SAP AG
Encyclopedia
SAP AG is a German software corporation that makes enterprise software
to manage business operations and customer relations. Headquartered in Walldorf
, Baden-Württemberg, with regional offices around the world, SAP is the market leader in enterprise application software. The company's best known products are its enterprise resource planning application (SAP ERP
), SAP BusinessObjects software, and most recently, Sybase mobile products and in-memory computing appliance SAP HANA.
engineers in Mannheim
, Baden-Württemberg (Dietmar Hopp
, Klaus Tschira
, Hans-Werner Hector, Hasso Plattner
, and Claus Wellenreuther).
The acronym was later changed to stand for ("Systems, Applications and Products in Data Processing").
As part of the Xerox
exit strategy from the computer industry, Xerox retained IBM
to migrate their business systems to IBM technology. As part of IBM's compensation for the migration, IBM acquired the SDS/SAPE software, reportedly for a contract credit of $80,000. The SAPE software was given by IBM to the founding ex-IBM employees in exchange for founding stock provided to IBM, reportedly 8%. Imperial Chemical Industries
(ICI) was SAP's first ever customer in 1972.
In 1973 the SAP R/1 solution was launched. Six years later, in 1979, SAP launched SAP R/2. In 1981, SAP brought a re-designed product to market. However, SAP did not improve until the period between 1985 and 1990. SAP developed and released several versions of R/3 in 1992 through 1995. By the mid-1990s, SAP followed the trend from mainframe computing to client-server architectures. The development of SAP’s internet strategy with mySAP.com redesigned the concept of business processes (integration via Internet). SAP was awarded Industry Week’s Best Managed Companies in 1999.
In 1976, "SAP GmbH" founded, and moved its headquarters the following year to Walldorf
. SAP AG became the company's official name after the 2005 annual general meeting
. AG is short for Aktiengesellschaft
(corporation).
In August 1988, SAP GmbH transferred into SAP AG (a corporation by German law), and public trading started 4 November. Shares are listed on the Frankfurt and Stuttgart stock exchanges.
In 1995, SAP was included in the German stock index DAX
. On 22 September 2003, SAP was included in the Dow Jones STOXX 50. In 1991, Prof. Dr. Henning Kagermann joined the board; Dr. Peter Zencke became a board member in 1993. Claus Heinrich, and Gerhard Oswald have been members of the SAP Executive Board since 1996. Two years later, in 1998, the first change at the helm took place. Dietmar Hopp and Klaus Tschira moved to the supervisory board and Dietmar Hopp was appointed Chairman of the supervisory board. Henning Kagermann was appointed as Co-Chairman and CEO of SAP next to Hasso Plattner. Werner Brandt joined SAP in 2001 as a member of the SAP Executive Board and Chief Financial Officer. Léo Apotheker
was a member of the SAP Executive Board and president of Global Customer Solutions & Operations from 2002, and was appointed Deputy CEO in 2007. Apotheker became co-CEO alongside Kagermann in 2008.
Henning Kagermann became the sole CEO of SAP in 2003. In February 2007, his contract was extended until 2009. After continuous disputes over the responsibility of the development organization, Shai Agassi
, a member of the executive board who had been named as a potential successor to Kagermann, left the organization.
In April 2008, along with the announcement of Apotheker as co-CEO, the SAP supervisory board also appointed three new members to the SAP Executive Board, effective 1 July 2008: Corporate Officers Erwin Gunst, Bill McDermott, and Jim Hagemann Snabe. With the retirement of Kagermann in May 2009, Apotheker took over as the sole CEO. He was replaced by new co-CEOs Bill McDermott, head of field organization, and Jim Hagemann Snabe, head of product development, effective 7 February,
In November, 2010, SAP lost a $1.3 billion intellectual property law suit (related to the actions of the SAP subsidiary TomorrowNow
) to Oracle Corporation
– cited as the largest software piracy judgment in history. SAP intends to file post-trial motions to lower the damage awarded to Oracle and stated it may also file an appeal. On 9 September, 2011, the verdict was overturned by Judge Phyllis J. Hamilton, who called penalty "grossly excessive."
SAP is the world's largest business software company and the third-highest revenue independent software provider (as of 2007).
It operates in four geographic regions: EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa), AMERICA (United States and Canada), LAC (Latin America and Caribbean), and APJ (Asia Pacific and Japan), which represents Japan, Korea, Australia and New Zealand, India, Greater China, and Southeast Asian countries. In addition, SAP operates a network of 115 subsidiaries, and has R&D (Research & Development) facilities around the globe in Germany, India, the US, Canada, France, Brazil, Turkey, China, Hungary, Israel, Ireland and Bulgaria.
SAP focuses on six industry sectors: process industries, discrete industries, consumer industries, service industries, financial services, and public services. It offers more than 25 industry solution portfolios for large enterprises and more than 550 micro-vertical solutions for midsize companies and small businesses.
moves the ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning
) landscape toward software-based and web services-based business activities. This move increases adaptability, flexibility, openness, and efficiency. The move towards E-SOA helps companies reuse software components and not rely as much on in-house ERP hardware technologies, which makes ERP adoption more attractive to small and mid-sized companies.
According to a press fact sheet from SAP, "SAP is the only enterprise applications software vendor that is both building service-orientation directly into its solutions and providing a technology platform SAP NetWeaver and guidance to support companies in the development of their own service-oriented architectures spanning both SAP and non-SAP solutions."
method to be supported across all SAP technologies. Kerberos and logon tickets, for example, are not compatible with SAP service-oriented architecture.
(ERP). The company's main product is SAP ERP
. The current version is SAP ERP 6.0 and is part of the SAP Business Suite. Its previous name was R/3. The "R" of SAP R/3
stood for realtime – even though it is not a realtime solution. The number 3 related to the 3-tier architecture: database
, application server
and client
(SAPgui
). R/2
, which ran on a Mainframe
architecture, was the predecessor of R/3. Before R/2 came System RF, later dubbed R/1.
