Friday, December 30
Web Dynpro ABAP Applications
When some one cannot carry a computer and he wants something that is a bit handy , takes his PDA with him and wants to make a place order . He just has to log in on his PDA and open the website GOI which has been created altogether from ABAP . So everything becomes so easy for the client . It is like any other web page where you can just point and click you web browser and open the web page and open your application. Once we create a Web dynpro application , a URL has been created . For example, in ABAP , once we create a module pooled program , we have to create a transaction code for it .
We open the module pooled program using the transaction code which we write on the top left , like SE 80 is a transaction code for the ABAP code . Then SE 38 is the transaction code for the program . So we can create a transaction code like be SAP order . Similarly , web dynpro will also have a transaction code but we don’t call it a transaction but we call it an application . The application would be a URL . So the transaction code for the web dynpro will be a URL . So we have to launch web dynpro based URL which would be global . So if we are connected to your SAP system , it only ask us the team log in ID page in which we have to enter our SAP log in ID and password . The same ID and same password which you use . After log in you can input feeds . If there is a button to create , then you can create a place order or a purchase order or some purchase requisition or anything that is needed .
So web dynpro applications can only be run on a browser . Meaning that the browser could be either on an ipad or a computer or a mobile and its not like that we can run these web dynpro applications only on the stand alone SAP systems . And along with that there is one more thing to be added that not all the mobile phones can run web dynpro applications because it needs a proper browser . Most of the cheaper phones would contain browser which needs light based web page . It means that very lighter web page , it converts into the phone format and then displays the things . This is a drawback that it does not support each and every mobile handset , like the phone should be a windows , or a blackberry or iphone. So you can see that its basically those phones in which JAVA applications can run as of now . But there can be modifications in the future . The main benefits with the web dynpro application is as we said , we have minimized coding efforts and maximize the designs . All these have been done with the help of web dynpro meta data. In the meta data , external files for UI and external codes for UI and the HTML codes and all will be taken care of with the meta data . Meta data is like the tool designed by us to create a web dynpro application as a screen in which you can see that in that panel there will be some of the UI buttons .
We have to click on the UI buttons and drag it on the screen . For example , if we want to see an input feed , click on the input field UI and drag on the screen . This way an input feed would be created . On looking at the buttons itself you can learn which is the input button or which is the output button . We don’t have to code for the UI . We don’t have to really write the codes to create an input or output feed . So all the codes that the UI as seen is generated by the meta data . The meta data can be used for the tools to create certain ABAP applications . So web dynpro tool is used in meta data to create feed and just we have to engage our code in few places where web dynpro meta data would be able to place the right business logic . For example if there is a table displayed and if we want to get something from the table from the database , the we have to definitely access the web database . We have to write the codes to read the data from the database or if we want to make some dynamical changes , then all the things that we have to take care , the meta data would be taking care of the UI for the navigations on the screen and each time the screen is changed , which may or may not control the good changed screen .
So in practice , the meta data would take care of all the changes in navigations , the UI changes , the changes in the screen . There is a separate layout or logic . The layout would be the second advantage of web dynpro . If there is a separate layout , we would create the layout of the screen separately and logic would be written separately . We don’t have to mix up things in between . Everything would be there in place and if we would want to change something then we can go there and we can change . So nothing else is complex in this . Everything is on the place it has to be . It also supports web services and data banding . One more thing with web dynpro is a declarative programming approach with the minimal coding which we can get . As a part of this training lets also see examples of web services with data banding . Without data banding nothing can be shown on the screen . With data banding its something like this , if we want to display a table , and we need to display a value which is coming from the database , behind the view is the context for each and every view in which we have to define the data which is being bound to each and every UI . Lets assume that we want to show the values of the table which we want to show on the UI . So there is a table on the UI to which we have to bind the values with .
We have to keep the data in this context . It is very well coded and it also supports the web services where we can create sales order or purchase order . For each and every transaction there is a back up . So if we want to create a similar transaction which is there in SAP, we can use the web services . Hence we can take the advantage of such services . The main advantage which we have with web dynpro is the SAP web application , so all the applications which are on the web services can be consumed by web dynpro . Lets see about the meta data declaration and the custom coding .This means that the meta data model which is where we don’t have to define a code and the custom code is where we have to write a code . The meta data will take care of the UI part of the generator or the navigation . There would be a generated code for the UI , or in the navigation if there is anything changing on the screen on click of a button , all these things would be taken care of at the meta data and there would a place on the generator code itself where our codes would be embedded . Everything would be combined and would be given as an application . To run this application we would require an URL .
The URL for the web dynpro component is called an application . So in order to run each and every thing we would require an application . The thing we could do for the fellow world would be to open the internet explorer page see how this works , like where is the place for meta data , where is the place for the custom code and how we are able to launch these web dynpro in ABAP applications . We have some advantages of team meta model also . There is a screen layout and in the screen layout also you can create the screens in the navigation and error handling , like if we want to move from one view to another view , there is a log in screen and then there is a welcome screen . We have created a log in screen and then we have created a welcome screen and now we have to link a navigation .
Each of these things would be taken care of by the meta model . If there is an error by the log in like if we click on login and if the user is not authentically created , then that error handling would also be taken care by the meta model and we do not have to code . And along with that if we click on log in and if we want to take on data from the first screen . For example on log in we give our user name , we give our password , and we give the session like we want a particular session , it then moves to the second welcome page and here the session would be the thing that would be helping to move to the second screen . So the data flows from the first screen to the second one by the meta model . We don’t have to code anything . These are the advantages of meta model and the custom coding will be done as we move into ABAP .
We have to click on the UI buttons and drag it on the screen . For example , if we want to see an input feed , click on the input field UI and drag on the screen . This way an input feed would be created . On looking at the buttons itself you can learn which is the input button or which is the output button . We don’t have to code for the UI . We don’t have to really write the codes to create an input or output feed . So all the codes that the UI as seen is generated by the meta data . The meta data can be used for the tools to create certain ABAP applications . So web dynpro tool is used in meta data to create feed and just we have to engage our code in few places where web dynpro meta data would be able to place the right business logic . For example if there is a table displayed and if we want to get something from the table from the database , the we have to definitely access the web database . We have to write the codes to read the data from the database or if we want to make some dynamical changes , then all the things that we have to take care , the meta data would be taking care of the UI for the navigations on the screen and each time the screen is changed , which may or may not control the good changed screen .
So in practice , the meta data would take care of all the changes in navigations , the UI changes , the changes in the screen . There is a separate layout or logic . The layout would be the second advantage of web dynpro . If there is a separate layout , we would create the layout of the screen separately and logic would be written separately . We don’t have to mix up things in between . Everything would be there in place and if we would want to change something then we can go there and we can change . So nothing else is complex in this . Everything is on the place it has to be . It also supports web services and data banding . One more thing with web dynpro is a declarative programming approach with the minimal coding which we can get . As a part of this training lets also see examples of web services with data banding . Without data banding nothing can be shown on the screen . With data banding its something like this , if we want to display a table , and we need to display a value which is coming from the database , behind the view is the context for each and every view in which we have to define the data which is being bound to each and every UI . Lets assume that we want to show the values of the table which we want to show on the UI . So there is a table on the UI to which we have to bind the values with .
We have to keep the data in this context . It is very well coded and it also supports the web services where we can create sales order or purchase order . For each and every transaction there is a back up . So if we want to create a similar transaction which is there in SAP, we can use the web services . Hence we can take the advantage of such services . The main advantage which we have with web dynpro is the SAP web application , so all the applications which are on the web services can be consumed by web dynpro . Lets see about the meta data declaration and the custom coding .This means that the meta data model which is where we don’t have to define a code and the custom code is where we have to write a code . The meta data will take care of the UI part of the generator or the navigation . There would be a generated code for the UI , or in the navigation if there is anything changing on the screen on click of a button , all these things would be taken care of at the meta data and there would a place on the generator code itself where our codes would be embedded . Everything would be combined and would be given as an application . To run this application we would require an URL .
The URL for the web dynpro component is called an application . So in order to run each and every thing we would require an application . The thing we could do for the fellow world would be to open the internet explorer page see how this works , like where is the place for meta data , where is the place for the custom code and how we are able to launch these web dynpro in ABAP applications . We have some advantages of team meta model also . There is a screen layout and in the screen layout also you can create the screens in the navigation and error handling , like if we want to move from one view to another view , there is a log in screen and then there is a welcome screen . We have created a log in screen and then we have created a welcome screen and now we have to link a navigation .
Each of these things would be taken care of by the meta model . If there is an error by the log in like if we click on login and if the user is not authentically created , then that error handling would also be taken care by the meta model and we do not have to code . And along with that if we click on log in and if we want to take on data from the first screen . For example on log in we give our user name , we give our password , and we give the session like we want a particular session , it then moves to the second welcome page and here the session would be the thing that would be helping to move to the second screen . So the data flows from the first screen to the second one by the meta model . We don’t have to code anything . These are the advantages of meta model and the custom coding will be done as we move into ABAP .
Understanding the SAP HANA Next Generation Database
What is HANA ? I probably must have asked this question a thousand times in the last three months . HANA is actually a lot easier to understand than people think you know . Also explaining it with the kind of common metaphors that we are used to . HANA is a database . Now it’s a special kind of database that is really unique in the market .
If you think about the database market in the last thirty years , it is a very simple and straight forward architecture . You have a computer with a spinning disc inside of it or the newer ones which have a solid state disc , but they have a disc ans you store information on that disc . The relational database , you know a part of it resides on a disc and part of it will work with the computer CPU in – memory to produce information . That’s how it works . And we looked at , what we looked at was how could we dramatically simplify that , that’s number one . Number two , is how could we radically speed up the performance of the architecture that has been around for twenty to thirty years . So when we thought about that , the first thing we thought about was what kind of storage medium , is it disc , is it solid state disc , or potentially RAM or a computers memory . Should we use this next generation database concept . Well we knew that RAM was very very expensive , but we knew that it was incredibly fast . Actually anywhere from ten thousand times to a million times faster than the various disc options that you might have in the server . This interesting .
If the prices of RAM were to drop , or computers memory significantly and the ability to have large amounts of RAM inside of a server of computer is increased. You could literally put the entire database plus all of its data in a computers physical memory . And just by doing that you radically change the value proportion of a database . You go from minutes to hours to lots of hours to days to retrieve a large matter of information to seconds to milliseconds to retrieve very very large amounts of information and that is very intriguing . So that is kind of what set us on the path of this in – memory technology and of course HANA is the result of it. HANA is an appliance and on that appliance is the next generation in – memory database .
Literally the entire database and all the data it stores sits inside of a computers physical RAM . We skip the disc all together , we have left it behind. We use it for a back up . But that creates such a powerful value proposition for our customers who are able to take HANA and apply it to an existing system that they have and immediately get performance approval , and consolidate the amount of hardware investment and software investment that they currently have . But HANA opens up a new generation of possibilities . For example , if you are a retailer , and you wanted to completely transform your point of sales experience . That’s a perfect application for HANA . What I mean to say is that when you walk into a retailer today , you take your big pile of clothes , you set it on the couch and give him your credit card and we all know what they say next – would you like to sign up for another credit card ? , which you probably don’t need , for ten percent off on the purchase today . As far as I am concerned , that is corporate bomb marketing .
That is I don’t know if you need that or not , but I am just going to ask . And with HANA you can actually do very precise marketing . What I can do is that , as the retailer rings up every single item in your pile and swipes your credit card , by the time that card drops ,you can send those items as well as your credit card details back to HANA , have it analyzed your previous purchases , compare to what you are buying now and make real time suggestions to the guy behind the counter or the girl behind the counter like – “hey you know, the last time you were here , you purchased three items along with another pair of jeans that you are buying today . Can I give you one of those shirts for fifty percent off today ? “ . That’s the power of in – memory computing in real time and it doesn’t take a massive farm of servers to do it . HANA can do it with a single blade .
Because what HANA can provide is a single blade which really has a terabyte or RAM which stores a very large amount of information . But because of the speed of analysis inside of that HANA machine you can literally do is transform the retail point sale experience and do it in a cost effective manner . That’s really the reason that we are driving in – memory computation , is to transform what companies can do with the budgets that they have on hand .
ABAP Package Conept
ABAP applications server’s one of the most important innovations is ABAP package concept , owing to the reason that it allows the development of software considered to be ‘soft’ helping in the evolution of any software system .
Reasons for lesser usage
ABAP package concept is not used by many customer development projects and most of the developers don’t have an idea about it . The possible reasons at the beginning of any development project would be either the naming convention issues or the issues related to software logistics . Usually the naming is done in order to define a group of objects that have some similar peculiar factors . An example would be to group them as FI development , HCM , etc .
Applications of ABAP package
ABAP package can be of use only in the smaller development projects, but it can cause serious problems in larger ones. One example would be when there is a task of implementing A2A and B2B processes ; and then we could use the package SAI from the web service infrastructure . The first one of it to be shipped was 6.20 , then the further releases were 6.40 ,7.0 and NW 7.0 SP15 , with incompatible changes . If we had used only the functions of the package interface SAI , there would have been very few changes to be made .
The same rule applies to the custom development also .Like when we create our own application , with the database persistence , application layer and the UI which has to be used by some other application , a proper API has to be defined in order to guarantee authorization .
Problems without package interface
• Many of the developers are ignorant of the fact that the ABAP classes or function modules are belonging to the public API . In this case , the naming convention comes to no use , as these names we assume cant be thought to be widely known .
• It so happens that the developers think certain classes of ABAP to be private and use accordingly , and start making changes like refactoring or optimization , which is actually incompatible and this too much dependency leads to side effects in case of making changes .
• So it always best for us to changing our programming style accordingly . While coding applications , it would be a better option to define a proper interface to help the developers use the tool in a proper way . And when we need to reuse the SAP standard parts , we should first take a look at the package interfaces , which helps in learning the usage of SAP standards faster and better , with lesser to do after release upgrade .
Uses of package concept
• It cab be used in the nesting process of the packages hierarchically , with the top n=most level being the application .
