Chapter 3 Flashcards
ERP Systems
What are the goals for implementation?
- Integration of internal (and possible external) business processes in order to achieve higher productivity and efficiency.
- Creation of a new technological basis for establishing reengineered or completely new business processes.
ERP Systems
Characteristics
- Company wide information system or data base on a common plattform.
- integration of all applications of the company.
- enables company specific configuration of the systems.
Integration of ERP Systems
- range/ scope of integration: number of business functions and processes.
- direction of integration: horizontal/ vertical
- object of integration: may contain data, function, activities, processes, methods, programs.
Important requirements for ERP Systems
Functionality:
- integration of all business functions necessary
- clearly defined workflow
- non-redudant data storage
Technology:
- e business
- up-to-date system architecture
- up-to-date data base technology
Cost efficiency
-life cycle costs vs (economical) benefit
Process orientation in modern ERP Systems
- structure of ERP systems is based on functions like sales and distributions, Material Management, Financial Accounting, etc.
- today: consideration and design of independent business processes within companies.
- recommendations: implementation along business process models.
Set-up of an ERP System
documents: “no posting without documents”
- Every event creates one or more documents.
- These documents are related to each other and can show the evolution of a process in all steps.
- A document can only be generated if all necessary data are correct annd complete.
Facts about SAP ERP
- SAP is market leader
- worldwide availlability
- interconnection posibilities to suppliers and customers
- extension to new technologies (eg, ebusiness solutions)
Characteristics of SAP technology
-SAP fulfills all requirements for ERP Systems
-client-server architecture
>definition: cooperative information processing where tasks between different applications are allocated to connected computers.
> goal: optimisation of computing power and capacity
>SAP ERP typically three tiers: presentation layer, application layer, database layer
Adaption of SAP ERP is stages of Expansion to Hardware Resources
- presentation server: arbitrary number of PC´s work stations. TASK: Presentation of applications
- application server: processing of application programs and communication with the database server
- database server: database on a central computer. TASK: administration and allocation of stored data
Executions of transactions
activities of business processes and corresponding data flows are represented in SAP by transactions.
two main steps: interactive dialog, data storage (new or changed data)
Interaction between c/s layers in the SAP System
- The user calls an application from the presentation layer (eg. “create new customer”)
- The application is provided by the application layer (application server)
- The presentation layer provides the corresponding screen with its masks and data fields. The presentation layer is responsible for the graphical representation of the data.
- The user inputs the data and confirms it.
- The input is forwarded from the presentation layer to the application layer where it is processed and provided to storage in the database (“posting”)
- The data is stored in the database layer.
Work processes
-Execution of all operations, which are requested from application programs in SAP ERP, in form of work processes.
Components of work processes
- screen processor: execution of user interaction and the screen flow logic.
- ABAP/ 4 processor: execution of the processing logic and communication with the database interface.
- Data interface: establishing and terminating connections between work, process and data base; enabling the access to database tables.
Types of work processes
- dialog work process: deals with request from an user to execute dialog steps.
- update work process: executes database update requests.
Administration of information exchange
- > dispatcher: link between SAPGUI and work processes
- receives requests for dialog steps from the SAPGUI and directs them to a free work process.
- in the same way: redirecting output resulting from the dialog step back to the user.
- distribution from transactions to work processes.