SAP ERP is one of five enterprise applications in SAP's Business Suite
. The other four applications are:
Other major product offerings include: the NetWeaver platform, Governance, Risk and Compliance
(GRC) solutions, Duet (joint offering with Microsoft), Performance Management solutions and RFID. SAP offers service-oriented architecture
capabilities (calling it Enterprise SOA) in the form of web services that are wrapped around its applications.
While its original products were typically used by Fortune 500
companies, SAP now actively targets small and medium sized enterprises (SME) with its SAP Business One
and SAP Business All-in-One.
On 19 September 2007 SAP announced a new product named SAP Business ByDesign
. SAP Business ByDesign
is a software as a service (SaaS) offering, and provides a fully integrated enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution, On Demand. SAP Business ByDesign
was previously known under the code name "A1S".
In October 2007, SAP AG announced the friendly takeover of Business Objects. This acquisition expanded SAP's Product Suite of Business Intelligence
(BI) solutions and increased the customer installed base to 89,000.
In February 2009 SAP AG, which invested in Coghead
, purchased the start-up’s intellectual property. SAP will only be using the company’s technology as an internal resource and has no plans to offer Coghead’s products to its customers.
In May 2010 SAP AG announced that it is buying the database software maker Sybase
for US$ 5.8 billion in cash. The deal closed at the end of July 2010. Sybase will continue to run as a separate, independent unit but will be leveraged across the other SAP areas.
As of July 2010 TechniData is a 100% subsidiary of SAP AG.
In October 2010, SAP AG announced the release of SAP HANA 1.0 (High-performance Analytics Appliance), an in-memory appliance for Business Intelligence allowing real-time analytics.
SAP Enterprise Learning (environment) is an enhancement of the previous version of the learning management system, SAP Learning Solution 600. Apart from the features in SAP Learning Solution 600, SAP Enterprise Learning (environment) contains a virtual learning room feature powered by Adobe Connect. SAP officials say there are over 100,600 SAP installations serving more than 41,200 companies in more than 25 industries in more than 120 countries.
An example installation can be experienced in the SAP Learning on Demand Portal. SAP uses this for delivering SAP Online training as a Learning on Demand offering. Some of this content is available as free e-learning, e.g. as e-books or simulations.
SAP Press has published a book on SAP Enterprise Learning.
Solution extensions partners: this is a small number of companies which provide functionality that complements SAP solution capabilities.
These enhancements fulfill high quality standards and are certified, sold and supported by SAP directly.
These partner companies include Adobe
, CA Technologies, Hewlett-Packard
, IDS Scheer
, OpenText, Nakisa, Inc, ICON-SCM
, Prometheus Group and SmartOps.
, a $6 b technology service provider, headquartered in India. SAP PartnerEdge has also signed with Enfos Inc, a software as a service company, to develop their EcoHub Partner Sustainability Solution platform. The SAP PartnerEdge program, SAP's partner program, offers a set of business enablement resources and program benefits to help partners including value added resellers (VARs) and independent software vendors (ISVs) be profitable and successful in implementing, selling, marketing, developing and delivering SAP solutions to a broad range of customers.
Gartner
states that SAP PartnerEdge has "set a new standard for innovation in channel development for the small and midsize business application market."
is a community of developers, consultants, integrators, and business analysts gaining and sharing knowledge about ABAP
, Java, .NET, SOA, and other technologies via expert blogs, discussion forums, exclusive downloads and code samples, training materials, and a technical library. The Business Process Exper] (BPX) Community is a collaborative environment for business process experts to share information, experiences and best practices to leverage enterprise SOA to increase business agility and IT value.
The SAP Enterprise Services Community serves as a platform for members from customers, industry experts and partners working collaboratively to define enterprise services.
Industry Value Networks (IVN) bring together customers, partners and SAP to co-innovate and develop solutions to solve industry-specific customer challenges. There are currently eleven active IVNs (e.g. Banking, Chemicals, Consumer Products, High Tech, Public Sector, Retail).
Another important aspect of the SAP Community Network is the Career Center. By facilitating targeted recruitment, the Career Center acts as the free source of jobs and talent for SAP's partners, customers and vendors.
organization of the parent company. SAP has its development organization spread across the globe. As of Jan, 2011, but not all, labs locations host SAP Research groups.
The labs are located in Germany, France, Bulgaria and Hungary in Europe; Palo Alto
, USA; Bangalore
and Gurgaon
, India; São Leopoldo
, Brazil; Ra'anana
and Karmiel
, Israel; Montreal
and Vancouver
, Canada and Shanghai
, China. SAP Labs India is the largest development unit in terms of number of employees outside the SAP headquarters located in Walldorf
, Germany.
Each SAP Lab has prominent area of expertise and focus. SAP Labs in Sofia
, Bulgaria for example specializes in development of Java based SAP software products. Whereas, SAP Labs in Palo Alto, California
is famous for its focus on innovation and research.
SAP opened in June, 2009 its new SAP Labs campus in Brazil, representing the first SAP Labs Center in Latin America and the eighth worldwide. The facility is located in São Leopoldo
, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul
and employs 375 people. Of particular note are the building’s structure and interior, which are composed entirely of environmentally friendly materials. Since these materials were not available in Brazil, constructing the facility did not come cheap for SAP. However, Erwin Rezelman – director of SAP Labs Latin America – emphasizes that the project was an effort not only to create a "green house" in Latin America, but also to design offices with a pleasant work atmosphere.
SAP Labs Latin America has just received Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certification for the building.
(ASUG), the German speaking SAP User Group (DSAG), the SAP Australian User Group (SAUG) and the SAP UK & Ireland User Group. Further SAP User Groups can be found at the List of SAP Users' Groups.
In 2007, the SAP User Group Executive Network (SUGEN) has been established to foster the information exchange and best practice sharing among SAP User Groups and to coordinate the collaboration with SAP for strategic topics.
