h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: SAP - Software and Applications in Data Processing - A1037198
Author: Manical Despot No. 7 - Dentonite and Free! - U226292

I noticed that there was another entry title SAP R/3, but that it was quite short, and didn't give any real substantive details on what SAP really is. Therefore I assumed it was okay to submit another article with a more detailed stance on the subject.

This is my first attempt at writing a guide entry, and it is a little plain - but I am hoping that it is not a complete failure

It looks quite good, although most of the content goes way over my head.

However, the existing entry you mention (if it's this one A92116) isn't an edited entry, so you're perfectly free to write one yourself and submit to PR. You can do that Only if the existing entry was already part of the Edited Guide would yours have to be substantially different.

That was the one I was thinking of. So cool

When you say over your head, is it too much information in too short a space, or is it in too techno-speak to be clearly understood, or are you just not a tech head and find that sort of information difficult to assimilate? Trying hard to get the level right - tested it on my partner before submitting it

All comments gratefully received!

Hi,

Looking good.

There are some other terms you could explain
RFC, IDocs (EDI and ALE). There's the new (relatively) jCO Java API.

I think RFC is the underlying comm. level for BAPIs. BAPI methods are treated like RFC calls. And there are IDoc related RFC's too, just for receiving (sync/asynch) IDocs.

What about RfcServer if you want another system to masquerade as a SAP end point?

I think SAP now has an app server.

I've written a suite of JCA (Java Connector Architecture) adapters for SAP. But I find the set up/admin. very complicated. I still struggle with Logical Dests, Partner Profiles, etc. I do all my testing with MATMAS01 - the only one I mastered

I was told they don't like to be called SAP (sap) but rather Ess Eh Pee.


Awu

Thanks for the comments.

I thought for an initial entry I would keep it pretty simple and move on to more extended entries on specific areas later on.

Since I am a programmer these will probably be on topics like RFC, ABAP programming, APIs, JCo, xAPPs, WebServer integration etc., but I wanted to keep the main entry as an overview. I am hoping that somewhere on h2g2 there are some module experts who can provide more information on each module and their submodules - otherwise I am going to have to do some painful research (and on stuff I will never get to use!)

I think perhaps it will be better to keep more complex subjects till later, and link them from the main posting, so if people want to find more information about complex concepts I can provide it in bite-size chunks with links out to more complete websites for deep detail.

However, I am in the laps of the reviewers on this, should I provide detail on the complex elements, or should we keep this as a beginning which may link to more complex element entries at an undefined date in the future?

Reading through again a few times, it's not quite as difficult as I thought

That's great! Plus, as I said above, for the more technically minded I can produce other articles which move in levels of specialisation.. this should mean that people can read at and up to a level they are comfortable with.

Wow, I've never written anything like this before, and it's really good to be getting all of this feedback... keep going guys

If this entry's as good as it seems, you may not get much more feedback - it has to sit in PR for seven days before it can be picked, and if an entry is pretty much ready to go, then there's little more to be said except ''

a minor niggle or two.

you say "It has been described as programmers as a cut-down version of SQL", do you really mean "as programmers as"?

you also say about object orientated languages like java and C. C isn't really object orientated (although it can be used that way), you probably mean C++.

also, it appears to be verging on advertising. are there any competing products? mentioning the alternatives might make it seem less like an advert.

still, I like the entry.

well done.

Hi,

I was going to say the same - that old fashioned C isn't inherently Object Oriented - but you can apply OO concepts in any langauge.

Competion (in some areas) might be People Soft, Siebel and BAAN? J. D. Edwards maybe?

Awu

Thanks for the continued feedback, you're right of course that C isn't inherently object-orientated, so I have altered that to C++ as suggested (thank you).

On sounding like an advert, the title says it is about SAP, not about ERP, I only put that element into the introduction for people who might stumble on the entry and wonder what it was about - it allows the non-technical or non-interested to run as soon as they find out what it is. Although I take the point that it is worth mentioning that it is not the only product of it's type out there.

I have added a line stating that there are other ERP systems available, which should provide the ability for people to balance any further reading they do on ERP systems (and not blame me for implying that it is the only product on the market!)

