1. SAP in ERP – A Bird’s Eye View
Department of Information Systems and Analysis
College of Business
Harvard University

2. Heterogeneous Solutions
Business Needs
Global Operations
Heterogeneous Solutions
Business Processes
Different locations
Different countries
Different languages
Different time zones
Central vs. distributed

3. Heterogeneous Solutions
Business Needs contd.
Global Operations
Heterogeneous Solutions
Business Processes
Different applications
Different technologies
Different vendors
Point-to-point integration
Custom-made solutions

4. Heterogeneous Solutions
Business Needs contd.
Global Operations
Heterogeneous Solutions
Business Processes

5. An Introduction to ERP ERP ERP
Financials
Distribution
Manufacturing
ERP
ERP
Enterprise Resource Planning systems (ERPs) aim to integrate all data and processes of an organization into a unified system
Typical ERP system will use multiple components of computer software and hardware to achieve the integration
Key ingredient of most ERP systems is the use of a unified database to store data for the various system modules.
E-Commerce
CRM
Human Resources
Workflow

6. Scope of ERP ERP scope has expanded dramatically and usually includes:
Manufacturing
Supply Chain Management
Financials
Projects
Human Resources
Customer Relationship Management
Data Warehouse
Large organisations want to implement standard processes and systems across divisions and subsidiaries
ERP offers attractive, integrated solutions
The market for these solutions is huge. 

7. The ERP Market
ERP market dominated by SAP, Oracle, Microsoft worth USD 40 billion
SAP is the biggest and most popular
Founded in 1972 by five ex-IBM employees, by 2005, there were 100,600 installations worldwide, with over 25 industry-specific modules in the SAP portfolio. SAP is the world's third-largest independent software vendor
Founded in 1977, Oracle were first to market a reliable relational database
The second largest software company after Microsoft
Since the 1990s, they have marketed Financial, HR and other solutions and through a series of acquisitions, including PeopleSoft and Siebel is now the second largest ERP vendor after SAP. [3]
Microsoft, also started in 1977
dominate the proprietary software market on the desktop and small to medium servers.
Microsoft were a big Siebel software user but since Oracle acquired Siebel, they have worked hard to build an ERP product suite of their own and are now probably in third place in ERP

8. SAP Services Market
ERP services market possibly worth more than USD 100 billion
Accenture, IBM, CapGemini, Deloitte, CSC, HP and others have substantial ERP practices
ERP services include
Consultancy
Configuration
Application hosting
Integration
Implementation and deployment
Training
Full-process outsourcing
Projects tend to be large, long term, business critical and big-budget. USD 30m implementation projects are not unusual. 

9. The Nature of ERP Implementation Projects
ERP implementation projects typically have a mix of the following disciplines:
Package configuration and/or parameterisation
Package customisation (including programming)
Infrastructure development/upgrading
Integration with legacy systems
Data migration
Business change (process design and training)
Testing (typically unit, sub-system integration, system-system integration, acceptance)
Most projects are large scale and critical.
Travel may be required on the job.

10. Ever Evolving SAP SAP NetWeaver
Enterprise Service Architecture (ESA) & Service Oriented Architecture (SOA)
SAP and Microsoft Duet project integrates SAP back office data with the ubiquitous Office suite from Microsoft
SAP for small and mid sized business ( SAP BusinessOne)
Business ByDesign based on Software as a service (SaaS) model.
Core competency still

11. How to learn
SAP educational alliance ( get access to SAP system first!!!)
Take right courses (Functional areas, BI, ...etc)
Student projects & Research projects
SAP Developer
Network(
ASUG (American SAP Users Group –
Service Market Place (
SAP Internship & other
SAP Research projects for thesis students
Services can include:
Hosting services – Members access SAP Business Suite via hosting from university competency centers – so there's no need for schools to invest in a costly hardware infrastructure to participate.
Curriculum support – SAP sponsors professional development and networking opportunities such as the annual Curriculum Congress. In addition, SAP continually funds new curriculum efforts in order to build a bank of faculty-developed course materials to be shared among member campuses.
Faculty training – Faculty can take advantage of SAP-sponsored workshops designed to meet their needs, along with a variety of SAP customer training classes.
Access to dedicated Web site – The Innovation Watch Web site provides the latest information on SAP events, research, and curriculum materials available for download.
Collaboration – SAP encourages, reinforces, and rewards programs that foster collaboration and sharing.
More info can be found at

12. Career tracks

13. Wrap-up SAP is one of the dominant player SAP Service industry is huge
Take right courses
Be part of the community to learn