• You would be able to create stable APIs , helping you to distinguish between the public and private parts, which are changeable .
• We can define dependencies of packages to other packages of SAP and also with our own package . which can be :
1. We can use it to define dependencies to SAP standard . By doing this we can help ourself in the SAP software updates since we are using only stable APIs , ultimately helping in the impact analysis of SAP switches and business functions of EhPs .
2. In case of larger development projects it gives us a chance to structure our own application . As we can develop stable APIs , we can instruct the developers to protect certain parts we would want to change in the future ,which would be a very vital aspect if we want to decouple applications for the purpose of independent release cycle .
3. In case we are delivering software components with the help of the add on assembly kit ,it is necessary to guarantee the installability of the custom made SCs.
ABAP package concept would prove to be one of the most essential tools in the software side , being the usage of package checks as part of the extended syntax checks and the code inspector to help in checking of the violations of package interfaces . The package check modes can be of two types – restricted and r3enterprise . many of us have a question as to why this concept is difficult , its because SAP did not have another chance as the software of R3 was quiet complex and the unwanted dependencies were high . To start with , SAP had to face and solve many problems while coming up with ECC 6.0 ; where the introduction of EhPs allows to define packages which get activated after switching into the business function on the system of the customer . Hence it is very important to control the dependency. The package concept would prove to be a very useful one in development of the switchable units . Hence SAP had to define the check modes that allowed violations in the package interfaces
Packages and Software Components (SC)
Usually the SAP and ISVs deliver their software as software components , which are found in the CVERS , which are transparent tables . These SCs can be considered as special transports which have metadata , installed by the transaction SAINT .
There are few interesting differences that one should be aware of here . In terms of JEE of JAVA , SC is defined as the persistence unit , but the concept of it is totally different in ABAP which are internal modus and LUW . Where JAVA SCs have DCs , the top level DCs are those which define the visible objects of an SC .
Packages and SCs are entirely different concepts .They both should not be mixed up . The SCs are an artifact of the software logistics , and they can have complete packages but they do not have representation in the ABAP workbench , whereas the packages are used to be assigned to the software components .
In JAVA and SAP NetWeaver CE there are the concepts of accessibility , but there is nothing of that sort in ABAP . In JAVA there can be compilation errors due to the even circular dependencies .
Reuse of Development Objects
One of the most important factors to keep in mind while using the concept of packages is that we need to keep control on the reuse .If we need to use these ABAP packages , we should use only those development objects that are used that way . There are a number of developers who think of SAP standard as very high collection of data elements which can be reused in their programs . But to do this in the right manner is very important . It can be done by using the data elements of the data model of SAP standard application .But it should be remembered that misuse of these will always lead us into trouble. Most of the cases it is due to the incorrect documentation and short texts . It can also lead to the software being not merger ready with the SAP tools . The defining of own data elements will help us to define the texts properly and help in proper documentation .
Before we are ready to customize or change anything in the SAP data , its always wise to check if in the custom developed application , the merger is ready . SAP tools like SAP LT works with ABAP level domains , have the capacity to change values of domains irrespective of whether they are transparent or in - transparent tables . All of these applies to the DDIC domains as well.
Lets consider that we need to define a role of the SAP business partner application . Here we need to create a new data element to define short texts . In such a case we may need to reuse BU_PARTNER domain of SAP standard , to analyze this as a proper extension . In case we use domains like CHARxyz , it Is always better to check if they are In package interfaces an also to which application they belong to . This helps us to avoid unwanted dependencies to those applications of SAP which we don’t use .
ABAP message classes are not recommended in most cases . They are used for define error messages in BAPIRET –messages , in business application log (BAL ) and also rarely in case of controlled dumps . In case of such an error message occurring , you should make use of the ABAP code from the use access . But in case of reusing error messages from SAP standard, it would be a tough task then and its not that easy to find the proper code line . Another reason is also that long text is not helpful in the case of custom applications .
Reasons for lesser usage
ABAP package concept is not used by many customer development projects and most of the developers don’t have an idea about it . The possible reasons at the beginning of any development project would be either the naming convention issues or the issues related to software logistics . Usually the naming is done in order to define a group of objects that have some similar peculiar factors . An example would be to group them as FI development , HCM , etc .
Applications of ABAP package
ABAP package can be of use only in the smaller development projects, but it can cause serious problems in larger ones. One example would be when there is a task of implementing A2A and B2B processes ; and then we could use the package SAI from the web service infrastructure . The first one of it to be shipped was 6.20 , then the further releases were 6.40 ,7.0 and NW 7.0 SP15 , with incompatible changes . If we had used only the functions of the package interface SAI , there would have been very few changes to be made .
The same rule applies to the custom development also .Like when we create our own application , with the database persistence , application layer and the UI which has to be used by some other application , a proper API has to be defined in order to guarantee authorization .
Problems without package interface
• Many of the developers are ignorant of the fact that the ABAP classes or function modules are belonging to the public API . In this case , the naming convention comes to no use , as these names we assume cant be thought to be widely known .
• It so happens that the developers think certain classes of ABAP to be private and use accordingly , and start making changes like refactoring or optimization , which is actually incompatible and this too much dependency leads to side effects in case of making changes .
• So it always best for us to changing our programming style accordingly . While coding applications , it would be a better option to define a proper interface to help the developers use the tool in a proper way . And when we need to reuse the SAP standard parts , we should first take a look at the package interfaces , which helps in learning the usage of SAP standards faster and better , with lesser to do after release upgrade .
Uses of package concept
• It cab be used in the nesting process of the packages hierarchically , with the top n=most level being the application .
• You would be able to create stable APIs , helping you to distinguish between the public and private parts, which are changeable .
• We can define dependencies of packages to other packages of SAP and also with our own package . which can be :
1. We can use it to define dependencies to SAP standard . By doing this we can help ourself in the SAP software updates since we are using only stable APIs , ultimately helping in the impact analysis of SAP switches and business functions of EhPs .
2. In case of larger development projects it gives us a chance to structure our own application . As we can develop stable APIs , we can instruct the developers to protect certain parts we would want to change in the future ,which would be a very vital aspect if we want to decouple applications for the purpose of independent release cycle .
3. In case we are delivering software components with the help of the add on assembly kit ,it is necessary to guarantee the installability of the custom made SCs.
ABAP package concept would prove to be one of the most essential tools in the software side , being the usage of package checks as part of the extended syntax checks and the code inspector to help in checking of the violations of package interfaces . The package check modes can be of two types – restricted and r3enterprise . many of us have a question as to why this concept is difficult , its because SAP did not have another chance as the software of R3 was quiet complex and the unwanted dependencies were high . To start with , SAP had to face and solve many problems while coming up with ECC 6.0 ; where the introduction of EhPs allows to define packages which get activated after switching into the business function on the system of the customer . Hence it is very important to control the dependency. The package concept would prove to be a very useful one in development of the switchable units . Hence SAP had to define the check modes that allowed violations in the package interfaces
Packages and Software Components (SC)
Usually the SAP and ISVs deliver their software as software components , which are found in the CVERS , which are transparent tables . These SCs can be considered as special transports which have metadata , installed by the transaction SAINT .
There are few interesting differences that one should be aware of here . In terms of JEE of JAVA , SC is defined as the persistence unit , but the concept of it is totally different in ABAP which are internal modus and LUW . Where JAVA SCs have DCs , the top level DCs are those which define the visible objects of an SC .
Packages and SCs are entirely different concepts .They both should not be mixed up . The SCs are an artifact of the software logistics , and they can have complete packages but they do not have representation in the ABAP workbench , whereas the packages are used to be assigned to the software components .
In JAVA and SAP NetWeaver CE there are the concepts of accessibility , but there is nothing of that sort in ABAP . In JAVA there can be compilation errors due to the even circular dependencies .
Reuse of Development Objects
One of the most important factors to keep in mind while using the concept of packages is that we need to keep control on the reuse .If we need to use these ABAP packages , we should use only those development objects that are used that way . There are a number of developers who think of SAP standard as very high collection of data elements which can be reused in their programs . But to do this in the right manner is very important . It can be done by using the data elements of the data model of SAP standard application .But it should be remembered that misuse of these will always lead us into trouble. Most of the cases it is due to the incorrect documentation and short texts . It can also lead to the software being not merger ready with the SAP tools . The defining of own data elements will help us to define the texts properly and help in proper documentation .
Before we are ready to customize or change anything in the SAP data , its always wise to check if in the custom developed application , the merger is ready . SAP tools like SAP LT works with ABAP level domains , have the capacity to change values of domains irrespective of whether they are transparent or in - transparent tables . All of these applies to the DDIC domains as well.
Lets consider that we need to define a role of the SAP business partner application . Here we need to create a new data element to define short texts . In such a case we may need to reuse BU_PARTNER domain of SAP standard , to analyze this as a proper extension . In case we use domains like CHARxyz , it Is always better to check if they are In package interfaces an also to which application they belong to . This helps us to avoid unwanted dependencies to those applications of SAP which we don’t use .
ABAP message classes are not recommended in most cases . They are used for define error messages in BAPIRET –messages , in business application log (BAL ) and also rarely in case of controlled dumps . In case of such an error message occurring , you should make use of the ABAP code from the use access . But in case of reusing error messages from SAP standard, it would be a tough task then and its not that easy to find the proper code line . Another reason is also that long text is not helpful in the case of custom applications .
Wednesday, December 28
Friday, December 23
NEW APPLICATIONS OF SAP HANA AND THE IN – MEMORY PRODUCTS COMING UP
Though high speed data analysis is not new , what SAP HANA comes out with is the combination of both hardware and software which is the coming up of in - memory technology; which has the capacity to evaluate the complete database of the working memory . Earlier it was the possible to store data in the working memory which could be utilized immediately , but now with the in – memory technology that usage has gone a step forward .
The various areas where SAP HANA could be used are as follows :
Firstly it can be used whenever the products being used are in the in – memory format
Conventionally , the database in our systems is stored in the hard discs . But with the in – memory technology coming up , the softwares now use the working memory due to the very high speed access which helps in the faster analysis and the data stored here is in the form of columns . SAP HANA helps in the running of SAP netweaver business warehouse version 7.3 .
It is the principle applied for analyzing programs , including accounting intelligence. Accounting intelligence is a function of SAP CRM which helps in the complete analysis . SAP HANA powered applications include SAP Accelerated Trade Promotion Planning and SAP Demand Signal Management . SAP demand signal management , helps the marketing and sales employees to analyze very large quantities of data which can range up to terabytes , the source of which can be either internal or external .
It can be used as an accelerator
SAP HANA has the capacity to increase the performance of SAP ERP and SAP CRM , as an accelerator , wherein it works like the second database to replicate data . There is SAP COPE accelerator which has the capacity to copy the data from SAP ERP to SAP HANA in real time , leading to production of the analyses results in seconds . This is made available to the SAP users and they need not load the SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse initially .
It can be used in the generation of content
Of late the applications of SAP HANA have been for producing real time analysis reports , which are based on SAP ERP rapid deployment solution for operational reporting , SAP rapid-deployment solution for customer , SAP Bank Analyzer rapid-deployment solution for financial reporting , and SAP ERP rapid-deployment solution for profitability analysis.
It is a technology platform
a very good example for the applications of HANA in the customer specific software development is that SAP HANA had analyzed the whole of Japan’s traffic for the NOMURA RESEARCH INSTITUTE in a second , which involved data up to 360 million records . It was brought about as the data was in the in – memory database and the research institute used its own model for the analyses on top .
It forms the basis for new applications too
There are native in – memory applications based on SAP HANA like the SAP Business Objects Strategic Workforce Planning (which allows you to analyze workforce data , device task lists , calculating of the personal costs and helps in planning of the workforce ; giving an insight of the organizations and routings) , SAP Dynamic Cash Management ( which provides an overview to the costs ,forecasting and management of cash flows , and a real time overview of costs and records from the customer view,the supplier view and also the manufacturing process view ) , and SAP Smart Meter Analytics .
Wednesday, December 21
Real-Real Time Business with HANA
Remember when we showed you what real – real time computing can do for your business . Back then it was a world of what - ifs . What if you can run those numbers in less than two seconds . What if you could check the profitability of the order with and without the discount . Well this year , what if has become ‘ why wait ‘ . Because real - real time computing is here and transforming organizations into real time businesses . Why wait for processes that wait for days or weeks to reconcile when all your information , hundreds of billions of records is completely available whenever you want in real time . Why wait for the results of your inventory and market demands from last quarter or last week .
Why wait to react for changing weather patterns , to competitive pressures to update your material pricing or emerging market trends . Hey you know how a typical meeting used to go . Set up a committee to get a market research . Assign someone to figure out pricing . Write reports on manufacturing band widths . Maybe you can get an educated decision in a week or two . Two weeks ? why wait ? With all its data stored in memory , a real time business has their information in two seconds . Just like that you can see what the market opportunities are . And like that sales figures right at your finger tips and you already know the exact way output for manufacturing and future demand .
A real time business takes strategic planning and turns it into a an action . A real time mediator never runs out of the mentor . Because it doesn’t have to react to the changing consumer demand . A real time financial institution can approve lot of loans in hours and not weeks. A real time automobile manufacturer knows the profitability of every car sold in every market the moment it is sold . And a real time business is streamlined . The legacy IT systems are complex with specialized data mines and returns in processes . How much money do you spend in maintaining these systems .
A real time business empowers your organization to focus on the business and not the infrastructure . No matter what your business is, when you processes have no lag time , when information is instantaneous , and accessible to every level of the enterprise , then you are a real – real time business ; and real time businesses run better . So why wait ?
Why wait to react for changing weather patterns , to competitive pressures to update your material pricing or emerging market trends . Hey you know how a typical meeting used to go . Set up a committee to get a market research . Assign someone to figure out pricing . Write reports on manufacturing band widths . Maybe you can get an educated decision in a week or two . Two weeks ? why wait ? With all its data stored in memory , a real time business has their information in two seconds . Just like that you can see what the market opportunities are . And like that sales figures right at your finger tips and you already know the exact way output for manufacturing and future demand .
