Why core modules make SAP a Intelligent software!

SAP – does it ring the right bells in your ear ? SAP is a Intelligent ERP software dominating the EnterPrise Software market from the past 50 Years.

Imagine a F1 team winning the constructors title for the past 50 Years. Seems unreal ? But SAP has achieved this feat with a peculiar aplomb.

Lets decode the SAP software for our Supply Chain brethren who have a vague surface understanding of how SAP works and many a times are perennially lost in leveraging the real benefits of SAP as a ERP Software.

Lets address the Elephant in the room first :

What is SAP ? SAP is a ERP Suite which is used by all types of Enterprises to run their company. Without a central connecting software, no company can have a unified database to run their operations ( We will dwelve on this aspect in our later blogs )

Core Modules :

Material Management ( MM),

Sales & Distribution( SD),

Finance & Controlling ( FI),

Production Planning ( PP) and ABAP are the core modules of SAP.

These are like the primary building blocks which make the SAP software a force to reckon with.

MM deals with Inventory Management.

SD deals with Sales processes.

FI & CO deals with the internal and external reporting and transactions.

PP deals with the manufacturing processes.

ABAP deals with the customisations required by the customer.

Anyone planning to start a career in SAP must learn and get trained in one of the above modules. Unless you understand the core principles, there is no way on earth that you will master any of the extended or new age modules. Don’t go for the fancy shortcut modules and end up in a disappointing position some years later.

MM Module details procurement and inventory management processes of a company. It interfaces with all the modules of SAP. There is no SAP customer who has not implemented MM. Unless you know MM, you can never comprehend the dependent modules like Quality Management QM, Warehouse Management WM or Extended Warehouse Management EWM.

SD Module details the sales processes of a company. It mainly interfaces with MM, PP and FI Modules. Unless you sell something, you are not going to run a company. So SD module is implemented in 95 percent of the enterprises. Exception are Government companies

( Example Currency Printing Enterprises controlled by the government ) who do not typically sell anything in the market. Unless you fully understand SD, you can never comprehend modules like Customer Relationship Management CRM or Transportation Management TM.

You can make 100 boxes but if you do not know the production cost per box, you will never know the real profits or losses. FI keeps a tight leash on the monies flow and keeps a watchful eye on the spending of the company. While FI handles the external reporting, CO Controlling chases the actual internal costing and reporting. FI and CO are connected to each other through the system configuration. No company can function without the FICO Modules.

PP Module is implemented wherever a company is into manufacturing. PP is tightly integrated with MM, SD and FI. Creation of Production Orders, Process Orders & Service orders fall under the PP module. All manufacturing enterprises must have the PP module implemented.

ABAP – Advanced Business Application Programming deals with the coding to deploy customisable solutions in SAP. SAP allows companies to customise some aspects of the software according to the specific business practices. The main areas of ABAP are RICEFW Reports Interfaces Conversions Enhancements Forms Workflow. Though SAP is delivered as a ready-to-use ERP, extensive customisations would be required to align the software to your business processes.

Having a strong fundamental understanding of the core modules is warranted for any functional / technical consultant. Having consultants who have a vantage understanding of all the core modules and a expert understanding of one of the core modules is mandated if you are aiming to build a stable S/4 HANA system. Cutting corners due to lack of clear understanding have resulted in many disasters in the SAP Implementation projects.

Advice for the younger folks will be to not be in a hurry-

As Abraham Lincoln once said :

“Give me 6 hours to chop down a tree and I will spend 4 hours sharpening the ax”