SAP ENTERPRISE - TechTargetmedia.techtarget.com/searchSAP/downloads/R3_Enterprise...SAP ® R/3 ® Enterprise is the next version of SAP R/3, following SAP R/3 4.6C. SAP R/3 Enterprise

SAP® R/3®

ENTERPRISEVERSION 1.0

SAP White Paper

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Executive Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Evolution Into E-Business with mySAP.com® . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

From Enterprise to Collaborative Business Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

The Evolution to E-Business with mySAP.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

mySAP.com Solutions and Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

The Open E-Business Platform with mySAPTM Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

The mySAP.com Development Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Strategic Development Directions at SAP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Enterprise-Centric Versus Collaborative Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Classification of Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

– Evolving Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

– Newly Designed Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

– Entirely New Collaborative Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

SAP R/3 Enterprise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Benefits of SAP R/3 Enterprise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

– Continuity and New Functionality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

– Flexibility and Optimization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

– Innovative Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

SAP R/3 Enterprise Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

SAP Web Application Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

– Package Concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

– Global Parameterization with Business Configuration Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

– Unicode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

– Accessibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

SAP R/3 Enterprise Core . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

SAP R/3 Enterprise Extensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

SAP R/3 Enterprise: New Functionality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Financials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

– Examples of new developments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Human Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20


Product Lifecycle Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20


Supply Chain Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21


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CONTENTS

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SAP R/3 Enterprise Availability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

SAP R/3 Enterprise: Availability of Industry Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Specific Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

SAP R/3 4.6C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Additional Sources of Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

SAP R/3 Enterprise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Release Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Latest News on Specific Functional Developments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

SAP® R/3® Enterprise is the next version of SAP R/3, following

SAP R/3 4.6C. SAP R/3 Enterprise will be available as a part of

the standard SAP R/3 maintenance agreement with every SAP

R/3 customer.

Available in the second half of 2002, SAP R/3 Enterprise contains

new functional enhancements to enterprise-centric business

processes and technologies and smoothes the transition to the

mySAP.com e-business platform. The goal of SAP R/3 Enter-

prise is to ensure that SAP customers enjoy the best functional-

ity available on the latest technical platform with simple oper-

ability. In this way, SAP plans to maximize its customers’ return

on investment.

As with previous releases, SAP R/3 Enterprise can be implemen-

ted as a standard SAP R/3 upgrade. This enables customers to

enjoy the many benefits of SAP R/3 Enterprise’s new functional

enhancements.

However, aspects of SAP R/3 Enterprise differ from past SAP R/3

releases in terms of technology, infrastructure, and release

planning. Because of these differences, SAP has given this latest

version a new name. SAP R/3 Enterprise provides additional

advantages that will help companies derive even more value

from their existing SAP R/3 investments and make the next step

into e-business and mySAP.com even easier.

SAP R/3 is and remains an important part of the SAP offering,

and SAP will continue its development. SAP R/3 Enterprise

demonstrates SAP commitment to SAP R/3, which will be fur-

ther developed and enhanced both from a functional and tech-

nical perspective.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

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The mySAP.com e-business platform is a family of solutions

and services that empowers organizations to collaborate suc-

cessfully – anywhere, anytime. mySAP.com business solutions

enable organizations – regardless of size and industry – to run

their businesses more efficiently and productively to gain signif-

icant competitive advantage.

The SAP R/3 component is an important building block of the

mySAP.com e-business platform. SAP R/3 provides the enter-

prise resource planning (ERP) functionality that is a prerequi-

site for any successful business solution. The next version of

SAP R/3 – SAP R/3 Enterprise – not only continues the excel-

lence of SAP’s flagship ERP software, but also extends its func-

tionality using a newly designed open technical platform that

ensures an easy transition to e-business. At the same time, SAP

R/3 Enterprise delivers the reliability, scalability, and operability

that SAP customers expect.

FROM ENTERPRISE TO COLLABORATIVE BUSINESS

MODELS

The business models that companies began pursuing in the

1990s compelled enterprise-centric systems to evolve into

e-business systems.

As outsourcing and collaborative trends increased, so did the

need for openness and flexibility. The boundary between enter-

prises and their business partners became increasingly blurry.

Complex supply chain arrangements in which a change in

EVOLUTION INTO E-BUSINESS WITH mySAP.com®

Figure 1: Boundaries Between Companies Blur

Enterprise

Enterprise Group Business Partner World

Intr

anet

Extr

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rnet

Collaboration

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demand triggers a reaction across multiple tiers of suppliers

made it necessary for companies to work even more closely

together and to integrate their heterogeneous system landscapes.

Industries differ in the extent to which they have developed

along these lines. The high-tech industry is very advanced in

this area. For example, a hardware provider that produces com-

puters almost entirely outside its company boundaries has not

necessarily outsourced its manufacturing. In many cases, the

hardware provider has established intricate and interdependent

networks of relationships to provide the most effective method

to produce and distribute its products, and it depends on a reli-

able, scalable e-business platform to support these processes.