A real time business takes strategic planning and turns it into a an action . A real time mediator never runs out of the mentor . Because it doesn’t have to react to the changing consumer demand . A real time financial institution can approve lot of loans in hours and not weeks. A real time automobile manufacturer knows the profitability of every car sold in every market the moment it is sold . And a real time business is streamlined . The legacy IT systems are complex with specialized data mines and returns in processes . How much money do you spend in maintaining these systems .
A real time business empowers your organization to focus on the business and not the infrastructure . No matter what your business is, when you processes have no lag time , when information is instantaneous , and accessible to every level of the enterprise , then you are a real – real time business ; and real time businesses run better . So why wait ?
Tuesday, December 20
SAP HANA - Introduction
Lot has been spoken about increasing data volume , both the consumer perspective as well as from the enterprise perspective . So typically what data is relevant to me and how do I make use of that data is all about the motivation behind the investing plan , which is called HANA .
If you really look into your organization , those in the IT team would really appreciate the fact that we would want to achieve these three things . And these three things simultaneously . With that I take you to some of the technology aspects of HANA . SAP has been innovating on this front . Some of you might be aware of business accelerator which we already had for a couple of years .
So this technology is not actually new , but what actually gave the motivation for the rise of HANA is that there has been improved hardware economics and there has been a lot of software technology innovations . If you look at on the hardware side , today we have multi – core systems available . Again reading by some statistics, by 2020 we will have one CPU handling thousand cores or more . That is the kind of development we are making on the hardware front . Similarly on the software front , which is where SAP has played a major role , is that we have done row and column store . So we have to have a both column store and row store depending on the query you make at the front end . We have compression technology , like ganesh mentioned , compression to the tune of ten to hundred times , which actually gives you an optimal memory that you would need in your enterprise . We have partitioning methodologies , and no aggregate tables .
So all those who are actually aware of conversional warehouse would understand , that we do indexing and aggregation which actually increases the overall performance size and hence data warehouse size , and hence the performance actually gets impacted . And insert only data – so I was talking about data getting replicated in your in memory environment in the real time . Whenever a new transaction is written in your ERP that data actually comes into HANA and after that you can do the reporting on top of it . So this is how the architecture of HANA looks like . If you look at it , this version of HANA is available today for you to adopt . It has been released on 20 th of june . So if you look at this architecture , we have SAP business suite , SAP netweaver or any third party application , which is the most important point to not here . So it could be any data source both SAP or non - SAP . When that data goes into the HANA environment there are various methodologies we have developed like system landscape transformation .
So you can do real time replication , as well as you can choose to have data services , which helps you ;load the data at a periodic interval . Once the data goes in HANA that is where the entire magic actually starts happening. You have the compression , you have the row and column storage . You have the entire HANA studio environment , which creates the analytical views . So some of you might be wondering that if I am actually replicating the data from the enterprise . Then the data might not be in the correct format . The data might not be in format in which you actually want to look at . So there are analytical views that you can create in HANA , there is a complete HANA studio environment which helps you do that . And once that data massaging happens in HANA in real time , you can actually exploit that data .
You can be able to utilize that data using any front end you desire to have . You can choose to have an excel sheet , You can choose to have any other third party tool that you want to use on top of HANA . In the current version , it is a very very good example of an operational warehouse which can be used in the real time . Some other aspects which we have partnered with IBM , HP , DELL CISCO , etc . So it comes as an appliance and it comes pre - considered with software ( HANA software ) , depending upon the size that you would require . Just reiterating - it analysis information in less time , creates flexible analytical models which is what HANA studio does , and it minimizes data duplication , which is very very important to know.
SAP IN – MEMORY APPLIANCES ( SAP HANA) – A SAP AND INTEL COLLABORATION
SAP HANA is a new very exciting new product , which we launched late in 2010 in the market . It addresses a whole suite of new challenges which our customers are facing , with extreme volumes of data we are interested in analyzing in real time .
When we talk about SAP HANA , it means that we are talking about its appliance as hardware and software bundle . This appliance is based on Intel E 7 processor series architecture and it is using SAP's in memory technology , that means the customers are allowed to analyze large amount of data in real time performance .
Co – innovation of SAP and Intel
Intel and SAP HANA are working together for about ten years to deliver industry leading performance of SAP software on Intel platform .
Its very exciting for these teams as they are able to get access to pre – production systems . So that we have a possibility to understand the new possibilities of Intel sound processes , very early in the cycle and can use ex –run as a reference plan to understand the inner workings and radio – optimize the software for the capabilities of the processor .
How the Intel Xeon processor improves the performance
I think SAP HANA is a living form processor right . I think Intel Xeon , a new processor architecture is the E 7 processor series is coming with enhanced performance . This enhanced improved performance is coming mainly from ten cores of circuits supporting up to twenty switches and up to thirty megabytes last level cash and what SAP development and our engineering team has done is to optimize SAP HANA to take advantage of the rules , processes and features .
Intel Xeon processor – reliability , your organization demands
Performance is important for SAP HANA , but it is not all . Intel Xeon E 7 processor family is coming a lot of reliability features , but support mission critical application is like SAP HANA .
Transforming your business
Would you see a very transformative impact on a lot of business process in various industries as well as business areas . So when you look at the various business areas , there is a significant transformation which may happen in the corporate finance area , where you get results much faster . So you can get profitability analysis in many more detail on a much shorter time frame . Now if you look at industries in particular , there are some industries that generate a lot of data . So for example utilities where the smart meters are generating information about the power consumption every fifteen minutes . Now processing the data means to be challenging in the future and we will be able to do this in real time and get inside into what is happening , that moment in time will forecast from there . Now as you can see these transformations are not only meaning that results are going to be given faster , but in many cases it also means that you are able to look into many more scenarios , look into many more options you have . You actually have to play them through and then make a very good informed decision so that the extra – transformative impact of in memory computing is making faster and more informed decisions .
Co – innovating into the future
I think this co – integration between SAP and Intel is really very critical in making sure that we protecting the investments of the customer by really leveraging that the capabilities that the platform is providing . And for us the SAP in memory computing is really very important and very very transformative . So we continue to innovate in this sector and continue to be highly interested in so – integrating with the Intel in order to leverage the capabilities that will become available in the future .
And so I agree . We will continue to work on co – innovation and our teams – development teams and engineering teams are already working together on you and your future software and using our platforms
When we talk about SAP HANA , it means that we are talking about its appliance as hardware and software bundle . This appliance is based on Intel E 7 processor series architecture and it is using SAP's in memory technology , that means the customers are allowed to analyze large amount of data in real time performance .
Co – innovation of SAP and Intel
Intel and SAP HANA are working together for about ten years to deliver industry leading performance of SAP software on Intel platform .
Its very exciting for these teams as they are able to get access to pre – production systems . So that we have a possibility to understand the new possibilities of Intel sound processes , very early in the cycle and can use ex –run as a reference plan to understand the inner workings and radio – optimize the software for the capabilities of the processor .
How the Intel Xeon processor improves the performance
I think SAP HANA is a living form processor right . I think Intel Xeon , a new processor architecture is the E 7 processor series is coming with enhanced performance . This enhanced improved performance is coming mainly from ten cores of circuits supporting up to twenty switches and up to thirty megabytes last level cash and what SAP development and our engineering team has done is to optimize SAP HANA to take advantage of the rules , processes and features .
Intel Xeon processor – reliability , your organization demands
Performance is important for SAP HANA , but it is not all . Intel Xeon E 7 processor family is coming a lot of reliability features , but support mission critical application is like SAP HANA .
Transforming your business
Would you see a very transformative impact on a lot of business process in various industries as well as business areas . So when you look at the various business areas , there is a significant transformation which may happen in the corporate finance area , where you get results much faster . So you can get profitability analysis in many more detail on a much shorter time frame . Now if you look at industries in particular , there are some industries that generate a lot of data . So for example utilities where the smart meters are generating information about the power consumption every fifteen minutes . Now processing the data means to be challenging in the future and we will be able to do this in real time and get inside into what is happening , that moment in time will forecast from there . Now as you can see these transformations are not only meaning that results are going to be given faster , but in many cases it also means that you are able to look into many more scenarios , look into many more options you have . You actually have to play them through and then make a very good informed decision so that the extra – transformative impact of in memory computing is making faster and more informed decisions .
Co – innovating into the future
I think this co – integration between SAP and Intel is really very critical in making sure that we protecting the investments of the customer by really leveraging that the capabilities that the platform is providing . And for us the SAP in memory computing is really very important and very very transformative . So we continue to innovate in this sector and continue to be highly interested in so – integrating with the Intel in order to leverage the capabilities that will become available in the future .
And so I agree . We will continue to work on co – innovation and our teams – development teams and engineering teams are already working together on you and your future software and using our platforms
Monday, December 19
SAP In-Memory Computing - BASF Customer Testimonial
BASF is Germany based chemical company. It has its headquarters at Ludwigshafen , at central Germany . It has operational activities pretty much worldwide . We are operating over a hundred countries and something about three hundred and fifty legal entities and a round about of thirteen hundred sites worldwide . I think BASF also likes to think about offering a certain level of quality , reliability , which is without comparison it is almost about competence ; and I think on top of that the scale of the company and its worldwide reach . I mean that we could deliver to many of our global customers at a very consistent level of product and service worldwide .
Core software pretty much consists of all SAPs , the main product line . The relationship between BASF and SAP goes back a long way as we were one of the early users of the business warehouses when it first appeared in the market . When the first ‘ In memory ‘ type of technology appeared under the guise of the business warehouse accelerator , we were one of the first adopters of that . I have to say that of many of these which we have brought to the market place , the business warehouse accelerator has had an immediate impact . Of course with HANA its the next generation to this whole approach . It goes really right down to the end transaction , About what we have done in the past and then of course create different summarize layers in business warehouse in order to the service of reporting . And its now with the In – Memory technology and the charm is really to the effect that you can work on the source data and so on the source transactions , which means that we don’t have any of these layers in between .
The ability to reload the entire database into memory , to optimize with this new automization change which moves to a database with column based technology , where we will be able to have an environment where both the transactions , applications and the analytics are both working at the same source of data . The entire package is entirely compelling . The cost analysis of the CAP area was the most interesting thing to look at in the first step . So we extracted the entire database of the system , centered to SAP . Of the first results few months ago , and have to believe that really and truly astounding . We saw response times which improved around about a hundred and twenty times , they reduced the time from about six hundred and twenty seconds to down to about five seconds in one case of assessing EBIT on a commodity and this was really and truly extraordinary . If you are taking something about two hundred and sixty products and motor plying it through four hundred thousand customers , then you have a lot of data to deal with and up to now we could not to handling , which is really producing EBIT information , if you are talking about the product customer level or if you are talking about a monster amount of calculation and allocate additional costs to that level , and that requires enormous amount of computing power and definitely needs an appropriate response time in order to make that type of analysis for us useful .
We talked about system speed but the second major topic in this area which interests us is reliability and the degree to which we can validate our data . Of course it depends on database . In this regards to enlarging our costs , this is like a key part on our growing business portfolio optimization process . Thus we can get better data more swiftly and will not have to wait until the months end processing and we can get this more daily or if at all possible on a transaction by transaction basis . There is no question as such . A huge amount of the businesses allows him to adjust things on the fly much better and second thing is it of course gives a much better insight into the real state of play and in determining how to further optimize the business portfolio , like the right decisions regarding the evolving bases for the future . We have done our first deep dive into the HANA database with the cost and profitability information . This has been extremely encouraging and this is not where we want to stop and we are very much motivated to use the database ; also for the transaction processes , for the core part of the business reap . We have been looking on planning on optimization for the dealing of software which is extremely complicated and requires a lot of computing power . This allows us to produce the right product at the right time and we can do the delivery to the customer satisfaction in the long time , and that for us is extremely important point . I think the in memory technology and the SAP supported HANA is definitely a generational change .
These promises are great . Our past experiences are extremely encouraging and all I can say is we want to encourage SAP as much as possible to roll out this program , this HANA program as quickly as possible it can and then ensure that it covers the full range of its core products , namely the SEM , business analytics .The faster SAP can do this , the better for us and as I said before extreme value to the company and also it’s a great opportunity to move our entire IT into a new generation of cooperation and support . SAP helps BASF run better .
Core software pretty much consists of all SAPs , the main product line . The relationship between BASF and SAP goes back a long way as we were one of the early users of the business warehouses when it first appeared in the market . When the first ‘ In memory ‘ type of technology appeared under the guise of the business warehouse accelerator , we were one of the first adopters of that . I have to say that of many of these which we have brought to the market place , the business warehouse accelerator has had an immediate impact . Of course with HANA its the next generation to this whole approach . It goes really right down to the end transaction , About what we have done in the past and then of course create different summarize layers in business warehouse in order to the service of reporting . And its now with the In – Memory technology and the charm is really to the effect that you can work on the source data and so on the source transactions , which means that we don’t have any of these layers in between .
The ability to reload the entire database into memory , to optimize with this new automization change which moves to a database with column based technology , where we will be able to have an environment where both the transactions , applications and the analytics are both working at the same source of data . The entire package is entirely compelling . The cost analysis of the CAP area was the most interesting thing to look at in the first step . So we extracted the entire database of the system , centered to SAP . Of the first results few months ago , and have to believe that really and truly astounding . We saw response times which improved around about a hundred and twenty times , they reduced the time from about six hundred and twenty seconds to down to about five seconds in one case of assessing EBIT on a commodity and this was really and truly extraordinary . If you are taking something about two hundred and sixty products and motor plying it through four hundred thousand customers , then you have a lot of data to deal with and up to now we could not to handling , which is really producing EBIT information , if you are talking about the product customer level or if you are talking about a monster amount of calculation and allocate additional costs to that level , and that requires enormous amount of computing power and definitely needs an appropriate response time in order to make that type of analysis for us useful .
