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25 Answers

Pramod Ralkar, CEO & MD at Msys.exe (2000-present)

Updated Aug 13, 2018 · Upvoted by Faisal Ali Khan, ICWA/CMA from The Institute of Cost and
Management Accountants of India (2016) · Author has 420 answers and 1m answer views

Actually, this is the 21st Answer to this question. Loads of relevant information is available
on SAP official web-site. Plus, just google-up. You’ll find many PPTs on this subject.

I am trying to keep it short, simple, yet insightful. More specifically for freshers. Many
contemplating SAP as a possible career choice [or an added qualification]. But have near-
zero business-exposure.

SAP is an ERP.

Enterprise Resource Planning Software.

Prima facie, like every other ERPs, it is a simple business-transaction automation software.

It is a relational data-base management system [RDBMS] with pre-configured business

rules and reports.

These business rules are called as ‘features’ or ‘functionality’.

And the bouquet of reports is called as MIS.

These features and the reports are clubbed together based on the User Functions…. and
are called as Modules.

SAP has many Modules.

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The prime feature of every ERP is a central and real-time data-base. Shared across the
organisation… irrespective of their Department or Location.

This transaction-data keeps getting continuously updated… as-n-when any staff…

anywhere in the organisation… operating the ERP…. keys in a fresh transaction.

Say, for example, a Sales Order

or a Delivery Challan,

or Stock Transfer Note

or Goods receipt.

Or, a requisition for material,

or seeking reimbursement of expenses,

or releasing a payment.

Whatever you typically do in a normal day-to-activities…. in ANY business.

And, this up-to-minute updated data is available to everyone else… who-so-ever has
access to it.

No two people have to enter the same data.

It is available at your finger-tip.

So, no more waiting. No chasing [other Departments or your colleagues]

You don’t need any “extra” verification of this input data.

Everyone can use that data as “their” input and ACT on it without any hesitation.

This makes the OPERATIONS swift and productive.

Besides the software allows you to define specific people… who can view what data, and
which staff can enter / change specific data.

That way, the data is secured and safe.

Commonly and repeatedly used data is called Master-data’, and it is saved in special data-
tables and indexed.

So, whenever you wish to enter a fresh business transaction…. the relevant data like the
Customer details, Vendor details, Product details are automatically filled in.
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Just like the Auto-fill features on Google or any eCom portal.
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This not only saves repeated data-entry, but also ensures that there are least number of
data-errors. This is the transaction-automation boon any ERP offers.

ERP software has many business-rules written in the form CODE.

Some of those business-rules are universal, some are country-specific, some are Industry-
specific and some CAN BE Company specific.

These business rules ensure that successive business-processes are AUTOMATICALLY

triggered as soon as relevant INPUT DATA is keyed in by relevant Staff.

This gives an unhindered smooth FLOW to the business activities.

This is called Business Processes.

Every Organisation has two distinct business activities.

They buy materials [or services]…. and then sell them with a ‘value addition’. Right?

The movement of Goods [or services] from the INPUT to OUTPUT is called a Supply Chain.

When the Goods move in from the Vendors to our Organisation, it creates a financial
liability. This liability is actually synchronous to goods movement. But in conventional
Organisation it is handled by two different departments [Purchase & Finance].

Same way, when the Goods are sold, Invoices are issued. They are booked as receivables in
our Books of Accounts. Goods leave your premises with the Tax Invoice, but monies come
in only later. So, when the monies come in… the Sale is complete. Selling is handled by
Sales Dept, Deliveries by Stores Department and Collections are by Finance Department.

Sometimes, MFG is also involved. In the MFG operation COSTS are incurred [labour,
machine, electricity, steam, other utilities]. As a result the FG Inventories reach different
VALUATION. Materials & Resources used in MFG are accounted for by the Production
Department. Whereas Costing Department tracks the Costs.

In the ERP, all such synchronous activities are bundled together as cycles.

Say, Procure-to-Pay.

And, Order-to-Cash.

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ERP / SAP uses RDBMS Technology [Relational Data-base Management System] and a
Client-ServerSearch for questions,
Architecture. people,
These are a littleand topics descriptors. So, let me avoid further
technical Sign In
details. But, if you are interested pl google them up.

I will now use a few pictures to elaborate how the real-world business-activities are
mapped in the ERP codes. [First round is in-built by the ERP Vendor, and the on-site round is
carried out by the Implementation Team].

