Professional Documents
Culture Documents
OR
Systems Applications and Product
By:
Jasmeet
Neha
Supreet
Vrinda
Section A
UBS 2009-11
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Contents:
Topics Page
1. Vision 3
2. SAP History 3
3. Features 5
4. SAP Implementation 7
5. Cost of SAP Implementation 8
6. Benefits Of SAP 8
7. Why Companies Use SAP? 10
8. SAP’s Comparison with competitors 10
• People Soft
• JD Edwards
• Oracle
9. Integration 14
10. SAP today 17
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SAP vision for business: Optimize. Collaborate. Transform.
The vision is for companies of all sizes to see clearly, think clearly, and act clearly so that
they can close the gap between strategy and execution and become best-run businesses.
Best-run businesses drive clarity into their organizations by gaining insight for improved
performance, efficiency for optimized operations, and flexibility to adapt quickly to
changing circumstances.
By using SAP solutions, companies of all sizes – including small businesses and midsize
companies – can reduce costs, optimize performance, and gain the insight and agility
needed to close the gap between strategy and execution. To help the customers get the
most out of their IT investments so that they can maximize their business performance,
the professionals deliver the highest level of service and support.
SAP defines business software as comprising enterprise resource planning and related
applications such as supply chain management, customer relationship management,
product life-cycle management, and supplier relationship management.
SAP the company was founded in Germany in 1972 by five ex-IBM engineers (Dietmar
Hopp, Hans-Werner Hector, Hasso Plattner, Klaus E. Tschira, and Claus Wellenreuther).
SAP stands for Systeme, Andwendungen, Produkte in der Datenverarbeitung which -
translated to English - means Systems, Applications, Products in Data Processing. Being
incorporated in Germany, the full name of the parent company is SAP AG (AG is short
for Aktiengesellschaft; a public company). It is located in Walldorf, Germany which is
close to the beautiful town of Heidelberg. SAP has subsidiaries in over 50 countries
around the world from Argentina to Venezuela. SAP America (with responsibility for
North America, South America and Australia - go figure!) is located just outside
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Philadelphia, PA. SAP is listed in Germany (where it is one of the 30 stocks which make
up the DAX) and on the NYSE.
In 1979 SAP released SAP R/2 (which runs on mainframes) into the German market.
SAP R/2 was the first integrated, enterprise wide package and was an immediate success.
For years SAP stayed within the German borders until it had penetrated practically every
large German company. Looking for more growth, SAP expanded into the remainder of
Europe during the 80's. Towards the end of the 80's, client-server architecture became
popular and SAP responded with the release of SAP R/3 (in 1992). This turned out to be
a killer app for SAP, especially in the North American region into which SAP
expanded in 1988.
The success of SAP R/3 in North America has been nothing short of stunning. Within a 5
year period, the North American market went from virtually zero to 44% of total SAP
worldwide sales. SAP America alone employs more than 5,000 people and has added the
names of many of the Fortune 500 to it’s customer list (8 of the top 10 semiconductor
companies, 7 of the top 10 pharmaceutical companies etc). SAP comes in 21 industry-
specific versions.
SAP R/3 is delivered to a customer with selected standard process turned on, and many
other optional processes and features turned off. At the heart of SAP R/3 are about
10,000 tables which control the way the processes are executed. Configuration is the
process of adjusting the settings of these tables to get SAP to run the way one wants it to.
SAP functionality included is truly enterprise wide including: Financial Accounting (e.g.
general ledger, accounts receivable etc), Management Accounting (e.g. cost centers,
profitability analysis etc), Sales, Distribution, Manufacturing, Production Planning,
Purchasing, Human Resources, Payroll etc.
SAP is both the name of the Company as well as their ERP Product. SAP system
comprises of a number of fully integrated modules, which covers virtually every aspect of
the business with 10,000 tables to configure.
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Here, R = real time data processing
3 = 3-tier architecture: database server, application server and client /
front end server (SAPgui)
GUI = Graphical User Interface front end server (SAPgui)
For Over
End-user service delivery – To ensure that the employees of a company can readily
access the critical data, applications, and analytical tools they need to perform all their
job functions efficiently and effectively while also supporting a shared-services
organizational model for human resources, finances, and other key processes.
SAP ERP offers role-based access and self-services through the manager and the
employee portals, Duet, and employee interaction center support. Plus, SAP Mobile Time
and Travel enables employees in the field to report time and expenses offline.