SAP TechEd is the more technical conference, aimed at SAP's ecosystem of consultants and software development partners. SAP TechEd has been held since 1995, and it usually held in four locations around the world every year in the fall. Technical sessions and workshops are held during the conference, as well as Birds of a Feather sessions, and a developer's competition: DemoJam. An associated one-day Unconference event, Community Day, was initiated in 2006 for the SAP Developer Network (SDN). In 2008 a Community Day program was added to address the Business Process Expert (BPX) community.
Oracle Corporation
, SAP's major competitor, filed a case against SAP for malpractice and unfair competition in the California courts on 22 March 2007. In Oracle Corporation v. SAP AG
Oracle alleged that a Texas subsidiary, SAP TN (formerly TomorrowNow
before purchase by SAP), which provided discount support for legacy Oracle product lines, used the accounts of former Oracle customers to systematically download patches and support documents from Oracle's website and appropriated them for SAP's use. Later SAP admitted wrong-doing on smaller scale than Oracle claimed in the lawsuit. SAP has admitted to inappropriate downloads; however the company denies the theft of any intellectual property.
SAP claims to grow organically in contrast to its main rival, Oracle, which has spent close to US$40B during 2004–2010 acquiring many competitors. SAP was able to increase its annual profits by 370% since 2002.
In something of a departure from its usual organic growth, SAP announced in October 2007 that it would acquire Business Objects
, a market leader in business intelligence software, for $6.8B.
SAP provoked controversy and frustration among its users in 2008 by raising the cost of its maintenance contracts. The issue was the subject of intense discussion among user groups.
The resulting pressure saw SAP and SUGEN (SAP User Group Executive Network) agree to a major benchmarking exercise to prove the value of the new support pricing policy to customers. In December 2009, SAP delayed its Enterprise Support price rises until agreement had been reached on the benchmarks and KPIs (Key Performance Indicators).
In January 2010 SAP did a U-turn on Enterprise Support and reintroduced its standard support package for customers, saying the move was “a demonstration of its commitment to customer satisfaction”. The move to reinstate standard support – at 18 percent of annual license fees, “will enable all customers to choose the option that best meets their requirements,” the company said. SAP has also announced that it is freezing prices for existing SAP Enterprise Support contracts at 2009 level.
Aris Global
CA
Conformia Development
Epic Data
ESRI
FRS Global
Greenlight
HCL
Implico
InQuira
Invensys Wonderware
KSS Fuels
Meridium
NRX Global
Open Text
Oracle
ORSoft
OSIsoft MDUS
Oversight Systems
Prologa
Questra
Quorom
RIB Software
SPSS
StreamServe (Open Text)
TechniData cFP
Triple Point
Verint Systems
Vision Chain
Visiprise
Werum Software Systems
Wipro
zetVisions
Enterprise software
Enterprise software, also known as enterprise application software , is software used in organizations, such as in a business or government, contrary to software chosen by individuals...
to manage business operations and customer relations. Headquartered in Walldorf
Walldorf
Walldorf is a town in the Rhein-Neckar-Kreis of Baden-Württemberg in Germany.Walldorf is currently probably best known as the city that headquarters the world's third largest software company SAP, but it is also the birthplace of the millionaire John Jacob Astor, at the time of his death the...
, Baden-Württemberg, with regional offices around the world, SAP is the market leader in enterprise application software. The company's best known products are its enterprise resource planning application (SAP ERP
SAP ERP
The SAP ERP application is an integrated enterprise resource planning software manufactured by SAP AG that targets business software requirements of midsize and large organizations in all industries and sectors...
), SAP BusinessObjects software, and most recently, Sybase mobile products and in-memory computing appliance SAP HANA.
History
SAP was founded in June 1972 as ("System Analysis and Program Development") by five former IBMIBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
engineers in Mannheim
Mannheim
Mannheim is a city in southwestern Germany. With about 315,000 inhabitants, Mannheim is the second-largest city in the Bundesland of Baden-Württemberg, following the capital city of Stuttgart....
, Baden-Württemberg (Dietmar Hopp
Dietmar Hopp
Dietmar Hopp is a German software entrepreneur. He was one of the founders of SAP AG in 1972 with other former IBM employees Hans Werner Hector, Klaus Tschira, Claus Wellenreuther and Hasso Plattner...
, Klaus Tschira
Klaus Tschira
Klaus Tschira is a german entrepreneur. After gaining his physics diploma and working at IBM, he co-founded the German software giant SAP AG in 1972 in Walldorf, Germany together with Hans-Werner Hector, Dietmar Hopp, Hasso Plattner and Claus Wellenreuther...
, Hans-Werner Hector, Hasso Plattner
Hasso Plattner
Hasso Plattner is a cofounder of software giant SAP AG. Today he is Chairman of the Supervisory Board of SAP AG.- Biography :Hasso Plattner is a German entrepreneur...
, and Claus Wellenreuther).
The acronym was later changed to stand for ("Systems, Applications and Products in Data Processing").
As part of the Xerox
Xerox
Xerox Corporation is an American multinational document management corporation that produced and sells a range of color and black-and-white printers, multifunction systems, photo copiers, digital production printing presses, and related consulting services and supplies...
exit strategy from the computer industry, Xerox retained IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
to migrate their business systems to IBM technology. As part of IBM's compensation for the migration, IBM acquired the SDS/SAPE software, reportedly for a contract credit of $80,000. The SAPE software was given by IBM to the founding ex-IBM employees in exchange for founding stock provided to IBM, reportedly 8%. Imperial Chemical Industries
Imperial Chemical Industries
Imperial Chemical Industries was a British chemical company, taken over by AkzoNobel, a Dutch conglomerate, one of the largest chemical producers in the world. In its heyday, ICI was the largest manufacturing company in the British Empire, and commonly regarded as a "bellwether of the British...
