04/29/00 SAP
John Tullis
DePaul Instructor
john.d.tullis@us.arthurandersen.com
Copyrighted material
John Tullis
3/12/2016
page 1
SAP
Global Approach
One system for . . .
 Common chart of
accounts
 Common currency
 Common reporting
rules
 Corporatewide credit
limits
 Corporate treasury,
purchasing...
 ...
 Local chart of accounts
 Local currency
 Local reporting




Copyrighted material
John Tullis
3/12/2016
Local credit limits
Legal requirements
Tax handling
...
page 2
SAP
The Distributed Corporate Environment
Head office
Division
Customer
Stock
Profit
Center
Company
code
Distribution center
Transport
order
Message/
Event
Handler
Warehouse
Material
Factory
Production
order
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John Tullis
3/12/2016
page 3
SAP
Business Partners - the Supply Chain
BANK
Group
CORPORATION
Business area
Bank
FORWARDER
Distribution center
SERVICE
COMPANY
Service center
PRODUCER
Plant
Vendor
Customer
Sales office
AGENT
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John Tullis
3/12/2016
page 4
SAP
SAP - Industrial “Silos” covered
Industrial
Sector
Retail Sector
 Retail
Financial
Sector
 Governments
 Banks
 Consumer Products
 Chemicals
Public Sector
 Local Governments
 Insurance
 Higher Education
 Pharmaceuticals
 Healthcare
 High Tech /
Electronics
 Automotive
 Utilities
 Telecommunications
 Oil & Gas
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John Tullis
3/12/2016
page 5
SAP
SAP Architecture
SD
Business
processes
FI
Sales &
Distribution
Business
Engineering
Financial
Accounting
MM
CO
Materials
Mgmt.
Controlling
PP
Comprehensive
functionality
QM
Designed
for all types
of business
AM
Production
Planning
R/3
Fixed Assets
Mgmt.
Client / Server
ABAP/4
Quality
Management PM
Plant Maintenance
Client / server
architecture
PS
Project
System
WF
Workflow
HR
IS
Human
Resources
Industry
Solutions
Open
systems
Over 5,000
installations around
the world
Multinational
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John Tullis
3/12/2016
page 6
SAP
SAP Architecture
Hardware
UNIX Systems
Bull
IBM
Digital
SNI
HP
SUN
Operating
AIX
Reliant
Systems Digital UNIX UNIX (SINIX)
HP-UX
Databases
Dialog
SAP-GUI
Languages
Data
Sequent
AT&T
General
SNI
Bull/Zenith
HP
(Intel)
Digital (Intel)
Compaq
IBM
(Intel)
...
IBM
AS/400
Windows NT
OS/40
0
SOLARIS
ADABAS D
DB2 for AIX
INFORMIX-OnLine
ORACLE
ADABAS D
MS SQL Server
ORACLE
Windows 3.1, Windows 95, Windows NT, OSF/Motif,
Presentation Manager, Macintosh
ABAP/4, C, C+ +
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John Tullis
3/12/2016
page 7
DB2/400
Windows ‘95
OS/2
SAP
Client/Server Architecture Configurations
SAP R/3 System
Presentation
Application
Database
Central System /
Laptop
Distributed
Presentation
Two-tier
Client/Server
Three-tier
Client/Server
Multi-Layer
Cooperative
Client/Server
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John Tullis
3/12/2016
page 8
SAP
Architecture continued...
SAP Middleware
PresentationServices
(SAP GUI)
Applications and Development Tools
(R/3 applications, ABAP/4 DW, Customer
applications)
SAP Business Workflow
BAPI
OLE
ALE
Application
Cooperation
Services
Application
Enabling
Services
Data Management Services
Communication and Distribution Services
Distributed
System
Services
Network / System
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John Tullis
3/12/2016
page 9
SAP
Application Link Enabling (ALE)
• ALE provides loose coupling between R/3 systems.
Order entry,
billing, financial,
consolidated
inventory
Head Office
Shipping,
inventory
control
Distribution
center
Plant
Division
MRP,
CRP, SFC,
Inventory
control
Raw
materials
Master
production
scheduling,
purchasing
Warehousing
Plant
warehouse
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John Tullis
3/12/2016
page 10
SAP
Client/Server Architecture Configurations