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SAP ERP Human Capital Management – Optimize your HR processes with a complete,
integrated, and global human capital management (HCM) solution. SAP ERP provides
this HCM solution for organizations of all sizes and in all industries. You can maximize
the potential of your workforce, while supporting innovation, growth, and flexibility. The
SAP ERP HCM solution automates talent management, core HR processes, and
workforce deployment – enabling increased efficiency and better compliance with
changing global and local regulations.
SAP ERP Operations – Manage end-to-end procurement and logistics business processes
for complete business cycles – from self-service requisitioning to flexible invoicing and
payment – optimizing the flow of materials. SAP ERP Operations also helps discrete and
process manufacturers manage the entire life cycle of product development and
manufacturing. The solution automates the entire manufacturing process and reduces
costs by controlling and adapting the manufacturing process in real time – and increases
customer satisfaction by delivering higher-quality products.
SAP ERP Corporate Services – Helps organizations manage their most cost-intensive
corporate functions by supporting and streamlining administrative processes in the areas
of real estate; enterprise assets; project portfolios; corporate travel; environment, health,
and safety compliance; quality; and global trade services. SAP ERP Corporate Services is
a complete and integrated solution that maximizes transparency and control, while
reducing financial and environmental risks and enhancing safety of employees.
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SAP Implementation
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Cost of SAP Implementation
Implementing SAP is expensive. But the potential rewards can dwarf the costs (as it has
proved for many existing customers already).
SAP sells its R/3 product on a price per user bases. The actual price is negotiated between
SAP and the customer and therefore depends on numerous factors which include number
of users and modules (and other factors which are present in any negotiation). There is an
annual support cost of about 10% which includes periodic upgrades.
Then there is the implementation cost. The major drivers of the total implementation cost
are the Timeframe, Resource Requirements and Hardware.
Adding all this up, the SAP project can run anywhere from $400,000 to hundreds of
millions of Dollars.
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• Reduce costs through increased flexibility
• Use enterprise services architecture to improve process standardization,
efficiency, and adaptability.
• Extend transactions, information, and collaboration functions to a broad business
community.
• Support changing industry requirements
• Take advantage of the SAP NetWeaver platform's latest open, Web-based
technology to integrate your end-to-end processes seamlessly.
• Reduce risk
• Solve complex business challenges today with SAP, your trusted partner for long-
term growth, with 30 years of experience working with organizations of all sizes
in more countries than any other vendor.
• Join SAP's world-class partner network, uniquely qualified to support the best
business practices in more than 25 industries.
• Improve financial management and corporate governance
• Gain deep visibility into your organization with financial and management
accounting functionality combined with business analytics.
• Increase profitability, improve financial control, and manage risk.
• Optimize IT spending
• Integrate and optimize business processes.
• Eliminate high integration costs and the need to purchase third-party software.
• Deploy other SAP Business Suite applications incrementally to improve cash flow
and reduce costly borrowing.
• Gain higher ROI(Return On Investment) faster
• Install SAP ERP using rapid-implementation techniques that cost less than half
what traditional approaches cost.
• Leverage preset defaults and prepackaged versions available for specific
industries.
• Retain top performers
• Retain your top performers through clearly defined career and development plans.
• Link employees' performance to compensation programs such as variable pay
plans and long-term incentives.
• Provide immediate access to enterprise information
• Give employees new ways to access the enterprise information required for their
daily activities.
But the four basic features of SAP which help in attaining above mentioned goals are:
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4. Predictable – Ensures rapid payback with predictable time to value at an
affordable cost.
SAP is maintaining and increasing their dominance over their competitors through a
combination of following aspects:
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vs
PeopleSoft, Inc. founded in 1987 by David Duffield and Ken Morris was a software
company that provided HRM (human resource management), CRM (customer
relationship management), Manufacturing, Financials, EPM (Enterprise Performance
Management) and Student Administration software solutions to large corporations,
governments, and organizations. In 2003, when PeopleSoft acquired J.D. Edwards, it
decided to differentiate its former product line with those of Edwards by renaming both
products. In January 2005, PeopleSoft was acquired in a hostile takeover by the Oracle
Corporation. SAP’s advantage over Peoplesoft has been mentioned in the following
example.
Grocery distribution company Metcash will invest in SAP ERP software services to
replacement its PeopleSoft core finance system,(reported on 12th aug,2009). The deal will
see SAP’s finance, treasury and risk management, property management and compliance
software be deployed at Metcash. Metcash has been using Oracle’s PeopleSoft software
for the past eight years and is looking to “improve process efficiencies” and ensure
compliance with financial, corporate risk and environmental regulatory requirements,
according to the company. According to Metcash SAP will enable it to bring together
previously disparate third-party products like fixed assets, real estate and claim-backs
into an integrated, controlled environment, increasing visibility and financial and
operational efficiencies.
vs
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• Also rather than forcing customers to upgrade to the latest version of its ERP
platform in one fell swoop, as JD Edwards requires, SAP allows customers to
implement new features when and how they choose. With only 45 IT workers
supporting the entire company, this was an especially attractive selling point for
Hobby Lobby.