We talked about system speed but the second major topic in this area which interests us is reliability and the degree to which we can validate our data . Of course it depends on database . In this regards to enlarging our costs , this is like a key part on our growing business portfolio optimization process . Thus we can get better data more swiftly and will not have to wait until the months end processing and we can get this more daily or if at all possible on a transaction by transaction basis . There is no question as such . A huge amount of the businesses allows him to adjust things on the fly much better and second thing is it of course gives a much better insight into the real state of play and in determining how to further optimize the business portfolio , like the right decisions regarding the evolving bases for the future . We have done our first deep dive into the HANA database with the cost and profitability information . This has been extremely encouraging and this is not where we want to stop and we are very much motivated to use the database ; also for the transaction processes , for the core part of the business reap . We have been looking on planning on optimization for the dealing of software which is extremely complicated and requires a lot of computing power . This allows us to produce the right product at the right time and we can do the delivery to the customer satisfaction in the long time , and that for us is extremely important point . I think the in memory technology and the SAP supported HANA is definitely a generational change .
These promises are great . Our past experiences are extremely encouraging and all I can say is we want to encourage SAP as much as possible to roll out this program , this HANA program as quickly as possible it can and then ensure that it covers the full range of its core products , namely the SEM , business analytics .The faster SAP can do this , the better for us and as I said before extreme value to the company and also it’s a great opportunity to move our entire IT into a new generation of cooperation and support . SAP helps BASF run better .
Data migration in SAP business one
In this topic we will discuss about data migration in SAP business one . At the end of this topic you will be able to describe the two different options available for the data migration , import items and business partners directly from a file for example a Microsoft excel spreadsheet into SAP business one and use the data transfer workbench to migrate the data from a file for example a Microsoft excel spreadsheet into SAP business one .
During implementation we would usually need to migrate data from the legacy system into the new SAP business one system . Business data such as customers, vendors , items , invoices, etc must be available in the new system before going live . Data migration can be completed in two ways - by manually entering the data into SAP business one or importing a file from a legacy system using one of the two tools available in SAP business one . We will now review the 2 options fro importing data from a legacy system .
You can import data for business partners and items from a text file to a company in SAP business one . You can prepare the data in Microsoft excel and then save the spreadsheet as tabbed limited text . When you import this file , the data is returned to relevant fields in SAP business one . In addition to creating new master data in Microsoft excel , you can also update the existing master data . The following fields are mandatory in a Microsoft excel spreadsheet to be imported . The business partners name , code , type –customer vendor or lead ; if there is no type existent then the system automatically selects type for the customer . For item , one of the item code is required for both importing new item master data or updating existing master data . We can also use the item import to upload price list information . Specify the item code and for every price you wanted to upload , specify the price list code, price and price list currency . After a successful upload you can create a query on the OCRD business partners , OITM which is the items or ITM 1 price list to check if the data was imported correctly . Choose administration , data import / export , then data import and then choose import from excel to start the import from Microsoft excel .
In this demonstration we will review the import from excel function . Go to administration , then data import export / import , then data import and then click import from excel . Select the data type to import , then select items . We are going to add an item master record with its associated items . We here come to choose the fields that we want to import into the SAP business one from the text files . In this example choose the item number , item description price list code , price according to price list and currency type . As you can see from the text file , we are going to import two items , a skateboard of 80 euros associated with the low volume price list under price list 3 and a hand glider for 400 euros . Again with a low volume price list . For the purpose of the demo we will change the item numbers and save the file . This would be relevant if you wanted to change your item master coding structure extracted from the legacy system before importing into SAP business one . The option would also be useful if you had complex frequently changing price lists , which need updating and now tick the update account in the existing items flag and click ok . Click open to import . If this is unsuccessful an error message is displayed which can be saved to a file . You can also save the message if the import was successful in the same manner . Let us now verify that the data has been imported successfully . As you can see , both item codes are present , the hand glider price is correct and the skateboard item too has been imported successfully as well .
Data migration is the process by which the existing data is migrated from a legacy system into SAP business one . To ensure that the migration of the data is done as easily as possible , SAP business one provides the SAP business one add – on , data transfer workbench . It can be stored within the network of any SAP business one server . If you want to import data , other than items or business partners , you need to use the data transfer workbench , also known as the DTW . This tools allows you to import additional master data and transactional data . The process consists of the following steps . Data extraction where the necessary data are extracted from legacy system . The data transfer workbench is not involved in this process . Data mapping - the data has to be converted into the format the SAP business one needs and assigned to its data structures . This can be achieved by importing the legacy data into a predefined Microsoft excel template , which maps the legacy data structure with the SAP business one data structures . The Microsoft excel template can be saved as a text file . A series of templates are supplied with the data transfer work related software . A template can also be generated using the maintain interface menu option . Data import - the data is imported into SAP business one via the data import wizard . The wizard allows you to import a file or insert or update mode . Select the business object , for example business partners , sales order and purchase invoices . Select the data files for loading . Manually validate the manual of the legacy data to the SAP business one data structure and run the data import using either the trial run or the complete run . You can then review any of the errors which may have occurred during the process by reviewing the import log . The data transfer workbench is built on the data interface API which is a part of the SAP business one software development kit . This guarantees the data consistency in the data load and enforcement of the same business rules that are part of the standard business one client .
The Microsoft excel templates are based on a pre configured data transfer interface . You may adapt your legacy data to these templates or you may change the interface and generate new templates from it . It maybe necessary to change the interface if the required fields are not part of the default interface. You can always go back to the default interface if necessary .
As previously mentioned , the data transfer workbench add – on has a number of predefined Microsoft templates to assist you in importing data from a file . The template can be linked together to allow for the update of the multiple tables within one import . The Microsoft excel template delivered with the data transfer workbench are tables in SAP business one . If a business object is represented by only one table in SAP business one , such as G / L accounts , only one template is necessary . If a business object is represented by more than one table , for example a business partner object , consists of up to three tables namely , business partner master data , addresses and contacts . One template for each table is required . Once you have mapped your structure from the legacy system to an excel template you can insert your data into the template . In this example you can see that you can import business partners and their associated contacts and address data . In the second example we have a series of templates that are needed for the transaction data , including transaction headers with associated expenses and transaction lines , with the associated expenses .
In this demonstration we are going to review the data transfer work by templates and the import files . Go to your desktop , and click start , then programs , then SAP business one , then data migration and then templates . This lists the predefined templates supplied . Double click on the business partner template . This displays an excel template .Columns A and B are mandatory for every record to be imported into the template . The line type in this example needs to the folder H meaning header in every record in the template , Column B and title record key uniquely identifies the legacy report which is to be inserted into this import file . The record key values are just running from one to 9999 , incrementing for each new record. Do not delete the first two rows in the file as these two rows detail the data mapping and are compulsory during the import stage . Additional stage column may need to be added in a template for every user defined area which you want to import . In our example , we are going to insert the business partner master data with the associate email addresses . Therefore you will paste the legacy data into the file . Save the file as a text file . We are now going to create a business partner import file to add contact information to our header records .This is done in exactly the same manner as the previous file , with the only major difference being column A . The line type needs to be I 1. The record key ties the information in it with the corresponding header records . We will manually enter into the template to the relevant contact information . We now come to complete the first two columns in the header files . Remember it is H for the line type . And similarly we need to complete the first two columns into contact file where I 1 goes into column A . The two contact employees belong to the first header record , hence the one in record key . Save the contact file as a text file . Now both the header and the employee contacts are ready for the import .
The configuration of columns for the data transfer when you are expecting to import a file is specified in the interface definition . This can be accessed while maintaining the data function under the advanced menu . Regardless of the interface definitions , import file columns can be manually matched to business one table columns during every import , but if you use the same configurations for columns almost repeatedly for business subjects , it is best to define the interface accordingly to save your manually mapping the fields on every import . A screen contains an entry for every object that can be imported . The list of columns can be modified by right clicking an existing column and choosing to delete the column which is possible if the field is not mandatory or adding a column in the position . Once the interface definition is done , you can save it and also set it to be the default interface . The relevant options are found under the file menu . Please note that most fields can be retained even if you do not require for them to be imported , leaving them blank in the import file will simply result them in being blank or defaulted in business one.
In this demonstration we are going to review accessing the data transfer work and the facility to generate a new template by the maintainant phase option . Go to desktop and click start , and programs and then SAP business one , then data migration and then data transfer workbench . Select the advance maintain interface menu option . We want to create a new business order template to mention the order of the columns within the files generated on the legacy system . Go to business partners , header line within the tree structure . This lists every available field in the business partner table . We will move by dragging and dropping the phone one to phone two and directly off to the email fields name , The business partner name field , so that the template that we are to generate maps the order of the data extracted from the legacy system . Right click on the header line , part of the business partner tree and click create template folder structure . A standard window save as screen appears , asking for you to save the new excel template . Move to a suitable folder for example the templates folder and click save . A message is displayed stating that the template file has been saved successfully . Go to the relevant folder and open the new template . The new template has the fields in order that you positioned them with the contact details directly after the card name field .
The first step in every import is to connect to the database into which you want to import the data . When you choose log on , the log in screen appears . Here you enter the user name and the password , as well as the server in which the database is stored . At the bottom of the screen you can select to authenticate the sequel serve on the server machine using your windows account . When you choose refresh , all company databases available on the server are listed in the company drop down list . Select the database in which you want to import the data and select ok . The language field affects the language of the log file .
Let us review all the steps require for the data import via the data transfer workbench login . This step was already described . Step 1 of the wizard : In step 1 , you will choose if you have to import a new object or update an existing object . Update is supported for G / L and business partners and prices and items . Step 2 of the wizard : In step two , you choose the business object you want to import or update. Step 3 of the wizard : in step 3 , you choose the data files that you want to import . Depending on the business objects you can upload several data files for different tables of the same business subject in parallel . The files must be text files with comma , semi colon or the tab as the limiter . Define how the workbench behaves in the case of paris . Choose advance , one option is that the data transfer workbench performs a rollback as soon as an error occurs . A roll back resets the whole import process . This means that all data records that already have been imported or removed from the system . Another option is that the data transfer workbench stops the process after a certain number of errors without performing a rollback . The data record for which the import process failed are stored in an error file . Data records that have been already imported successfully remain in the system . Step 4 of the wizard : In step 4 you check if the input data matches with the target data type and you may change the mapping rules if necessary . On the data tab , all the records and all columns for the header data file appear . For every data file that a business object , you can change the mapping rules . In the mapping rules , you determine which column in the data file , the source fields belong to which fields in the system target fields . The default sequence of the target fields is based on the current interface . The target fields include user defined fields and you need to map them to source fields . You can choose a skip a set of columns by choosing to leave them blank . You may save and reuse mapping rules . You can also let the system check the mapping . It returns error messages if you mapped two different target fields to one source field . If you mapped two different source fields to one target field or if you did not map a certain source field to a mandatory target field . Step 5 of the wizard : in step 5 ,the system displays a summary of your parameters . Checking the test run option will enable you to assimilate and import without any data being loaded into the company database . This option enables you to verify the validity of your data. To stop the data import , choose next .
Log management : collect information of messages , error messages or upload the processes and prepare them for analysis . Log management consists of two components , log overview and the detail view . The log overview allows you to manage all the existing logs . The detail view provides details within individual logs .
There are two views of the log – summary and detail . The detail log – it is placed at the very end of the import process and lists all files and successful records . The log contains a date and time stamp of when the import was attempted , the user name server and the company information is also displayed for the information . The log number and the and the error file are also displayed . There are also two buttons that you would like to scroll up and down to the logs that have been saved . You can also double click any of the errors to list all of the reasons for the failed import as there may be more than one . The log also displays a summary section of the run with account . In this example , there have been eleven records successfully created , one failed , three successfully updated records and no records have failed on update . Finally there is a filter available to list all of the log or alternatively just the successful imports or just the failed imports . Click close . The summary log lists all import attempts in a summary format . Thos includes information such as mode , with details of the import or update and if the run was a trial . You can double click any summary row which provides detailed information of that particular import .
You have now completed the topic on data migration in SAP business one. You will now be able to describe the two different options available for the data migration , import items and business partners directly from a file for example a Microsoft excel spreadsheet into SAP business one and use the data transfer workbench to migrate the data from a file for example a Microsoft excel spreadsheet into SAP business one .
During implementation we would usually need to migrate data from the legacy system into the new SAP business one system . Business data such as customers, vendors , items , invoices, etc must be available in the new system before going live . Data migration can be completed in two ways - by manually entering the data into SAP business one or importing a file from a legacy system using one of the two tools available in SAP business one . We will now review the 2 options fro importing data from a legacy system .
You can import data for business partners and items from a text file to a company in SAP business one . You can prepare the data in Microsoft excel and then save the spreadsheet as tabbed limited text . When you import this file , the data is returned to relevant fields in SAP business one . In addition to creating new master data in Microsoft excel , you can also update the existing master data . The following fields are mandatory in a Microsoft excel spreadsheet to be imported . The business partners name , code , type –customer vendor or lead ; if there is no type existent then the system automatically selects type for the customer . For item , one of the item code is required for both importing new item master data or updating existing master data . We can also use the item import to upload price list information . Specify the item code and for every price you wanted to upload , specify the price list code, price and price list currency . After a successful upload you can create a query on the OCRD business partners , OITM which is the items or ITM 1 price list to check if the data was imported correctly . Choose administration , data import / export , then data import and then choose import from excel to start the import from Microsoft excel .
In this demonstration we will review the import from excel function . Go to administration , then data import export / import , then data import and then click import from excel . Select the data type to import , then select items . We are going to add an item master record with its associated items . We here come to choose the fields that we want to import into the SAP business one from the text files . In this example choose the item number , item description price list code , price according to price list and currency type . As you can see from the text file , we are going to import two items , a skateboard of 80 euros associated with the low volume price list under price list 3 and a hand glider for 400 euros . Again with a low volume price list . For the purpose of the demo we will change the item numbers and save the file . This would be relevant if you wanted to change your item master coding structure extracted from the legacy system before importing into SAP business one . The option would also be useful if you had complex frequently changing price lists , which need updating and now tick the update account in the existing items flag and click ok . Click open to import . If this is unsuccessful an error message is displayed which can be saved to a file . You can also save the message if the import was successful in the same manner . Let us now verify that the data has been imported successfully . As you can see , both item codes are present , the hand glider price is correct and the skateboard item too has been imported successfully as well .
