Special Edition Using SAP R/3, Third Edition

Special Edition Using SAP R/3, Third Edition - CH 3 - Exploring R/3 Architecture Page 6 of 26
What is needed is help in describing how things are done now, and help in arranging the system so
that it will work well in the future. The last thing an implementer wants is a host of problems with
computer code. The last thing a managing director wants is a wonderful system that does not do what
is necessary to support the business.
Two methods and the tools to apply them are built in to the SAP systems:
Enterprise data modeling, which helps you plot out where you are now and where you’re going.
Customizing, which allows you to adjust the standard business software so that it exactly fits
your future way of doing business. This is done without modifying any source code.
Enterprise Data Models
Input is processed to become output. This is a verbal model of a company. It is an information model,
even if it is not very informative.
Head office manages a purchasing department and a sales department. This is slightly more
informative but not really useful.
But suppose that you name all the work units--the activity centers in your company--and then write
down what each one does. Then you’re on the way to assembling a useful information model of your
enterprise.
Chapter 5, "Consulting the R/3 Reference Model," discusses how the system contains a complete
information model of itself that you can inspect in list format or explore in graphical presentation.
You can see how your model of your existing company’s business processes compares with the model
in the system.
Chapter 6, "Optimizing Business Processing," shows how this tool can guide you through the process
of designing a new system for your company that will work the first time, because all the standard
business functions you need to get started have been predefined and programmed so that they
integrate with each other.
Tools for Adapting Software
Another tool that is a fundamental part of the SAP concept and the R/3 system is the customizing
system. When you look at part of the R/3 Reference Model, you can recognize many business
functions that you already have in your operating departments, such as Sales and Production.
With the advice and support of the R/3 Analyzer, you can select the functions of interest from the R/3
Reference Model and start to build a system that fits your own situation and your target concept of
how you want things to be. This first edition of the target system could be run as it stands, because it
is made up of predefined standard business functions that are fully working and properly integrated
with each other.
But this system will not feel like your own tailor-made system. If you call for a list of your company’s
products, you will not see your specific products, because the system knows nothing about them. If
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