Available Tools for SAP implementation

An implementation project requires a lot of careful thought beforehand. We need to think about what we want to accomplish, the optimum sequence, and the business cases that are best suited to our needs. But SAP has already done a lot of the thinking for you and packaged its findings in the following tools. They are then described in more detail in the following chapters organized according to the corresponding

Accelerated SAP phases.

Accelerated SAP (ASAP): A comprehensive solution for the introduction of the R/3 System in your enterprise. ASAP and most of its tools can be used independently of an R/3 installation.

The tools available for Accelerated SAP are:

·    The Project Estimator, an internal SAP tool which enables SAP consultants to accurately gauge the required resources, the costs and the time frame of implementation. The Project Estimator takes into account the project scope and several project and risk factors.

·      The Concept Check Tool, a tool enabling carry out quality checks on the project preparation, technical infrastructure and R/3 configuration settings. This is done mainly during the first two implementation phases of the R/3 project. In this way you are alerted to potential data volume and configuration conflicts that could lead to performance issues if not addressed.

·    The Implementation Assistant: The ASAP navigation tool that accompanies you through the five phases of implementation down to the task level. It includes a description and a detailed "how-to" for each task in the Roadmap. Along with that, many tools, templates and documents are hyperlinked to the task.

 The Implementation Assistant contains the following elements:

ASAP Implementation Roadmap and Project Plan. The Roadmap contains the five phases, from which you can drill down into work packages, activities and tasks. The Project Plan contains three components, a budget plan, a resource plan and a work plan.

The ASAP Roadmap is the successor of the R/3-based Procedure Model, which was used until Rel. 3.1 in R/3 implementation projects.

Knowledge Corner, containing tips and tricks for configuration from consultants, detailed documentation on SAP’s implementation services, information on technical tools, as well as simplification guidebooks and R/3 Customizing wizards.

Question and Answer Database (Q&Adb). Using the R/3 Reference Model structure, the Q&Adb is used to assist in gathering requirements for business processes, conversions, reports, interfaces, enhancements and authorizations. The database provides useful questionnaires to help you define the process needs and also serves as a repository for all this information. Since it is a database, it allows for flexible reporting. The business requirements generated from the Q&Adb are collectively known as the Business Blueprint.Business 

Process Master List, to manage configuration, testing and the creation of end user documentation. The Business Process Master List is linked to pre-written Business Process Procedures (BPPs), detailled end-user documentation for R/3 transactions.

Issues Database: supporting project management, this database supports the entering, monitoring and managing of issues that come up during the project.

R/3 Business Engineer: The implementation tools for the high-quality configuration of the R/3 System are:

R/3 Reference Model: Comprehensive graphical process flows describing the R/3 functionality from different points of view. It contains scenarios, processes and functions, as well as components. The R/3 Reference Model can be viewed using SAP's Business Navigator and the Business Navigator Web, or using third-party modeling tools available from modeling partners.

Implementation Guide (IMG): Used to configure all system parameters for the business processes in R/3. It contains project management functionality and a menu-driven view of all R/3 Customizing activities. Every activity can be documented in detail, and responsibilities and statuses can be assigned.

Preconfigured systems:

• Preconfigured US and Canadian clients: Provides a head start on baseline configuration. It includes a preconfigured US/Canadian chart of accounts, print forms, account determination, units of measure, etc. The predefined test sequences that are included can be a starting point for integration testing.

• Preconfigured industry systems: A number of complete preconfigured clients consisting of an industry-specific model and preconfigured business processes for the needs of a particular industry in R/3 are available. For more information on preconfigured systems, see the description of Phase 2, Business Blueprint

Change and Transport System

Change and Transport System

The CTS is the central tool for managing changes to customizing and repository data that we make in the IMG or ABAP workbench.A Tansport request can be either customizing request or ABAP workbench request.

ABAP workbench request.

An ABAP workbench request can be created by ABAP workbench tool. Any changes or objects we develop through ABAP workbench are stored in Repository tables of SAP database.

As an ABAP developer will be working with ABAP workbench and thus you create work bench requests.

Customizing request

A customizing request can be created by the customizing tool IMG.

A functional consultant works with configuration tool IMG (SAP Implementation Guide) T-code SPRO, thus creating customizing requests.

Transport organizer: Transation Code SE10

Transport organizer is the tool provided by SAP which records and documents all changes to objects in the repository and customizing. The transaction code for transport organizer is SE10 or SE09.

Transport organizer is fully integrated with ABAP workbench and customizing tool IMG. That means you can navigate in both directions from transport organizer to ABAP workbench and reverse also.

Development class:

Development classes are used to group similar work objects that are being developed in a project.

While creating development class we must assign it to the transport layer.

All the objects assigned to that development class can be transported according to the routes defined in the transport layer.

Defining transport layer and routes is SAP BASIS administrator job. The transport layer defines transport 

route between the systems included in system landscape.

The development classes are themselves objects in the ABAP workbench.

Change Request:
Information source in the transport organizer that records and manages all changes made to repository
objects and customizing settings during a development project.
Task:
A task is assigned to a change request.

