SAP ERP



SAP ERP











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SAP
ERP

by Faulkner Staff

Copyright 2021, Faulkner Information Services. All
Rights Reserved.

Docid: 00018809

Publication Date: 2106

Report Type: PRODUCT

Preview

SAP’s ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) suite is a software portfolio
that is designed to consolidate an organization’s entire back-end
operations. SAP ERP integrates major business processes such as human
resources, financials, and service among other applications. The vendor
offers ERP products for enterprises as well as small to mid-sized
organizations, including S/4 HANA Cloud, Business One, and Business ByDesign.
This report takes a more detailed look at the family.

Report Contents:

Description

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SAP’s Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) suite is a portfolio of
enterprise software that consolidates an organization’s back-end business
operations. The entire portfolio is built upon SAP S/4HANA, a business
suite designed to drive innovation by connecting people, devices, and
networks. 


Related Faulkner Reports
SAP Company
Profile

ERP software is designed to support administrative tasks and processes.
ERP vendors market their software to large organizations to help eliminate
manual processes and combine siloed databases into a platform that can be
deployed across an enterprise.

Vendor
Name: SAP SE
Headquarters
Dietmar-Hopp-Allee 16
69190 Walldorf Germany
Tel: +49-6227-7-47474
Fax: +49-6227-7-57575
Web: https://www.sap.com/
Type of Vendor: E-Business Software and Services
Provider
Founded: 1972
Service Areas: Global
Stock Symbol: SAP (NYSE).

SAP’s ERP products are able to:

  • Automate business processes for financials, human resources, and other
    applications. 
  • Scale to support business requirements for small, mid-sized, and
    enterprise organizations across a range of different industries. 
  • Integrate with front-end and back-end software. 
  • Provide globalization capabilities so that SAP solutions can be
    deployed in any location worldwide as it supports various national tax
    laws, accounting laws, and manufacturing regulations in a number of
    different countries. 

SAP’s BASE ERP product line, which debuted in 2015, is called the SAP S/4HANA
Cloud. S/4HANA can be used to access and analyze data in real-time, while
connecting business functions. In 2017, SAP added in machine learning
services so that business processes can be automated, which helps boost
productivity and delivers useful information that is relevant to the
current task. The SAP S/4HANA product line spans across all business
functions and contains:

  • S/4 HANA Cloud
  • Business One
  • Business ByDesign

S/4 HANA Cloud

The S/4 HANA Cloud offers an organic platform for rapid deployment. The
virtualized infrastructure ensures that businesses aren’t stuck with large
hardware and maintenance expenses. SAP S/4HANA Cloud is subscription-based and
businesses have the incentive to activate the functions that they need when they
need them. Built-in disaster recovery keeps business data safe during critical
events. SAP S/4HANA Cloud offers modules for finance, procurement, enterprise
portfolio and project management, sales, professional services, and component
management. 

Figure 1 depicts the SAP S/4HANA Cloud integrated ERP system interface.

Figure 1. SAP S/4HANA Cloud Interface

Figure 1. SAP S/4HANA Cloud Interface

Source: SAP

Business One

Business One is designed to allow smaller organizations to manage and
streamline processes. The software offers a flexible, customizable toolset for automating financial operations. Business One
can be deployed in the cloud or on-premise, and is available via mobile
apps. 

Business ByDesign

Mid-sized businesses can utilize
SAP Business ByDesign, which is a single, configurable, cloud-based ERP
solution. The release is available as
both a public cloud (minimum users: 20) and a private cloud (minimum
users: 200). ERP functions include: finance, customer relationship
management, human resources, project management, procurement, and supply
chain management, as well as industry-specific modules. 

Table 1 describes SAP’s ERP product lines.

Table 1. SAP ERP Product Lines
Product Line Description
SAP S/4HANA Cloud SAP S/4HANA Cloud runs business processes in
real-time, support machine learning, and offers speed in
deployment. Modules, along with their respective capabilities,
include: 