(ICI) was SAP's first ever customer in 1972.
In 1973 the SAP R/1 solution was launched. Six years later, in 1979, SAP launched SAP R/2. In 1981, SAP brought a re-designed product to market. However, SAP did not improve until the period between 1985 and 1990. SAP developed and released several versions of R/3 in 1992 through 1995. By the mid-1990s, SAP followed the trend from mainframe computing to client-server architectures. The development of SAP’s internet strategy with mySAP.com redesigned the concept of business processes (integration via Internet). SAP was awarded Industry Week’s Best Managed Companies in 1999.
In 1976, "SAP GmbH" founded, and moved its headquarters the following year to Walldorf
Walldorf
Walldorf is a town in the Rhein-Neckar-Kreis of Baden-Württemberg in Germany.Walldorf is currently probably best known as the city that headquarters the world's third largest software company SAP, but it is also the birthplace of the millionaire John Jacob Astor, at the time of his death the...
. SAP AG became the company's official name after the 2005 annual general meeting
Annual general meeting
An annual general meeting is a meeting that official bodies, and associations involving the public , are often required by law to hold...
. AG is short for Aktiengesellschaft
Aktiengesellschaft
Aktiengesellschaft is a German term that refers to a corporation that is limited by shares, i.e. owned by shareholders, and may be traded on a stock market. The term is used in Germany, Austria and Switzerland...
(corporation).
In August 1988, SAP GmbH transferred into SAP AG (a corporation by German law), and public trading started 4 November. Shares are listed on the Frankfurt and Stuttgart stock exchanges.
In 1995, SAP was included in the German stock index DAX
DAX
The DAX is a blue chip stock market index consisting of the 30 major German companies trading on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. Prices are taken from the electronic Xetra trading system...
. On 22 September 2003, SAP was included in the Dow Jones STOXX 50. In 1991, Prof. Dr. Henning Kagermann joined the board; Dr. Peter Zencke became a board member in 1993. Claus Heinrich, and Gerhard Oswald have been members of the SAP Executive Board since 1996. Two years later, in 1998, the first change at the helm took place. Dietmar Hopp and Klaus Tschira moved to the supervisory board and Dietmar Hopp was appointed Chairman of the supervisory board. Henning Kagermann was appointed as Co-Chairman and CEO of SAP next to Hasso Plattner. Werner Brandt joined SAP in 2001 as a member of the SAP Executive Board and Chief Financial Officer. Léo Apotheker
Leo Apotheker
Léo Apotheker is the former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, having served in that position from November 2010 to 22nd September 2011, and the former CEO of SAP AG, having served in that position from April 2008 to February 2010...
was a member of the SAP Executive Board and president of Global Customer Solutions & Operations from 2002, and was appointed Deputy CEO in 2007. Apotheker became co-CEO alongside Kagermann in 2008.
Henning Kagermann became the sole CEO of SAP in 2003. In February 2007, his contract was extended until 2009. After continuous disputes over the responsibility of the development organization, Shai Agassi
Shai Agassi
Shai Agassi is an Israeli entrepreneur. He is the founder and CEO of Better Place, which has developed a model and infrastructure for employing electric cars as an alternative to fossil fuel technology. Agassi was President of the Products and Technology Group at SAP AG...
, a member of the executive board who had been named as a potential successor to Kagermann, left the organization.
In April 2008, along with the announcement of Apotheker as co-CEO, the SAP supervisory board also appointed three new members to the SAP Executive Board, effective 1 July 2008: Corporate Officers Erwin Gunst, Bill McDermott, and Jim Hagemann Snabe. With the retirement of Kagermann in May 2009, Apotheker took over as the sole CEO. He was replaced by new co-CEOs Bill McDermott, head of field organization, and Jim Hagemann Snabe, head of product development, effective 7 February,
In November, 2010, SAP lost a $1.3 billion intellectual property law suit (related to the actions of the SAP subsidiary TomorrowNow
TomorrowNow
TomorrowNow was founded in December 1998 by Andrew Nelson and Seth Ravin, to provide upgrade and technical service to PeopleSoft licensees with large, complex environments...
) to Oracle Corporation
Oracle Corporation
Oracle Corporation is an American multinational computer technology corporation that specializes in developing and marketing hardware systems and enterprise software products – particularly database management systems...
– cited as the largest software piracy judgment in history. SAP intends to file post-trial motions to lower the damage awarded to Oracle and stated it may also file an appeal. On 9 September, 2011, the verdict was overturned by Judge Phyllis J. Hamilton, who called penalty "grossly excessive."
Partnerships with educational institutions
In 1988 SAP began partnerships with educational institutions around the world. The initial partnerships were with educational institutions in Germany, but in 1995 SAP rolled out the SAP University Alliances Program (SAP UAP) in the America. The first university member in the Americas was California State University, Chico (CSU, Chi CSU, Chico began the partnership with SAP in 1995 and became the founding member of the SAP UAP in 1996. Since that time the SAP UAP has grown to more than 1000 educational institutions around the world and more than 200 in North America at this time (2011). Currently (2011) more than 250,000 students around the world have access to a SAP system through the SAP University Alliances.Business and markets
It operates in four geographic regions: EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa), AMERICA (United States and Canada), LAC (Latin America and Caribbean), and APJ (Asia Pacific and Japan), which represents Japan, Korea, Australia and New Zealand, India, Greater China, and Southeast Asian countries. In addition, SAP operates a network of 115 subsidiaries, and has R&D (Research & Development) facilities around the globe in Germany, India, the US, Canada, France, Brazil, Turkey, China, Hungary, Israel, Ireland and Bulgaria.
SAP focuses on six industry sectors: process industries, discrete industries, consumer industries, service industries, financial services, and public services. It offers more than 25 industry solution portfolios for large enterprises and more than 550 micro-vertical solutions for midsize companies and small businesses.