Production
planning
Inventory management
Internal sales,
shipping and
billing
Plant maintenance
Local SOP


Financials
Central controlling
Central SOP
Information
systems:
 Inventory
 Purchasing
 Sales
Central Purchasing
Reference system
for master data and
control tables
Copyrighted material
John Tullis
3/12/2016

Sales, shipping
and billing
 Purchasing of
trading goods
 Inventory
management
 Local controlling
page 11
SAP
Basic ALE Communication Flow
Application
R/3 System 1
Application
Communication
ALE
IDOC
MasterIDoc
Workflow 'output'
Determine
recipients
Filter/
convert data
Create IDOC
Comm.Comm.IDoc
Comm.IDoc
IDoc
Carrier
R/3 System 2
Workflow 'input'
Application functions
Application
data
Filter/
convert data
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John Tullis
3/12/2016
Comm.IDoc
page 12
SAP
Input to ALE
Comm. layer
ALE layer
Application
posting
C
Version change
Segment filter
asynch. RFC
or
EDI
Field value conversion
Input
control
A
Serialization
A
Process IDOC
Simultaneously update
IDOC's status
Database
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John Tullis
3/12/2016
Post application
document
page 13
SAP
Output from ALE
Application
posting
ALE layer
Customer
Distribution Model
Need to
create IDOC?
Create
master IDOC
Comm. layer
M
asynch. RFC
or
EDI
Receiver determination
Segment filter
Application document
posted simultaneously
with IDOCs
Database
Field value conversion
Version change
Links
CC
C
Dispatch
control
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John Tullis
3/12/2016
CC
C
page 14
SAP
SAP GUI
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John Tullis
3/12/2016
page 15
SAP
SAP GUI - Mandarin Version
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John Tullis
3/12/2016
page 16
SAP
Business Process Coverage
 The global company
 Decentralization / recentralization
 Matrix organization (legal <--> managerial)
 International transactions (global <--> local)
 The agile company
 Process-driven activities
 Shorter product life cycle
 Continuous business restructuring
 The virtual company
 Business networks and cross-company cooperation
 Electronic commerce and intelligent agents
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John Tullis
3/12/2016
page 17
SAP
Business Process Integration
Production Distribution
Procurement
Sales
Controlling
Accounting
Treasury
Order
receipt
Financing
decision
Production
order
Procurement
order
Credit
control
Transport
order
Delivery
decision
Vendor
selection
Valuation
Costing
Posting
order
receipt
Profitability
analysis
Risk
mgmt.
Forex
mgmt.
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John Tullis
3/12/2016
page 18
SAP
Workflow & ALE
Release Goods
Contract order receipt
Invoice
receipt
Invoice
verification
Posting
Internal
Bank
and
release payment payment
Business
area
Workflow
Plant
Company
§
§
§ §
ALE
ALE
§
§
GROUP
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John Tullis
3/12/2016
page 19
ALE
SAP
Workflow - what is it for?
AUTOMATES THE
BUSINESS PROCESS
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John Tullis
3/12/2016
page 20
SAP
Workflow Architecture
Organisation
Person
Role
Job
Org.unit
Task
Reference
Process Level
WF Definition
WF Step
Data
Data
Signal
Eval Condition
Business
Objects
Attributes
Events
Call + Result
Methods
Object Definition
Copyrighted material
John Tullis
3/12/2016
page 21
SAP
Workflow Processes
 Businesses have dynamic organizations and processes
 Workflow role assignments are derived from a corporate organization model
 Workflow tasks are tied to position descriptions and responsibilities in the
organization model
 Routing based on work item content and organizational restrictions
 Workflow uses one Corporate organization model for all workflow processes
across all applications
 Automatic routing adjustments are made for employee changes or
reassignments
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John Tullis
3/12/2016
page 22