The trend toward true collaboration continues into the twenty-

first century. In fact, it is becoming even more important with

the advent of electronic marketplaces and private exchanges

that take advantage of Internet technology. Software must now

be open, easy to implement, and deployable in phases as

required. It is in this environment that customers must be able

to build their own comprehensive e-business strategies that

remain continually open and adaptable to change.

THE EVOLUTION TO E-BUSINESS WITH mySAP.com

In general, e-business can include all commercial activities –

from internal processes within the enterprise to collaborative

processes that integrate external companies. Enterprise-centric

processes are an important prerequisite for collaborative

processes.

SAP R/3 provides sound functions for internal processes and

has proven its value since it was first released in 1992. In a rapid-

ly expanding business environment, companies increasingly

implement end-to-end business processes across heterogeneous

landscapes. SAP R/3 allows them to exploit new opportunities

and execute new strategies.

SAP R/3, along with other software components from SAP,

such as SAP Advanced Planner & Optimizer (SAP APO), SAP

Customer Relationship Management (SAP CRM) or SAP

Business Information Warehouse (SAP BW), provides the tech-

nical building blocks of the mySAP.com e-business platform.

mySAP.com provides a flexible platform to manage and create

these end-to-end business processes, while assuring integrated

execution in a complex supply chain or global customer rela-

Figure 2: mySAP.com – the E-Business Platform

Enterprise PortalsmySAP Enterprise Portals

ExchangemySAP Exchanges

SRMmySAPSRM

HRmySAP

HR

SCMmySAPSCM

CRMmySAPCRM

PLMmySAP

PLM

FINmySAP

Financials

BImySAP

BI

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tionship strategy. mySAP.com has the flexibility to support this

environment and can be deployed either within a company or

outside an enterprise beyond the firewall.

The evolution from SAP R/3 and other software components to

mySAP.com reflects the ongoing adaptability and flexibility of

mySAP Technology, SAP’s open integration infrastructure.

mySAP Technology – together with the integration of the Inter-

net – enables collaborative business today. mySAP.com can be

purchased either as a complete platform solution or in individ-

ual parts, such as a financials solution or a supply chain solution.

mySAP.com SOLUTIONS AND COMPONENTS

The mySAP.com e-business platform is a complete e-business

solution. Customers, however, may want to leverage its

functionality at their own pace and may initially require only a

portion of the solution. For example, a company may only be

interested in a pure financials solution or a customer relation-

ship management (CRM) interaction center solution. In a case

like this, the company would only need selected aspects of

mySAP.com, not the complete e-business solution. That is why

the component-based architecture of mySAP.com provides the

flexibility to allow companies to deploy and upgrade solutions

individually while allowing additional solutions to be seamless-

ly integrated into the existing environment.

Cross-industry solutions, including mySAPTM Customer

Relationship Management (mySAPTM CRM), mySAPTM Supply

Chain Management (mySAPTM SCM), and mySAPTM Product

Lifecycle Management (mySAPTM PLM), each cover all the re-

quirements needed for a particular business area. For example,

mySAP SCM includes all supply chain processes from supply

chain planning, to coordination, collaboration, and execution.

Figure 3 shows which mySAP.com cross-industry solutions

deploy which mySAP.com components as of today. It is im-

portant to note that SAP R/3 can be used by many of the

mySAP.com solutions as needed.

Figure 3: mySAP.com Solutions and Associated Components

✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓mySAP.com

✓

✓

✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓mySAP CRM

✓ ✓

✓

✓mySAP E-Procurement

✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

✓

✓

✓mySAP SCM

✓ ✓ ✓mySAP PLM

✓ ✓ ✓ ✓mySAP Financials

✓ ✓ ✓ ✓mySAP HR

✓ ✓ ✓ ✓mySAP BI

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓mySAP Enterprise Portals

SAP R/3 SAP BW SAP APO SAP CRM SAPM EBP SAP SEM SAP WP SAP KWmySAP.com/mySAP.com Solution

mySAP.com Application Components

Legacy

9

In addition to the cross-industry solutions, mySAP.com also

includes industry-specific solutions. These solutions provide

specific processing capabilities for particular branches of indus-

try or industry sectors.

THE OPEN E-BUSINESS PLATFORM WITH

mySAP TM TECHNOLOGY

In addition to mySAP.com, many companies already have exist-

ing legacy and non-SAP components as part of their IT land-

scape. mySAP.com is an open platform that fosters integration

within a heterogeneous landscape. mySAP Technology provides

the underlying infrastructure that enables companies to suc-

cessfully deploy business applications and to solve the integra-

tion challenge from a business perspective. In bringing together

the new Web application server technology that is the basis of

SAP R/3 Enterprise, mySAP Technology, along with portals and

exchanges, allows true integration across SAP and non-SAP sys-

tems within and outside company boundaries.

The SAP portal infrastructure allows companies to define role-

based portals to integrate heterogeneous applications at the

front end so that users can easily interact with multiple appli-

cations. The exchange infrastructure fosters the integration of

processes, enabling companies to integrate applications in

diverse environments and to allow them to function as one

application.

In summary, the mySAP.com e-business platform provides the

open infrastructure necessary for a seamlessly integrated suite

of applications to perform in complex networked environments.