Enterprise Service-Oriented Architecture
Service-oriented architectureService-oriented architecture
In software engineering, a Service-Oriented Architecture is a set of principles and methodologies for designing and developing software in the form of interoperable services. These services are well-defined business functionalities that are built as software components that can be reused for...
moves the ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning
Enterprise resource planning
Enterprise resource planning systems integrate internal and external management information across an entire organization, embracing finance/accounting, manufacturing, sales and service, customer relationship management, etc. ERP systems automate this activity with an integrated software application...
) landscape toward software-based and web services-based business activities. This move increases adaptability, flexibility, openness, and efficiency. The move towards E-SOA helps companies reuse software components and not rely as much on in-house ERP hardware technologies, which makes ERP adoption more attractive to small and mid-sized companies.
According to a press fact sheet from SAP, "SAP is the only enterprise applications software vendor that is both building service-orientation directly into its solutions and providing a technology platform SAP NetWeaver and guidance to support companies in the development of their own service-oriented architectures spanning both SAP and non-SAP solutions."
E-SOA Authentication
SAP E-SOA, client certificate-based authentication is the only authentication method (besides username/password) and the only Single Sign-OnSingle sign-on
Single sign-on is a property of access control of multiple related, but independent software systems. With this property a user logs in once and gains access to all systems without being prompted to log in again at each of them...
method to be supported across all SAP technologies. Kerberos and logon tickets, for example, are not compatible with SAP service-oriented architecture.
Products
SAP's products focus on Enterprise Resource PlanningEnterprise resource planning
Enterprise resource planning systems integrate internal and external management information across an entire organization, embracing finance/accounting, manufacturing, sales and service, customer relationship management, etc. ERP systems automate this activity with an integrated software application...
(ERP). The company's main product is SAP ERP
SAP ERP
The SAP ERP application is an integrated enterprise resource planning software manufactured by SAP AG that targets business software requirements of midsize and large organizations in all industries and sectors...
. The current version is SAP ERP 6.0 and is part of the SAP Business Suite. Its previous name was R/3. The "R" of SAP R/3
SAP R/3
SAP R/3 is the former name of the main enterprise resource planning software produced by SAP AG. It is an enterprise-wide information system designed to coordinate all the resources, information, and activities needed to complete business processes such as order fulfillment or billing.- History of...
stood for realtime – even though it is not a realtime solution. The number 3 related to the 3-tier architecture: database
Database
A database is an organized collection of data for one or more purposes, usually in digital form. The data are typically organized to model relevant aspects of reality , in a way that supports processes requiring this information...
, application server
Application server
An application server is a software framework that provides an environment in which applications can run, no matter what the applications are or what they do...
and client
Thin client
A thin client is a computer or a computer program which depends heavily on some other computer to fulfill its traditional computational roles. This stands in contrast to the traditional fat client, a computer designed to take on these roles by itself...
(SAPgui
SAPgui
SAPGUI is the GUI client in SAP R/3's 3-tier architecture of database, application server and client. It is software that runs on a Microsoft Windows, Apple Macintosh or Unix desktop, and allows a user to access SAP functionality in SAP applications such as SAP ERP and SAP Business Information...
). R/2
SAP R/2
SAP R/2 is a real-time enterprise resource planning software produced by SAP.SAP R/2 followed the company's first product, a materials management module called RM/1...
, which ran on a Mainframe
Mainframe computer
Mainframes are powerful computers used primarily by corporate and governmental organizations for critical applications, bulk data processing such as census, industry and consumer statistics, enterprise resource planning, and financial transaction processing.The term originally referred to the...
architecture, was the predecessor of R/3. Before R/2 came System RF, later dubbed R/1.
SAP ERP is one of five enterprise applications in SAP's Business Suite
Business Suite
A business suite is a set of business software functions enabling the core business and business support processes inside and beyond the boundaries of an organization.- Overview :...
. The other four applications are:
- Customer Relationship ManagementCustomer relationship managementCustomer relationship management is a widely implemented strategy for managing a company’s interactions with customers, clients and sales prospects. It involves using technology to organize, automate, and synchronize business processes—principally sales activities, but also those for marketing,...
(CRM) – helps companies acquire and retain customers, gain marketing and customer insight - Product Lifecycle ManagementProduct lifecycle managementIn industry, product lifecycle management is the process of managing the entire lifecycle of a product from its conception, through design and manufacture, to service and disposal...
(PLM) – helps manufacturers with product-related information - Supply Chain ManagementSupply chain managementSupply chain management is the management of a network of interconnected businesses involved in the ultimate provision of product and service packages required by end customers...
(SCM) – helps companies with the process of resourcing its manufacturing and service processes - Supplier Relationship ManagementSupplier relationship management“SRM is a discipline of working collaboratively with those suppliers that are vital to the success of your organisation to maximise the potential value of those relationships.” - Reference - Overview :...
(SRM) – enables companies to procure from suppliers
Other major product offerings include: the NetWeaver platform, Governance, Risk and Compliance
Governance, Risk Management, and Compliance
Governance, Risk Management, and Compliance or GRC is the umbrella term covering an organization's approach across these three areas. Being closely related concerns, governance, risk and compliance activities are increasingly being integrated and aligned to some extent in order to avoid conflicts,...
(GRC) solutions, Duet (joint offering with Microsoft), Performance Management solutions and RFID. SAP offers service-oriented architecture
Service-oriented architecture
In software engineering, a Service-Oriented Architecture is a set of principles and methodologies for designing and developing software in the form of interoperable services. These services are well-defined business functionalities that are built as software components that can be reused for...
capabilities (calling it Enterprise SOA) in the form of web services that are wrapped around its applications.
