Do you ever wonder just what is in the SAP box?
With so many SAP modules forming part of the core ERP solution, it can be very difficult to truly understand what SAP Modules are available and which ones do what.
What Most Customers Ask Me About SAP
I have been surprised many times by both SAP prospects and SAP customers asking me just what SAP does. To answer that, I built a mindmap that allows you to drill-down SAP Module by SAP Module, to explore the entire solution. If you are an old SAP hand, this is probably not news to you.
In order to answer the question, I first had to find the SAP Architecture documents available from the SAP Chief Technology Office. As they are somewhat long, and you need to have considerable background knowledge to really dig down into them, I found the SAP MindMap the easiest way to simplify and interpret the content buried within them.
Fundamentally, the SAP ERP system is based on three Mega-SAP Modules, Finance, Logistics and HCM.
However, the system also includes numerous other modules:
- SAP Business Warehouse (BW or BI)
- SAP Profitability and Cost Management (PCM)
- SAP APO (SCM), Advanced Planner and Optimizer
- SAP CRM, Customer Relationship Management
- SAP MDM, Master Data Management
- SAP SRM, Supplier Relationship Management
- SAP SEM, Strategic Enterprise Management
- SAP TM, Transportation Management
- SAP EH&S (Environmental Health & Safety)
- SAP HRM
- SAP BusinessObjects (really many other products are in this bucket)
- SAP Industry Solutions (many, many, specialized Industry specific solutions here, such as iMRO, Traders and Scheduler's WorkBench - TSW, Hybris Marketing, Multi-Resource (MRS) Scheduling, SAP Flexible Real Estate or SAP RE-FX, to name just few)
- SAP Partner Solution Add-Ins
- SAP Solution Manager
- SAP Netweaver Platform (within this, there are numerous modules as well)
- SAP ABAP, part of Netweaver and the core language of everything else, can also be used to build stand-alone applications, such as transportation such as was done in Iraq
What You Get With My SAP MindMap
In my SAP MindMap, I provide drill-down exploration capability to each of these modules. As SAP is all about Business Process Management, you can find a few of the potential linkages between modules, though I have not put all of those linkages in for clarity's sake. This is how a SAP Solution Architect comes up with your custom SAP Solution Landscape.
Internal SAP Integration Points
I should also point out that integration is the key advantage of these packages.
For instance, there are more than 200 built-in integration points between SAP CRM and all the other modules, such as the ERP system. Get your copy of the Best Selling SAP Mindmap by click the image below.
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