This will bring order and efficiency to information technology

(IT) landscapes.

Figure 4: mySAP Technology Overview



SRMmySAPSRM

HRmySAP

HR

SCMmySAPSCM

CRMmySAPCRM

PLMmySAP

PLM

FINmySAPFinan-cials

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3rdParty

PortalInfra-structure

ExchangeInfra-structure

SAP WebApplicationServer

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STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT DIRECTIONS AT SAP

Almost all e-business solutions rely on enterprise-centric

processes that take place within the confines of the enterprise

(the traditional area where SAP R/3 is implemented) and col-

laborative processes that typically extend outside the bound-

aries of a traditional organization to the realm of e-business.

Collaborative processes are generally more networked, involv-

ing a number of different components and people, including

business partners operating together to achieve a common goal.

SAP’s development strategy is to continue developing

mySAP.com solutions along with processes that fulfill all

e-business requirements to cover the full spectrum of collabo-

rative business processes. This is an ongoing process, and as new

business models and strategies develop in the customer base,

SAP will provide the tools necessary to handle those require-

ments.

All SAP solutions address collaborative processes, but all of

these collaborative processes rely in a greater or lesser extent on

core enterprise-centric (ERP) functionality. SAP will focus

ongoing development of this enterprise-centric functionality in

SAP R/3 Enterprise. Functions for collaborative processes will

take place in other components, such as SAP BW, SAP CRM, or

SAP APO.

ENTERPRISE-CENTRIC VERSUS COLLABORATIVE

PROCESSING

Some business processes are enterprise-centric, for example,

fixed asset accounting, payroll processing, and material

valuation. Others, such as public marketplaces and supply chain

exchanges, are almost completely collaborative. The majority of

business processes fit somewhere in between the two extremes.

As SAP plans development of new functions for a new process,

we must determine whether the functions will be developed in

the enterprise area or in the collaborative area. Looking at the

procurement example in particular, should SAP develop an

entirely new and separate business-to-business (B2B) purchas-

ing system or extend its existing purchasing functions? The lat-

ter approach requires an architectural redesign, but allows

more implementation flexibility.

To solve this dilemma, SAP uses its business process experience

to carefully consider an entire process and to determine which

option is more appropriate. For example, this is how the devel-

opment strategy for business-to-business procurement function-

ality was determined.

For example, company A purchases goods and services from

company B. In a traditional purchasing environment, as

depicted in the lower left area of Figure 5, various steps take

place:

Company A defines a supplier master record describing com-

pany B as the supplier. At the same time, Company B defines a

customer master record describing company A as the

customer.

Company A defines the material or service that it is purchasing

from company B as a material or service master record. At the

same time company B defines its material or service that it is

selling to company A as a product.

THE mySAP.com DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY

11

Then the actual purchasing process begins, usually with a mate-

rial requisition followed by a purchase order, goods receipt,

invoice receipt, and so on.

With the advent of new collaborative B2B systems, the process

changes as depicted in the upper right side Figure 5. Some of

these steps are rationalized.

For example, business partners are defined once in a single

place and addressed by various roles (supplier, customer, mar-

ketplace auctioneer, and so on). This helps rationalize a num-

ber of other dependent processes. One of the central aspects

of collaborative environments is the use and reuse of central

data.

Both companies use the same central product catalog. In this

case, the provider of the product or service commits maintain-

ing the product catalog that is shared by all parties. Benefits

include cost savings and increased accuracy of data for all parties.

Purchasing and sales activities can be carried out by a central

B2B system, and all parties can monitor the status of activities.

In the second model, it is clear that the development of both

the process and architecture are fundamentally different from

that found in a traditional purchasing environment. As a result,

SAP decided to develop this new function outside of the tradi-

tional ERP environment to ensure greater flexibility in the

architecture and implementation.

Figure 5: Purchasing Processes

Enterprise

Enterprise Group Business Partner World

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Collaboration

A

B

B

A

EnterpriseBusiness

• Master Data to Common Objects

• Redundant Processes toCollaborative Scenarios

B

A CollaborativeBusiness²

²

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CLASSIFICATION OF PROCESSES

SAP has defined three categories of processes: evolving process-

es, newly designed processes, and entirely new collaborative

processes.

Evolving Processes

Evolving processes are generally enterprise-centric and are

most often developed in SAP R/3 as they have been in the past.

One example is a payroll process that is continually updated to

reflect legal changes and continuous process improvement.

Newly Designed Processes

These are processes that exist in parallel in two different

generations. Some examples include:

• Sales order processing and customer relationship

management

• Material requirements planning (MRP) and advanced

planning and optimization

• Purchasing and B2B procurement

In these cases, SAP is currently focusing development efforts on

the new collaborative functions, while making minor enhance-

ments to and maintaining existing process. In some cases, these

existing processes, such as MRP, are found in SAP R/3 and the

new generation of processes, such as supply chain planning, is

found outside of SAP R/3 – that is, in SAP APO.

Entirely New Collaborative Processes

These are mostly collaborative and generally supported by

components outside of SAP R/3. Examples include collaborative

forecasting, supply chain exchanges, and collaborative

engineering.