Process Modelling:

System Architecture

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Configuration Process

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Integration across Functions and Locations:

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ERP Systems have elaborate ’query’ and ‘reports’ feature which not only provide a pre-
configured standard MIS, but also a great decision support system…. to the Executives.

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So, while the Operating staff can enjoy the transaction automation, and real-time data…
the senior managers can view the real-time ledgers, trends, outstanding approvals, to-
date-business performance…. and all performance metrics.

Majority of design complexity and business requirements are already captured in the off-
the-shelf software. For decades n decades the SAP Company employed thousands of
domain experts to capture all possible business requirements. And then, thousands of
Coders to capture them in the RDBMS [plus the Application Server]. So, SAP requires very
little Customer-specific coding [unless, off-course, for some specific Reports or Data-entry
Screens].

As a result, SAP Consultancy is not like any other Software development profession. SAP
Consultants ought to have extensive and diverse hands-on business experience…. first, to
comprehend various business rules written in the Software…. and their nuances. And, then
to pick the most appropriate ones to offer to their specific client. These are called
FUNCTIONAL CONSULTANTS. These experienced guys are then trained on the SAP.

Typically, the depth and complexity of each Modules is such…. that vary rarely you will see
any Consultant who has mastery in more than ONE Module. Even after 20+ years of
practice in SAP. This specialisation can be compared to Medical profession. Like a Gynac
and a Heart Surgeon and an Anaesthetist and a Radiologist and a Pathologist. They would
definitely know something about the other Module. But, enough to know that they should
leave it to the ‘real’ specialists.

SAP Institutes cannot pick freshers and train them on Functional experience [like Purchase,
Sales, Finance, Supply Chain].

A fresher would lack ANY kind of Functional judgment… and hence will never qualify as a
billable Functional Consultant. So, even if you were to spend some 3L for SAP Certification,
no SAP Consulting Firm is going to hire you. You could, at best, be put to some master-
data-housekeeping at 15kpm.

So, when an unemployed fresher joins some road-side SAP Training Institute in the hope
of some ‘smart’ break or a career…. he is sheer ill-informed.

No Authorised SAP Training Institute admits candidates WITHOUT MINIMUM 2 years of

Functional experience. And, that has a reason.

There are two TECHNICAL JOBs in SAP, though.

One is called BASIS…. which is about the System Administration [Data-base Server &
Application Server, Authorisations, Back-up, etc.].

The other one is ABAP. ABAP is a proprietary language to write code in SAP. Just like Java
or C++. If you want to be a SAP Coder [writing enhancements] then you need to learn
ABAP, gather 1 year of hands-on experience in ABAP coding.

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ABAP & BASIS do not require functional experience.
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.

I hope, this was a fairly lay-manish elaboration.

For the more learned ones, I am sure… loads of information is already available on the net.
I wanted to make this for freshers… who probably contemplate SAP as a possible career
choice…. but have near-zero business-exposure. For more academic information [like the
Modules, Sub-Modules, features] you can refer to some other answers to this very Quora
question. I avoided the repetition.

Your feedback, questions are welcome.

.
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Related Questions More Answers Below

What is SAP software used for in companies?

How is SAP used?

What is the full form of SAP?

What does SAP do?

What is SAP in software companies?

Ashish Jain
Answered Jun 3, 2016

SAP is an Enterprise Resource Planning software (ERP) from the company SAP AG,
Germany. SAP (or generally any ERP) is used in large or medium size enterprises to
integrate the processes across various functions. Each function is handled by the respective
module in SAP (or any other ERP) software. For example, SAP has modules called Sales &
Distribution (SD), Advanced Planning and Optimization (APO), Quality Management (QM),
Purchasing (MM-PUR) Warehouse Management (WM), Production Planning (PP), Finance
(FI) and many other.

Let’s take a simple example. When a customer places an order(via web...

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Sheldon Meyer, Supply Chain Management Consultant at Freelancing (2017-

present)
Answered Mar 7, 2017 · Author has 55 answers and 44.2k answer views

How is SAP software used? Well, interesting question and a bit broad in my mind. SAP R/3
is a complete business suite which houses many full integrated software's that covers end
to end business processes.

SAP software products are used to enhance and provide business with value.

