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SAP® R/3®
ENTERPRISEVERSION 1.0
SAP White Paper
© Copyright 2002 SAP AG. All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted
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of SAP AG. The information contained herein may be changed
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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
– Examples of new developments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Product Lifecycle Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
– Examples of new developments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Supply Chain Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
– Examples of new developments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 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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6
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
anet
I
nte
rnet
Collaboration
7
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
8
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
Enterprise PortalsmySAP Enterprise Portals
ExchangemySAP Exchanges
SRMmySAPSRM
HRmySAP
HR
SCMmySAPSCM
CRMmySAPCRM
PLMmySAP
PLM
FINmySAPFinan-cials
BImySAP
BI
3rdParty
PortalInfra-structure
ExchangeInfra-structure
SAP WebApplicationServer
10
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
Intr
anet
Extr
anet
I
nte
rnet
Collaboration
A
B
B
A
EnterpriseBusiness
• Master Data to Common Objects
• Redundant Processes toCollaborative Scenarios
B
A CollaborativeBusiness²
²
12
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
Enterprise PortalsmySAP Enterprise Portals
ExchangemySAP Exchanges
SRMmySAPSRM
HRmySAP
HR
SCMmySAPSCM
CRMmySAPCRM
PLMmySAP
PLM
FINmySAP
Financials
BImySAP
BI
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
SAP R/3EnterpriseExtensionSet 3.00
SAP R/3EnterpriseExtensionSet 1.10
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,
go to the SAP Service Marketplace at
http://service.sap.com/enterprise.
For detailed information on the new functions and where they
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.
Examples of new developments
Below are two examples of new developments in the area of
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
For an overview on the new functions of SAP R/3 Enterprise,
go to the SAP Service Marketplace at
http://service.sap.com/enterprise.
For detailed information on the new functions and where they
will reside (in the extensions or core of SAP R/3 Enterprise),
please see the Development News section on the SAP Service
Marketplace at http://service.sap.com/developmentnews.
Examples of new developments
Below are two examples of new developments in the area of
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
For an overview on the new functions of SAP R/3 Enterprise,
go to the SAP Service Marketplace at
http://service.sap.com/enterprise.
For detailed information on the new functions and where they
will reside (in the extensions or core of SAP R/3 Enterprise),
please see the Development News section on the SAP Service
Marketplace at http://service.sap.com/developmentnews.
Examples of new developments
Below are two examples of new developments in the area of
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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