Data migration is the process by which the existing data is migrated from a legacy system into SAP business one . To ensure that the migration of the data is done as easily as possible , SAP business one provides the SAP business one add – on , data transfer workbench . It can be stored within the network of any SAP business one server . If you want to import data , other than items or business partners , you need to use the data transfer workbench , also known as the DTW . This tools allows you to import additional master data and transactional data . The process consists of the following steps . Data extraction where the necessary data are extracted from legacy system . The data transfer workbench is not involved in this process . Data mapping - the data has to be converted into the format the SAP business one needs and assigned to its data structures . This can be achieved by importing the legacy data into a predefined Microsoft excel template , which maps the legacy data structure with the SAP business one data structures . The Microsoft excel template can be saved as a text file . A series of templates are supplied with the data transfer work related software . A template can also be generated using the maintain interface menu option . Data import - the data is imported into SAP business one via the data import wizard . The wizard allows you to import a file or insert or update mode . Select the business object , for example business partners , sales order and purchase invoices . Select the data files for loading . Manually validate the manual of the legacy data to the SAP business one data structure and run the data import using either the trial run or the complete run . You can then review any of the errors which may have occurred during the process by reviewing the import log . The data transfer workbench is built on the data interface API which is a part of the SAP business one software development kit . This guarantees the data consistency in the data load and enforcement of the same business rules that are part of the standard business one client .
The Microsoft excel templates are based on a pre configured data transfer interface . You may adapt your legacy data to these templates or you may change the interface and generate new templates from it . It maybe necessary to change the interface if the required fields are not part of the default interface. You can always go back to the default interface if necessary .
As previously mentioned , the data transfer workbench add – on has a number of predefined Microsoft templates to assist you in importing data from a file . The template can be linked together to allow for the update of the multiple tables within one import . The Microsoft excel template delivered with the data transfer workbench are tables in SAP business one . If a business object is represented by only one table in SAP business one , such as G / L accounts , only one template is necessary . If a business object is represented by more than one table , for example a business partner object , consists of up to three tables namely , business partner master data , addresses and contacts . One template for each table is required . Once you have mapped your structure from the legacy system to an excel template you can insert your data into the template . In this example you can see that you can import business partners and their associated contacts and address data . In the second example we have a series of templates that are needed for the transaction data , including transaction headers with associated expenses and transaction lines , with the associated expenses .
In this demonstration we are going to review the data transfer work by templates and the import files . Go to your desktop , and click start , then programs , then SAP business one , then data migration and then templates . This lists the predefined templates supplied . Double click on the business partner template . This displays an excel template .Columns A and B are mandatory for every record to be imported into the template . The line type in this example needs to the folder H meaning header in every record in the template , Column B and title record key uniquely identifies the legacy report which is to be inserted into this import file . The record key values are just running from one to 9999 , incrementing for each new record. Do not delete the first two rows in the file as these two rows detail the data mapping and are compulsory during the import stage . Additional stage column may need to be added in a template for every user defined area which you want to import . In our example , we are going to insert the business partner master data with the associate email addresses . Therefore you will paste the legacy data into the file . Save the file as a text file . We are now going to create a business partner import file to add contact information to our header records .This is done in exactly the same manner as the previous file , with the only major difference being column A . The line type needs to be I 1. The record key ties the information in it with the corresponding header records . We will manually enter into the template to the relevant contact information . We now come to complete the first two columns in the header files . Remember it is H for the line type . And similarly we need to complete the first two columns into contact file where I 1 goes into column A . The two contact employees belong to the first header record , hence the one in record key . Save the contact file as a text file . Now both the header and the employee contacts are ready for the import .
The configuration of columns for the data transfer when you are expecting to import a file is specified in the interface definition . This can be accessed while maintaining the data function under the advanced menu . Regardless of the interface definitions , import file columns can be manually matched to business one table columns during every import , but if you use the same configurations for columns almost repeatedly for business subjects , it is best to define the interface accordingly to save your manually mapping the fields on every import . A screen contains an entry for every object that can be imported . The list of columns can be modified by right clicking an existing column and choosing to delete the column which is possible if the field is not mandatory or adding a column in the position . Once the interface definition is done , you can save it and also set it to be the default interface . The relevant options are found under the file menu . Please note that most fields can be retained even if you do not require for them to be imported , leaving them blank in the import file will simply result them in being blank or defaulted in business one.
In this demonstration we are going to review accessing the data transfer work and the facility to generate a new template by the maintainant phase option . Go to desktop and click start , and programs and then SAP business one , then data migration and then data transfer workbench . Select the advance maintain interface menu option . We want to create a new business order template to mention the order of the columns within the files generated on the legacy system . Go to business partners , header line within the tree structure . This lists every available field in the business partner table . We will move by dragging and dropping the phone one to phone two and directly off to the email fields name , The business partner name field , so that the template that we are to generate maps the order of the data extracted from the legacy system . Right click on the header line , part of the business partner tree and click create template folder structure . A standard window save as screen appears , asking for you to save the new excel template . Move to a suitable folder for example the templates folder and click save . A message is displayed stating that the template file has been saved successfully . Go to the relevant folder and open the new template . The new template has the fields in order that you positioned them with the contact details directly after the card name field .
The first step in every import is to connect to the database into which you want to import the data . When you choose log on , the log in screen appears . Here you enter the user name and the password , as well as the server in which the database is stored . At the bottom of the screen you can select to authenticate the sequel serve on the server machine using your windows account . When you choose refresh , all company databases available on the server are listed in the company drop down list . Select the database in which you want to import the data and select ok . The language field affects the language of the log file .
Let us review all the steps require for the data import via the data transfer workbench login . This step was already described . Step 1 of the wizard : In step 1 , you will choose if you have to import a new object or update an existing object . Update is supported for G / L and business partners and prices and items . Step 2 of the wizard : In step two , you choose the business object you want to import or update. Step 3 of the wizard : in step 3 , you choose the data files that you want to import . Depending on the business objects you can upload several data files for different tables of the same business subject in parallel . The files must be text files with comma , semi colon or the tab as the limiter . Define how the workbench behaves in the case of paris . Choose advance , one option is that the data transfer workbench performs a rollback as soon as an error occurs . A roll back resets the whole import process . This means that all data records that already have been imported or removed from the system . Another option is that the data transfer workbench stops the process after a certain number of errors without performing a rollback . The data record for which the import process failed are stored in an error file . Data records that have been already imported successfully remain in the system . Step 4 of the wizard : In step 4 you check if the input data matches with the target data type and you may change the mapping rules if necessary . On the data tab , all the records and all columns for the header data file appear . For every data file that a business object , you can change the mapping rules . In the mapping rules , you determine which column in the data file , the source fields belong to which fields in the system target fields . The default sequence of the target fields is based on the current interface . The target fields include user defined fields and you need to map them to source fields . You can choose a skip a set of columns by choosing to leave them blank . You may save and reuse mapping rules . You can also let the system check the mapping . It returns error messages if you mapped two different target fields to one source field . If you mapped two different source fields to one target field or if you did not map a certain source field to a mandatory target field . Step 5 of the wizard : in step 5 ,the system displays a summary of your parameters . Checking the test run option will enable you to assimilate and import without any data being loaded into the company database . This option enables you to verify the validity of your data. To stop the data import , choose next .
Log management : collect information of messages , error messages or upload the processes and prepare them for analysis . Log management consists of two components , log overview and the detail view . The log overview allows you to manage all the existing logs . The detail view provides details within individual logs .
There are two views of the log – summary and detail . The detail log – it is placed at the very end of the import process and lists all files and successful records . The log contains a date and time stamp of when the import was attempted , the user name server and the company information is also displayed for the information . The log number and the and the error file are also displayed . There are also two buttons that you would like to scroll up and down to the logs that have been saved . You can also double click any of the errors to list all of the reasons for the failed import as there may be more than one . The log also displays a summary section of the run with account . In this example , there have been eleven records successfully created , one failed , three successfully updated records and no records have failed on update . Finally there is a filter available to list all of the log or alternatively just the successful imports or just the failed imports . Click close . The summary log lists all import attempts in a summary format . Thos includes information such as mode , with details of the import or update and if the run was a trial . You can double click any summary row which provides detailed information of that particular import .
You have now completed the topic on data migration in SAP business one. You will now be able to describe the two different options available for the data migration , import items and business partners directly from a file for example a Microsoft excel spreadsheet into SAP business one and use the data transfer workbench to migrate the data from a file for example a Microsoft excel spreadsheet into SAP business one .
Work with the Approval procedure Functionality
At the end of this topic you will be able to work with the approval procedure functionality , approve or reject documents , generate reports for monitoring approval procedures and create draft documents as genuine documents .
In the first unit , you have learnt how to make the initial definitions required in order to work with approval procedures . In this unit you will learn how to maintain regular work with approval procedures in SAP business one . You will learn how to approve or reject documents . You will also learn how to use SAP business one’s internal messaging system and special reports created for monitoring approval procedures .
The work method - lets take a look at the example with the approval template that we have defined in the previous topic . A sales agent – the originating user creates a sales order . As he clicks on add , SAP business one checks the discount percentage . In case it is less than ten percent , the user can simply add the document . However in case the discount percentage is more than ten percent , an approval procedure will be launched . According to the approval stage linked to the approval template an internal message is sent to the two sales managers . These sales managers now have two options . They can either approve or reject the approval . In case that at least one of them approves the request , and this is the last approval stage defined in the template an internal message will be sent back to the originating user , notifying him that his request has been approved . Now the user can simply add the sales order . In case both authorizing users reject the request , an internal message will be sent back to the originating user notifying him that his request was rejected . Now the user needs to create a new sales order with a lower discount percentage .
After we have learnt how to define the approval stages and approval templates , it is now time to demonstrate how the approval procedure works . Lets open the define approvals template window and browse to an existing template . This approval template has been named orders for approval . The originating user is Tom King . The user which is logged in here and is displayed in green . The approval template will launch the approval procedure for sales order with the stages of sales which contains the authorizing users Sofie Klogg and Bill Levine . The stage will be completed even if only one of the two authorizing users approves it . And according to the term discount percentage greater than ten percentage . This means each time that Tom King tries to add a sales order with a discount percentage greater than ten percent . The approval procedure will be launched and this stage will have to be completed . Tom is going to add a sales order . He goes to sales and opens the sales order window . He then selects a customer and enters the relevant data into the order . Note that the discount percentage entered is greater than ten percent . As Tom clicks add this window opens . The window in the case is for the approval procedure that has just been launched . The table here in this case displays the templates that have just been added . In this example its orders . Tom can enter additional remarks if he wishes so . These remarks will then be used to finding the authorizing users in the approval template. As Tom clicks ok , the sales order is saved a s a draft and an internal message is sent to the authorizing users . In this case on of the authorizing users Sofie Klogg displayed in orange has just received a request for document approval from Tom King . Sofie can double click the message , go to the data tab page and click the link arrow next to the sales order based on draft number six which has just been created by Tom . The request for approval window opens. This window all the data in the sales order draft that Tom has just created . At the bottom part of the window , at the title answer , Sofie needs to select her decision .She can either approve or reject the document . She can also leave it pending for someone else to approve it in case there is another authorizing user . Sofie decides to approve the document . She can enter additional remarks which will be sent along with the internal message to Tom . As she updates the window the message is sent to Tom . The messages alert window overview opens . Tom ca double click the message . Document generation approved from Sofie Klogg . Tom clicks the link arrow to draft number six and he can see that the sales order draft is in approved standards . This means that the stages of the approval template have been completed and the document now is approved .Tom can add the document now as a genuine document . The approval procedure has now been completed .
Please note the following : an internal message will be sent to the originator user only at the end of the approval procedure . In case of approval – only when the final approval stage of the approval template , an internal message will be sent to the originating user in order to notify him that his request was approved . In case of rejection – as soon as a certain approval stage is rejected , an internal message will be sent to the originating user in order to notify him that his request was rejected .
In order to save time and bureaucracy , the authorizing user can add the document himself . In this case a corresponding internal message will be sent to the originating user .
Approval status report : the approval status report displays the status and history of documents created by originating users , the status and the history of their approval procedure . You can generate this report according to the criteria such as document status , originator , authorizer , the document type and more .
As we explained just now , the approval status report is used mainly by originating users who would like to track down their requests for approval . The approval status report displays one row for each request for approval . You can see that there were six requests for approval by tom King – 4 sales order and 2 A/R invoices . The report displays all the documents that went through an approval procedure or are in the process of the approval procedure . These documents have been approved and generated . This one is still in the process of approval procedure . It has not been approved just yet hence it shows suspended. Next to each document you can find a drop down icon . Click this icon to display the appropriate template linked to the document . If you click the template row , an additional template will be displayed at the bottom of the screen . This table displays the details linked to this template . This table displays one row per authorizing user linked to the stages . There are two stages here – sales and finance . In the sales stage there are 2 authorizing users – Sofie Klogg and Bill Levine . In this case Sofie did not approve this stage while Bill has , since this stage approval requires a single authorization in order to be completed , Bills approval was enough in order to launch the next stage . In the final stage there is only one authorizing user . Therefore the approval of Michael Davis , approves the entire template . The document can now be created . Authorizing users can also use the approval status report in order to update their decision regarding the request for approval . As we have demonstrated , they can either use the massages alert overview window in order to update their decision here . However they can use the approval status report in order to do the same thing . Sofie Klogg is an authorizing user. She can run the approval status report , click a template row and display the related stages . As you can see here , the row related to Sofie is active. Sofie can update her answer here . She can enter additional remarks and when she clicks update , a relevant message is sent to the originating user – in this case it is Tom King .