• With incremental enhancements, Hobby Lobby can also expand its SAP platform
to other parts of the company, like manufacturing, when the time is right
vs
Here is an interesting comparison between the two leaders in the ERP space; SAP and
Oracle. A company that is considering moving to an ERP will likely have one or both
competing for their business. They have distinctly different approaches to both the
software business and to their software architecture.
Enterprise Resource Planning system was designed and implemented in more than 20
different industries and all ERP companies together generate every year a $60 billion
dollars profit on the global market. The biggest part of this pie is shared by two software
giants Oracle and SAP. Although they compete on the same market and target their
products for common industries, they have very distinguished strategies, corporate
culture and distinctive offers.
The world second-largest software supplier Oracle was founded in 1977 in the United
States and by 1999 the company was serving 5000 clients in over 140 countries. Oracle is
well known for their database systems rather than enterprise resource planning system. It
is rating as the second ERP package vendor after SAP on the ERP market. Oracle has a
reputation as a company with strong software support, a large financial budget and stable
position among the competitors. At the same time the corporate culture of Oracle is
conservative on benefits from revenues, which causes such problems as inflexibility and
slow implementation of their ERP products. In other words, the company lacks partners
and consultants for technical expertise.
Hence the main player on ERP market is the German company SAP (Systems,
Application, and Products in Data processing). It was the first time in software history
that a company outside of the United States had gained such success. In 1999 SAP had
more than twice as many customers as Oracle in 100 countries around the world. Unlike
Oracle, SAP decided to work in close collaboration with many other companies. The
company’s success derives from the fact that SAP invests 20 percent of the profit on
research and shares 80 percent of the total revenues with their alliance partners.
Moreover, SAP has many consultants who provide help and training to their customers.
And there are even third party developers who supply a large number of add-in programs
that can work together with SAPs products. As a result, customers enjoy more flexible
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and fast implementation of their ERP systems. There is no doubt about why SAP became
a leader.
Oracle became popular as a manufacturer of developing products that can be easily
integrated with other models from other vendors, enabling them to build a best of breed
system. As SAP and Oracle, both provide incredible ERP systems which help many
companies to operate more efficiently and more effectively these days, choosing the right
package among both is not an easy job.
If the company is limited in resources and restrained in time the best solution would be to
go for SAP products. However the company with distinguished values which creates a
competitive advantage would prefer to choose the Oracle to build a unique system that
will fit well to their businesses.
In 2006, Forrester analysts noted that both business application vendors had just launched
new architectures for a new generation of service-oriented and flexible enterprise
applications. SAP's star, in their opinion, was shining much brighter than Oracle's at the
time. "SAP was riding high, having kicked into high gear its transition to applications
based on the NetWeaver platform," according to Forrester, "while Oracle was still
digesting PeopleSoft and figuring out exactly what its Oracle Fusion Applications were to
become."
The clear victor of the "battle of the architectures," as Forrester termed it, was SAP: It
had a larger market presence in applications than Oracle did, plus faster growth. SAP had
been able to capitalize on Oracle uncertainty, and it was able to articulate a clearer vision
for enterprise applications, the Forrester analysts wrote.
Much has changed since then. Now, Forrester analysts have done another comprehensive
analysis of the fierce competitors' application strategies. The report, "Which Has the
Better Apps Strategy: Oracle or SAP?” compares the merits of Oracle's next-generation
applications play-Fusion Applications-with SAP's inclusive strategy that seeks to
minimize disruptions to large organizations.
This time around, Forrester's nod goes to Oracle. "Oracle's vision for the future of its
apps business is now clearer and more compelling than that of archrival SAP," write the
analysts. The head-to-head analysis looks at many important areas, including: market
penetration, vision for next generation, partnership strategy, middleware and tools,
support for openness and standards, industry applications strategy and midmarket
strategy. While Oracle doesn't win out in all of those areas, the analysts proclaim Oracle's
overall strategy as better than SAP's plan. However, as the analysts point out, Oracle's
"biggest test is yet to come-it must deliver the Oracle Fusion Applications system with its
associated promises of better flexibility and lower cost of ownership and do it within the
next two years to keep the upper hand in apps innovation."
But Fusion needs to arrive not only soon but also in good form. The analysts state that "if
Oracle Fusion Applications fall flat, SAP wins by forfeit."
