Saturday, November 29, 2008

SAP R/3 Overview and Implementation

By Matt Parker

SAP can be extended as Systeme, Andwendungen, Produkte in der Datenverarbeitung in German or Systems, Applications and Products in Info Processing in English. The German organisation based 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 organisation in the yr 1992 and is a business management application set on this architecture. The reply to the application has been huge and it can be told that the R/3 module has required the global software industry by storm.

The R/3 module can be best described as a comprehensive and integrated information system.SAP R/3 is a now being widely used around the globe and is easily customizable for several organizations reckoning on their sizes of operation due its ABAP/4 programming language. The R/3 architecture is a 3 tiered one which includes a user interface, a software application and database server and is compatible with a mixture of hardware configurations. The R/3 module includes several operational modules like financial control, human resources, materials management, sales and distribution in increase to production planning. Though every last of these modules executes their procedures one by one they are integrated together wherever applicable. This feature makes accessing the complete business actions of a organisation feasible to all it employees. The module too profits through its easy to use interface and online help functionality.

The SAP R/3 module is provided to the client with standard features turned on and a host of optional features impaired. An organisation can manipulate the software corresponding to their specific needs by changing the settings of the database and tables in the module. However, the module with its outstanding features comes with a high cost tag. The price of the R/3 module ranges anyplace between US$1.5million and US$5million.

Though the functionality of the module is extremely impressive implementing the R/3 module is a tiring task not to name the high costs involved. Implementation and maintenance prices reach between US$10million to US$100million and include the service charges of the SAP consultant who aids in the operation. Broadly Speaking the implementation procedure needs a lot of changes within the organization and can be divided into 4 important stages the project training stage where SAP technical support organization is built and preparating the SAP necessities of the organisation are guaranteed.

In the 2nd stage, the blueprinting stage analysis of the cost of ownership, high availability and disaster recovery demands, staffing the support organization and training are executed. In the 3rd functional management stage the changes that the company need to undergo are designed and the SAP systems management and SAP computer procedures are established. The phase likewise involves testing the SAP system before implementation. The final preparation stage involves another testing operation and the cutover phase where the organization plans the process of transmission from the older system to a newer 1.

It is obvious that the SAP R/3 module is a extremely functional and integrated system for organizations. Though the cost of the application, maintenance and implementation are high the functionality of the module overweighs the prices required. Many companies around the Earth have applied the R/3 module and benefitted tremendously. - 16089

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