For a more detailed look at the transition strategies of individ-

ual processes within the respective mySAP.com solutions, see

the section on solution planning. For the most up-to-date ver-

sion, go to http://service.sap.com/enterprise.

13

Enterprise ERP functionality is a fundamental building block of

all e-business solutions. SAP leads the market for enterprise-

centric solutions, developed from years of industry experience

with thousands of customers using SAP R/3. SAP R/3 Enterprise

is the successor to the current release: SAP R/3 4.6C. SAP R/3

Enterprise provides enterprise functionality with a new techno-

logical foundation that provides SAP R/3 customers with addi-

tional benefits whether they are simply following an ERP path

or implementing a complete e-business platform in a heteroge-

neous landscape.

SAP R/3 continues to play a central role in the overall strategy

of mySAP.com. More than 17,000 SAP customers have imple-

mented SAP R/3, which allows them to reliably and efficiently

run their business processes. SAP will continue to deliver the

market-leading solution for enterprise-centric processes and to

provide both functional and technical improvements to SAP

R/3 in the future. In addition, SAP is committed to making sure

that the extension into mySAP.com solutions is made as easily

as possible.

BENEFITS OF SAP R/3 ENTERPRISE

In recent years, SAP has gathered input from a large number of

customers and user groups about their requirements for the

next version of SAP R/3. Customers stressed requirements for

continuously improved functions; a simpler, more flexible

upgrade path; and an easy transition to collaborative e-business

processes. The feedback was built into the plan and design for

the next versions of SAP R/3. It has resulted in three new areas

of focus: new functions, flexibility and optimization, and inno-

vative technology.

Continuity and New Functionality

As in the past, legal requirements, customer requirements, and

new internal business processes will be included in new versions

of SAP R/3. SAP R/3 Enterprise is no exception to this rule.

All functions currently included in SAP R/3 4.6C will be avail-

able in SAP R/3 Enterprise, and processes supported in SAP R/3

4.6C can be performed in SAP R/3 Enterprise. Furthermore,

SAP R/3 Enterprise contains additional enhancements to busi-

SAP R/3 ENTERPRISE

Figure 6: mySAP.com and SAP R/3 Enterprise



SRMmySAPSRM

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CRMmySAPCRM

PLMmySAP

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mySAP.com

mySAP Technology

mySAP S

erv

ices

21 In

dustry

Solu

tions

ERPSAP R/3 Enterprise

14

ness process functionality. New developments within SAP R/3

Enterprise will be provided in encapsulated objects called SAP

R/3 Enterprise Extensions, which are described later on in this

white paper. This technology will enable companies to imple-

ment new functions step-by-step as required.

Flexibility and Optimization

Increasingly, customers have asked whether maintenance could

be made easier by either allowing upgrades of only of specific

needed areas rather than of all of SAP R/3 or by allowing new

functionality to be deployed in stages. This approach delivers

significant cost savings.

SAP R/3 Enterprise allows a more dynamic and flexible upgrade

strategy going forward because new functional enhancements

can be deployed as needed. This provides an easier upgrade path

to mySAP.com and simpler additions to ERP functionality.

In addition, SAP has made several improvements to the infra-

structure of SAP R/3 Enterprise Core, such as Unicode compli-

ance and performance optimization.

Innovative Technology

Increasingly complex heterogeneous landscapes exist in many

organizations. Customers want to integrate application land-

scapes and eventually rationalize their systems so they can

derive benefits from e-business to significantly reduce the cost

of ownership.

SAP R/3 Enterprise is based on SAP Web Application Server

(SAP Web AS). SAP Web Application Server provides the under-

lying runtime infrastructure for all mySAP.com solutions. It is

the result of the continuously enhanced SAP Basis technology

that optimizes integration of mySAP.com solutions and hetero-

geneous system landscapes. This enables both seamless integra-

tion of systems running SAP R/3 with mySAP.com solutions, as

well as use of new concepts for integrating heterogeneous

application landscapes and electronic marketplaces.

SAP R/3 ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURE

To more clearly understand the SAP R/3 Enterprise architec-

ture, it is helpful to compare SAP R/3 Enterprise with previous

releases to highlight the differences and additional benefits.

Figure 7 illustrates the evolution of the development strategy of

Figure 7: Development of SAP R/3

R/3 Basis R/3 Basis R/3 Basis R/3 Basis

SAP R/34.6

SAP R/3 Enterprise

Core

Extensions

SAP Web AS

SAP R/3 Enterprise

SAP R/34.5

SAP R/34.0

SAP R/33.1

SAP Web AS

Exten sions

SAP R/3 Enterprise

Core

15

SAP R/3 in the past compared with SAP R/3 Enterprise today.

Previous releases of SAP R/3 followed a certain series of steps.

First, the newest SAP Basis release (the SAP technologies includ-

ing the development environment, ABAP, Data Dictionary, and

so on) was deployed.

Second, the prior application release was used as the basis from

which to begin development. For example, if we were starting

development of SAP R/3 4.5, then the application from the pre-

vious release, SAP R/3 4.0, was used as the basis of development.