Please note the following : in order to cancel an approval procedure highlight a document row and select from the upper menu data and select the option cancel . In order to restore a cancelled approval procedure , highlight a document row and select from the upper menu data and click on restore . This approval procedure will be continued from the stage it had been cancelled .
Approval design report : the approval design report is designated mainly to the authorizing users . The report displays detailed information on historic and current approval procedures . Authorizing users can update their status for their documents pending for this reply . The authorizing users can reply to each pending document separately or sweepingly for a number of documents together .
As we have just explained that the authorizing users can use the approval decision report in order to update a decision regarding pending documents .Bill is an authorizing user .As he runs this report , all the stages in which he is defined as an authorizing user are active and allow him to update his decision . The report displays both the stages that were completed and stages that are still in the process of the approval procedure . As you can see here , the white rows are active rows . These rows are related to stages which are still in the process of the approval procedure . Here Bill can update each row manually . To do so , he can click this field and select the required entry from the drop down menu . Howver Bill can use the sweeping update option . In order to use this , Bill need to hold down the control key on the keyboard and click several rows . Sweeping update push button is now active . Bill can click this push button and open the sweeping update window . Then he can select the required decision here . As he click ok , you can see that the required data is updated in all the selected rows . As Bill clicks update here , internal messages will be sent to all the originating users and the documents will be approved or additional stages will be launched .
Determining your work method : you can use two parallel methods for working with the approval procedures function – work with the internal messaging system for approving or rejecting the documents and / or receive note about their status ; work from within the approval status report and the approval decision report without using the internal messaging system . Work by combining those two methods together .
The draft documents : every document that goes through an approval procedure is first saved as a draft. After a draft document is approved at the end of the approval procedure you can add it in SAP business one as a genuine document .
Each document which launches an approval procedure is saved as a draft . However these documents can only be created as genuine ones after they have been approved . In order to see all these documents , you can either go to sales or the purchasing tab . Select the draft types you would like to display and click ok . This window displays the draft documents . Each row displays one draft . Double click a row to open a draft . Documents which went through an approval procedure are displayed along with their approval status . This draft is still pending .Note that you cannot update the table of draft documents , however you can update the header fields . For example the customers reference number . Simply type the required data and select file and then select save as draft . The customers reference number will be saved in that draft . After the draft has been approved you can add it to the system as a genuine document . Simply click add and the sales order will be created as a genuine document .
You are now able to work with the approval procedure function , approve or reject documents , generate reports for monitoring approval procedures and create draft documents as genuine documents .
In the first unit , you have learnt how to make the initial definitions required in order to work with approval procedures . In this unit you will learn how to maintain regular work with approval procedures in SAP business one . You will learn how to approve or reject documents . You will also learn how to use SAP business one’s internal messaging system and special reports created for monitoring approval procedures .
The work method - lets take a look at the example with the approval template that we have defined in the previous topic . A sales agent – the originating user creates a sales order . As he clicks on add , SAP business one checks the discount percentage . In case it is less than ten percent , the user can simply add the document . However in case the discount percentage is more than ten percent , an approval procedure will be launched . According to the approval stage linked to the approval template an internal message is sent to the two sales managers . These sales managers now have two options . They can either approve or reject the approval . In case that at least one of them approves the request , and this is the last approval stage defined in the template an internal message will be sent back to the originating user , notifying him that his request has been approved . Now the user can simply add the sales order . In case both authorizing users reject the request , an internal message will be sent back to the originating user notifying him that his request was rejected . Now the user needs to create a new sales order with a lower discount percentage .
After we have learnt how to define the approval stages and approval templates , it is now time to demonstrate how the approval procedure works . Lets open the define approvals template window and browse to an existing template . This approval template has been named orders for approval . The originating user is Tom King . The user which is logged in here and is displayed in green . The approval template will launch the approval procedure for sales order with the stages of sales which contains the authorizing users Sofie Klogg and Bill Levine . The stage will be completed even if only one of the two authorizing users approves it . And according to the term discount percentage greater than ten percentage . This means each time that Tom King tries to add a sales order with a discount percentage greater than ten percent . The approval procedure will be launched and this stage will have to be completed . Tom is going to add a sales order . He goes to sales and opens the sales order window . He then selects a customer and enters the relevant data into the order . Note that the discount percentage entered is greater than ten percent . As Tom clicks add this window opens . The window in the case is for the approval procedure that has just been launched . The table here in this case displays the templates that have just been added . In this example its orders . Tom can enter additional remarks if he wishes so . These remarks will then be used to finding the authorizing users in the approval template. As Tom clicks ok , the sales order is saved a s a draft and an internal message is sent to the authorizing users . In this case on of the authorizing users Sofie Klogg displayed in orange has just received a request for document approval from Tom King . Sofie can double click the message , go to the data tab page and click the link arrow next to the sales order based on draft number six which has just been created by Tom . The request for approval window opens. This window all the data in the sales order draft that Tom has just created . At the bottom part of the window , at the title answer , Sofie needs to select her decision .She can either approve or reject the document . She can also leave it pending for someone else to approve it in case there is another authorizing user . Sofie decides to approve the document . She can enter additional remarks which will be sent along with the internal message to Tom . As she updates the window the message is sent to Tom . The messages alert window overview opens . Tom ca double click the message . Document generation approved from Sofie Klogg . Tom clicks the link arrow to draft number six and he can see that the sales order draft is in approved standards . This means that the stages of the approval template have been completed and the document now is approved .Tom can add the document now as a genuine document . The approval procedure has now been completed .
Please note the following : an internal message will be sent to the originator user only at the end of the approval procedure . In case of approval – only when the final approval stage of the approval template , an internal message will be sent to the originating user in order to notify him that his request was approved . In case of rejection – as soon as a certain approval stage is rejected , an internal message will be sent to the originating user in order to notify him that his request was rejected .
In order to save time and bureaucracy , the authorizing user can add the document himself . In this case a corresponding internal message will be sent to the originating user .
Approval status report : the approval status report displays the status and history of documents created by originating users , the status and the history of their approval procedure . You can generate this report according to the criteria such as document status , originator , authorizer , the document type and more .
As we explained just now , the approval status report is used mainly by originating users who would like to track down their requests for approval . The approval status report displays one row for each request for approval . You can see that there were six requests for approval by tom King – 4 sales order and 2 A/R invoices . The report displays all the documents that went through an approval procedure or are in the process of the approval procedure . These documents have been approved and generated . This one is still in the process of approval procedure . It has not been approved just yet hence it shows suspended. Next to each document you can find a drop down icon . Click this icon to display the appropriate template linked to the document . If you click the template row , an additional template will be displayed at the bottom of the screen . This table displays the details linked to this template . This table displays one row per authorizing user linked to the stages . There are two stages here – sales and finance . In the sales stage there are 2 authorizing users – Sofie Klogg and Bill Levine . In this case Sofie did not approve this stage while Bill has , since this stage approval requires a single authorization in order to be completed , Bills approval was enough in order to launch the next stage . In the final stage there is only one authorizing user . Therefore the approval of Michael Davis , approves the entire template . The document can now be created . Authorizing users can also use the approval status report in order to update their decision regarding the request for approval . As we have demonstrated , they can either use the massages alert overview window in order to update their decision here . However they can use the approval status report in order to do the same thing . Sofie Klogg is an authorizing user. She can run the approval status report , click a template row and display the related stages . As you can see here , the row related to Sofie is active. Sofie can update her answer here . She can enter additional remarks and when she clicks update , a relevant message is sent to the originating user – in this case it is Tom King .
Please note the following : in order to cancel an approval procedure highlight a document row and select from the upper menu data and select the option cancel . In order to restore a cancelled approval procedure , highlight a document row and select from the upper menu data and click on restore . This approval procedure will be continued from the stage it had been cancelled .
Approval design report : the approval design report is designated mainly to the authorizing users . The report displays detailed information on historic and current approval procedures . Authorizing users can update their status for their documents pending for this reply . The authorizing users can reply to each pending document separately or sweepingly for a number of documents together .
As we have just explained that the authorizing users can use the approval decision report in order to update a decision regarding pending documents .Bill is an authorizing user .As he runs this report , all the stages in which he is defined as an authorizing user are active and allow him to update his decision . The report displays both the stages that were completed and stages that are still in the process of the approval procedure . As you can see here , the white rows are active rows . These rows are related to stages which are still in the process of the approval procedure . Here Bill can update each row manually . To do so , he can click this field and select the required entry from the drop down menu . Howver Bill can use the sweeping update option . In order to use this , Bill need to hold down the control key on the keyboard and click several rows . Sweeping update push button is now active . Bill can click this push button and open the sweeping update window . Then he can select the required decision here . As he click ok , you can see that the required data is updated in all the selected rows . As Bill clicks update here , internal messages will be sent to all the originating users and the documents will be approved or additional stages will be launched .
Determining your work method : you can use two parallel methods for working with the approval procedures function – work with the internal messaging system for approving or rejecting the documents and / or receive note about their status ; work from within the approval status report and the approval decision report without using the internal messaging system . Work by combining those two methods together .
The draft documents : every document that goes through an approval procedure is first saved as a draft. After a draft document is approved at the end of the approval procedure you can add it in SAP business one as a genuine document .
Each document which launches an approval procedure is saved as a draft . However these documents can only be created as genuine ones after they have been approved . In order to see all these documents , you can either go to sales or the purchasing tab . Select the draft types you would like to display and click ok . This window displays the draft documents . Each row displays one draft . Double click a row to open a draft . Documents which went through an approval procedure are displayed along with their approval status . This draft is still pending .Note that you cannot update the table of draft documents , however you can update the header fields . For example the customers reference number . Simply type the required data and select file and then select save as draft . The customers reference number will be saved in that draft . After the draft has been approved you can add it to the system as a genuine document . Simply click add and the sales order will be created as a genuine document .
You are now able to work with the approval procedure function , approve or reject documents , generate reports for monitoring approval procedures and create draft documents as genuine documents .
Approval procedures in SAP business one
This topic describes about the approval procedures in SAP business one . At the conclusion of this topic you will be able to define approval stages and templates , base approval templates on user defined queries , start working with approval procedures .
Approval procedures are used in companies in which the standard work procedure requires an approval from a manager or a senior member in order to generate certain documents .
A document’s approval procedure begins as it is created as a draft document in SAP business one . At the same moment a request for approval is sent to the appropriate employee ( according to the definitions in SAP business one ) . The procedure ends when you receive a final approval and add the document .
Initial definitions : several initial definitions are required in order to work with the approval procedures . Under administration go to system initialization and then general settings and then under the sales tab page you need to check the box ‘ manage document generation authorizations . Next you need to define approval stages .
The first definition you need to do is to enable the option for approval procedures in SAP business one . Under administration go to system initialization , then to general settings and then click on the sales tab page. You need to check the box ‘ manage document generation authorizations ‘ . click on update and the approval procedure function will be enabled . The second thing you need to do is define the approval stages . Under administration go to approval procedures and then click on define approval stages . In this window you need to define the approval window and the users in your company who are authorized to approve them . Lets take for example an approval stage which relates to the sales department . Type relevant name and description for this stage . In the table here you need to specify the authors who can approve this stage . In this case lets take the two managers of the sales department, Sofie Klogg and Bill Levine . You can select the users under the user column . Notice that as soon as you select the user , its corresponding department is displayed under the department column . In the field number of approvals required , you need to set the minimum number of authorizing users who can approve this stage . For example if we have selected two users for this stage , and specified only one in the number of approvals required , this stage will be completed even if any one of them will approve it . In this case lets assume that Bill Levine does not approve the stage but Sofie does approve it. The stage would be completed . Click on add to complete the approval stage .
Now is the time to define the approval templates . First select the originating users to which the approval template applies . Next select the document types . Under the stages tab page link the relevant approval stages you have defined earlier and finally under the terms tab page set the terms for launching the approval template .
Now you need to define the approval templates .Under administration go to approval procedures and click on define approval templates . In this window you need to define a template for each conventional approval procedure in your company . Start from the originating users of the document . Specify the relevant document types to be approved , the stages relevant for the procedure and the trems which will launch the approval procedure . For example , lets take an approval template relevant for the sales department . This template will be launched for a sales document . The active box . You need to check this box in order to activate the approval template . The template will remain active as long as this box is checked . If you do not wish the template to be active, click the box . The originator tab page - here you need to select the relevant users to which the approval template applies . For example , lets select the sales agents – lets select Tom King and Brad Thompson . Note that as soon as you select the user the relevant department is displayed here . Next you need to define the documents which will launch the approval procedure . For example lets take an approval template which will launch an approval procedure when the sales order discount percentage is greater than ten percentage is created by either Tom or Brad . Check the box sales order . Next we need to define the approval stages which will be launched in the approval procedure . If we recall we have defined earlier a stage for the sales department . As you can see here , this approval stage requires the approval of the two managers Sofie Klogg and Bill Levine . However the stage will be approved even if only one of them will approve it . When you select this stage you can see the stages name under the remarks column . It is possible of course to define several approval stages for the same template . For example lets take another stage – the accounting stage . When you know when you have two stages , this means that the first stage is approved then the accounting stage will be launched . Note that order of the table in this tab page determines the order of their activation during the approval procedure . In this example the sales stage in row number one will be the first stage to be approved during the approval procedure and the accounting stage in row number two will be the second one to be launched . It is possible to change the order of the sales simply by clicking the relevant row number and using the arrow icons here . Now lets delete this stage since it is not required for the sales documents . Now let us define the terms to activate the procedure . Under launch procedure you have to options - always or when the following applies . Select always when you want all the documents created by the originating users defined here to launch an approval procedure . Select when the following applies in order to display additional options . In this table you can see the six fixed terms provided by SAP business one . In the terms below you can see a table for user queries . You can either define terms provided by SAP business one and / or create your own user queries as terms to launch new procedures .Let us say that we will like the discount percentages of the sales procedure to launch an approval procedure . In order to define this , simply check the box choose next to the discount percentage . Under the ratio column select the relevant ratio. In this case its greater than and in the value column specify the required percentage . In this case its ten percent . In order to summarize the definitions we have just made for the approval template lets go over them once again . In this sales document approval template whenever Tom King or Brad Thompson creates a sales order in which the discount percentage is greater than ten percent , the sales stage will be launched . A message will then be sent to Sofie Klogg and Bill Levine and the stage will be completed when and if only one of those approves the stage . Click on add to create the approval template.
