality info designed for the Corporation as a entirely Faster and cheaper which in turn presents quality data to acquire a quality organisation. These results are:

Financials
Human Resources
Customer Relationship Management
Supplier Relationship Management
Product Lifecycle Management
Supply Chain Management
Business Intelligence

Conclusion:

SAP is an Corporation Wide Business Answer. This signifies that organisations running SAP can effectively integrate all of its business actions including finance, purchasing, sales, human resources etc. This integration allows each business proceedings in an organisation are available to all regions of that organization and there is no duplicate of info in separated systems.

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