Next, development took place in all areas regardless of whether

the feature under development was functional in nature, such

as new payment program to support credit card handling, or

part of the infrastructure, such as performance enhancements

in the processing speed of the payment program. All parts of

the system could be laid bare for additional development.

The SAP R/3 Enterprise strategy follows a more structured

approach from both a technical and functional perspective.

From a technical perspective, the newest version of mySAP

Technology was taken as the foundation for SAP R/3 Enterprise.

Specifically, this is SAP Web AS 6.20. This not only includes all

existing SAP Basis technologies with their latest enhancements,

but it also includes the other advantages and new features of

SAP Web AS. (See the section on SAP Web AS for a list of these

benefits).

From a functional perspective, the previous application release

was taken as the application basis for SAP R/3 Enterprise, in this

case SAP R/3 4.6C. This is the same as with previous develop-

ment, but instead of laying the system bare to all types of devel-

opment in all areas, developments for SAP R/3 Enterprise are

separated into purely functional and infrastructure develop-

ments. Infrastructure developments (such as performance or

continuous improvement) and legally required changes are

made in SAP R/3 Enterprise Core. Functional developments

now take place separately in SAP R/3 Enterprise Extensions.

The reason for proceeding in this manner is to provide two

additional benefits to the customer. First, using a new technol-

ogy known as the package concept, customers can activate indi-

vidual extensions based on the specific functionality required.

Second, separating functional from infrastructure develop-

ments tremendously improves the total stability and perfor-

mance of the system.

Essentially, the main differences between the SAP R/3 Enterprise

strategy and the previous SAP R/3 strategy can be summed up

in the following way:

• New technologies have become available.

• New features can be optionally deployed.

• More flexibility will be available in future upgrade strategies.

Figure 8: Architecture of SAP R/3 Enterprise

SAP R/3 Enterprise is built on the principle of optimizingthe stable and mature core processes and infrastructureand making new enhancements optional and deployableas needed.

Tuned core, optimized for performance(SAP R/3 Enterprise Core)

Optionalnew functionalenhancements(SAP R/3 EnterpriseExtensions)

Newest mySAP.comtechnologies andinfrastructureenhancements(SAP Web ApplicationServer)

16

SAP WEB APPLICATION SERVER

mySAP Technology is a native Web infrastructure based on open

standards for reliable e-business solutions. It operates in hetero-

geneous environments, integrating any application from any

vendor based on any technology.

The key building blocks of mySAP Technology are:

• Portal infrastructure for user-centric collaboration empower-

ing individual users

• SAP Web Application Server for application components,

providing Web services based on open standards

• Exchange infrastructure for process-centric collaboration

driving end-to-end business processes

SAP R/3 Enterprise is built on SAP Web Application Server and

integrates seamlessly with the enterprise portal and exchange

infrastructure.

SAP Web AS is a scalable and reliable component platform that

supports the development, implementation, and provisioning

of easy-to-use Web applications and Web services. SAP Web AS is

the common infrastructure for all mySAP.com components,

including SAP R/3 Enterprise. The first release of SAP R/3 Enter-

prise will be delivered on SAP Web AS 6.20.

SAP Web AS provides a homogeneous infrastructure for both

Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) and ABAP-based applications.

This brings the benefits of SAP ’s proven infrastructure – relia-

bility, scalability, software logistics, change management, plat-

form independence and business knowledge – to the J2EE world.

It provides integration services and connectivity to both the

portal infrastructure and the exchange infrastructure. SAP Web

AS is the natural evolution of SAP Basis and incorporates its

functions.

SAP Web AS 6.20 incorporates all the features of existing SAP

Basis and Web application servers, such as the development

workbench, transport management system, monitoring,

versioning, and the business object repository.

For more detailed information about SAP Web AS, please see

the white paper entitled Web Application Server: Web

Application Technology and Web Dynpro, which is available at

http://www.sap.com/solutions/technology/brochures.asp.

Additional enhancements relevant for SAP R/3 Enterprise in the

areas of technology and infrastructure include the package con-

cept, global parameterization with business configuration sets,

Unicode compliance, and accessibility.

17

Package Concept

The package concept of SAP Web AS allows the decoupling of

application functionality. SAP R/3 Enterprise uses the package

concept for the SAP R/3 Enterprise Extensions, which are

decoupled from SAP R/3 Enterprise Core.

Customers and partners can use the package concept for new

developments for flexible deployment and easier maintenance.

All kinds of application functionality can be included within a

package. The package concept ensures that all communication

with the package is done exclusively through well-defined inter-

faces without modifying SAP R/3 Enterprise Core. This pre-

vents dependencies on the inner workings of a package, and it

eases maintenance. The package concept also allows separate

transportability of objects, which helps to integrate and main-

tain partner software easily.

Global Parameterization with Business Configuration Sets

Business configuration sets are sets of configuration settings of

an application component that allow easy parameterization of

SAP R/3 Enterprise and other mySAP.com components. With

this technology, customizing configuration is grouped accord-

ing to logical business management criteria. Business configu-

ration sets can be transported to other systems to support a

global rollout or scenario build-up in test systems, for example.