Terms based on user queries : as we have just demonstrated in the define approvals window , it is possible to define the terms for launching the approval procedures . In addition to the 6 terms embedded in the SAP business one , it is possible to attach user defined queries as terms for launching an approval procedure . At first you need to enter a user defined query using a specific structure . This specific SQL sentence has to start with select ‘ true ‘ or select ‘ distinct true ‘ .
This SQL query structure indicates SAP business one whether the term you define to approval procedure is fulfilled or not ; that is true or false . There is no use of query resulting in numbers , names , etc . Use the structure select true in order to launch the approval procedure only in case the query results a single true result rather than multiple true results . Use the structure select distinct true in order to launch the approval procedure whenever the query returns one or more true results .
In order to run the query on the data you are currently processing in a certain document rather than on data recorded in the company database , use the query structure $ [table.field] . Note that you can use this structure only on header tables , for example OINV , ORDR ; and not in row tables like INV1 or RDR1. You can attach several queries to an approval template , SAP business one runs through the template and as soon as a fixed term or one of the user query retrieves the result true , the approval procedure is launched .
Lets see how to create a user defined query and then link it to an approval template in order to launch an approval procedure . First you need to create a user defined query . Go to the reports and open the query general window . Click on execute . Ignore the system message and the queries window will be opened . Click on the pencil icon in order to activate the window . Now all you have to do is type the SQL sentence in this box . Lets assume you would like to launch an approval template whenever a certain user selects a specified customer in a sales order . You need to select the following sentence – SEELCT ‘TRUE’ WHERE $ ,the dollar system indicates that the system will take the data out of the sale order window which is currently open and not from the companies database . Continue the sentence with [ORDR , which is header table of sales order ; then .CARDCODE ], which is the name of the customer in that same sales order ;then enter =’C00123’ , which is the customer code in this case . Now click on save to save the query . Give the query an appropriate name for example approval for customer . Click any query category and then click on save . The query will be saved . You may close these two windows . Go to the administration and click on approval procedures and open the define approval templates window. You can either define a new approval template or browse back and update an existing one . Lets use an existing template . In the orders template the originating user is Tom King . The document which will launch the approval procedure is the sales order . The stage involved is the stage . Lets open it and see its details . The authorizing users are Sofie Klogg and Bill Levine . However the stage will be completed even if only one of them will approve it . Click the terms tab page . As you can see this approval template will be launches if the discount percentage defined will be greater than ten percent . Now you can add your user query and therefore the approval template will be launched if the discount percentage will be greater than ten percent or the customer code will be the one you have selected in the user query . In order to link the user query double click the row under the query name column and the open saved query window will open . If you recall the saved query under the general category , click on the icon to open the drop down list . As you can see we have two queries here . Choose the query that you have created earlier , approval for customer and click on open . The query’s name appears here. All you have to do now is click on update . This approval template is now updated and will be launched in case the discount percentage in that sales order will be greater than ten percent or the customer code is same as the one you have selected in the user query . Make sure that the active box is checked .Otherwise the approval template will not be active and will not launch an approval procedure . Click ok to close the window .
You are now able to define approval stages and templates , base approval templates on user defined queries and start working with the approval procedures .
Approval procedures are used in companies in which the standard work procedure requires an approval from a manager or a senior member in order to generate certain documents .
A document’s approval procedure begins as it is created as a draft document in SAP business one . At the same moment a request for approval is sent to the appropriate employee ( according to the definitions in SAP business one ) . The procedure ends when you receive a final approval and add the document .
Initial definitions : several initial definitions are required in order to work with the approval procedures . Under administration go to system initialization and then general settings and then under the sales tab page you need to check the box ‘ manage document generation authorizations . Next you need to define approval stages .
The first definition you need to do is to enable the option for approval procedures in SAP business one . Under administration go to system initialization , then to general settings and then click on the sales tab page. You need to check the box ‘ manage document generation authorizations ‘ . click on update and the approval procedure function will be enabled . The second thing you need to do is define the approval stages . Under administration go to approval procedures and then click on define approval stages . In this window you need to define the approval window and the users in your company who are authorized to approve them . Lets take for example an approval stage which relates to the sales department . Type relevant name and description for this stage . In the table here you need to specify the authors who can approve this stage . In this case lets take the two managers of the sales department, Sofie Klogg and Bill Levine . You can select the users under the user column . Notice that as soon as you select the user , its corresponding department is displayed under the department column . In the field number of approvals required , you need to set the minimum number of authorizing users who can approve this stage . For example if we have selected two users for this stage , and specified only one in the number of approvals required , this stage will be completed even if any one of them will approve it . In this case lets assume that Bill Levine does not approve the stage but Sofie does approve it. The stage would be completed . Click on add to complete the approval stage .
Now is the time to define the approval templates . First select the originating users to which the approval template applies . Next select the document types . Under the stages tab page link the relevant approval stages you have defined earlier and finally under the terms tab page set the terms for launching the approval template .
Now you need to define the approval templates .Under administration go to approval procedures and click on define approval templates . In this window you need to define a template for each conventional approval procedure in your company . Start from the originating users of the document . Specify the relevant document types to be approved , the stages relevant for the procedure and the trems which will launch the approval procedure . For example , lets take an approval template relevant for the sales department . This template will be launched for a sales document . The active box . You need to check this box in order to activate the approval template . The template will remain active as long as this box is checked . If you do not wish the template to be active, click the box . The originator tab page - here you need to select the relevant users to which the approval template applies . For example , lets select the sales agents – lets select Tom King and Brad Thompson . Note that as soon as you select the user the relevant department is displayed here . Next you need to define the documents which will launch the approval procedure . For example lets take an approval template which will launch an approval procedure when the sales order discount percentage is greater than ten percentage is created by either Tom or Brad . Check the box sales order . Next we need to define the approval stages which will be launched in the approval procedure . If we recall we have defined earlier a stage for the sales department . As you can see here , this approval stage requires the approval of the two managers Sofie Klogg and Bill Levine . However the stage will be approved even if only one of them will approve it . When you select this stage you can see the stages name under the remarks column . It is possible of course to define several approval stages for the same template . For example lets take another stage – the accounting stage . When you know when you have two stages , this means that the first stage is approved then the accounting stage will be launched . Note that order of the table in this tab page determines the order of their activation during the approval procedure . In this example the sales stage in row number one will be the first stage to be approved during the approval procedure and the accounting stage in row number two will be the second one to be launched . It is possible to change the order of the sales simply by clicking the relevant row number and using the arrow icons here . Now lets delete this stage since it is not required for the sales documents . Now let us define the terms to activate the procedure . Under launch procedure you have to options - always or when the following applies . Select always when you want all the documents created by the originating users defined here to launch an approval procedure . Select when the following applies in order to display additional options . In this table you can see the six fixed terms provided by SAP business one . In the terms below you can see a table for user queries . You can either define terms provided by SAP business one and / or create your own user queries as terms to launch new procedures .Let us say that we will like the discount percentages of the sales procedure to launch an approval procedure . In order to define this , simply check the box choose next to the discount percentage . Under the ratio column select the relevant ratio. In this case its greater than and in the value column specify the required percentage . In this case its ten percent . In order to summarize the definitions we have just made for the approval template lets go over them once again . In this sales document approval template whenever Tom King or Brad Thompson creates a sales order in which the discount percentage is greater than ten percent , the sales stage will be launched . A message will then be sent to Sofie Klogg and Bill Levine and the stage will be completed when and if only one of those approves the stage . Click on add to create the approval template.
Terms based on user queries : as we have just demonstrated in the define approvals window , it is possible to define the terms for launching the approval procedures . In addition to the 6 terms embedded in the SAP business one , it is possible to attach user defined queries as terms for launching an approval procedure . At first you need to enter a user defined query using a specific structure . This specific SQL sentence has to start with select ‘ true ‘ or select ‘ distinct true ‘ .
This SQL query structure indicates SAP business one whether the term you define to approval procedure is fulfilled or not ; that is true or false . There is no use of query resulting in numbers , names , etc . Use the structure select true in order to launch the approval procedure only in case the query results a single true result rather than multiple true results . Use the structure select distinct true in order to launch the approval procedure whenever the query returns one or more true results .
In order to run the query on the data you are currently processing in a certain document rather than on data recorded in the company database , use the query structure $ [table.field] . Note that you can use this structure only on header tables , for example OINV , ORDR ; and not in row tables like INV1 or RDR1. You can attach several queries to an approval template , SAP business one runs through the template and as soon as a fixed term or one of the user query retrieves the result true , the approval procedure is launched .
Lets see how to create a user defined query and then link it to an approval template in order to launch an approval procedure . First you need to create a user defined query . Go to the reports and open the query general window . Click on execute . Ignore the system message and the queries window will be opened . Click on the pencil icon in order to activate the window . Now all you have to do is type the SQL sentence in this box . Lets assume you would like to launch an approval template whenever a certain user selects a specified customer in a sales order . You need to select the following sentence – SEELCT ‘TRUE’ WHERE $ ,the dollar system indicates that the system will take the data out of the sale order window which is currently open and not from the companies database . Continue the sentence with [ORDR , which is header table of sales order ; then .CARDCODE ], which is the name of the customer in that same sales order ;then enter =’C00123’ , which is the customer code in this case . Now click on save to save the query . Give the query an appropriate name for example approval for customer . Click any query category and then click on save . The query will be saved . You may close these two windows . Go to the administration and click on approval procedures and open the define approval templates window. You can either define a new approval template or browse back and update an existing one . Lets use an existing template . In the orders template the originating user is Tom King . The document which will launch the approval procedure is the sales order . The stage involved is the stage . Lets open it and see its details . The authorizing users are Sofie Klogg and Bill Levine . However the stage will be completed even if only one of them will approve it . Click the terms tab page . As you can see this approval template will be launches if the discount percentage defined will be greater than ten percent . Now you can add your user query and therefore the approval template will be launched if the discount percentage will be greater than ten percent or the customer code will be the one you have selected in the user query . In order to link the user query double click the row under the query name column and the open saved query window will open . If you recall the saved query under the general category , click on the icon to open the drop down list . As you can see we have two queries here . Choose the query that you have created earlier , approval for customer and click on open . The query’s name appears here. All you have to do now is click on update . This approval template is now updated and will be launched in case the discount percentage in that sales order will be greater than ten percent or the customer code is same as the one you have selected in the user query . Make sure that the active box is checked .Otherwise the approval template will not be active and will not launch an approval procedure . Click ok to close the window .
You are now able to define approval stages and templates , base approval templates on user defined queries and start working with the approval procedures .
Human resources in SAP business one
This topic describes about the human resources in SAP business one . By the end of this topic you will be able to maintain the master data records of your employees in SAP business one . You will also be able to run several employee reports based on this master data .
The human resources side of the SAP business one allows you to enter and maintain information on company employees . The employee master data is organized on several tabs . Options available allow the user to carry out the following tasks . Enter or maintain employee contact information such as phone numbers and addresses . Enter membership information to assign authorizations to documents based on users in human resources . This data ownership is covered in greater depth in another topic . You can also enter personal information such as date of birth , marital status , passport and id numbers . You can also analyze financial information such as employee costs and salaries and enter their bank details . You can also add remarks about the employee and attach documents about the employee , such as the contract and job specification . It is also important to know that you can link the employee master data to actual business one users . In the next demonstration we shall learn how to create a new employee master record .
In this demonstration we are going to add a new employee mater record to our HR . We choose HR and then choose employee master data . Here we see the master data maintenance screen . We can include first names , full names , last names , middle names . We can also specify a job title , and using hierarchies we can define positions ,departments and even managers . So here lets choose a department which we have already set up and a branch . We can also link this information to an actual user in the business one system . Here let us choose Thomas . It is important to know that the user is defined separately form the HR record . We will also link him to a sales employee . And again this is maintained separately . We have got address information on the sales tab , we also have group membership on the second tab and this is used in the later topic . We can record absence , education , previous employment type , history records . Here we could record some sick leave where we enter it in from and to dates , a reason and then we can also state whether it is approved by an individual or manager . Here we shall create one record that is approved and the second one that hasn’t and we can update that . We can also record personal information like the birthday and under finance we could record their salary or those important note like an additional application is required for payroll . The remaining two tabs enable us to add remarks or attachments to the documents , and at the top we could also add a photograph .
There are three human resources reports available in SAP business one - the employee list , the absence list and the phone book . The reports allow you to retrieve human resource data according to selection criteria . The employee list allows the user to gather information about the number of employees in the different branches or in different departments of the company . The absence list report displays information about an employees absence days . You can display details about the sick days , vacation days and so on . This report can be restricted by the parameter of name , branch , department and the manager as well as the date range . Finally the phone book displays all contact information for the employee including phone numbers and e mail addresses . The report can be restricted by branch and department . A part from the three built in human resource reports the user can extend functionality by creating their own reports by using the query tools such as the query visit or the query generator . In the next demonstration we shall run these reports .
In this demonstration let us run the absence list report . This is one of the few reports under the human resources module and is used to measure absence or holiday records across the department or management team or a group of employees . Here we choose the manager Tony , to select absence records in his department . We could also select a date range . When we select ok we get the report of all absence records whether approved or not .
You have not completed the topic on human resources in SAP business one . You are now able to maintain the master data of your employees and run several reports based on this master data
The human resources side of the SAP business one allows you to enter and maintain information on company employees . The employee master data is organized on several tabs . Options available allow the user to carry out the following tasks . Enter or maintain employee contact information such as phone numbers and addresses . Enter membership information to assign authorizations to documents based on users in human resources . This data ownership is covered in greater depth in another topic . You can also enter personal information such as date of birth , marital status , passport and id numbers . You can also analyze financial information such as employee costs and salaries and enter their bank details . You can also add remarks about the employee and attach documents about the employee , such as the contract and job specification . It is also important to know that you can link the employee master data to actual business one users . In the next demonstration we shall learn how to create a new employee master record .
