The SAP system is software that can automate the professional activities of representatives of various specialties. Such applications are “tailored” to a specific industry and greatly simplify the work in it and the connection with other structural units. An SAP architect is a person who works with all the blocks of the system. SAP consists of several functional blocks include management, integration, and solution of all tasks for:
- accounting and finance department;
- trade, customer relations (a CRM system);
- budgeting, treasury;
- personnel, administration;
- production, supply, warehouses, logistics (SCM, EWM);
- risks and strategic planning (GRC);
- system administration, data control, and web services, and so on.
Its tools can be used both individually and in combination. The main thing is that the environment should be unified – this will ensure maximum efficiency of conducting and actualization of data between different departments or other functional units of the company.
The software model includes 3 links:
- client,
- server,
- DBMS
How the Sap Accounting System Works
This is a whole set of solutions with the following functions:
- Automation of the accountant’s work;
- simplification of trade and warehouse operations;
- facilitation of accounting of personnel, finances, shares, and other assets;
- modernization of logistics;
- preparation of the clearest salary schedules.
In general, the software speeds up data processing processes and allows optimizing the development course of the company that uses it, but it will be effective only if the organization has a logical structure and good interconnection between its various departments.
Stages of Sap Solutions Implementation
- Conducting a pre-project survey of the enterprise before implementation.
- Development of requirements and terms of reference for solution implementation.
- Project preparation (organizational preparation for the implementation project).
- Conceptual design (design of the future state of the system).
- Implementation (system setup and testing).
- Preparing for launch (data loading and user training).
- Productive operation support (pilot operation).
The corporate philosophy is not to offer individual solutions, but rather to offer a complete solution at once.
Naturally, it is important for a manager not only to know how to decipher SAP, how to implement it in their organization, and how to use it but also to understand what it is for. And it is installed with two global objectives:
- To receive timely and accurate information about the current state of affairs and see all the changes in online mode.
- To gradually optimize business processes, eliminating unprofitable, overly complex, unnecessary, and improving the efficiency of the highest priority.
Why Do Companies Choose Sap Products?
- Constant development and advanced technologies.
- Quality, capabilities, and convenience.
- Wide assortment.
- Prestige and Confidence.
Every company has different needs. SAP has developed a specific product for each of them.
The most popular SAP products are SAP ERP-system SAP R/3, integration platform SAP NetWeaver, a set of analytical applications SAP BI (Business Intelligence), database management platform SAP HANA, ERP-system of new generation SAP S/4 HANA, SAP Cloud Platform. Most SAP products are written in the internal programming language ABAP/4.
SAP ERP software product is built on a three-tier architectural model of software complex, which implies the presence of three components: the client application, application server (to which the client application is connected), and database server for data storage. SAP ERP Consultant (consultant on the implementation of ERP systems) – a specialist in the implementation and adjustment of enterprise planning systems.
Sap Roles on the Project
1. SAP Consultant
Each SAP product can be adapted to the processes of a particular customer. An SAP consultant is in charge of customizing solutions. The SAP system is mostly already written and has its own established business chains and directions. The task of the SAP consultant is to choose the area for work and study it thoroughly in order to know all the features of the system and to be able to present them to the customer.
You can start with narrow specialization. For example, with the management of material flows. For this, the SAP consultant needs to understand the procurement process, its various variations, and the differences in procurement depending on the industry. When the basics are understood, it is necessary to understand how they work in an SAP project. Each project has its own methodologies and goes through certain phases. The consultant performs a different range of work in each of them.
2. SAP Developer
If the customization of the product does not produce the desired results, the development team completes the necessary functionality. The SAP developer used to be a Full-stack specialist who was responsible for writing both the server part and the presentation part. In recent years, there has been a division of specialization into frontend and backend: the backend still works with ABAP language, while the frontend uses Java, JavaScript, HTML, and other frameworks.
ABAP is designed to work exclusively in the SAP product ecosystem. This programming language appeared quite a long time ago but continues to actively develop: new constructs and frameworks are created. Over its almost forty-year history, it has absorbed many different programming paradigms, such as procedural, oriented, and object-oriented. Language syntax may seem archaic (something like COBOL), but the source code is easy to read and understand.