While its original products were typically used by Fortune 500
Fortune 500
The Fortune 500 is an annual list compiled and published by Fortune magazine that ranks the top 500 U.S. closely held and public corporations as ranked by their gross revenue after adjustments made by Fortune to exclude the impact of excise taxes companies collect. The list includes publicly and...
companies, SAP now actively targets small and medium sized enterprises (SME) with its SAP Business One
SAP Business One
SAP Business One is an integrated enterprise resource planning solution for small and medium-sized businesses, as well as divisions and subsidiaries of larger companies. Produced by SAP, the solution is intended to assist companies by providing support for sales, customer relationships, inventory,...
and SAP Business All-in-One.
On 19 September 2007 SAP announced a new product named SAP Business ByDesign
SAP Business ByDesign
SAP Business ByDesign is a fully integrated on-demand Enterprise Resource Planning and business management software solution for small and medium sized enterprises . It is a complete Software as a Service offering from SAP AG based at Walldorf, Germany.-Software-as-a-Service :SAP Business...
. SAP Business ByDesign
SAP Business ByDesign
SAP Business ByDesign is a fully integrated on-demand Enterprise Resource Planning and business management software solution for small and medium sized enterprises . It is a complete Software as a Service offering from SAP AG based at Walldorf, Germany.-Software-as-a-Service :SAP Business...
is a software as a service (SaaS) offering, and provides a fully integrated enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution, On Demand. SAP Business ByDesign
SAP Business ByDesign
SAP Business ByDesign is a fully integrated on-demand Enterprise Resource Planning and business management software solution for small and medium sized enterprises . It is a complete Software as a Service offering from SAP AG based at Walldorf, Germany.-Software-as-a-Service :SAP Business...
was previously known under the code name "A1S".
In October 2007, SAP AG announced the friendly takeover of Business Objects. This acquisition expanded SAP's Product Suite of Business Intelligence
Business intelligence
Business intelligence mainly refers to computer-based techniques used in identifying, extracting, and analyzing business data, such as sales revenue by products and/or departments, or by associated costs and incomes....
(BI) solutions and increased the customer installed base to 89,000.
In February 2009 SAP AG, which invested in Coghead
Coghead
Coghead was a web application company based out of Redwood City, California. The company offered a Web-based service for building and hosting custom online database applications. Applications were built around custom data collections and are typically designed to facilitate management of, and...
, purchased the start-up’s intellectual property. SAP will only be using the company’s technology as an internal resource and has no plans to offer Coghead’s products to its customers.
In May 2010 SAP AG announced that it is buying the database software maker Sybase
Sybase
Sybase, an SAP company, is an enterprise software and services company offering software to manage, analyze, and mobilize information, using relational databases, analytics and data warehousing solutions and mobile applications development platforms....
for US$ 5.8 billion in cash. The deal closed at the end of July 2010. Sybase will continue to run as a separate, independent unit but will be leveraged across the other SAP areas.
As of July 2010 TechniData is a 100% subsidiary of SAP AG.
In October 2010, SAP AG announced the release of SAP HANA 1.0 (High-performance Analytics Appliance), an in-memory appliance for Business Intelligence allowing real-time analytics.
SAP Enterprise Learning (environment) is an enhancement of the previous version of the learning management system, SAP Learning Solution 600. Apart from the features in SAP Learning Solution 600, SAP Enterprise Learning (environment) contains a virtual learning room feature powered by Adobe Connect. SAP officials say there are over 100,600 SAP installations serving more than 41,200 companies in more than 25 industries in more than 120 countries.
An example installation can be experienced in the SAP Learning on Demand Portal. SAP uses this for delivering SAP Online training as a Learning on Demand offering. Some of this content is available as free e-learning, e.g. as e-books or simulations.
SAP Press has published a book on SAP Enterprise Learning.
Partnerships
SAP partners include Global Services Partners with cross-industry multinational consulting capabilities, Global Software Partners providing integrated products that complement SAP Business Suite solutions, and Global Technology Partners providing user companies with a wide range of products to support SAP technology, including vendors of hardware, database, storage systems, networks, and mobile computing technology.Solution extensions partners: this is a small number of companies which provide functionality that complements SAP solution capabilities.
These enhancements fulfill high quality standards and are certified, sold and supported by SAP directly.
These partner companies include Adobe
Adobe
Adobe is a natural building material made from sand, clay, water, and some kind of fibrous or organic material , which the builders shape into bricks using frames and dry in the sun. Adobe buildings are similar to cob and mudbrick buildings. Adobe structures are extremely durable, and account for...
, CA Technologies, Hewlett-Packard
Hewlett-Packard
Hewlett-Packard Company or HP is an American multinational information technology corporation headquartered in Palo Alto, California, USA that provides products, technologies, softwares, solutions and services to consumers, small- and medium-sized businesses and large enterprises, including...
, IDS Scheer
IDS Scheer
IDS Scheer develops, markets, and supports Business Process Management software and is widely regarded as the founder of the BPM industry. The company was established in 1984 by current supervisory board chairman and Chief Technology Advisor, August-Wilhelm Scheer as a spin-off from the Institute...
, OpenText, Nakisa, Inc, ICON-SCM
ICON-SCM
ICON-SCM is a supply chain solution provider located in Karlsruhe , San Jose and Thiruvananthapuram. The company was founded in 1992 by Dr. Michael Keppler and Dr...
, Prometheus Group and SmartOps.
SAP PartnerEdge
SAP solutions for small businesses and midsize companies are delivered through its global partner network. In 2008, SAP signed SAP Global Service partnership with HCL TechnologiesHCL Technologies
HCL Technologies Limited is a leading global IT services company headquartered in Noida, India. It is primarily engaged in providing a range of software services, business process outsourcing and infrastructure services. HCL Technologies is fourth largest IT company in India and is ranked 48 in...
, a $6 b technology service provider, headquartered in India. SAP PartnerEdge has also signed with Enfos Inc, a software as a service company, to develop their EcoHub Partner Sustainability Solution platform. The SAP PartnerEdge program, SAP's partner program, offers a set of business enablement resources and program benefits to help partners including value added resellers (VARs) and independent software vendors (ISVs) be profitable and successful in implementing, selling, marketing, developing and delivering SAP solutions to a broad range of customers.