They can also be used for documentation, quality assurance,

and reuse purposes.

Business configuration sets become available for the first time

with SAP R/3 Enterprise.

Unicode

SAP is committed to incorporating new technologies, such as

Java, Extensible Markup Language (XML), Lightweight Directory

Access Protocol (LDAP), and Wireless Markup Language (WML),

into mySAP.com to offer the most advanced business

applications available. All of these technologies use Unicode.

Unicode uniquely defines every character – no matter what the

platform, program, or language. This is especially important for

communication between systems that use multiple languages.

SAP R/3 Enterprise offers Unicode compliance. ABAP source

code in SAP Web Application Server fully complies with Uni-

code standards, and the same ABAP source code runs on both

Unicode and non-Unicode systems. Unicode-compliant pro-

grams can therefore be used in both Unicode and non-Unicode

components. Customers can select either a pure Unicode instal-

lation or combine Unicode and non-Unicode components

according to their specific needs.

Accessibility

SAP Web AS addresses the requirements of Section 508, an

amendment to the United States Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

Section 508, which went into effect in June 2001, mandates that

all information technology that is procured by U.S. govern-

ment agencies must be accessible to people with disabilities. In

addition, any information technology, such as Web applications,

that the U.S. government makes available to citizens must also

be accessible to people with disabilities.

18

SAP R/3 ENTERPRISE CORE

The functionality of SAP R/3 Enterprise Core will be based on

the current SAP R/3 release: SAP R/3 4.6C. Enhancements to

the core include optimization and stabilization of existing

processes.

SAP R/3 Enterprise Core has been assigned the release number

4.70. This signifies its similarity to SAP R/3 4.6C and indicates

that the core can be independently upgraded and maintained.

SAP R/3 Enterprise Core will support the packaging concept,

business configuration sets, Unicode compliance, and require-

ments laid out in section 508 of the United States Rehabilitation

Act of 1973.

SAP R/3 ENTERPRISE EXTENSIONS

SAP R/3 Enterprise Extensions are selectively deployable and

have their own release cycles. The name of each SAP R/3 Enter-

prise Extension reflects its relevant application area. For exam-

ple, the SAP R/3 Enterprise Financials Extension includes all

newly developed functions in the financial accounting and

controlling areas.

Figure 9 outlines the delivery strategy of the SAP R/3 Enterprise

Extensions.

SAP R/3 Enterprise Extensions will be delivered in an SAP R/3

Enterprise Extension Set.

The following SAP R/3 Enterprise Extensions will be available

in the first release of SAP R/3 Enterprise (in the SAP R/3 Enter-

prise Extension Set 1.10)

• SAP R/3 Enterprise Human Resources (HR) Extension

• SAP R/3 Enterprise Travel Extension

• SAP R/3 Enterprise Product Lifecycle Management (PLM)

Extension

• SAP R/3 Enterprise Supply Chain Management (SCM)

Extension

• SAP R/3 Enterprise Financials Extension

When customers upgrade to a higher level of an extension,

they must upgrade the extension set. For example, say a cus-

tomer deploys the SAP R/3 Enterprise Core plus the SAP R/3

Enterprise Extensions 1.10 for human resources, supply chain

management, and financials. Later, the customer wants to

deploy SAP R/3 PLM Extension 2.00. The customer must up-

grade all the extensions to the 2.00 release level. This reduces

the number and complexity of extension combinations that

will prevent both support and delivery problems due to un-

fettered multiple versions.

SAP R/3 Enterprise Core and the SAP R/3 Enterprise Extensions

will be maintained through scheduled support package tracks.

There were two support package tracks in previous SAP R/3

releases, but SAP R/3 Enterprise will follow separate support

package tracks, as indicated below:

• SAP R/3 Enterprise Core: Non-HR Core Support Package

• SAP R/3 Enterprise Core: HR Core Support Package

• SAP R/3 Enterprise Extension: Non-HR Support Package

• SAP R/3 Enterprise Extension: HR Support Package

Figure 9: Delivery Strategy of SAP R/3 Enterprise

HR

Travel

PLM

SCM

Fin

✓

✓

✓

HR

Travel

PLM

SCM

Fin

✓

✓

✓

✓

SAP R/3EnterpriseExtensionSet 2.00



HR

Travel

PLM

SCM

Fin

✓

✓

✓

SAP R/3 Enterprise Core 4.70

19

SAP R/3 ENTERPRISE: NEW FUNCTIONALITY

This section provides an overview of the new functions in SAP

R/3 Enterprise. For specific details on the new functions of SAP

R/3 Enterprise, go to the SAP Service Marketplace at

http://service.sap.com/enterprise.