The SAP developer is somewhere in the middle between a programmer and an analyst. In addition to being able to write code, he or she must speak the same language as the business. To work with data SAP specialists, use the HANA platform (read here how to work with the tool). A special team implements and develops this tool. HANA developers do native development with HANA specifics. It is development, but not like everywhere else. It is more enterprise-oriented. The main consumers are large enterprises; which internal software is naturally written in SAP. To work with HANA, you have to know the SAP environment, frameworks, and standards.
3. SAP Architect
Enterprises and technologies are connected by SAP solution architects. All aspects of the system solution are controlled by them. Such as solutions focused on customers, human resources, product life cycles, and supply chains. SAP solutions architects create comprehensive packages that are customized and suitable for each customer using their analytical and problem-solving skills. The process of transforming large software segments is a serious process that affects the company. That’s why SAP architects must work in stages, designing and implementing the process smoothly to ensure a seamless transition.
How to Hire a Good Sap Architect?
The first thing to pay attention to is a specialist in which module you need. For example, there are vacancies in modules HR/HRM, MM/SD, TORO/PM, CRM, BI/BW/BPC, PI/PO, EWM, FI/CO.
Each of the modules has a narrower functionality, which is owned by a small number of specialists.
However, do not think that such specialists are easy to find. There are very few resumes of active, high-level SAP specialists who have updated their profiles in the last month. And the positions indicated by candidates are usually aspirational, not real-world. Companies tend to look for experienced professionals: SAP practice leaders, directors, and architects. Therefore, the pool of candidates narrows even further, and the most effective recruiting strategy becomes a spot search.
At the same time, finding the right candidate is not enough.
Otherwise, every time a beautiful solution will stumble over little things in the implementation, leading to the collapse of the project.
Often, as the business and the system evolve, managers remember to move to modern metrics and ask to implement the cost of the function in HR. For example, how much does the entire accounting department in a company cost? And how do you calculate that? MBAs were coded on a different plane, the sections/subdivisions reflect the geographic structure, and the job structure is not maintained at all. This brings us back to the need to finish or redo the original “right and beautiful solution”.
Responsibilities:
- Participating in the development of current and target Architectures and Program/Project Architectures for SAP areas;
- Analysis of business requirements in terms of sufficiency for the development and protection of program/project architectures;
- Clarification of business requirements with analysts and business process participants;
- Decomposition of business requirements to the process to the requirements for individual automated systems that implement the technological processes of programs/projects;
- Forming proposals for the optimization of technological processes within the framework of the programs/projects of the area;
- Conducting communications with the heads of the participants of business processes;
- Ensuring that the parameters of the processes comply with the functional and non-functional requirements of the programs/projects;
- Providing complete information on the technological map, necessary for the development of the target architecture of the programs/projects of the area;
- Carrying out technological express assessments of requests related to multiple Competency Centers or in cases where the target competency is not defined;
- Keeping up-to-date the technology maps of the processes within the allocated functional area.
SAP BW architect should be able to deploy SAP BW systems from scratch – with the ability to set up all processes competently from the beginning or learn how to do it properly from a team of top-notch consultants with years of experience. Implement the project with the latest versions of SAP4HANA, BWonHANA, with the ability to work with all the latest technologies that SAP provides in terms of the data warehouse. To provide the perspective of the project in terms of development – in the future – multiplication of processes to be automated and implementation of budgeting processes based on SAP BI.
The Cost of Hiring an SAP Architect
According to Payscale, the SAP architect salary in The USA – $117,855, in Germany – $86,152, in Denmark – $96,155, in Switzerland – $141,734, in Ukraine – $14,636. From this statistic, we can see that it is more reasonable to hire Ukrainian developers. Ukrainian SAP architects are excellent professionals who do their work at the highest level and save the company money.
SAP software is very functional, includes a wide variety of modules (an important part is additionally customizable), and allows to solve a variety of tasks. It is comparatively expensive but justified in the long term of continuous operation of a large enterprise.