Gartner
Gartner
Gartner, Inc. is an information technology research and advisory firm headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, United States. It was known as GartnerGroup until 2001....
states that SAP PartnerEdge has "set a new standard for innovation in channel development for the small and midsize business application market."
Communities
SAP Developer Network (SDN)SAP Developer Network
SAP Developer Network is an online community for SAP developers. It is a resource and collaboration channel for SAP developers, architects, consultants and integrators. SDN Hosts forums, expert blogs, a technical library, downloads, a code gallery, Elearning catalog , a Wiki and more...
is a community of developers, consultants, integrators, and business analysts gaining and sharing knowledge about ABAP
ABAP
ABAP , is a high-level programming language created by the German software company SAP...
, Java, .NET, SOA, and other technologies via expert blogs, discussion forums, exclusive downloads and code samples, training materials, and a technical library. The Business Process Exper] (BPX) Community is a collaborative environment for business process experts to share information, experiences and best practices to leverage enterprise SOA to increase business agility and IT value.
The SAP Enterprise Services Community serves as a platform for members from customers, industry experts and partners working collaboratively to define enterprise services.
Industry Value Networks (IVN) bring together customers, partners and SAP to co-innovate and develop solutions to solve industry-specific customer challenges. There are currently eleven active IVNs (e.g. Banking, Chemicals, Consumer Products, High Tech, Public Sector, Retail).
Another important aspect of the SAP Community Network is the Career Center. By facilitating targeted recruitment, the Career Center acts as the free source of jobs and talent for SAP's partners, customers and vendors.
Organization
Functional units of SAP are split across different organizational units for R&D needs, field activities and customer support. SAP Labs are mainly responsible for product development where as the field organizations spread across each country are responsible for field activities such Sales, Marketing, Consulting etc. Head office located in SAP AG is responsible for overall management as well as core Engineering activities related to Product Development. SAP customer support, also called Active Global Support (AGS) is a global organization to provide support to SAP customers worldwide.SAP Labs locations
SAP Labs is the research and developmentResearch and development
The phrase research and development , according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, refers to "creative work undertaken on a systematic basis in order to increase the stock of knowledge, including knowledge of man, culture and society, and the use of this stock of...
organization of the parent company. SAP has its development organization spread across the globe. As of Jan, 2011, but not all, labs locations host SAP Research groups.
The labs are located in Germany, France, Bulgaria and Hungary in Europe; Palo Alto
Palo Alto, California
Palo Alto is a California charter city located in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, United States. The city shares its borders with East Palo Alto, Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Stanford, Portola Valley, and Menlo Park. It is...
, USA; Bangalore
Bangalore
Bengaluru , formerly called Bengaluru is the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. Bangalore is nicknamed the Garden City and was once called a pensioner's paradise. Located on the Deccan Plateau in the south-eastern part of Karnataka, Bangalore is India's third most populous city and...
and Gurgaon
Gurgaon
Gurgaon is the second largest city in the Indian state of Haryana. Gurgaon is the industrial and financial center of Haryana. It is located 30 km south of national capital New Delhi, about 10 kilometers from Dwarka Sub City and 268 km south of Chandigarh, the state capital...
, India; São Leopoldo
São Leopoldo
São Leopoldo is an important Brazilian industrial city located in the south state of Rio Grande do Sul. It occupies a total area of 103.9 km² at circa 30 km from the State Capital, Porto Alegre. Climate is sub-tropical, with temperatures varying from 2°C minimum at Winter to more than...
, Brazil; Ra'anana
Ra'anana
Ra'anana is a city in the heart of the southern Sharon Plain of the Central District of Israel with a population of 68,300, . Ra'anana is bordered by Kfar Sava on the east and Herzliya on the southwest...
and Karmiel
Karmiel
Karmiel is a city in northern Israel. Established in 1964 as a development town, Karmiel is located in the Beit HaKerem Valley which divides upper and lower Galilee. The city is located south of the Acre-Safed road, from Safed and from Acre...
, Israel; Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
and Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
, Canada and Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
, China. SAP Labs India is the largest development unit in terms of number of employees outside the SAP headquarters located in Walldorf
Walldorf
Walldorf is a town in the Rhein-Neckar-Kreis of Baden-Württemberg in Germany.Walldorf is currently probably best known as the city that headquarters the world's third largest software company SAP, but it is also the birthplace of the millionaire John Jacob Astor, at the time of his death the...
, Germany.
Each SAP Lab has prominent area of expertise and focus. SAP Labs in Sofia
Sofia
Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 12th largest city in the European Union with a population of 1.27 million people. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of Mount Vitosha and approximately at the centre of the Balkan Peninsula.Prehistoric settlements were excavated...
, Bulgaria for example specializes in development of Java based SAP software products. Whereas, SAP Labs in Palo Alto, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
is famous for its focus on innovation and research.
SAP opened in June, 2009 its new SAP Labs campus in Brazil, representing the first SAP Labs Center in Latin America and the eighth worldwide. The facility is located in São Leopoldo
São Leopoldo
São Leopoldo is an important Brazilian industrial city located in the south state of Rio Grande do Sul. It occupies a total area of 103.9 km² at circa 30 km from the State Capital, Porto Alegre. Climate is sub-tropical, with temperatures varying from 2°C minimum at Winter to more than...
, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul
Rio Grande do Sul
Rio Grande do Sul is the southernmost state in Brazil, and the state with the fifth highest Human Development Index in the country. In this state is located the southernmost city in the country, Chuí, on the border with Uruguay. In the region of Bento Gonçalves and Caxias do Sul, the largest wine...
and employs 375 people. Of particular note are the building’s structure and interior, which are composed entirely of environmentally friendly materials. Since these materials were not available in Brazil, constructing the facility did not come cheap for SAP. However, Erwin Rezelman – director of SAP Labs Latin America – emphasizes that the project was an effort not only to create a "green house" in Latin America, but also to design offices with a pleasant work atmosphere.
