SAP R/3 Overview
SAP R/3 is considered the most well-known business application software
in the world. It is used to manage comprehensive financial, manufacturing, sales, distribution
and human resource functions. Therefore it covers most processes in industries. It provides
the needed integration for speeding up business. It matches our current reality. Multinational
companies get a large step towards a global company. Country-specific versions are available
for most countries although it might be incompleted. The system is multi-currency and
multi-lingual. Translation in some languages are also incompleted. Its official documentation
is available in English, German and French.
Its core is totally based on accounting and leads business in a clear chain of processes. Financial Accounting module should be fully understood at the time other modules are installed. Users get more responsibilities. On the other hand, they have a wide information system and large flexibility.
Implementation strategies are quite different amongst companies. Either full implementation at once (known as big bang) or partial implementation have advantages and disadvantages. It is necessary particular analyses to identify which strategy is more suitable. It depends on budget, resources, current systems, risks, politics, and so on. Simultaneous implementation avoid having to rework configurations, due to the integrated nature of the system, and decrease the number of interfaces.
According to the chairman of SAP Brazil(*), the true costs of SAP can be clearly divided. For each US$ 5.00 spent by clients, US$ 1.00 for software, US$ 2.00 for implementation services, US$ 1.25 for hardware, and US$ 0.75 for infrastructure. In fact, his research is reliable.
Its basis technology has been upgraded often. Openness, portability, independence from environment, integration, client/server, multi-tier architecture, and scalability are always being enhanced. The system can be set up according to an assorted list of hardware, operating systems, databases, and presentation (desktop). The system also supports several programming languages (ABAP/4, C, C++, Java and HTML). SAP is hardware vendor neutral and its system runs from a small Windows NT up to UNIX parallel systems.
Although its qualities it requires a remarkable effort to implement. Generally speaking, a large number of parameters, business process re-engineering and users training are the main reasons. New technical features also contribute. Not to mention the ordinary poor understanding of existing systems and implementation scenarios.
Once it has been implemented, everyone will notice an important changing of roles throughout the organization. It reaches the whole company. I imply all organization levels. Everyone has to be ready to accept it.
SAP (Systems, Applications, Products in Data Processing) was established in 1972 in Germany. Its worldwide presence within 50 countries assures a customer number over 7.500 companies around the world. Headquarters are located in Walldorf, Germany. All development is done in Germany.
| Note: | Mr. Augusto Pinto, chairman of SAP Brazil(*), had his statements published in a Brazilian newspaper in September 9, 1997. |
Copyright © 1997-1999 by Ricardo F Miranda
Last modified in September 12, 1997.