3. Where do I fit in SAP?
SAP offers a wide range of business solutions and for a consultant working/getting into SAP there is a large scope build or diversify ones career path. But the problem often is in identifying which course is the one that would be suitable. This post provides information on the various areas within SAP and a few consider while deciding on a course.
One way of understanding the right fit in SAP is looking at the kind of work a consultant does; it can be technical or functional. The image below is a simple way to put it. The information that follows is not the extensive list of functions but a brief.
A. Technical Area:
i. SAP Basis - is the role of an administrator. Is responsible for installation, administration, security and monitoring the SAP system. Will create different users for the SAP system, controls their permissions and authorizations for the various applications and business data of the system.
ii. SAP ABAP/Java - is the role of a developer/programmer. ABAP - Advanced Business Application Programming is the programming language for SAP. The consultant is responsible for design, development and test of new SAP applications/programs during a project. The activity broadly covers RICEF [ Reports, Interfaces, Conversions, Enhancements, Forms].
iii. SAP Netweaver Integration - there are 3 integration areas, namely; People Integration, Information Integration and Process Integration.
· People Integration :- example is SAP EP - Enterprise Portal, enables employees, vendors and customers to sign on through a single channel, i.e. the portal of the company. If you have prior experience in Java and designing websites, and web applications then SAP EP is a cake walk.
· Information Integration :- example is SAP BI/BO - Business Intelligence & Business Objects is the data-warehouse component in SAP which enables in designing reports and performing analytics from business data. The data is usually historical business data that had been accumulated over years and can come from a number of systems in the IT landscape (SAP or non-SAP). If you are aware of reporting tools, Excel, Crystal reports, etc then this is the one for you. In fact SAP BO, i.e. Business Objects is now the most preferred tool and has quite a demand in the market. This also coupled with exposure to in-memory computing tools like SAP HANA is a block buster!
· Process Integration :- example is SAP PI/XI - Process Integrator or earlier known also as Exchange Infrastructure enables the information/data synchronization between different systems in the IT landscape (SAP or non-SAP). It eliminates the complexity of having API's (interface programs) to be written point-to-point for every system and rather provides a hub or a middle-ware that can connect the data from any source system in any format to any other destination system converted into the target format. Other tools in the market like TIBCO do the same. If you are good at designing API's then this is the tool to work on.
B. Functional Area:
The functional courses require a minimum of 2 years of domain experience, and at times this rule may be relaxed but I highly recommended that you take up a course after garnering a domain experience of at least 1-2 years as this gives you a better picture of SAP. The functional role may be from SAP ERP modules or can be the extend solutions like CRM, SRM etc.
i. SAP ERP Modules - SAP ERP/ECC has about 27 modules that covers the basic/core functions in business, a few of these are SAP FI - Finance, SAP CO - Controlling, SAP HR - Human Resource, SAP SD - Sales& Distribution, SAP MM - Materials Management, SAP PP - Production Planning, SAP PM - Project Management, SAP WM - Warehouse Management, SAP AM - Assets Management and so on. The image below gives you all the SAP ECC modules.