In this demonstration we are going to add a new employee mater record to our HR . We choose HR and then choose employee master data . Here we see the master data maintenance screen . We can include first names , full names , last names , middle names . We can also specify a job title , and using hierarchies we can define positions ,departments and even managers . So here lets choose a department which we have already set up and a branch . We can also link this information to an actual user in the business one system . Here let us choose Thomas . It is important to know that the user is defined separately form the HR record . We will also link him to a sales employee . And again this is maintained separately . We have got address information on the sales tab , we also have group membership on the second tab and this is used in the later topic . We can record absence , education , previous employment type , history records . Here we could record some sick leave where we enter it in from and to dates , a reason and then we can also state whether it is approved by an individual or manager . Here we shall create one record that is approved and the second one that hasn’t and we can update that . We can also record personal information like the birthday and under finance we could record their salary or those important note like an additional application is required for payroll . The remaining two tabs enable us to add remarks or attachments to the documents , and at the top we could also add a photograph .
There are three human resources reports available in SAP business one - the employee list , the absence list and the phone book . The reports allow you to retrieve human resource data according to selection criteria . The employee list allows the user to gather information about the number of employees in the different branches or in different departments of the company . The absence list report displays information about an employees absence days . You can display details about the sick days , vacation days and so on . This report can be restricted by the parameter of name , branch , department and the manager as well as the date range . Finally the phone book displays all contact information for the employee including phone numbers and e mail addresses . The report can be restricted by branch and department . A part from the three built in human resource reports the user can extend functionality by creating their own reports by using the query tools such as the query visit or the query generator . In the next demonstration we shall run these reports .
In this demonstration let us run the absence list report . This is one of the few reports under the human resources module and is used to measure absence or holiday records across the department or management team or a group of employees . Here we choose the manager Tony , to select absence records in his department . We could also select a date range . When we select ok we get the report of all absence records whether approved or not .
You have not completed the topic on human resources in SAP business one . You are now able to maintain the master data of your employees and run several reports based on this master data
Managing a project in SAP business one
This topic is about managing a project in SAP business one . At the end of this topic you will be able to explain the steps involved in the implementation of and the operation of an SAP business one project . You will also understand the tools that the SAP business one provides to support the implementation of the business one project .
SAP business one support have developed an integrated implementation and authorization concept that enables certified business one partners and their customers to implement and operate a stable and reliable business one system . We can distinguish between two categories of activities that must be handled in parallel during the implementation phase . Firstly implementation management . This includes all activities that support the implementation of the system and the configuration of the business processes . Solution management – this includes all activities that prepare the customer to operate the system permanently with minimal total cost of ownership . A methodology consists of five steps of how to manage the implementation process . The first step is the analysis and the design . This is followed by installation and configuration , training , handover and finally operations and improvements . These steps are describe din more detail in later parts . An implementation , an operation guide and templates for the customer project documentation are all available from the SMB portal using the quick link : smb/support .
In this demonstration we will uncover the location of the documentation for the implementation and operation concepts in business one . From the SMB portal we click on service and support . Under the implementation and operation heal line we go down to the integrated implementation and operation concept . Here we can see the screen showing the outline of the methodology .
During the sales phase , the partner and the customer will discuss the detailed requirements. This will include an understanding of the scope of the project . These details in requirements and scopes should be captured in a detailed requirement document or DRD . This is important for two reasons , firstly to avoid surprises in the implementation phase and secondly to limit the scope of the project . As a template for the DRD document you can use the SAP business one write paper or the featuring function list available on the SMB portal . Some partners have already developed an online requirement check list to evaluate the requirements of potential customers . The analysis and design phase should be based on the DRD , The goal is to get a detailed view of the required business processes and the current work environment . the analysis and the design phase starts with the project kick off meeting .in which all the members from the customer and the partner can get to know each other .
A short basic training should be provided during the analysis and design phase for the customers project team members . You can use the courses TB 1000 and TB 1100 which are available on the SMB portal . You can focus this training material on the areas relevant to your customer . This basic training is the basis for the formal analysis meetings in which you detail the processes from the DRD together with the customers projecting members , specifying any required add on development . Document your results and obtain a customer sign off . During this phase you should also prepare the service level agreement , in which the partner and the customer agree on the operational tasks that will be fulfilled by the customer or partner after the project . Again SAP provides a template for this agreement .
After deciding on the project scope and the system requirements it is necessary to install the business one system for the customer to use . Always refer to the most recent system set up guide for the hardware requirements . This guide is available on the installation CD . You must meet the hardware requirements to avoid problems in the project later . Install the sequel server the business one software for any required add ons such as the data transfer workbench or the support tools . When installing business one for the first time , install the company for the country version . If at all possible load a company’s customers , suppliers and items into the demo company . This will help the customer to familiarize themselves with how the system might look when it is implemented . Also create two additional companies , one to hold the master configuration or production and the second will be a test database which will be copied regularly from the production database . The test database will be used for the end user and projecting testing and training . Try to keep the production database as clean as possible . Restrict access to a few key individuals .
In a business one implementation a customer is expected to play a very active and a hands on role in the configuration of the system . It is important to show the customer project team members how to define accounts , configure form settings , set up account determination , define users and assign authorizations and create standard payment terms and price lists . It is also important for the project team members to help in the data migration activity . Usually the customers responsible for extracting and cleansing the data for many existing legacy system . In some circumstances the customer may be trying down how to import legacy data using the data transfer workbench .
Once basic initialization is complete , then depending on the customers requirements , more advanced customerization maybe required . In some circumstances the customer may require this work to be carried out by themselves , although normally it is carried out by the partner . There are two areas for more advanced customerization in business one , they are business one utilities such as the user defined fields , queries and formatted searches . And the second one is the SAP business one software development kit . To use the customerization utilities requires a good knowledge of the sequel database language and also attendance on the TB 1200 course . The business one utilities can be used in a very creative way to meet the needs of most of the customers . If however further enhancements are required then the implementations may require the software developers kit to create add on solutions .
Once the customerization of the software is complete it is time for the induce of training . This training is broken down into key function areas and should be a mix of demonstration and hands on exercises . The training should be run on a fully customized version of the database . This database should consist of a certain level of master and transaction data to enable users to properly understand each functional area. Practical exercises are often the best way to reinforce the knowledge gained in the training courses . A good practical exercise after completing the inducer training is the manual entry of open invoices , orders and payments . The standard classroom training material is available to the partners for adaptation for inducer training courses .
An alternative method or a complementary method to the inducer training Is the e learning tutorial . SAP tutor is a toll for recording , editing and presenting multimedia tutorials . SAP tutors supports learners with a combination of oral instructions and animated Microsoft agents . The user can learn by passively following the course of the tutorial or through the interactive participation . You can use tutorials to train people in every windows based application , including business one , Microsoft word Microsoft excel or even your other softwares .You do not need to install the trained application to run a tutorial . An integrated reporting function allows course managers to monitor the progress and effectiveness of the tutorials and a test mode allows it to be in turn evaluated .
After inducer training the system is ready for handover . This includes a full system test and a going live check . The system test is performed by the customer and should be based on real data . sometime the customer may require the system to run alongside to check for consistent behavior .Once a system test is being done by the customer , a going live check can be performed by the partner . SAP provides a template for this . If you want to use the option that the SAP provides direct support to the customer you need to handover the system to support by filling in the implementation handover document from the SMB portal and sending it through an SAP business one message .
Once the business one system is operational , and users become familiar with the basic functions , they will identify ways to improve the way the system works for them . These improvement activities can be completed by the partner or the customer and usually fall into the following categories : additional users, licenses and authorizations ; database back up so possibly restores ; upgrade to new patches ; system monitoring and analysis for identifying possible performance bottlenecks or inefficiency in the business process ; and additional queries and reports and document templates . A service level agreement should be created which specifies if the customer or partner is responsible for each of the above tasks .
You have now completed the topic on managing an SAP business one project . You should now be able to explain the steps involved in the implementation and operation of a successful SAP business one project . You should also understands the tools that SAP provides to support the implementation of business one .
SAP business one support have developed an integrated implementation and authorization concept that enables certified business one partners and their customers to implement and operate a stable and reliable business one system . We can distinguish between two categories of activities that must be handled in parallel during the implementation phase . Firstly implementation management . This includes all activities that support the implementation of the system and the configuration of the business processes . Solution management – this includes all activities that prepare the customer to operate the system permanently with minimal total cost of ownership . A methodology consists of five steps of how to manage the implementation process . The first step is the analysis and the design . This is followed by installation and configuration , training , handover and finally operations and improvements . These steps are describe din more detail in later parts . An implementation , an operation guide and templates for the customer project documentation are all available from the SMB portal using the quick link : smb/support .
In this demonstration we will uncover the location of the documentation for the implementation and operation concepts in business one . From the SMB portal we click on service and support . Under the implementation and operation heal line we go down to the integrated implementation and operation concept . Here we can see the screen showing the outline of the methodology .
During the sales phase , the partner and the customer will discuss the detailed requirements. This will include an understanding of the scope of the project . These details in requirements and scopes should be captured in a detailed requirement document or DRD . This is important for two reasons , firstly to avoid surprises in the implementation phase and secondly to limit the scope of the project . As a template for the DRD document you can use the SAP business one write paper or the featuring function list available on the SMB portal . Some partners have already developed an online requirement check list to evaluate the requirements of potential customers . The analysis and design phase should be based on the DRD , The goal is to get a detailed view of the required business processes and the current work environment . the analysis and the design phase starts with the project kick off meeting .in which all the members from the customer and the partner can get to know each other .
A short basic training should be provided during the analysis and design phase for the customers project team members . You can use the courses TB 1000 and TB 1100 which are available on the SMB portal . You can focus this training material on the areas relevant to your customer . This basic training is the basis for the formal analysis meetings in which you detail the processes from the DRD together with the customers projecting members , specifying any required add on development . Document your results and obtain a customer sign off . During this phase you should also prepare the service level agreement , in which the partner and the customer agree on the operational tasks that will be fulfilled by the customer or partner after the project . Again SAP provides a template for this agreement .
After deciding on the project scope and the system requirements it is necessary to install the business one system for the customer to use . Always refer to the most recent system set up guide for the hardware requirements . This guide is available on the installation CD . You must meet the hardware requirements to avoid problems in the project later . Install the sequel server the business one software for any required add ons such as the data transfer workbench or the support tools . When installing business one for the first time , install the company for the country version . If at all possible load a company’s customers , suppliers and items into the demo company . This will help the customer to familiarize themselves with how the system might look when it is implemented . Also create two additional companies , one to hold the master configuration or production and the second will be a test database which will be copied regularly from the production database . The test database will be used for the end user and projecting testing and training . Try to keep the production database as clean as possible . Restrict access to a few key individuals .
In a business one implementation a customer is expected to play a very active and a hands on role in the configuration of the system . It is important to show the customer project team members how to define accounts , configure form settings , set up account determination , define users and assign authorizations and create standard payment terms and price lists . It is also important for the project team members to help in the data migration activity . Usually the customers responsible for extracting and cleansing the data for many existing legacy system . In some circumstances the customer may be trying down how to import legacy data using the data transfer workbench .
Once basic initialization is complete , then depending on the customers requirements , more advanced customerization maybe required . In some circumstances the customer may require this work to be carried out by themselves , although normally it is carried out by the partner . There are two areas for more advanced customerization in business one , they are business one utilities such as the user defined fields , queries and formatted searches . And the second one is the SAP business one software development kit . To use the customerization utilities requires a good knowledge of the sequel database language and also attendance on the TB 1200 course . The business one utilities can be used in a very creative way to meet the needs of most of the customers . If however further enhancements are required then the implementations may require the software developers kit to create add on solutions .
Once the customerization of the software is complete it is time for the induce of training . This training is broken down into key function areas and should be a mix of demonstration and hands on exercises . The training should be run on a fully customized version of the database . This database should consist of a certain level of master and transaction data to enable users to properly understand each functional area. Practical exercises are often the best way to reinforce the knowledge gained in the training courses . A good practical exercise after completing the inducer training is the manual entry of open invoices , orders and payments . The standard classroom training material is available to the partners for adaptation for inducer training courses .
An alternative method or a complementary method to the inducer training Is the e learning tutorial . SAP tutor is a toll for recording , editing and presenting multimedia tutorials . SAP tutors supports learners with a combination of oral instructions and animated Microsoft agents . The user can learn by passively following the course of the tutorial or through the interactive participation . You can use tutorials to train people in every windows based application , including business one , Microsoft word Microsoft excel or even your other softwares .You do not need to install the trained application to run a tutorial . An integrated reporting function allows course managers to monitor the progress and effectiveness of the tutorials and a test mode allows it to be in turn evaluated .
After inducer training the system is ready for handover . This includes a full system test and a going live check . The system test is performed by the customer and should be based on real data . sometime the customer may require the system to run alongside to check for consistent behavior .Once a system test is being done by the customer , a going live check can be performed by the partner . SAP provides a template for this . If you want to use the option that the SAP provides direct support to the customer you need to handover the system to support by filling in the implementation handover document from the SMB portal and sending it through an SAP business one message .
Once the business one system is operational , and users become familiar with the basic functions , they will identify ways to improve the way the system works for them . These improvement activities can be completed by the partner or the customer and usually fall into the following categories : additional users, licenses and authorizations ; database back up so possibly restores ; upgrade to new patches ; system monitoring and analysis for identifying possible performance bottlenecks or inefficiency in the business process ; and additional queries and reports and document templates . A service level agreement should be created which specifies if the customer or partner is responsible for each of the above tasks .
You have now completed the topic on managing an SAP business one project . You should now be able to explain the steps involved in the implementation and operation of a successful SAP business one project . You should also understands the tools that SAP provides to support the implementation of business one .
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