If I think about the question, I could actually pose several different types of answers as it is
like saying, how is Microsoft software used? The answer to that is far reaching and varied
but ultimately it is the same of most software, they are productivity tools to enhance the
application they are used for.
16.4k views · View 5 Upvoters · Answer requested by Wayne Bryan

Shilpa Shewate
Updated May 28, 2018 · Author has 117 answers and 143.2k answer views

When neatly integrated ERP software comes into the picture, SAP becomes the prime
leader and there are lots of departmental applications work symphonically. SAP offers
industry-specific add-on solutions is beyond its basic models. There are lots of modules
present in the SAP ERP and the main categories are:

Accounting:

Finance (FI)

Investment Management (IM)

Project Systems (PS)

Controlling (CO)

Financial Supply Chain Management (FSCM)

Logistics

Material Management (MM)

Sales and Distribution (SD)

Logistics Execution (LO)

Warehouse Management (WM)

Plant Maintenance (PM)

Quality Management (QM)

Production...
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Related Questions More Answers Below

What are the uses of SAP in the software industry?

How useful is SAP software?

What is SAP?

Which software is used in SAP?

How does the SAP work?

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ImranSearch
Khan, Tech Writer - SAP
for questions, enthusiast
people, and topics Sign In
Answered Apr 12, 2016

SAP, a German multinational software corporation founded in 1972, is a global market

leader in providing ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) solutions and services to large
enterprises within more than 130 countries. SAP is a sort of ERP that is comprised of a
number of integrated modules that are used to manage businesses -- mostly large
enterprises -- but recently small to medium sized businesses have also adopted the
solutions.

Major modules of the SAP system are here:

Finanacial Modules:

Investment Management (IM)

Financial Accounting (FI)

Controlling (CO)

Treasury (TR)

Enterprise Control (EC)

L...
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Hariom Garg, SAP Basis and Hana Consultant at Royal Enfield Bullet (2009-
present)
Answered Oct 4, 2019

SAP is an ERP software which manage your whole industry day to day operations in system
with the help of different sap module like MM for materials management, PP for
production planning, FI it take care of all finance related operations, SD the main module
which is used for sales and distribution.

SAP is the world's most useful ERP which was delivered by SAP AG a German product. It is
having around 72 modules combined together in one ERP so there is no need to purchase
licences of different different small ERPs like tally and all.

So it's a one time investment and implementation after then y...

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Hunayn Hafeez, 3 years as a software engineer

Answered Apr 6, 2016

Well not easy to tell. You have to take proper classes and requires a lot of practice.

I can only tell you that it's used in all the global level enterprise resource planning
concerns.

It's been used in nearly 44 % of the world's ERP software using companies.

It contains two versions

SAP/R2 -- MAINFRAME EDITION
SAP/R3 -- CLIENT SERVER EDITION.
6.8k views · View 4 Upvoters

Ravi Kiran Perumalla, lives in India

Answered Jul 12, 2014 · Author has 172 answers and 291.5k answer views

Originally Answered: Give a description of what are SAP softwares used in businesses for? What are its
features and advantages?

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SAP software is used to manage the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and it has many
Searchwith
different modules for aquestions, people,/ commonly
pre configured and topics used functionality for most of the Sign In
enterprises. The modules include Product planning, cost, Sales, Marketing, HR,
Manufacturing, Inventory management etc. And there is a way to customize any of these
modules using a programming language called ABAP.
Hope this is helpful.
7.1k views · View 6 Upvoters · Answer requested by Deepak Sivakumar

Abhijit Dhada, Citius Altius Fortius

Answered Dec 5, 2016 · Upvoted by CA Ravi Kaariya, Chartered Accountant from The Institute
of Chartered Accountants of India (2018)

SAP is an ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) software by the same name of the company.
SAP is a german acronym which is spelled in English as “Systems, Applications and
Products in data processing”. The best place to study SAP is through its certification
programs. The SAP website (SAP Software Solutions | Business Applications and
Technology ) gives complete details of it. You can browse to your country and find the
registered training institutes. There are various modules of SAP. You may choose any
module as per your expertise and plan a training.

An ERP is simply a logical representation o...

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Mark Secko, I help companies with Microsoft Dynamics AX, NAV, GP and CRM.
Answered Feb 21, 2017 · Author has 219 answers and 101.6k answer views

Sap is used as a full enterprise resource planning (erp) software meaning helping with
financials, distribution, manufacturing, project management and customer relationship
management (crm). It is a strong global player with numerous Fortune 500 clients. They are
a company to be respected.
7.5k views · View 4 Upvoters

Jesuraj Love, former IT Specialist

Answered Nov 10, 2017

SAP Software offers business a platform in the Form of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
software to manage their separate database so that run the company. SAP is the acronym
for Systems, Applications and Products. SAP is related with Business data processing .

