For the business gurus. What is SAP?

[Jerry Bruette]

No No not the stuff inside tree trunks. I'm talking about the business plan/model that, what seems like every big business is implementing or trying to implement.

The company where I work is going through all sorts of gyrations to put SAP in. It's literally taking years and so I've been told millions of dollars. What will it do for/to the company.

I've heard stories of companies that folded because of trying unsuccessfully trying to implement SAP.:eek: Why would a company voluntarily implement a program that could wipe it out?

Splain it to me Lucy.:)

Jerry

[Van Huskey]

Not a business guru at all but isn't SAP a huge software company that provides companies with software that helps them manage and access all manner of operations?

[Matt Meiser]

Yep. If you ask SAP if they can do something the answer is Ye$. If you tell them to go ahead and do it, well...

[David Weaver]

Some companies have tech that's almost like little tribal units, with no ability for any of it to work together.

I guess if there were a cheaper solution than SAP, someone would be marketing it and it would be popular.

Custom and enterprise stuff has always been expensive, right? It used to be IBM, digital, etc.

[truitt sosebee]

We use SAP very successfully at the large company that I work for. SAP is an excellent tool for document and data management and control. We use SAP to manage everything from engineering documents, work instructions, purchasing and inventory, planning and scheduling, and product structure to our Quality System, itself. SAP is really only limited by what you need it to do and your ability to work within it. There is an entire industry of software companies that create "SAP Front-ends" that make it more accessible to users, as it can be rather cumbersome and non-intuitive to use.

[Bill Edwards(2)]

SAP is over priced, mis-managed, badly implemented and has cost many companies
big bucks, in un-completed efforts.
If anybody can point to a good install... well even a blind pig sometimes finds an acorn.

[Dan Hintz]

Simple answer? It's for resource management. Now, what defines a "resource" is another matter...

[Matt Meiser]

People, money, materials, work in process, finished goods, equipment, time, orders, and more.

[Greg Peterson]

Jerry - Business software applications work fine within their own, often times limited, environment. As long as nothing within the business changes, the software performs just fine. But let's say that you now need to make sure your packages include the zip + 4. The software you are using that contains customer shipping information may very like only be able to store five digits for the zip code. Or say your business is growing and thanks to NAFTA you have a whole new market in Canada. Again, your customer shipping information may only be capable of handling US shipping addresses.

Software can be very rigid and unyielding to changes in business. What were perfectly valid business rules twenty five years ago are as out dated as they are restrictive in todays business environment.

I do not know if SAP interfaces between disparate technologies or if data and business rules from legacy systems are migrated to a new environment with all manner of added functionality. Kind of like taking your brain and sticking it a state of the art robot.

I think most companies that use SAP are trying to manage multiple, disparate operating systems (accounting, inventory, sales, production, customer relations, payroll, operations...) and have a need to streamline their overall business operations.

Some of our suppliers have been able to implement SAP with great success while others have struggled. I think a major factor in success is how well the legacy system was designed and executed. The better the design and documentation of a given system, the better the chance of a successful migration.

[JohnT Fitzgerald]

even a blind pig sometimes finds an acorn.

Ha - nice. I though only the blinds squirrels were so lucky! :)

[Ryan Mooney]

Its basically a framework and was a very lucrative way for people with minimal skills to make a lot of money in the 90's after taking a week long class.

You pay a lot of money for SAP and then pay a lot more for people to program it to your business needs.

[John Coloccia]

Jerry, I suspect that you will never get an actual answer to "what is SAP?". It is the business version of www.zombo.com

[Dan Hintz]

Its basically a framework and was a very lucrative way for people with minimal skills to make a lot of money in the 90's after taking a week long class.

You pay a lot of money for SAP and then pay a lot more for people to program it to your business needs.
Arguably the best answer so far... virtual star for you, good sir.

I have watched every major company I've worked for sink gobs of money into SAP systems, and in the end (if there ever is one) they still don't have something that is any more useful than the previous iteration.

[Steve Baumgartner]

SAP is probably the largest supplier of what is called "Enterprise Resource Planning", or ERP software. It will handle just about anything that needs record keeping and scheduling - but, it has to be custom configured for your business. Unfortunately (for you) that requires experts on the system, typically expensive consultants (comparable to DataBase Administrators at the places I worked). Issues with SAP almost always come down to errors made by these "experts".

[Larry Browning]

Well I have to chime in here and say that my companies experience has apparently been very different than what I have been reading. We implemented SAP in 1996 and have been using it very successfully ever since. I think the one thing that I can point to that has made the difference, is that our management has allowed us to modify and enhance the base system in any way we see fit to do. This policy has led us it a direction which allows us to adapt the software to our business rather than forcing our business to adapt to the software. Are there problems. Sure, but we also have the staff on hand to correct them.
Of course this policy has also allowed me to keep my job as a software developer here as well!

[Greg Peterson]

Larry - You bring up a not so obvious point. Thus far in this thread we have only heard about the negative experiences of SAP. Certainly not every migration is as disastrous and ruinous as we have been led to believe.

One of our suppliers has struggled with it while another has had a perfectly transparent transition. I'm sure that even for the supplier that had a seamless transition they likely had their share of 'issues' to deal with. But even maintaining an legacy system presents challenges. If only business did not change and all that was produced and sold were widgets, we wouldn't need all these different software.

[Jerry Bruette]

Jerry, I suspect that you will never get an actual answer to "what is SAP?". It is the business version of www.zombo.com (http://www.zombo.com)


John this sounds like a winner, but I don't know if my supervisor would appreciate the humor.

[Jerry Bruette]

SAP is probably the largest supplier of what is called "Enterprise Resource Planning", or ERP software.

Is ERP software any relation to MRP software? I know we use MRP for somethings but I'm not sure what.

I'm just a lowly Maintainence Mechanic that has never worked in a production postiton, and don't have to deal with any production scheduling or inventory stuff.

[Jerry Bruette]

Do you folks think my tagline will get any use when we transition into SAP?

[Larry Browning]

MRP is Material Requirements Planning. ERP does MRP and MUCH more. MRP can also stand for Manufacturing Resource Planning which has a bit broader meaning.

[Larry Browning]

Do you folks think my tagline will get any use when we transition into SAP?
Absolutely!