SAP Labs Latin America has just received Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certification for the building.
User groups
User Groups are independent, not-for-profit organizations of SAP customer companies and partners within the SAP Ecosystem that provide education to their members, influence SAP product releases and direction, exchange best practices, and provide insight into the market needs. Examples of User Groups are the Americas' SAP Users' GroupAmericas' SAP Users' Group
- History :In 1990, SAP customers who attended the SAP annual conference “SAPPHIRE”met to form an SAP users' group. In 1991, the Americas' SAP Users' Group was created and now ranks as the largest independent, not-for-profit organization of SAP customer companies and SAP solution providers in the...
(ASUG), the German speaking SAP User Group (DSAG), the SAP Australian User Group (SAUG) and the SAP UK & Ireland User Group. Further SAP User Groups can be found at the List of SAP Users' Groups.
In 2007, the SAP User Group Executive Network (SUGEN) has been established to foster the information exchange and best practice sharing among SAP User Groups and to coordinate the collaboration with SAP for strategic topics.
Conferences
SAP has two annual conferences: SAPPHIRE and SAP TechEd. SAPPHIRE is SAP's customer-facing event. It is generally where SAP has announced major product changes and strategic direction. It is typically held annually in the spring, in both North American and Europe.SAP TechEd is the more technical conference, aimed at SAP's ecosystem of consultants and software development partners. SAP TechEd has been held since 1995, and it usually held in four locations around the world every year in the fall. Technical sessions and workshops are held during the conference, as well as Birds of a Feather sessions, and a developer's competition: DemoJam. An associated one-day Unconference event, Community Day, was initiated in 2006 for the SAP Developer Network (SDN). In 2008 a Community Day program was added to address the Business Process Expert (BPX) community.
Competitive landscape
SAP competitors are primarily in the Enterprise Resource Planning Software industry. SAP also competes in the Customer Relationship Management, Marketing & Sales Software, Manufacturing, Warehousing & Industrial Software, and Supply Chain Management & Logistics Software sectors.Oracle Corporation
Oracle Corporation
Oracle Corporation is an American multinational computer technology corporation that specializes in developing and marketing hardware systems and enterprise software products – particularly database management systems...
, SAP's major competitor, filed a case against SAP for malpractice and unfair competition in the California courts on 22 March 2007. In Oracle Corporation v. SAP AG
Oracle Corporation v. SAP AG
Oracle Corp v. SAP AG, 07-01658, is a United States District Court for the Northern District of California case in which Oracle sued SAP, alleging that SAP had engaged in copyright infringement by downloading thousands of copyrighted documents and programs from Oracle's Customer Connection website...
Oracle alleged that a Texas subsidiary, SAP TN (formerly TomorrowNow
TomorrowNow
TomorrowNow was founded in December 1998 by Andrew Nelson and Seth Ravin, to provide upgrade and technical service to PeopleSoft licensees with large, complex environments...
before purchase by SAP), which provided discount support for legacy Oracle product lines, used the accounts of former Oracle customers to systematically download patches and support documents from Oracle's website and appropriated them for SAP's use. Later SAP admitted wrong-doing on smaller scale than Oracle claimed in the lawsuit. SAP has admitted to inappropriate downloads; however the company denies the theft of any intellectual property.
SAP claims to grow organically in contrast to its main rival, Oracle, which has spent close to US$40B during 2004–2010 acquiring many competitors. SAP was able to increase its annual profits by 370% since 2002.
In something of a departure from its usual organic growth, SAP announced in October 2007 that it would acquire Business Objects
Business Objects (company)
SAP Business Objects is a French enterprise software company, specializing in business intelligence . Since 2007, it has been a part of SAP AG. The company claimed more than 46,000 customers worldwide in its final earnings release...
, a market leader in business intelligence software, for $6.8B.
SAP provoked controversy and frustration among its users in 2008 by raising the cost of its maintenance contracts. The issue was the subject of intense discussion among user groups.
The resulting pressure saw SAP and SUGEN (SAP User Group Executive Network) agree to a major benchmarking exercise to prove the value of the new support pricing policy to customers. In December 2009, SAP delayed its Enterprise Support price rises until agreement had been reached on the benchmarks and KPIs (Key Performance Indicators).
In January 2010 SAP did a U-turn on Enterprise Support and reintroduced its standard support package for customers, saying the move was “a demonstration of its commitment to customer satisfaction”. The move to reinstate standard support – at 18 percent of annual license fees, “will enable all customers to choose the option that best meets their requirements,” the company said. SAP has also announced that it is freezing prices for existing SAP Enterprise Support contracts at 2009 level.
SAP Endorsed Business Solutions (EBS)
One of SAP's highest partnership levels lead to a product being designated as an Endorsed Business Solution (EBS). Globally, only 33 companies are SAP Endorsed Business Solution providers. The EBS partnership is an invitation only partnership. These companies are:Aris Global
CA
Conformia Development
Epic Data
ESRI
FRS Global
Greenlight
HCL
Implico
InQuira
Invensys Wonderware
KSS Fuels
Meridium
NRX Global
Open Text
Oracle
ORSoft
OSIsoft MDUS
Oversight Systems
Prologa
Questra
Quorom
RIB Software
SPSS
StreamServe (Open Text)
TechniData cFP
Triple Point
Verint Systems
Vision Chain
Visiprise
Werum Software Systems
Wipro
zetVisions
See also
- List of SAP products
- SAP ImplementationSAP ImplementationSAP implementation is the whole of processes that defines a complete method to implement the SAP ERP enterprise resource planning software in an organization. The SAP implementation method described in this entry is a generic method and not a specific implementation method as such...
- List of ERP software packages
External links
- Official Website
- SAP Community Network (SAP Communities Gateway Page)