SAP’s ERP system comprises of the integrated solution of the industrial administration applications, which is applicable in most enterprise fields. The system applicability is not the function of the size of the company. The functions can be utilized in the same way by a smaller trade branch office or by an international concern. The needs of the most diverse sectors and countries can also be mapped in the system.

SAP’s ERP system offers multinational enterprises the internationally applicable software flexibility. Through its multi-lingual environment, the flexible management of currencies and taxation, reporting and payment settlement functions adjusted to the given countries, the system meets the requirements posited by the most influential industrial countries in the world.

The system has a modular architecture. The functions and organisational elements in the modules have to be configured by parameter setting. During the deployment a free choice can be made on the modules to be configured. The configured modules constitute an integrated unit with each other. There is no need for multiple data input.

The three main keystones of accountancy modules are bookkeeping (FI), treasury (TR) and controlling (C). The bookkeeping module performs the ledger bookkeeping, buyer and supplier bookkeeping, asset bookkeeping, and consolidation functions. The treasury module performs the bank relations, cash management, treasury management and financial funds management functions. Controlling involves the general cost controlling, the product cost controlling and the result and market segment calculations.

Besides the three main modules, the investment management module (IM), the profit centre calculation and the Executive Information System EIS complements the accountancy modules. The main groups of logistics modules are the material management (MM), sales (SD), production (PP), maintenance (PM) and quality management (QM). Material management deals with procurement, asset management and logistics invoice reception. The sales module performs buyer relation functions, ordering and supplying and invoicing functions. The production module is capable of managing the production process on the basis of production plans and material requirement definitions. The enterprise’s machines, equipment and buildings can be managed by means of the maintenance module.

Quality management, which is supported by the quality management module, is becoming increasingly important for enterprises. The benefits due to the system integration are mainly visible by following the logistics system processions. For example, recording a buyer order automatically starts a production order. The production instruction is created on the basis of the asset information of the material management system. The manufactured product is dispatched and invoiced through the sales module. The costs and revenues generated in the course of the processes are accounted automatically on the accounts or ledgers of the financial system.

The system parameters can be set in accordance with the needs of different enterprise types, however, for the most efficient operation; SAP has elaborated individual industry related solutions for industries requiring special functions. These solutions can be ordered separately and after the installation they form a uniform unit with the base system. Such industries are for example public health, the oil industry, the media and the public administration.

The need for using the strategic planning-analysis, management information systems and the Internet in the business processes has been growing in the past few years. As an answer to these needs, SAP has elaborated its new-dimension products. These products, which can also be used as autonomous software, create a very efficient system if they are connected with the system. The SEM and the BW constitute the business intelligence package together. The SEM supports planning-analysis, while the BW is the data warehouse on which the enterprise management system is based. The CRM supports the customer relation activity and the SRM supports the supplier process management relying on the EBP (an Internet portal).

SAP’s newly developed product, the Netweaver, comprises the new technologies which implement the further development of the BW and the SEM configurations in the fields of BI, Business Intelligence and the IP Integrated Planning as well as the MDM, Master Data Management. It also comprises the XI business process interface configuration and the Web server based realization of the platform. SAP’s new product, the BO, Business Object reporting tool, regarding which we act as a strategic partner, can also be listed here.

We referred to it in the introduction that medium and large enterprises can also use this system. How is it possible? The system is scalable. It is configurable to run on simple and cheap hardware.  In case of expansion, or a large enterprise installation, to begin with, a server cluster configuration solution with several thousands of machines is also possible. SAP supports the small and medium enterprise deployments through its favourable licensing policy – (the SAP-All-In-One package).

You may request more detailed information about Synergon System Integrator’s SAP services via e-mail at: sapinfo@synergon.hu.