FINANCIALS

The following financial functions have been introduced or

updated in SAP R/3 Enterprise:

• Process Improvements

– Accrual Accounting

– Cross Application Time Sheet

– Easy Cost Planning

– Electronic bank statement processing

– Formula Planning

– Internal Service Request

– Payments via Orbian and usage of IBAN

– Stock Option Accounting

• Valuation and Legal Improvements

– Actual Cost Component Split

– Alternative valuation run

– Audit

– Country version India

– Country version South Korea

– Depreciation Japan

– Handling of inventory differences

– Valuation Improvements for WIP and Cost of Good Sold

• Technical Improvements

– BAPI’s and BADI’s

– Data Medium Exchange Engine

– Intracompany Web Services

– Periodic Processing

– Reporting via XBRL

– Tax Reporting via XML

For an overview on all the new functions of SAP R/3 Enterprise,

go to the SAP Service Marketplace at

http://service.sap.com/enterprise. There you will find a preview

of the solution planning.

For detailed information on the new functions and where they

will reside (in the extensions or core of SAP R/3 Enterprise), go

to the Development News section on the SAP Service Market-

place at http://service.sap.com/developmentnews

Examples of new developments

Below are two examples of new developments in the area of

financials.

• New Post Processing of Electronic Bank Account

Statements

New post-processing bank statements functions now enable

customers to select and correct bank statement items faster if

the electronic bank statement function did not post automa-

tically. The extensive filter, search, and sorting functions of

the SAP ABAP List Viewer (ALV) enable users to display and

process the items in a way best suited to their work method.

Users can trigger automatic posting for several items at the

same time. The note to payee, an important reference for

the posting, is always retained in a separate window when

running through posting screens.

• Accrual Accounting Engine

Accruals accounting enables users to automatically calculate

and post accruals, such as license fees, rent costs, or revenues,

in the general ledger accounting functionality of SAP R/3

Enterprise Core. The accrued costs can vary. Users can calcu-

late and post the accruals according to as many accounting

principles as desired, displaying parallel valuations.

20

HUMAN RESOURCES

The following human resources functions have been

introduced or updated in SAP R/3 Enterprise:

• Benefits and compensation

• Concurrent employment

• Electronic data interchange (EDI) for official reporting in

Germany

• Enabling for hosting or application service provision (ASP)

• GASB 34

• Long-term incentives in compensation management

• Major enhancements in the country version for France

• Management of global employees

• Mobile computing

• New country versions for China, Finland, India, and Korea

• Payroll

• Time management

For an overview on the new functions of SAP R/3 Enterprise,




will reside (in the extensions or core of SAP R/3 Enterprise),

please go to the Development News section on the SAP Service

Marketplace at http://service.sap.com/developmentnews.



human resources:

• Management of Global Employees and Payroll for

Global Employees

SAP now provides a solution for managing global employees

that supports all the processes involved in transferring an

employee to work abroad. The solution incorporates all areas

involving management of employees on global assignment –

from the planning and preparation of the global assignment

to personnel administration to payroll for global employees.

• Mobile Time Management

The Internet applications in SAP Time Management have

done much to simplify and streamline the recording of work-

ing times. Mobile time management is now available for use

by employees who cannot always obtain access to a personal

computer (PC), such as service technicians, sales representa-

tives, or construction workers. Employees working in the field

can use wireless application protocol (WAP)-enabled cellular

phones to record their working times directly and to check

their time accounts – regardless of time or location.

PRODUCT LIFECYCLE MANAGEMENT

The following product life-cycle management functions has

been introduced or updated in SAP R/3 Enterprise:

• Asset life-cycle management

• Assigned personnel and planned costs in open PS

• Change control in maintenance planning via change

documents and exception logs

• Computer-aided design (CAD) desktop

• Cost integration for claims

• Easy Web transactions to create and maintain documents

• E-procurement of maintenance, repair, and operations

(MRO) parts

• Expediting and monitoring dates

• Improved search for spare parts and equipment

• Input conversion routine for inspection results

• Life-cycle data management enhancements

• Mobile defects recording

• New Business Application

• Notification framework

• Product replication

• Program and project management

• Programming Interfaces (BAPIs) to load or change orders

and confirmations

• Project-oriented material management (Proman)

• Recording consumption for fleet objects

• Retrofit of the mySAP PLM capabilities for environment,

health, and safety

• Stability studies






please see the Development News section on the SAP Service




product life-cycle management:

• E-Procurement for Maintenance, Repair, and

Operations

A catalog interface is available for the procurement of

materials for maintenance and service orders. With this,

users can work with both internal and external catalogs to

search for material for maintenance and service orders and

to select and copy it into the order. Users can execute the

purchase order processing in SAP R/3, or using an external

purchasing system, for example, SAP Markets Enterprise

Buyer (Professional Edition). Both components are naturally

part of the mySAP PLM solution.

• Consumption Recording and Reporting for Fleet

Objects

Using current functionality, fleet objects can be defined as

pieces of equipment with fleet-specific attributes. With new

functionality it is possible to define of counters for recording

consumption (such as kilometers traveled), consumables,

and determine average consumption data. Counter readings

can be posted to the appropriate order or notification and

the notifications and orders can be searched by fleet-specific

data.

The product model incorporates all the objects that belong

to a product, such as materials, bills of material, documents,

classes, characteristics, and classifications, as well as the con-

figuration model.

SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT

The following supply chain management functions have been

introduced or updated in SAP R/3 Enterprise:

• Advanced warehouse interface

• Business application add-ins (BADIs)

• Country version for India

• Cross-system flow of goods

• Document change management for purchase orders

• Event management for manufacturing execution

• Interfaces and extractors

• SAP BW extractors for supply chain analytics

• Task and resource management






please see the Development News section on the SAP Service




supply chain management:

• Manufacturing Execution

Manufacturing execution is based on the process

management functionality of previous SAP R/3 releases. It

delivers additional production execution features, and it

serves as a generic manufacturing platform. It supports users

in the plant and makes the plant a more visible and agile part

of the supply chain.

• Cross-System Flow of Goods

Cross-system flows facilitate the management of goods move-

ments relating to sales and purchase orders within a business

system group consisting of several logical systems. The

purpose of a cross-system flow of goods is to effect a delivery

for a sales or purchase order originating from a system that

differs from the delivery system. You can use SAP APO for the

global available-to-promise (ATP) check.

21

22

SAP R/3 Enterprise will be available to customers in the second

half of 2002. Figure 10 shows the availability of SAP R/3 Enter-

prise and the maintenance schedules of other SAP R/3 releases.

All SAP R/3 releases prior to SAP R/3 4.6C that are currently

covered by maintenance will expire in August 2003. SAP R/3

4.6C will have continuous maintenance coverage until 2006.

SAP R/2 will expire entirely at the end of 2004.

For customers running previous SAP R/3 releases, as well as SAP

R/2, the decision on which is the most appropriate upgrade

strategy is discussed in the section entitled “Making a Case for

SAP R/3 Enterprise.”

SAP R/3 will continue to be a fundamental part of the SAP

offering. SAP will continue functional development of SAP R/3

in the SAP R/3 Enterprise Extensions, infrastructure develop-

ment in SAP R/3 Enterprise Core, and technology develop-

ments through SAP Web Application Server.

SAP R/3 ENTERPRISE: AVAILABILITY OF INDUSTRY

SOLUTIONS

This section describes the availability of industry add-ons for

SAP R/3 Enterprise. However, this document does not com-

pletely cover the latest developments of individual software

releases. For the latest information on individual industry-

specific mySAP.com components, go to http://service.sap.com/

releasestrategy Release Strategy in Detail.

The following section describes industry solutions that will be

delivered with SAP R/3 Enterprise in the second half of 2002.

SAP plans to migrate all relevant industry-specific functionality

to the SAP R/3 Enterprise architecture over time.

SAP R/3 ENTERPRISE AVAILABILITY

Figure 10: Availability and Maintenance of SAP R/3

SAP R/3 Enterprise

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

SAP R/3 4.6C

SAP R/3 4.6B

SAP R/3 4.5B

SAP R/3 4.0B

SAP R/3 3.1I

2006

23

SAP R/3 4.6C

This section raises some important points regarding SAP R/3

4.6C. This version of SAP R/3 could be considered a sister

release to SAP R/3 Enterprise because it is similar to SAP R/3

Enterprise Core.

SAP R/3 4.6C has had tremendous success in the market and

many thousands of software installations are live with or are

upgrading to SAP R/3 4.6C.

If a customer plans to perform a productive upgrade before

December 2002, SAP R/3 4.6C is the current release of choice for

any upgrade. The relative ease of upgrading to SAP R/3 Enter-

prise from SAP R/3 4.6C makes SAP R/3 4.6C the release upon

which customers can build in the future.

Maintenance of SAP R/3 4.6C will continue until the first quar-

ter of 2006. This extends the planning horizon for customers

and allows for a long period of productive operation running

SAP R/3 4.6C and a smooth upgrade to SAP R/3 Enterprise.

If companies are still running a version of SAP R/3 software for

which maintenance has already expired – such as any release

earlier than SAP R/3 3.1I – they should upgrade to SAP R/3 4.6C

as soon as possible. It is a risk for companies to operate releases

that are no longer maintained or supported.

SAP R/3 4.6C has continually proven itself to be a very robust

system with high performance and comprehensive functionality.

ADDITIONAL SOURCES OF INFORMATION

SAP has provided a number of documents that provide more

information or details beyond the scope of this document.

SAP R/3 ENTERPRISE

For specific details on SAP R/3 Enterprise, go to the SAP Service

Marketplace at http://service.sap.com/enterprise. It contains find

presentations, articles, and other related information about the

topic.

RELEASE STRATEGY

For more details on the release strategy of mySAP.com compo-

nents, go to the SAP Service Marketplace at

http://service.sap.com/releasestrategy.

LATEST NEWS ON SPECIFIC FUNCTIONAL

DEVELOPMENTS

For the latest information regarding specific functional devel-

opments in various development areas at SAP, go to the home-

page of the specific solutions in the SAP Service Marketplace.

An overview of the latest software developments is available in

the Development News of the SAP Service Marketplace at

http://service.sap.com/developmentnews.

SPECIFIC CONSIDERATIONS

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SAP ENTERPRISE - TechTargetmedia.techtarget.com/searchSAP/downloads/R3_Enterprise...SAP ® R/3 ® Enterprise is the next version of SAP R/3, following SAP R/3 4.6C. SAP R/3 Enterprise