I also slightly changed the wording on the notes about how to describe ABAP. What I was attempting to say is that when I hear developers in ABAP discussing the language with developers who have never touched SAP, but have been using other languages for a long time they tend to describe it as containing some SQL commands and some COBOL style keyword statements and then laughing at the whole backward concept of a new language being written that echoes COBOL!

If there is a better way of phrasing it (I think you're right that the wording is a little clumsy) please - let me know.

Hi MD,

Good article. Precise and to the point - I have some experience of ERP systems, although not SAP per se, so hopefully I can give you one or two pointers here.

"SAP AG is a German company as well as part of the name of its main software product, SAP R/3"
The sentence is a bit clunky, and it raises the immediate problem of whether the entry refers to *the company* SAP or *the software package* SAP R/3. My thinking is that this article is mainly about SAP R/3. Maybe you could consider changing it to "SAP R/3 is one of the world's most successful software packages. It is produced by SAP AG, a German company".

"ERP stands for Enterprise Relationship Management"
No, it stands for "Enterprise Resource Management".

"An ERP system allows a company to use computers in most (if not all) of their processes."
I'm not sure if that is what it does, although it is probably a difficult thing to define. I would say that it helps companies to manage their business better through the use of computers and computer software.

"Peoplesoft, Baan and JD Edwards".
Baan are a very minor player nowadays. Oracle is a better example of a competitor.

"If the company above decided later on that now that there are a lot of people working for the company they want to do their own payroll processing rather than send it out to an external company, they need only buy the new SAP 'module' and then they can!"
Wow! long sentence - maybe a bit too long. Think of breaking it into 2.

"The main modules in SAP are", "SAP can be a very complex environment", "Every SAP system needs ", "Programming in SAP "
Getting back to an earlier point you might be better off calling it SAP R/3, as you might confuse it with the company. There is also an SAP CRM solution, a SAP supply-chain solution, a SAP e-commerce portal, and lots of other stuff that is not necessarily SAP R/3. You might also be able to get around it by saying that SAP refers to SAP R/3 from now on in a footnote somewhere.

A few other points - the business context of SAP is missing. There is almost no industry that doesn't have a specially configured version of SAP R/3 designed for it. This includes healthcare, oil and gas, manufacturing, distribution, retail, government etc. Over 12 million people around the world use SAP R/3 to process their company's sales orders, manage production, collect money and analyse their performance. Some companies even use SAP R/3 to see what their suppliers and customers are doing, so that they can provide the highest possible service to their customers.

You have not mentioned anything about the challenges of installing this software into a company, and my experience is that it can be horrendous if not managed well. Many large consultancies have made a fortune doing this for companies. Typically an install will last anything 18 months to 3 years to complete and often involves a huge amount of procedural change and internal disruption for employees.

I hope I have not been too critical here - your article is really good and it has most of the major components. I hope you can see my comments as worthwhile additions to the article.

Best of luck!

Woodpigeon

Wow, thanks for that Woodpidgeon! - there's quite a lot of information to digest there, so I think I will wait until tomorrow to begin editing the article along the lines you suggest.

However, all really useful suggestions, I'll attempt to incorporate them all. (Fingers crossed for me ladies and gentlemen)

Scout

Is it time to consider a move of this thread to the Flea Market? It's hard to tell from the author's space, but it appears that he/she hasn't been around for quite some months.

I checked the MP list, last posted April 4 So the database was wrong, but it didn't matter

- not necessarily seconding, as he hasn't read the entry

That was what I saw, but clearly the author has posted here in this thread since then, during the month of May. And the author hasn't unsubscribed -- this thread is now at the top of his/her conversations list, and shows the author's last posting in this thread as being May 12th. I think the fact that he/she is subscribed to PR and all those gazillions of threads are piling up in the MP list is what throws the database off.

Anyway, the author does appear to be elsewhere and otherwise, rather than here. And from all the comments in the thread, and the degree to which I've compared them to the entry, there still does seem to be a decent amount of work needing to be done. On the other hand, between the entry and the thread, there does seem to be certainly enough material that someone could make use of it in the FM.

What do you think?

Oop. My page search missed that somehow

Anyone else? I'm going to bed. Sorry Mikey

I'll sleep later...

Read it, got it. I like a move to the FM

Is this on the move then?