  • Asset Management
    • Maintenance execution
    • Asset operations and planning
    • Environment, health, and safety
    • Capture and mitigate incidents
    • Maintenance scheduling
  • Finance
    • Cost management and profitability
    • Subscription billing
    • Accounting and financial close
    • Revenue accounting and reporting
    • Treasury management
    • Financial operations
    • Enterprise risk and compliance
    • Real estate management
    • Commodity management
    • Enterprise contract management and assembly
  • Manufacturing
    • MRP and production planning
    • Support for complex assembly processes
    • Production operations
    • Manufacturing engineering
    • Quality management
    • Project manufacturing
  • R&D and Engineering
    • Project control and product development
    • Enterprise project management
    • Product lifecycle management
    • Product engineering
    • Requirement-driven processes
  • Sales
    • Order and contract management
    • Sales performance management
    • Sales force support
  • Service
    • Technical service management
    • Commercial service management
    • Service analytics
    • Service business planning
    • Service parts management
    • Service parts planning
  • Sourcing and procurement
    • Purchasing insights
    • Operational purchasing
    • Sourcing and contract management
    • Central procurement
    • Commodity procurement
    • Supply chain risk management
Business One SAP Business One is an ERP solution designed for
small to mid-sized businesses. It is deployable from the cloud or
on-premise. Capabilities, along with their main features,
include: 

  • Financial Management
    • Accounting
    • Controlling
    • Fixed asset management
    • Banking and reconciliation
    • Financial reporting and analysis
  • Sales and Customer Management
    • Sales and opportunity management
    • Marketing campaign management
    • Customer management
    • Service management
    • Reporting and analysis
    • Mobile sales
  • Purchasing and Inventory Control
    • Procurement
    • Master data management
    • Warehouse and accounting integration
    • Accounts payable 
    • Reporting
  • Business Intelligence
    • Report creation and customization
    • Interactive analysis 
    • Intuitive tools
    • Analytics with predefined metrics
    • Powerful data visualizations
  • Analytics and reporting 
    • Dashboards and reports
    • Real-time analytics

Additionally, Business One delivers specific functionalities
for companies involved in: 

  • Consumer products
  • Manufacturing
  • Professional services
  • Retail
  • Wholesale distribution

Business One Sales Mobile App

 Sales team app for managing leads and customer accounts,
viewing stock, and placing orders.

In-Memory Platform

 Software for increasing margins without complicating on-premise
or cloud-based IT. Offers embedded analytics and high-performance functionality.

Additional
  • Applications – APIs and Applications from SAP and its ecosystem
    to build sample apps, extensions, and open integration with SAP.
  • API Business Hub – Interface for discovering APIs and
    pre-packaged integrations.
Business ByDesign Software to unify core functions in an end-to-end business
suite. Capabilities include:

  • Finance
    • Financial and managerial accounting
    • Cash flow management
  • Customer Relationship Management
    • Marketing
    • Sales
    • Service
  • Human Resources
    • Onboarding
    • Time, attendance, and labor management
    • HR self-services
    • Payroll
    • Requests and approvals
  • Project management
    • Real-time project collaboration and monitoring
  • Procurement
    • Sourcing
    • Purchasing
  • Supply Chain Management
    • Product development
    • Supply chain management setup
    • Planning and control
    • Manufacturing, warehousing, and logistics
  • Industry-Specific Functionality
    • Professional services
    • Manufacturing
    • Wholesale distribution
  • Localization
    • Support for international locations and operations
  • In-Memory Database
    • Use one database for everything

Applications

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Enterprise Automation and Compatibility. SAP’s
ERP applications organizations of all sizes – supporting the main HR,
finance, and corporate services functions. 

Industry-Specific Offers. SAP offers ERP implementations
that are adapted to specific industries, such as aerospace and defense;
automotive; banking; chemicals; consumer products; defense and security;
engineering, construction and operations; healthcare; high tech; higher
education and research; industrial machinery and  components;
insurance; life sciences; media; mill products; mining; oil and gas;
professional services; public sector; retail; sports and entertainment;
telecommunications; travel and transportation; utilities; and wholesale
distribution.

Small to Medium-Sized Organizations. SAP offers ERP
suites that can be utilized by smaller companies. This enables companies
to choose the solution that best fits their needs rather than selecting
different options piecemeal from different vendors.  

Environment

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System requirements for SAP ERP varies depending upon configuration and
specific customer scenarios. 

Support

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SAP offers technical and application consulting, software upgrade
installation, education, training, online help, remote diagnostics, user
conferences, regional meetings, hotlines, and on-site visits. Customers
can utilize self-service options as part of the SAP Support Portal, which
includes a knowledgebase and enables the reporting of incidents. SAP also
offers advisory, implementation, and cloud services. 

Pricing

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Customized price quotes are
available via
the SAP Web site. Free trials are also available.

Competitors

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SAP ERP competes with the following vendors and their respective
products: 

  • Microsoft Dynamics 365
  • Infor CloudSuite and ERP Solutions
  • Oracle and Oracle NetSuite ERP
  • Epicor Kinetic

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