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Integration
SAP is an ERP software product that integrates different functions in a business (such
as sales, procurement and production). SAP provides rich functionality in each of the
business areas without sacrificing the convenience of an integrated system. These
applications update and process transactions in real time, allowing effortless
integration and communication between areas of business. For example- we can
create a billing document and release it to accounting and observe the updated billing
values in customer analysis immediately without having to wait for a day end or
month end processing. Let us now consider a manufacturing unit where the sale of
products will change the company’s total revenue, inventories, profits, accounts
payable and accounts receivable. Through an ERP integration by making a change in
any one of these accounts, the rest will automatically be updated.
Nestlé Korea Inc., which produces Taster’s Choice, Nescafé, and other Nestlé
brands, implemented the SAP® ERP Human Capital Management and SAP ERP
Financials solutions with assistance from SAP Consulting. With SAP ERP they were
able to evaluate employee’s performance and control the complex standard cost
budget reporting far more effectively. This allowed them to better plan there future
gross margin on products sold.
Key Challenges
• Bring HR and cost control processes in sync with Nestlé’s global standard
• Integrate IT system with Nestlé headquarters
• Prepare for compliance with international financial reporting standards
Implementation Highlights
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• Used global template to integrate with Nestlé headquarters
• Used hybrid delivery model to speed implementation, dividing modules
between the SAP global delivery center and SAP Korea
• Acquired localization support from SAP Korea to meet Korean HR
regulations
Key Benefits
• More detailed cost controlling and shorter cost-reporting processing time
• Faster, more flexible response to changing organization rules and policies
• Preparation for IFRS regulations in the future
Kapci employs 1,300 people and generated revenues of US$ 77 million in 2006. To
build on its success in the Egyptian market, the company is planning to expand
overseas. Kapci products are already exported across Africa and the Middle East, and
are becoming increasingly available in Europe and Asia; the company also plans to
open a new site in China in the near future.
Key Challenges
• To understand and control the business more effectively,
• The Kapci management information system was inflexible
• The development costs were high and the IT infrastructure was not able to
handle rapid workload increase.
• The company wanted to find a system that would be capable of meeting the
demands of international growth, help generate economies of scale and manage
the business more efficiently.
Implementation Highlights
• SAP® ERP 6.0, including financial accounting, controlling, asset management,
materials management, production planning, sales and distribution, quality
management and human capital management
• SAP NetWeaver® Business Intelligence Hardware: IBM System i™ 520
Key Benefits
• Centralized SAP software environment enables enterprise-wide view of
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operations, enabling 15 per cent reduction in inventory costs
• Industry-standard platform facilitates cooperation with multinational suppliers
and reduces development costs
• centralized hardware infrastructure and introduction of thin clients increases
business resilience; reduction in batch processing increases speed of reporting
• simple interface allows business users to generate reports, saving time for IT staff.
Linfox Logistics is one of the largest suppliers of third-party logistics solutions in the
Asia Pacific region. To provide better service to customers, Linfox has developed a
complete end-to-end supply chain management solution based on SAP® soft-ware for
freight and warehouse management. This solution saves costs and time and provides
both shipper and carrier with visibility into all aspects of the logistics supply chain.
Key Challenges
• Increasing complexity of logistics operations
• Customer demand for operational excellence
• Requirement for timely delivery of perishable products
• Greater focus on visibility of freight activities
• Need to control logistics costs
• Focus on safety and environmental compliance
Implementation
• Integrated with customer-owned enterprise resource planning systems
• Interfaced with modern technologies including handheld terminals,
interactive voice response software, and global positioning systems
• Developed an implementation template to save costs and time on boarding
customers
• Ran implementation with a core group of internal resources, supplemented
with professionals from preferred suppliers
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Benefits
• Empowered end-to-end supply chain management
• Increased control over operations
• Provided means to interact with customers electronically
• Enabled real-time synchronization of orders, inventory movements, and stock
reconciliation
• Optimized utilization of storage capacity
• Automated tracking of product shelf life and allocation to customer orders
• Facilitated the management of product recalls
• Improved customer satisfaction
• Achieved competitive advantage
Operational Benefits
Key Performance Indicator Impact
SAP Today
SAP is the biggest ERP supplier with 55% global share, and still rising fast. As the 4th
largest independent software supplier in the world it has a huge web of connections with
more than 1,000 partners and consulting firms. It has more than 2,500,000 users in over
50 countries and over 21,000 R/3 installations worldwide. Also as the makers of add-on
software it has more than 12,000 customers and more than 10 million licensed users. It
has tailored 22 versions to specific industries Web offering called “mySAP.com”. SAP
on an average spends 25% of revenue in R&D.
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