If you need more explanations fell free to comment Here .

3.3k views · View 1 Upvoter

Michael Johnson, former SAP MM Trainee

Answered Jun 6, 2018

Through SAP, all business processes can be fully integrated with each other. This means
that all the businesses processes in the company are "inter-connected" in the SAP system,
and changes in one department or process would have an impact on other departments.

SAP is as an on-line, Real Time system. Thus, information pertaining to the business is up-
to-date and available for others to use immediately and take action when required.

SAP act as a single source and set of information.

SAP is a leading enterprise package software in the market

There are many modules in SAP like SAP SD, MM, PP, QM, ...
Continue Reading

Antonio Rodríguez, Senior Business Analyst (2010-present)

Answered Nov 10, 2017 · Author has 513 answers and 814.9k answer views

SAP Software? Do you mean Systeme, Anwendungen und Produkte in der

Datenverarbeitung ?

This is a pretty extensive software suite that can be used in many industries, though I
wouldn’t recommend it for smaller outfits. It has modules for just about every

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administrative need out there. I’ve personally been exposed to the Human Resources
module and Search for questions,
we’ve also assessed apeople, and
few of its topics
other modules while working on proposals. Sign In

In my experience, modifying SAP to fit your business is an uphill battle unless you’re
running a very big outfit that can’t be easily steered. If you use it like that, changing ...
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Barry Dillard, Strategic Business Consultant at BDO Global

Answered Aug 16, 2018 · Author has 100 answers and 67.5k answer views

SAP offers a huge number of applications that can be adapted to meet the needs of
almost any business; the array of options available within SAP creates a challenge when
answering general questions about how to integrate it with other systems. The answer will
usually vary depending on which version you are running, the underlying technology, and
how it was implemented originally.

A few of the versions you could be running include MySAP, SAP All-in-One, SAP
BusinessOne, the R/ series or SAP ECC, or any of SAP’s more specialized applications. At
the time of this writing, most companies are lik...
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Sandeep Arora, Knack Systems provide the service of technology solutions for the
new economy.
Answered Sep 5, 2019 · Author has 88 answers and 33.9k answer views

SAP offers an extensive range of enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications, including
customer financial management, relationship management (CRM), product lifecycle
management, human capital management, and supply chain management. SAP software
products provide potent instruments for helping enterprises to manage their logistics,
financials, human resources, and other business areas. The backbone of SAP software
offering is an SAP ERP system which is the most powerful and advanced Enterprise
Resource Planning (ERP) system that is currently available. SAP has evolved to offer
applicat...
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Dixita Galiyal, Founder, Managing Director (2019-present)

Answered Sep 18, 2018

Hey Aarzoo, hope you’re doing good!

Well, to answer your question, first you need to have access to SAP software. In order to
have the access, you need to have purchased the license for the SAP server. Once purchase
is done successfully, you would be guided with the steps followed to use/access the SAP
server, it’s versatile advantages, and also the expiration of your purchase.

Let me know if you’ve more queries on the same.

Keep coding!
1.7k views · Answer requested by Aarzoo Bansod

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Arun Upadhyay, MS Engineering, Philadelphia University (2004)
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Answered for 2018
Jan 18, questions, people, and topics Sign In

Arun Upadhyay's post in SAP Consulting

959 views

Yakfur Ineaf, SEO at Self

Answered Feb 27, 2017

SAP programming offers business a stage as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)

programming to deal with their different databases that run their organization. It was
initially promoted to entrepreneurs as an approach to offer a solitary client a strategy for
bookkeeping that will incorporate administration resources, costs, generation, operations,
faculty, and money related spreadsheets. At first, the SAP program was intended to give
organizations the capacity to work from a common database, vast. It has since advanced to
supplant all organization spreadsheets with a solitary client bookkeep...
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Marie Weaver, studied at Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford (2006)

Answered Aug 19, 2019 · Author has 111 answers and 58.5k answer views

We Know that SAP as Systems, Applications, and Products, and SAP is a German
multinational software company known for making enterprise resource planning (ERP)
software. ERP software allows organizations to manage business operations, and usually
refers to suite of modular applications that collect and integrate data from different
aspects of the business. While it is the sole focus of this article, SAP is just one provider of
ERP software. Others include: Oracle, Microsoft, Infor Orbis, and Epicor. some of
comapanies are privides SAP for Software Development Services gives complete details...
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