It is the information carrier in the transport organizer for entering and managing all changes to repository
objects and customizing settings performed by employees within a development project.

Sales information System

Sales information System

The Sales Information System (SIS) is a tool which helps to collect, consolidate and utilize data from Sales and Distribution processing. It can be used as a planning and control instrument at different levels in the decision-making process. It enables you to track and trace the economic trends, market developments, demand & supply trends, and sales trends early in the Supply chain and take appropriate measures.

It helps to collect and consolidate actual data from Sales and Distribution processing. Using this information you can also create your own planning data. Comparison of actual data and planning data assists in decision making. From the huge amount of data which exists in the SD System, you can filter out the most important information using the aggregation functions, tailored to your needs. It depends on the user’s requirement to determine the depth of information.

The procedures included in sales information system are:

• Initial download by setting up the statistical data
• Synchronization by doing a comparison of stock levels

The purpose of Sales Information System (SIS) is to help generate key MIS and Analysis reports. To enable this, an information system first collects and aggregates transaction information into information structures. A typical structure should consist of the following:

1.Characteristics, which is, the basis on which data is to be aggregated, such as the sales organization, the distribution channel, the customer group

2.Key figures which are nothing but statistics such as the order quantity, the net value, and the gross value), and

3.A period unit, which is, a time element such as daily, weekly, or monthly

The values of the key figures are aggregated at a regular time interval specified by the period unit for each characteristic in the information structure. This enables to generate analysis reports such as the total monthly order value) by the sales organization

There are 4 broad activities for the Sales Information System sub process

1.  Information Structures

2.  Characteristics and Key figures

3.  Updating Sales Information System

4.  Standard Analyses

 The core master data has to be defined for the following master data:

Ø  Material Master

Ø  Customer master records

Ø  Pricing condition records

The SIS tables and info structures should be activated and the transaction updates to them should be enabled. Apart from the standard info structures, customized Info Structures can also be defined and reported using Sales Information System.

SIS Information Structures

The Information structures resemble a table for collection of data. We have to define the information structure as per our system requirement. Various standard structures are available in SAP which can be used directly or we can customize them as per the requirement. The standard information structures available in SAP sales information system are as follows:

Ø  S001 - Customer

Ø  S002 - Sales office

Ø  S003 -Sales organization

Ø  S004 - Material

Ø  S005 - Shipping point

Ø  S006 - Sales employee

These information structures form the data basis for the respective standard analyses of the same name. Apart from these Master Sales Info structures, there are a few internal information structures which are used by system to update transaction data. For example, S066/67 is used for Credit Management; S060 is used for rebate processing and S009/14 for sales support.

There are sets of rules defined to update the information systems.

SIS Characteristics and Key figures             

Characteristics can be defined as the criteria which the user specifies to collect data on a certain entity or dimension. Examples of characteristics of Info-structure S001–Customer are Sales Organization, Distribution channel, Sold-to-party, Material. The structure is updated with this dimension of data at these key characteristics to perform analysis as required.

The users normally require sales information on sales organizations, sales offices, customers, and materials. A period unit is also a criterion used in information structures. The user can set the Information system to update the Information structures in the frequency of the specified period unit for the characteristics. You can collect data for a particular period, for example, for a day, a week, a month, or a posting period.

The Key figures are performance measures. They provide important business information or the transactional information specific to a characteristic. Few important key figures for the info-structure S001 on the dimension of characteristic Sales area are Quantity of Incoming orders, sales volume, returns, Invoiced Sales, Credit memo, etc.

Updating Sales Information System

Data analysis in the Sales Information System is based on statistical data that has been updated from Sales and Distribution transactions to the information structures.

The following data from the sales and distribution processes update the information structures:

·         Sales documents (for example: orders, returns, requests for quotation, quotations)

·         Deliveries

·         Billing documents (debit memos, credit memos, cancellations)

The data flows from the document structure to the information structures. Whenever there is a change in these documents it is reflected in the information structures.

You can use Statistics groups to filter the data that is updated in the information structure. For example, you don’t want to update the information regarding sales on the promotion material, you can use a statistical group filter for materials. Similarly, you may want to segregate sales document types and item categories (such as regular orders and return orders).

The statistics groups are freely definable. There are statistics groups for materials, customers, sales documents, and item categories. You can add new groups as per your requirements. Then assign the statistics groups to sales documents and item categories. Similarly, customer master and material master data have to be updated with the appropriate value in the statistics group field. Statistics groups are also linked to update groups and these groups control the updates to information systems.

 Standard Analyses

The data stored in the information structure can be queried and accessed based on the reporting requirements. In the standard system, the standard analyses that are available in the Sales Information System are:

·         Customer: used to access data directly from the customer statistics

·         Material: used to access specific statistical data that is directly linked to a material

·         Shipping Point: analysis is based on data that has been updated from the creation of the delivery note

·         Sales Office: used to analyse the sales volume for a certain sales group achieved in a certain division

·         Exception Analysis: display Exceptions defined using the Early Warning System