1Overview

2Development

3Implementation

4Deployment and maintenance costs

5ERP advantages and disadvantages

6Releases

7See also

8References

9External links
Overview[edit]

SAP ERP is part of the applications in the SAP

Business Suite.
Development[edit]

SAP ERP was built based on the former SAP

R/3 software. SAP R/3, which was officially launched
on 6 July 1992, consisted of various applications on
top of SAP Basis, SAP's set ofmiddleware programs
and tools. All applications were built on top of
the SAP Web Application Server. Extension sets
were used to deliver new features and keep the core
as stable as possible. The Web Application Server
contained all the capabilities of SAP Basis.
A complete architecture change took place with the
introduction of mySAP ERP in 2004. R/3 Enterprise
was replaced with the introduction of ERP Central
Component (SAP ECC). The SAP Business
Warehouse, SAP Strategic Enterprise Management
and Internet Transaction Server were also merged
into SAP ECC, allowing users to run them under one
instance. The SAP Web Application Server was
wrapped into SAP NetWeaver, which was introduced
in 2003. Architectural changes were also made to
support an enterprise service architecture to
transition customers to a Service-oriented
architecture.[5]
The latest version, SAP ERP 6.0, was released in
2006. SAP ERP 6.0 has since then been updated
through SAP enhancement packs, the most recent:
SAP enhancement package 8 for SAP ERP 6.0 in
2016.
Implementation[edit]

SAP ERP consists of several modules, including

Financial Accounting (FI), Controlling (CO), Asset
Accounting (AA), Sales & Distribution (SD), Material
Management (MM), Product Planning (PP), Quality
Management (QM), Project System (PS), Plant
Maintenance (PM), Human Resources (HR).[6] SAP
ERP collects and combines data from the separate
modules to provide the company or organization
with enterprise resource planning.
Typical implementation phases:[7]

Phase 1 - Project Preparation

Phase 2 - Business Blueprint

Phase 3 - Realization

Phase 4 - Final Preparation

 Phase 5 - Golive Support
Companies planning to implement or upgrade an
SAP ERP system should pay strict attention to
system integration to save their SAP ERP
implementation from failure. With system integration
in place, data flows completely and correctly among
various SAP ERP components, thereby not only
streamlining business processes but also eliminating
or minimizing redundant data entry efforts.[8]
Analyst firm Gartner estimates that 55% to 75% of
all ERP projects fail to meet their objectivesOf the
top 10 barriers to a successful ERP journey, 5 can
be addressed by developing and implementing a
structured change management program.[1]
Deployment and maintenance costs[edit]

Effectively implemented SAP ERP systems have

cost benefits: