SAP BASIS Interview Questions

Advantages of BAPI in SAP

noreply@blogger.com (SAP BASIS Interview Questions) — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 07:45:00 +0000

1. SAP BAPIs provide developers with stable, reliable interfaces for accessing the functionality offered bySAP business objects.

2. BAPIs can reduce development cost by providing built in functionality through predefined methods of the SAP business objects. These methods can reduce programming time in development projects.

3. Maintenance costs can be reduced because the BAPIs are stable and documented structures representing SAP’s investment in the R/3 business object architecture.

Naming Standards:

1. Instance-independent BAPIs can be used without explicitly creating an instance n of the business object.

2. Instance-dependent BAPIs require explicit creation of the business object instance.

BAPI Life Cycle: Change Management

1.On the basis of SAP Release strategy and the strict rules for enhancing existing BAPIs, application developers can rely on the stability of BAPI interfaces.

2. Each enhancement to a released BAPI is carried out ensuring that the syntax and contents are downwardly compatible. This means that applications programmed with BAPIs in a particular R/3 Release are not affected by changes to this BAPI in later releases.

3. If changes that are not downwards compatible need to be made to an existing BAPI, a new interface, that is, a new additional BAPI is created. This BAPI has the same name of the existing BAPI to be replaced but with a number added at the end, for example, CustomerCode.GetDetail1.

4. The BAPI to be replaced is marked as expiring (obsolete) in the Release in which the successor BAPI is implemented, but will continue to be supported in the next two functional Releases.

5.The BOR organizes SAP objects in a hierarchical scheme within applications.

6. The object-oriented principle of inheritance is supported enabling hierarchies and subclassing.

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Integration of SAP Netweaver

noreply@blogger.com (SAP BASIS Interview Questions) — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 07:43:00 +0000

In the present era, where SAP companies are struggling to fuse the various heterogeneous environment in their organization and maintain a lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) Netweaver comes as a solution to all their problems. SAP Netweaver is the latest advancement in the SAP Technologies, which was developed as an Artificial Intelligence (AI) shell that accepts standard comments literally as domain experts speak them.

Modularity is the unique feature of Netweaver that makes it stand out amongst other software technologies. The knowledge engineer can more easily create "digestible chunks" of modules or sub-dependency networks, which help to keep the overarching dependency network from becoming potentially incomprehensible because of obvious complexity. The following plain text is aimed at expanding SAP Netweaver architecture and its interoperability with Microsoft.NET and IBM WebSpere.

In simple words, Netweaver is an application and Integration platform in which Web Services plays a major role and which is open for Non-SAP applications and platform.
Using Netweaver to improve the organizations productivity and enhance efficiency by making all the resources that are available in an enterprise to work collectively. To bring heterogeneous environment at one platform SAP Netweaver can be used. In addition, by using this technology we can use the existing systems without putting in much investment. Further in the near future, the various SAP Companies and Organizations have to take a decision for some common platform; could be Microsoft .NET, IBM Websphere or SAP Netweaver. Irrespective of selecting, SAP Netweaver is the one that integrates with all the three technologies.

SAP Netweaver attains the process of integration by integrating all the available heterogeneous resources of the existing system and combining them into a homogeneous form. This integrated information forms the basis of total, comprehendible, focused solution as preferred in an enterprise.

Advantages of SAP Netweaver

Enhanced Adaptability: Enhanced adaptability actually refers to the adaptability of SAP Netweaver towards the existing Business System in any organization without investment. It provides a heterogeneous environment, by integrating the various applications; databases and making available open technologies like web services readily available to the user. It saves money and time on unnecessary customization of the existing business System.

Lower TCO: SAP Netweaver instead of replacing the existing system interweaves the various resources like databases, legacy systems; Internet based Information and provides a heterogeneous Environment for the user to get the maximum from the new unified system. It will also prevent the unnecessary customization of the entire system. Moreover, it reduces complexity and makes the system more comprehendible and flexible to the frequently changing business processes. All of these lead to reduce the total cost of ownership.

Better ROI: SAP Netweaver increases the return on investment in a shorter period. As mentioned earlier, by using this SAP Netweaver technology IT strategies can be synchronized with SAP solutions. This synchronization makes the system more reliable and it leads to better assessment services, which in turn lead to financial benefits.

Netweaver uses a very transparent process to provide the ability to trace the logic structure right from the raw data to information, which can be used for analysis. Developing portal content on your preferred platform is possible. Interoperability of SAP Netweaver with Microsoft .NET and IBM Hemisphere takes at People, Information and process level. For Microsoft .NET, Saps .NET connector provides a vastly scalable and reliable communication infrastructure, as well as a Microsoft Visual Studio .NET Add-In to simplify development. SAP customers and SAP partners will easily build SAP enabled components using Java Using Saps Java middleware and the SAP Java Connector. Thus, helping decision makers to interpret and manipulate the output of the decision model that provides precisely robust knowledge about complex problems. Hence, making SAP Netweaver is a Complete Solution and Integration with various applications and platforms that are used in various organizations.

Ron Victor is a SEO copywriter for SAP Training. He written many articles in various topics in SAP Articles and SAP Jobs. For more information about sap information visit SAP Forums. Contact him at ron.seocopywriter@gmail.com

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Creating MDM Repository

noreply@blogger.com (SAP BASIS Interview Questions) — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 17:31:00 +0000

Importing Sales Hierarchies into MDM

noreply@blogger.com (SAP BASIS Interview Questions) — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 17:20:00 +0000

This is a documented process for standardizing Excel sales hierarchy sheets, importing via MDM Import Manager, and cross-checking with MDM Data Manager. This assumes a basic working knowledge of Microsoft Excel and MDM Import Manager.

Standardizing Excel Documents

Receive document, place in central location.

Rename document as PartnerName_sales_hierarchy.xls. [See Naming Conventions]

Open in Excel.

Rename primary sheet with same name as document: PartnerName_sales_hierarchy.

Move and rename columns: Hierarchy, Model Number, Partner.

Check for:

Missing information or empty boxes.

Missing hierarchy information (sometimes designated by a lack of the @ symbol).

Unnecessary base model numbers.

Yellow blocks, red or blue text (designates unfinished data).

Duplicate rows.

Model numbers belonging to two completely different categories (unless it’s an accessory).

Replace all &#174 symbols with their corresponding symbol. (ie. &#174 is ®)

Remove all formatting including hyperlinks and colors.

Bold column headers.

AutoFit rows (usually 12.75) and columns.

Save and close.

MDM Import Manager: Sales Hierarchies

Open MDM Import Manager.

Information to connect to the MDM Repository:

Repository: WPC_071607_PRACTICE [adc-mdmet1.na.ad.whirlpool.com]

Language: English [US]

User: Admin

Password:

After clicking on “Next,” you will need to use the following:

Type: Excel

Remote system: MDM

File name: PartnerName_sales_hierarchy.xls

After clicking on “Finish,” you will be presented with a large screen of information.

In the upper left corner, select the source table: PartnerName_sales_hierarchy$.

In the drop-down menu directly to the right, select Products.

On the Source Hierarchy panel, expand PartnerName_sales_hierarchy$ by clicking on the small + sign.

Right-click on Hierarchy, then Set Split Delimiter > Split Hierarchy…

In this box type “@” and click “OK.”

Again right-click on Hierarchy, then Split into Hierarchy.

Directly below, click on the tab that says “Map Fields/Values.”

Match the Source field called Hierarchy <Split Hierarchy> to the Destination field called Hierarchy Listing <Catalog Hierarchy Listing>. Then click “Map.”

Below these panels, expand both the “Source values” and “Destination values.”

Ctrl+A to select all Source values, then deselect Hierarchy by Ctrl+clicking.

Under Destination values, find the corresponding partner name and click on it.

Between the two panels, click “Add,” then “Add Branch as Child.”

Return to the middle two panels to do some more field mapping. Map Model Number (source field) to Model Number [DF]. Also map Partner (source field) to Catalog Hierarchy Listing.

For this last pairing, return to the bottom two panels for more value-specific mapping. Map the value name Partner Name (source value) to Partner Name (destination value).

After all mapping is complete, click on the “Match Records” tab.

Double-click on Model Number [DF] under “Mapped destination fields.”

Move over to the right panel called “Default import actions.” ~~On the first line, change “Skip” to “Create.”~~ (On the first line, if it doesn’t say “0 of 0,” then our source Excel sheet may have base models, and we must acquire a new and up-to-date sheet.) On the second line, change “Skip” to “Update (All Mapped Fields).”

Click on the “Import Status” tab and save your map as Partner Name Map.

Execute your work by clicking on the exclamation point.

Breathe a sigh of relief as you close the MDM Import Manager. On to the next one!

Transitioning Your IT Skills Into SAP by Daniel Millions

noreply@blogger.com (SAP BASIS Interview Questions) — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 05:01:00 +0000

SAP training, like with most areas of Information Technology, is decided upon and paid for by the employee. And now, more than ever, employees are responsible for making their own investments and decisions with regard to which training they will pursue. Since SAP training has the highest probability of a big payoff it is an increasingly popular choice amongst IT professionals.

Everyone knows that SAP skills are the highest compensated IT skills on the planet. Considering that a good SAP consultant can expect to earn USD$150 per hour, one might ask a simple question: Why are SAP people paid so much? There are several reasons. First, SAP skills are higher compensated because they're difficult to acquire, and this constrains the supply of qualified SAP consultants in the marketplace. As many people know, making a move into SAP from other areas in Information Technology can be difficult.

It's difficult for many reasons but mainly because there is no formal process of apprenticeship or training in IT, and SAP skills take a lot of time to acquire. SAP can't be learned on your own like a programming language or an operating system because the most important aspect of training involves a deep understanding of business process and the integration with many other touch points in a large organization. Also, an experienced SAP consultant will send to have going though for or five complete implementation cycles installing the software for clients in many different industry vertical segments.

So skills are hard to acquire and this keeps supply low. But the second (and admittedly related) reason SAP consultants are paid so much is that the demand is high. Employers are always looking for people with SAP Basis/ Netweaver, BW/BI, and SAP functional consulting skills. Experienced SAP consultants are in demand because the work they do is very efficient from a productivity standpoint, and an effective SAP implementation can help companies achieve large reductions in head count, efficiency in business process, and savings on custom programming. SAP is in demand because it helps businesses save money, even if consulting fees are high.

So what is an aspiring SAP resource to do? A few companies have developed online SAP training programs designed to help you Break Into SAP. These programs walk the student through the preparation and early hiring phases of a career in SAP. Students have said that "we do see a big difference with this sort of program" I think it's great. They're well planned and organized. Rather than walk you through the entire configuration for a particular module, breaking into SAP programs train on the details like the recruitment process insofar as they help you get a job in SAP.

Interview Question books are also a popular alternative and a search for SAP interview questions can yield many good results. Others hire personal coaches to train them on the technical details of a module in SAP. But all of these training methodologies reveal one truth: there is no easy solution to the SAP training game you can move into SAP from other areas in IT, but time, money, hard work, and dedication will be required.

About the Author

If you are looking to land a new SAP job our SAP Books and SAP Training will put you on the right path.

SAP Business One Integration: SB1 Reseller Chicago, Atlanta Newsflash by Andrew Karasev

noreply@blogger.com (SAP BASIS Interview Questions) — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 05:00:00 +0000

SAP B1 becoming more and more popular among small and even mid-size businesses, especially in light manufacturing, assembly, services, warehouse management, transportation, logistics. However all mentioned business niches often require ongoing data integration. Plus, being realistic, you should not expect high-end IT department within such organizations - to support luxury SB1 integration add-ons, such as Ibolt. In this small publication we are giving you highlights on how to build pretty smart and robust integration utility with SAP Business One Data Transfer Workbench, and ideally this page should help you with your SAP Business One consultant, VAR, technology partner:

1. Workbench can use Excel templates, however Excel (CSV files) is not the only data source platform. You should use Excel as the samples in building your sophisticated ODBC query

2. ODBC queries and DTW. You should understand several principles here. First of all, for the queries, where you expect ongoing integration you should try to place the source into SQL DB platform, easiest would be Microsoft SQL Server. Second, DTW automatically recognizes the source if you provide exactly the same field names, as you see in Excel templates. Third, if you are importing something which has one-to-many relation (such as Inventory Items and Item Prices) - these are linked via RecordKey field - the easiest way to create one is to add identity insert column to your source table

3. SQL Views and their flexibility. SQL view will allow you to provide required field names for automatic linking as we already mentioned in previous paragraph. Plus View allows you to pull data back from your SB1 company database. Imagine example when you are creating new items as the replacement to the existing items in SB1 and the price should be set as it is at the existing retiring item. In this case you pull the price from ITM1 table

About the Author

Andrew Karasev, Alba Spectrum LLC, help@albaspectrum.com, http://www.albaspectrum.com, 1-866-528-0577 , subdivision of M2-D2, SAP Business One VAR and Reseller in Illinois, Georgia, South Carolina, California, Texas. Please visit our info portal Pegas Planet: http://www.pegasplanet.com. Local Service in Chicago, Atlanta, San Diego, Los Angeles, Orange County, Houston.

SAP BPX certification program by Valdemar Pedersen

noreply@blogger.com (SAP BASIS Interview Questions) — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 05:00:00 +0000

A new SAP certification course is starting next month which can help SAP professionals to reduce the gap between IT and business. This new SAP certificate course is named as Business process expert certification course. SAP announced this course as BPX certification program. This certification will help SAP professionals to improve their SOA skills. This certificate course was made so that sap professionals can compose business process, from design to monitoring and optimizing. This SAP BPX certification program also gives a disciplined approach so that business process experts can help their companies to adapt more quickly and effectively to changing business needs. An online social network site named as SAP business process expert community (BPX) deals with customers, business analysts, consultants and SAP experts was launched two years ago. In this social networking site they discussed their problems where SAP professionals wanted to improve their business process skills and SAP customers wanted more business process experts to maximize the value of their SAP software.

SAP decided to announce this new certification at TechEd in Las Vegas, which attracted more than 6,000 IT managers, administrators and developers. This certification will include lessons like composition tools and designing user interfaces. This course cost in the range of $300 to $500, depending upon the level. This course is divided into five courses, each ranging in length from one to three days. This certificate will have an impact on SAP professional's career, as they can manage business process work also. Previously they had to outsource their work to business analysts and consultants belonging to other countries, as it was cheap for them.

This online site (BPX) has nearly 400,000 women members. This course can be useful also to technical professionals who want to gain knowledge about business process and business analysts who want to gain more technical knowledge. A member of BPX community, taught a pilot course in Tokyo, which was highly rated in SAP educational history in Japan. The course is structured in such a way that the information can be shared very easily and in a fast way. If this course is taught to graduates then they can improve on their skills and have a technical knowledge. When SAP professionals learn this BPX course it will give them an added advantage in their career and get a high pay in the enterprise technology world. SAP BPX ranks are sure to grow quickly over the next several years.

About the Author

Jacob Christopher is a SEO copywriter for Asia SAP Jobs, SAP training in China and India SAP Contracts. He has written many articles in various topics like Australia SAP News, China SAP Projects and Malaysia SAP Forums. For more information visit: http://www.simplysap.asia

Great Plains Consultant Newsflash: Custom EDI by Andrew Karasev

noreply@blogger.com (SAP BASIS Interview Questions) — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 04:59:00 +0000

Microsoft Dynamics GP ERP application, or popular old name Great Plains Dynamics and eEnterprise, if you have relatively recent version, is based in Microsoft SQL Server. If you are experienced SQL DBA yourself, just this fact should give you the idea on structuring select statement and make it Electronic Document Interchange code compliant. Of course, for luxury EDI solution you can purchase Add-Ons and simply setup EDI export in the user friendly interface, however this publication is for people, who are either on the tight budget, or who have really complex EDI requirements and data format export rules. This news should also ideally help you with your Great Plains Partner, ISV and technical consultant and programmer selection:

1. Header and Trailer. In order to produce header and trailer, you should consider unions, where you simply group your records to produce single heading and footing lines

2. EDI lines. Normally these are items related lines, which you see either on customer or vendor invoice. You pull these lines from SOP30300 or POP tables

3. EDI formatting. The idea is fairly simple - EDI format is typically fixed length fields groups. In SQL Select statement you format each fields individually with either CONVERT or CAST constructions. Sometimes, especially new EDI rules require CSV or even XML files - if you got these - you should be lucky to avoid doing precise fixed length formatting. EDI with XML format are becoming popular in eCommerce scenarios

4. Marking exported records. This task should be done by SQL stored procedure, this is why in EDI integration you should consider MS SQL Server DTS package creation. DTS package will allow you to export text EDI file (plus potentially email it to your vendor or even upload it to your vendor ftp) and run SQL stored procedure to mark exported records. In Great Plains for marking records you can either deploy existing fields, that are not in use by your business logic or user defined fields, plus you can create EDI export status custom table in each company database. GP doesn't have restrictions on creating custom objects in your company database, this restriction exists in other mid-market MRP applications, such as SAP Business One

About the Author

Andrew Karasev, Alba Spectrum LLC, help@albaspectrum.com, http://www.albaspectrum.com, 1-866-528-0577 , Great Plains, VAR, Partner and Reseller in Illinois, Georgia, South Carolina, California, Texas. Please visit our info portal Pegas Planet: http://www.pegasplanet.com Local Service in Chicago, Atlanta, San Diego, Los Angeles, Orange County, Houston

SAP Business One Reseller Chicago, Atlanta Newsflash: DB Structure Notes by Andrew Karasev

noreply@blogger.com (SAP BASIS Interview Questions) — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 04:59:00 +0000

If you have implemented SAP B1 and now have phase two integration with legacy system or external CRM application needs, then you should first research SAP Business One Data Transfer Workbench and its ODBC integration options. This publication should ideally help you with your SAP Business One consultant, VAR or technology partner selection. If you need advanced integrating application with custom screens, you should consider developing in C# or VB.Net with SAP Business One SDK gateway to your SB1 server. Let's come to technology highlights:

1. SB1 Workbench. You probably heard from SAP Business One consultants the convenient way to move your legacy ERP application objects to SAP Business One. All you need to do is to fill our Excel CSV templates and they will be integrated via Workbench. However this is not the whole story - in fact, Workbench could serve you as ongoing integration tool, where you schedule integrations in DOS Batch file by calling Workbench with the parameter of saved integration setup CML file

2. SQL Views. If you want to prepare your records for integration automatically, consider switching from Excel CSV templates to ODBC integration in Workbench, where ODBC connects to SQL complain database with prepared SQL view - it could be Oracle, MS SQL Server, Pervasive SQL, Microsoft Access to give you flexibility idea

3. SB1 tables structure. In SDK you can research the structure, however when you need to prepare your Workbench integration, the best idea is to look up relevant tables and their contents in SB1 MS SQL Server company database. In SB1 View->System Information - this will give you table, form and field info in left lower corner. Try this - open Inventory->Item Master Data and place the cursor over the field to the right of the Item Number - you should see the table name is OITM and the field name is ItemCode. Please continue your discovery, if you need help, let us know

About the Author

Andrew Karasev, Alba Spectrum LLC, help@albaspectrum.com, http://www.albaspectrum.com, 1-866-528-0577 , subdivision of M2-D2, SAP Business One VAR and Reseller in Illinois, Georgia, South Carolina, California, Texas. Please visit our info portal Pegas Planet: http://www.pegasplanet.com. Local Service in Chicago, Atlanta, San Diego, Los Angeles, Orange County, Houston.

SAP Business One Integration: Advanced Workbench Techniques by Andrew Karasev

noreply@blogger.com (SAP BASIS Interview Questions) — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 04:58:00 +0000

SAP B1 is dedicated to small and mid-size businesses. This ERP and MRP enriched accounting application becomes more and more popular, especially since the release of SB1 version 2007A. The intuitive and very simple SAP BO interface often comes with the fact, that SAP Business One certified consultant comes without solid technical background in data conversion, customization, SDK programming and also in making ad-hoc SQL queries. In this small publication we will give you technical highlights on advanced integrating techniques with Sap Business One Data Transfer Workbench. This publication should help you with your SAP B1 partner, VAR, implementation consultant, reseller and ISV technology partner selection. We should mention here, that you can always go and deploy SAP Business One SDK programming in integration creation, however here we will concentrate on â€œlow profileâ€. Letâ€™s begin:

1. SB1 Data Transfer Workbench: CSV file and Excel templates. Through our practice, large number of Sap Business One functional consultants recommends you simply to follow template Excel files filling up and saving them in CSV format as preferred way to do integration. Plus, they also recommend it for one-time integration only in the initial data conversion and migration. If you donâ€™t need additional discovery and looking for second opinion in SAP Business One partners community â€" this advise is good and very reliable. However â€" what to do if you need ongoing and even scheduled integration?

2. Simple ODBC queries. Letâ€™s make step aside and try ODBC in Source Data Type. If you are IT professional, SQL DBA or programmer, you know, that ODBC connection opens the whole new world of such nice tools as MS SQL Server linked server, SQL View to break through the restrictions of text files

3. SQL Views Scenario. Now imagine, instead of depending on CSV files, created by hand, you create SQL view, which will be the base for the integration. If you have to integrate SB1 with front end legacy database (including SQL linked server constructions to such platforms, as Oracle, DBII, Ctree, Pervasive SQL), you should lookup required SQL view structure in Excel templates for the intended SB1 objects and simply create them on Microsoft SQL Server level

4. Scheduling Workbench ongoing integration. Workbench help suggests you to save integration structure in XML format (you do it on the step 5: Run the data import â€" click Save button and you will be able to save integration in XML schema). Create â€"bat (DOS batch) file. Then schedule it in Start->All Programs->Accessories->System Tools->Scheduled Tasks. This would be sample line in BAT file: C:\Program Files\SAP\Data Transfer Workbench\DTW â€"s C:\Program Files\SAP\Data Transfer Workbench\config.xml

About the Author

Andrew Karasev, Alba Spectrum LLC, help@albaspectrum.com, http://www.albaspectrum.com, 1-866-528-0577 , subdivision of M2-D2, SAP Business One VAR and Reseller in Illinois, Georgia, South Carolina, California, Texas. Please visit our info portal Pegas Planet: http://www.pegasplanet.com. Local Service in Chicago, Atlanta, San Diego, Los Angeles, Orange County, Houston

10 Tips for SAP ABAP Development on a SAP Implementation Project by Deepak Mandrekar

noreply@blogger.com (SAP BASIS Interview Questions) — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 04:57:00 +0000

Successful & Resourceful SAP ABAP Developer
I have the privilege of being a ABAP developer for past 9 years and IT industry as a programmer for 12 years and now being a ABAP technical expert and development manager for 12 SAP implementations, I have come across different working patterns of a professional ABAP developer. During this time I have met a few ABAP programmers that were very good with technical aspects and also some that were excellent ABAP development consultants who could manage every aspect of a SAP development project whether undertaking a custom development, BADI implementations or enhancement project. Remember that as a technical SAP expert you are the critical piece of a project responsible for realizing the vision of SAP customer business processes into production. I think it is very important to know a lot of different programming aspects during an SAP implementation project and follow certain guidelines that can make an SAP ABAP professional very successful in your career.

Steps for being an Efficient SAP ABAP Programmer or SAP Technical Team Lead

1. Review Business Requirements & Write Functional Specification
The first part of any ABAP development project begin with meeting the end users or business experts and understand the business requirements that need to be implemented in the SAP system during the realization phase. A best approach is to conduct workshops to gather all the business requirements. Make sure that if any SAP function consultants are involved than they are in the meetings as well. After all the business requirements are collected, either a SAP functional consultant or business expert will write a detailed functional specification. Review the functional specification until the document has all the details, different business scenarios and expected goals clearly defined. A well defined functional specification should contain UML diagrams and test case scenarios. It is important to have an official signoff on the functional specification before continuing with design and development.

2. Review ABAP Development Standards
In ideal case, your SAP Project Lead or ABAP Development Manager should have created a programming standards and guidelines document. Review this document so that you follow the naming conventions for function modules, classes, dictionary objects, software components, name spaces and proxies (if using SAP XI / PI), program input/output parameters, etc just to name a few. Following the guideline for the project helps maintain a consistent coding approach and also helps other functional and technical analysts to read and debug your code. ABAP objects naming should begin with Z if it will be migrated to SAP production system and Y if it will not be migrated into the production system.

3. Write and Review Test Cases
The test case documents are written by the business experts or functional SAP consultants in most SAP implementation projects. But on some SAP implementation projects a programmer may be required to write test cases. Before writing a test case review the functional specification document thoroughly and review the written test case with the business users or functional consultants. Get a sign-off as mentioned in most steps in this article. As an ABAP Development Manager for a variety of SAP implementation projects, my goal has been to keep my team motivated and always cover the team against any change of scope on the development tasks. Having a sign-off at each phase of a SAP custom development or enhancement tasks always helps the SAP implementation team and project management team keep in sync which is a vital to complete the SAP implementation in time and budget.

4. Write and Review Technical Design Specifications
Read the functional specification and list all the development objects that would be needed to implement the required functionality in the SAP system. First step is to draw a flowchart and review with technical and business experts. The technical design document should include a technical overview, list of new database objects, ABAP objects that can be reused, a data model and class diagram (if using ABAP OO classes). It is highly recommended to have a rough prototype in the sandbox system (Development system if no SAP sandbox system is available) if the development being done is complex or if the end deliverable is not well defined. You should then review your prototype with functional experts and business users. Make sure that the ABAP Development team lead or manager signs off on the prototype. If effort required to complete the ABAP programming task is not presented and approved by the senior project management then this would be a good time to get the development estimate and timeline approved.

5. Realization of the Specification - ABAP Development
During this step you will be creating development objects and implementing the code in the SAP development system. Before you begin, if prototype was done in the sandbox system then analyze the prototype and design specification. Remember that quality and reusability of existing ABAP objects are more important than strictly following the design specification. Determine which existing dictionary objects can be reused for this topic. If new dictionary objects or classes needs to be created then ensure that these objects can be extended and reused for other development tasks. It may require extra effort to develop objects that are reusable and flexible. This one time effort for building reusable ABAP objects during the course of a development project can potentially save a lot of work for programming similar objects that could otherwise utilize already built objects. Review your approach with an SAP technical team lead or a development manager on your project before deviating from the technical design specification and implementing your own ideas. If you are involved in SAP XI (now Process Integration) related tasks or creating enterprise services then this is the best area where you could reuse existing objects. Review the message types that already exist within your SAP business unit and see if any existing messages can be extended with new fields. Review with the team lead whether the communication should be synchronous or asynchronous before you generate proxies.

6. SAP Development Best Practices
SAP ABAP (or JAVA if working on SAP Netweaver) development best practices should be followed throughout the development lifecycle of the project. Although this aspect depends on your project technical manager, I personally have maintained a checklist for developers in my team on all projects and it has been a tremendous success in delivering high quality output on all development tasks. Here are a few best practices worth adapting in your project. Check whether you adhere to all naming conventions as described in the programming standards set for your implementation project. Include comments in your code to allow someone else to easily understand your programs. This is particularly helpful when you work in large teams and multiple people work with same objects. Ensure that you have check for user authorization if you are building transactions or web user-interfaces that will require human interaction. Check that you do not have ABAP code segments that could take a hit on performance like nested loops, nested select statements (use views if desired), excess database commits (persistent objects or buffering alternatives may be a good option), etc. Field symbols are a great asset when it comes to processing internal tables and also variables with unknown data types that are resolved at runtime. Field symbols are very similar to concept of using pointers in OO programming landscape. Check if all exceptions are handled and error messages are communicated accurately to the end users. As an ABAP programmer it should be well accepted by now that short dumps should not be OK to occur. All these do occur in unknown special case scenarios the short dumps should be fixed.

7. ABAP Code Reviews and Performance
As a ABAP programmer you should test your code upon completion for all possible scenarios. Verify that end results are same as that expected in the documented test cases. Perform ABAP runtime analysis to check for performance of your code. Seek suggestions from your technical team lead or manager on how to improve code performance if you notice any red flags during the runtime analysis. Schedule a formal code review with your mentor or a senior ABAP developer once the development is completed and tested by all responsible developers. Make any revisions and retest your code against the desired output as documented in the test scripts. Remember that code reviews is not to find flaws in your programming but it will only make you a better ABAP developer and maintain consistency.

8. Documentation
Make sure you write an end user documents with overview of the functionality or enhancement upon completion. Include screenshots where possible. Prepare documentation keeping in mind that an end user unfamiliar with your deliverable can read the document and test the functionality. Include contact information in this document for users to easily reach the SAP technical team for any questions.

9. User Acceptance Testing
Now that your ABAP coding is completed and reviewed by technical experts, it is time for the business users to perform a formal user acceptance testing. UAT testers will check whether the output meets business process requirements and suggest any improvements or modifications to the delivered functionality. After completion of these fixes or modifications you should request a formal sign-off on the functionality.

10. Migration to SAP Test System and Production System
Quality assurance engineers will test your functionality in the SAP QA environment to verify that everything is working in your delivered functionality as tested during user acceptance testing. Also any problems in transporting your ABAP objects across SAP systems will be identified and addressed during this step. If no problems are found then your transports will be approved to be migrated to SAP production system in the next transport cycle.

You have just learned how to be an efficient SAP ABAP Developer or per say a high quality Senior ABAP expert right from writing specifications until realizing your implementation in production system. Use this article as a guideline as there are many more aspects to improve yourself to be a good ABAP programmer which is not possible to cover in a brief article like this one. You can always contact me with any suggestions or ideas you may seek for your SAP implementation.

About the Author

Deepak Mandrekar is an SAP Project Manager and Senior ABAP Developer working as a independent contractor with SAP America & SAP AG. Deepak is also President & CEO of SAP consulting & SAP Recruiting company iii Technologies.

SAP Business One Implementation in Chicago, Atlanta newsflash by Andrew Karasev

noreply@blogger.com (SAP BASIS Interview Questions) — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 04:56:00 +0000

SAP muscles backing this small and mid-size business accounting package. If you are currently in ERP selection mode, trying to establish relations with SAP Business One Consultant, Technology Partner, Reseller or VAR, then you should read this small publication. We are following one internet page format and our goal is to give you SB1 consulting and implementation highlights

1. Business Requerements Writing Down. This is the first step in future ERP system evaluation. Likely that your business processes are defined already and what you are looking for is some improvement, plus fitting all or almost all your business procedures in the future accounting application

2. SAP Business One Presentation. You should request SB1 executive demo and get the feeling if you like ERP interface, and more important discuss with presenter your business processes and how they could be automated in SAP B1

3. Initial Data Conversion and Beginning Balances. Typically you switch over from legacy accounting to SAP Business One or another ERP at the end of the fiscal period (likely to be the month) or even better at the beginning of the new business year for your enterprise

4. SB1 Chicago specifics. In Chicagoland, we expect high demand for small manufacturing and assembly companies, distributing their products nationwide. Here SB1 offers you discrete production, MRP wizard, Service module with warranty contracts, robust inventory control with cycle counting

5. Atlanta Specifics. In Atlanta, Georgia area we expect high volume of service oriented businesses, where SAP B1 come out with Customer Relation or CRM functionality

6. SB1 User Training. We recommend you to consider precise your company business processes base training, if you wish you can always get generic training directly from SAP in your area

About the Author

Andrew Karasev, Alba Spectrum LLC, help@albaspectrum.com, http://www.albaspectrum.com, 1-866-528-0577, subdivision of M2-D2, SAP Business One VAR and Reseller in Illinois, Georgia, South Carolina, California, Texas. Please visit our info portal Pegas Planet: http://www.pegasplanet.com

Increasing Demand for SAP ERP System by Jacob Christopher

noreply@blogger.com (SAP BASIS Interview Questions) — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 04:55:00 +0000

SAP is an acronym for "System Application & Products" whose function is to create a centralized database for all possible applications within an organization. SAP has been designed with such a versatility way that it efficiently handles and effectively coordinates all functional departments. It needs to be noted that today major companies including Microsoft and IBM are using SAP products to run their own businesses.

SAP products are generally focused on Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and its applications are built around R/3 system which provides the expertise to manage product operations, cost accounting, assets, materials and personnel. The R/3 system of SAP runs on majority of platforms including windows 2000 and it uses the client/sever model.

SAP NetWeaver is the most recent technology introduced into the market by SAP. SAP products are primarily aimed at large organizations which mainly comprises of Fortune 500 companies and is arguably the number one choice for ERP system worldwide. SAP has software solutions called SAP Business One (SAP B1) and SAP all in one which are mainly created for small and mid sized organizations. SAP products are used by more than 75,000 customers worldwide and in more than 120 countries and the numbers are constantly increasing.

As the world's leading provider of business software, SAP delivers products and services that help accelerate business innovation for business people. The phenomenal growth of SAP is due to their technology of innovation, co-innovation with customers and partners. Despite stiff and growing competition from Oracle, Baan, JD Edwards and more recently from Microsoft, SAP has managed to retain its market share and be the market leader. SAP ERP solutions provide a reliable means to integrate all these information systems thereby improving process efficiency and operational productivity. The distinct advantage of SAP solutions is that they are up-gradable and can also be customized according to the evolving business requirements of any business house.

Today SAP solutions have become almost indispensable for international businesses as almost half of the world's Fortune1000 companies have implemented ERP solutions from SAP. This proprietary enterprise resource planning software conveniently automates the entire transactions of an enterprise. Presently SAP has the expertise to implement ERP solutions in more than twenty-five different industry verticals.

SAP has a growing demand in the emerging markets of Asia and Africa and several small and medium enterprises have realized that implementing SAP not only helps manage day to day operations efficiently but it also sharpens business insight by providing real time access to timely information. SAP R/3 solutions is capable of running on several databases Oracle, ADABAS, Informix, DB2/400, Microsoft SQL Server 6.0. With its latest offering my SAP, the company intends to get a stranglehold grip in the enterprise software market. Its future business strategy is to introduce existing ERP customers to mySAP. mySAP has helped the company obtain considerable market share through e- business applications like mySap Customer Relationship Management, mySAP Supply Chain Management, and mySAP Product Lifecycle Management.

During recent times, the ongoing demand for persons skilled in SAP technologies is growing at a rapid pace according to Foote Partners LLC, an analyst firm in Vero Beach, Fla., that tracks pay rates for IT jobs. The salary for SAP persons is rising particularly for those with skills centered on SAP's latest NetWeaver platform.

A distinction should however be made between SAP employees and the SAP consultants who work with the vendor's partners. "As a result of the strong demand and market uptake for SAP solutions, there is a corresponding increased demand for IT consultants with SAP skills. We are actively working with our partners to build the pipeline to meet this demand," - a SAP spokesperson said.

About the Author

Jacob Christopher is a SEO copywriter for Asia SAP Jobs, India SAP Contracts and Australia SAP news. He has written many articles in various topics like SAP Training in China, Singapore SAP Jobs, China SAP Projects and Malaysia SAP Forums. For more information visit: http://www

Selecting Right Software Development Services Provider by jatinder

noreply@blogger.com (SAP BASIS Interview Questions) — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 16:27:00 +0000

Selecting a right software development company is really a tough job. The manager needs to check various aspects before finalizing the software development service provider to handover the project to them.

Prior to approach a software company to develop software, you need to work on some basic things like Identifying exact requirement, analyzing the requirement as per end user point of view, Design a basic architecture or workflow. For more information logon to www.software-index-website.com .After doing the basic analysis, you could approach some reputed software development companies with your specific requirements.

What things you should check with every software solutions provider?

You could choose a right software development company by analyzing the following factors.

a. Technology Expertise: Technology is the most changing factor in software industry. So selecting the suitable technology for the software application is also important. Therefore check out that in which technologies the company has expertise.

b. Timely Delivery: Timing is very important in software industry because you must launch your software product or service before your competitors. It will help you to achieve the big share in the market. So make sure that your software product / application will complete within the estimated time frame.

c. Quality of Service: Error-free software creates the good image in the market. So test your software from user point of view to check the quality of software before putting it into market.

d. Support: Post software development support is the integral part of smooth functioning of the software application. Ensure that the company provides the proper software support system.

e. Past Experience: You should ask the software development work they have done before for other clients. Then you would be able to find out the strengths and weaknesses of particular Software Development Company and whether the company is able to fulfill your Software requirements or not.

Where should I get quality software development services? There are many software development companies in market, but as per my information Tandoninfo.com is one of the best Software Services Provider Company based in India having branches in USA too.

Many of them provide complete custom software development solutions, project management as well as application development, Quality testing and Quality assurance services to various kind of business areas. To know more visit to www.page-brand-generator.com .TISPL also offer web-marketing services such as Search Engine Optimization, Pay Per Click Management, Link Building, etc. It will help you to get top keyword ranking and maximum traffic through major search engines like Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc.

TISPL have professional expertise in all latest Software areas like C, C++, Java, VB, VB.NET, ASP, ASP.NET, SAP, RDBMS, Linux and many more. The consultants in TIS are skilled in multiple platforms, languages and applications and receive continual cross training in world-class development facilities to ensure that TISPL stays at the leading edge of technology.

SAP Business One Software Solutions: If you are looking for integrated software services to manage your business functions efficiently then you can find Tandoninfo, which offers advanced SAP Business One Software Services at affordable cost. They are expert in SAP Business One Customization, Implementation, Integration and Support as well.

About the Author

jatinder kumar

CRM Software and Vision Evolution by Zoe Soto

noreply@blogger.com (SAP BASIS Interview Questions) — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 15:41:00 +0000

CRM software has become a necessary implementation for every business. Companies have understood the importance of studying and managing their relationships between their customers, and even other vital groups like their employees, their providers, their vendors, etc., and that’s why the hunger for better CRM software is increasing over time. Large, medium or small companies; no business is excusable for missing this enormous subject that is the relationship’s management.

Customer relationship management software has existed since a relatively long time, but it seems that it has become more popular (and necessary) in the last years. Long before CRM, there existed what was called PIM, or Personal Information Manager. These electronic devices had limited databases for storing important dates or information, most likely addresses and telephone numbers. But these basic functions weren’t enough for storing all the necessary information. That’s why these devices and its software kept evolving, reaching different stages, like CMS, or Contact Management System; SFA, or Sales Force Automation - actually, CRM was heavily based on SFA -, etc.

When these management systems finally evolved into what CRM is now, different software companies developed their own CRM applications - SAP and Siebel Systems being the market leaders at the beginning of the CRM race. At this time, CRM wasn’t a popular implementation for business, as it wasn’t well known (at least, not as well as now) and many companies had only horror stories to tell about their CRM implementation. But this is slowly changing...

We’re facing a new age for CRM, where companies are becoming aware of how to implement correctly aCRM solution, different software companies are offering different approaches to management, and managers and directors are realizing about the need for customer relationship management. Even now, these new ideas are reaching new perspectives, like the xRM concept, where relationship management isn’t just for a company’s customers anymore, but its software developers, its administrators, its vendors, its providers... in a word, everything. And this new age has attracted new companies to enter the CRM race, being the most notable Microsoft.

Microsoft owned some CRM territory with Microsoft Outlook, but it wasn’t truly a CRM solution as it lacked several features other software offered, like Oracle’s Siebel CRM or SAP’s CRM. Microsoft was just a watcher, waiting for its opportunity to invade this territory.

While Microsoft began its plan for dominating the CRM industry long ago, with its Axapta 1.0 in March 1998, it wasn’t until the release of Microsoft Dynamics AX 4.0 in March 2006 when they reached a dangerous stage for its competitors. What makes Dynamics so powerful is its capability for integration with several other Microsoft technologies, like Microsoft Office, SQL Server and the .NET platform, being this latter one of the most important aspects of version 4.0. Dynamics being in a fully integrated environment with the .NET platform, customization of the software became easier, turning Dynamics plug-ins development a perfect solution for satiating a company’s need.

This characteristic will become a salvation for many companies, as the implementation of the new xRM concept, for example, is becoming an achievable feat. Companies will be able to customize Microsoft Dynamics to fit only its demands, eliminating the idea of treating with a general purpose software; it won’t fit any need anymore, but your need.This customization will diminish many software problems, like employees’ software training and the lack of software features.

Without doubt, CRM software, gadgets, theories and techniques are evolving in a very interesting (and beneficial) way. Customer relationship management is becoming a high necessity for every business, where the company’s size or interests won’t matter.

About the Author

I’m Zoe Soto, I work for Streamline Solutions, a company that provides you a solution for your CRM needs. You can visit us at http://www.streamsol.com/ and http://www.xrm.com/

Benefits of Using SAP and ERP for your Business by Reggie Andersen

noreply@blogger.com (SAP BASIS Interview Questions) — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 15:31:00 +0000

Most people are realizing that SAP solutions have become extremely important o such businesses as international businesses. This is due to the companies that are part of the fortune 1000 as they have the ERP solutions in place and they get those from the SAP. So what exactly does SAP stand for? That is simple; it is an acronym for systems, applications and products in data processing.
So what exactly are the benefits of using ERP and SAP enhancement packages? It is becoming known by most all companies that they really do need to have these ERP and SAP enhancement services in order for things to run smoothly. If you get an enhancement package in place, you can expect to have your systems more flexible where third party applications are concerned. ERP does this by committing to different business scenarios so that they can improve the practices of the business networks.

Some companies find that they have problems with their end-to-end processes. That is where you can implement SAP ERP to sharpen your core function with the end-to-end process. It is safe to say that businesses really do need to have an enhancement package in place in order to be able to do what they need to do. It will help them to automate their enterprise and they will be able to keep their operational processes up to date with the ever-growing industry.
It is said that SAP can help to execute ERP solutions in over 25 areas of industry. That is quite an accomplishment. It is also said that SAP will be very popular in helping companies in such places as Africa and Asia. SAP ERP is round the world in more than 85 countries, which turns out to be more than 43,000 clients worldwide. Those numbers are expected to grow as more and more enterprises jump on the SAP ERP bandwagon. Companies love the fact that they get real time updated information so they can keep their edge and stay ahead of the game.

There are many types of businesses that benefit from implementing SAP ERP solutions. If you feel that you can benefit from implementing SAP ERP solutions, then you need to check out what it can do for you. The best thing that you can do for your company is to make an educated decision. Knowledge is power and power is knowledge. Talk with your IT department to see what your options are and where you need the most help. SAP ERP can help you to keep your network as it should be. You want to make sure that you are doing what is best for your business and this will help you make is solid and safe

About the Author

Reggie loves the ERP software momentum. Check out his: http://www.erpsap.com ERP SAP.

Software Development Companies in India by Neeraj Arora

noreply@blogger.com (SAP BASIS Interview Questions) — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 15:30:00 +0000

IT services in India mainly focus on software development, Information Technology Consultancy, Web design and development, Offshore Outsourcing, Business process outsourcing, Knowledge process outsourcing, Enterprise Resource Planning Development and Implementation, Multimedia and custom software applications.

Expansion in global business has lead to a volume increase in the services requirement. Marketing challenges of the export houses need effective inventory management with quality. Software development companies in India possess expertise in the development of inventory based application and ERP solutions to implement the same for cost reduction, quality increase and profitability.

Retail Industry today needs support in retaining customers and also in ensuring customers to repeat their business by staying competitive. Indian Software development companies have proven expertise and experience in development of transaction based web application and e-commerce sites and client server applications.

Manufacturing sector and services sector is a major hub in the global business arena. Production Planning, automation of order to cash and procure to pay cycles play a significant role in global competitiveness and focused quality service. Software development companies in India excel in services offered in the areas of application development and Enterprise Resource Planning, development and Implementation.

Wireless mobility and automation systems need handling of security issues with user friendly interface and faster access through latest technology adaptation. To stay in tune with the latest demand in product development, Indian Software development companies provide design and development of Embedded Systems, wireless product and application development for blue tooth, IRDA etc.

Software development companies in India work as extended arms as offshore units to leading organizations to provide 24 X 7 development and support activities, cost effective resource management and flexible skilled manpower availability.

Many Indian IT companies extend outsourcing services with core expertise in Business to business, Business to customer, Banking, Finance, Real Estate domains and verticals like Insurance, Oil & gas, GIS etc.

Software development companies in India possess in depth core expertise in application development in .NET, Microsoft Technologies, Java based development, SAP, Oracle ERP and CRM solutions and various latest cutting edge technologies under different operating systems and platforms with options of multiple backend and database technologies. Development services are also offered in web application designing and redesigning, PHP, AJAX development, Ruby on Rails, content management solutions through Joomla and Drupal.

About the Author

Article written by Mr. Neeraj Arora, Marketing Director of Himalayan IT Solutions offers Software Development India and SEO services India.

Roundtable: the Crisis and Shared Services - an Asian Perspective (Part 1) by Jamie Liddell

noreply@blogger.com (SAP BASIS Interview Questions) — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 15:27:00 +0000

As 2008 draws to an end, the signs for the global economy in 2009 are, to say the least, inauspicious. But this downturn won’t affect all geographies equally - and this holds true for the shared services and outsourcing space as much as for the wider economy. In order to get a better-defined picture of how different parts of the world are reacting differently to the biggest shock to the financial system since the Wall Street Crash, the Shared Services & Outsourcing Network convened a series of regional roundtable debates. The first - getting the view from Asia - took place at the end of November and was chaired by Deloitte’s Hugo Walkinshaw; as the transcript shows, for mature SSOs at least while the impact of the crisis has yet to play itself out fully, there are certainly opportunities strewn amongst the challenges... Attending were: Hugo Walkinshaw (chair) Principal Shared Services Asia Leader Deloitte Chen Theng Aik SVP & Head Asia Pacific Operations DHL Rodrigo Martins General Manager GBS Asia General Electric Erik Moller Nielsen GM Global Service Centres (Philippines) Maersk Hugo Walkinshaw: In terms of how specifically your SSC is adding value - and I’d like to ask Rodrigo to kick us off on this one - what differences are you seeing as a result of the current climate in terms of new things you’re being asked to tackle, or things that were going a little slowly or were not so pronounced that are suddenly coming to the surface? Rodrigo Martins: We are actually seeing an increased interest from businesses in joining our shared services organization. In challenging times like these, the value that a shared services group brings to the table is even more evident. From all angles you look at our group there is value - from the high quality of being an organization specialized in processes that are critical to running a business (no less important under the current economic conditions, by the way), from a cost savings standpoint given the scale in which we operate, and from our ability to provide services utilizing our infrastructure of people, processes and platforms already in place. For all of these reasons I see a general increase in demand for our services. It is also important to notice that we are constantly concerned with productivity, constantly looking for improving quality and efficiency in everything we do, and in times like this it is even more important. On a more tactical level, we have been providing our businesses with more and more tools and analysis that make it easier for them to control and better manage their cost base. From our perspective we are helping our customers, the GE businesses, and from their perspective this is a value-added service that they are receiving from us. Hugo Walkinshaw: So most of that is essentially focusing more, and putting greater emphasis, on things that are already current. Maybe there are a few conversations there around should this business unit, or this process, come in or go out, and the current conditions are basically forcing the pace on those decisions? Rodrigo Martins: Exactly that; more of the same, at least for our organization. I believe businesses see the value in what we are doing so they want to come on board more and more. They see that we have scale and that we are capable of rendering good service at a competitive cost and that is good value for them at the end of the day. Hugo Walkinshaw: And in terms of being asked to provide wholly new things, or to go in new directions: are you seeing any of that yet? Rodrigo Martins: I don’t see that in GE. Probably because being an established shared service organization we already have most, if not all, typical shared services offerings. We do have one service, which is relatively new to our group in Asia, Customs. This service helps businesses deal with imports and exports around the world. But the service is not new; it was introduced a few years ago in the Americas and is now being rolled out globally. Chen Theng Aik: Because of the state we’re at now, we’re still contemplating our migration of activities to the SSCs in the higher-cost Asian countries. Our officers have been told to watch headcount, and headcount replacement, very carefully, and it’s getting tougher for the business units, so there is a lot more interest for two reasons. One is, pure wage arbitrage and our ability to continue to leverage that, so there’s increased interest in moving more activities over to us, and what was traditionally considered taboo - not to be transferred over to shared services - could now all be on the table. With our SSC in Malaysia, there’s a large wage arbitrage from the higher-cost Asian countries. Point number two is that because things for the businesses are getting tougher and tougher, their headcount is being looked at very carefully, so any volume increase, or even replacement after resignations, is also getting tougher and tougher. When they have their own headcount freeze, or headcount restrictions, it becomes more attractive to migrate over to us. We end up being asked to do more work which would traditionally have been carried out within their home-country organizations. Hugo Walkinshaw: So a bit more of a burning platform for country MDs to have to deal with, to accelerate the transition timetable. Erik Moller Nielsen: I’d like to echo what Chen just said, and actually Hugo you just used the words we use: it’s a "burning platform". We’re looking at anything and everything, and we see a widening of the scope and depth of what we’re being asked to handle. For example in the back-office support for SAP, we are increasing the percentage of the end-to-end finance process that we’re handling in the service center, and we have a Six Sigma project going on now to take it up to 70 per cent. But we’re also being asked to look at almost more things that we can handle at the moment from claims settlement to quite sophisticated KPO work, so we’re moving up the value ladder, for sure, at the moment. We definitely see more offshoring coming our way. Hugo Walkinshaw: Well it’s definitely good news that at least someone’s busy in these times… The only things I’d add to what you guys have said is that, firstly, specifically within our shared services environment - and this plays a little bit towards Rodrigo’s point initially - we are making much greater and more frequent use of the SSC for almost daily operational data, as everything is moving so fast and swinging so hard in terms of decision-making around recruitment, costs and so on. We’re putting a lot more emphasis on the basis of ad hoc management information coming out of the center. I’ve noticed that we’re partnering much better with the center and that they’re being forced to be much more reactive and responsive about producing data. Secondly, looking at companies that haven’t gone to shared services yet, I think we’ve initiated five new shared services feasibility studies in the last eight weeks, so I get a sense that out there those companies who haven’t yet taken the plunge - or who have taken the plunge and now have European or US centers - are now looking to Asia as an offshoring location, with a real sense of urgency and momentum. We’re also seeing a lot of interest from large local companies who are, I guess, cash-rich and who are looking to make this kind of reorganization and structural investment while things are slowing down and they’ve got time on their hands. So even for the people who aren’t in shared services there’s definitely the sense that this is the way to go as a response around control and cost. SSON: It seems as though there’s a bit of a cross-section of the space here: on the one hand we’ve got Rodrigo who’s doing a great deal more of the same sort of thing, and on the other we’ve got Erik who’s actually instituting a whole load of new processes. Hugo, to what extent are the companies approaching you to investigate launching new shared services initiatives planning a broader, wider shared services than might have been the norm over the last few years? Hugo Walkinshaw: I think it’s people who’ve been sitting on the fence about even starting shared services, and have been going down the route of "our culture is not to do that, and not to offshore, and not to make redundancies" and I think they’ve been forced off the fence by the economic conditions. I think it’s people taking the plunge and realising they need to do some desperate measures, rather than a move towards a broader, more sophisticated footprint. I think the reason there’s been a bit of disparity thus far on the panel is a reflection of where we all are on the shared services journey. My takeaway actually is that what’s keeping us busy is doing things we were expecting to do, and hoping to do, had planned to do, or were already doing a little bit - but doing them at a much greater pace. I don’t think there are a lot of brand new initiatives - yet - coming up in the shared services space. Erik Moller Nielsen: I would absolutely echo that. I think this is the push that has come lately, to push in the development that was happening slowly anyway. Some people in the organization (and we have a mature SSO, about eight to ten years and six sites in operation) were looking at the SSCs at having been set up to provide maybe rather basic processes, and being maybe a nice-to-use but not a need-to-use, but in the current climate with business volumes going down this is a resource they want to tap into, if not for anything else other than the labor arbitrage initially - but then we know that once it’s been shifted over to us we can optimize the process down the road. We’re being asked now to look at data mining, market analysis, and we’re going to be setting up a group of fifteen in January just to look at that, and there are many many other things coming our way, so it’s all positive - and keeps us really busy. Hugo Walkinshaw: Those particular bits at the end - the data mining and market analysis - are not things which your everyday shared service center traditionally does, so I think your comment about going up the value chain is spot-on. You may, I suppose, already have had that in your sights on the value-chain, though, and this is just accelerating your decision rather than being a brand new idea that’s come about as a result of the crisis. So let’s move on, then: in terms of priorities for the next six months, can everybody name their top one or two? Erik, what’s going to be your main focus for the next two quarters? Erik Moller Nielsen: It will be on the talent side, because now we are looking for different people on some of these issues; for example with the claims settlement we’re looking at, we need to find people with a legal background. Initially it’s an HR challenge; secondly it’s about site-capacity and site planning (and we’re well into that). Thirdly - and going with the site capacity - it’s workstation utilization: how can we push it up so that we use each desk more than once, maybe even more than twice every 24 hours? In that connection, our challenge is that most of our work is really time-sensitive and urgent, with turn-times down to half an hour, but we are hoping that we can convince our internal customer that he can save a lot of money if we can extend the turn-times on some of this work and therefore do it at night - it means we save costs and don’t have to expand the sites. Hugo Walkinshaw: That’s an interesting dynamic; if you’ve got unutilized capacity at certain times of the day or night, then obviously it’s a more cost-effective solution to use that rather than adding floors and increasing the overall cost. I guess you’re in the right part of the world to be running 24/7 shifts.

To continue reading this article, see Roundtable: the Crisis and Shared Services - an Asian Perspective (Part 2)

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About the Author

Jamie Liddell has worked in journalism since he was a 17-year-old cub reporter for The Tico Times, Costa Rica’s highly regarded English-language weekly newspaper. Holding an MA in English from Clare College, Cambridge University, Jamie comes to the Shared Services & Outsourcing Network from the world of overseas property publishing where he worked on the industry’s best-selling publications for the UK and Ireland.

Four Ways to Manage Your Mindset During a Recession by Marcia Yudkin

noreply@blogger.com (SAP BASIS Interview Questions) — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 15:25:00 +0000

Crash! Crash! Crash! It’s instinctive to pull your head down and duck for cover when foreclosure, credit crunch and banking crisis missiles are landing all around you. But contrary to what the media are telling you, the #1 determinant of your prosperity is not "the economy" but your own attitudes and behavior.

If you hunker down, retract your marketing and let fear drive your daily actions, your business will contract. Guaranteed! If you remain standing, keep your balance and steer intelligently around today’s slightly changed marketing landscape, you’ll do fine.

The following tips show you how to maintain the mental balance that enables you to navigate through a recession confidently and profitably. Manage your mood swings and the rest becomes easy.

1. Ration your news watching. Some say that the unofficial motto of the news media is "If it bleeds, it leads." In other words, it’s their job to forcefully tell you about all the bad news. Television news, in particular, can not only inform you, but infect you with fear from an unbalanced view of what’s happening that may not match what’s true in the world that most impinges most on you. You may find reading the news in a print newspaper less alarming than listening to the news on radio or TV.

2. Stay positive. Notice what you’re saying to yourself, and develop a positive, feel-good affirmation to replace negative statements. During mid-2008, I had a lean couple of months and noticed I had been saying things like, "I don’t really need much money." I replaced that with an affirmation developed in conversation with my business coach: "I have the luxury of being able to do whatever I like, and money flows to me effortlessly from that." Was it an accident that my cash flow improved? You decide.

3. Drop unpleasant customers. Yes, I mean it. You need all your wits about you to be creative and resourceful. Anger and resentment sap your energy. Refer the disagreeable clients to a colleague who is feeling desperate. And who knows - they may get along just fine.

4. Play. Spend time doing something that makes you happy - whether that’s playing with your kids, riding your Harley, playing your favorite music at full blast or skimming rocks on a nearby pond. Feeling crazily, unreasonably joyful for even a little while helps you attack business problems with an optimistic perspective. According to research by University of California at Davis psychology professor Robert Emmons and others, counting blessings rather than focusing on burdens increases your health and general well being. I wouldn’t be surprised if it increases your earnings, too.

Now you can understand why it is a huge mistake to retract your advertising and stop spending on customer outreach. Instead, continue the marketing efforts that worked in the past. Revive those that previously worked but you stopped because you got tired of them. And think about ways to tweak your marketing messages so they appear especially relevant to those suffering from the economic downturn.

Make sure clients are happy with your products and services and fix any quality issues. Consider reasons why, in good times, people remain on the fence about buying from you, and take away those doubts and objections. It’s also a great time to join forces with other business owners to share ideas on how all of you can remain recession-resistant.

To paraphrase a famous saying of Eleanor Roosevelt, "Nothing can pull your business down without your consent." You have a choice about what attitude and actions to take. If you refuse to adopt the mindset of those running around right now like Chicken Littles, you will be able to look back on the era of gloom and doom with a smile on your face and a big bankroll in your pocket.

About the Author

Master marketer Marcia Yudkin, author of 6 Steps to Free Publicity and 10 other books, has been selling information in one form or another since 1981. This article is excerpted from her report, "33 Keys to Thriving During a Recession," available as a free download from http://www.yudkin.com/recess.htm

Five Tips to a More Effective Software Selection by Soft Resources

noreply@blogger.com (SAP BASIS Interview Questions) — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 15:24:00 +0000

Whether you are looking to select and implement an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), HR/Payroll, or any other system for your organization, you should keep in mind the following tips to make your software selection process more effective.

1) Create a Long List - If a software package is not on your Long List, it will never be selected! Include as many viable software products as possible at the beginning of the process. You will want to include both general ERP software vendors as well as vendors that focus on your particular vertical industry. Vertical market software will frequently offer greater functionality for a specific industry than the general vendors. Many organizations fall into the trap of just looking at a few of the name brand vendors without considering others that are not as well known but have great products for the right situation.

2) Focus Requirements on the Differentiating Criteria - Although you may have hundreds or even thousands of functional requirements, the criteria that make the difference between elimination and selection of a software vendor can usually be listed on two to three pages. We call these key requirements "Differentiating Criteria." Use these criteria to eliminate software from your Long List quickly and objectively. This will save you a lot of time and help you focus on your most important requirements.

3) Select the Value Added Reseller/Implementation Partner - Many of the major mid-market software vendors sell their software through local and national Value Added Reseller’s (VARs) including Microsoft, Sage, Infor, Epicor, and others. These VARs will demo, sell, and implement the software. Because they are independent of the software vendor, there may be many VARs in your geographic area that sell the same product. They each have strengths and weaknesses. In fact, the selection of the right VAR can make or break the success of your implementation.

Larger tier 1 and tier 2 vendors such as SAP, Oracle, and Lawson offer direct implementation services, but also have independent implementation partners that you can use. Some of these partners can be more experienced in your industry and have lower billing rates than the vendor’s own implementation team. Make sure that you consider all of your implementation options.

4) Hold Scripted Demos - When you get to a short list of about 3 software vendors, you should use a scripted software demonstration process. The scripted demo forces the software vendor or VAR to modify their demo to show how they will solve your specific business needs. It also allows you to evaluate the vendors on an equal basis. Make sure to leave time for the vendor to show some of the bells and whistles that may be of interest.

5) Negotiate the Contract - When you make your final software decision, you will sign three contracts with the vendor: Software License, Implementation Services, and Maintenance. If you select a software product that uses the Software as a Service (SaaS) model you will have a Service Level Agreement (SLA). Make sure to negotiate the price, but don’t forget to negotiate the business issues in the contract as well. The software vendors write the contracts to protect their interests; you need to negotiate to protect your interests in the agreement.

About the Author

SoftResources is dedicated to providing unbiased software evaluation consulting and software selection tips to companies, non-profit and government organizations. We do not sell, implement, or receive remuneration from the software vendors for our recommendations in order to provide a thorough and objective evaluation of your software options.

SAP MDM Simplified Part - I by Ameya Pimpalgaonkar

noreply@blogger.com (SAP BASIS Interview Questions) — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 17:57:00 +0000

From the authors of http://www.madeitsimple.com

- Ameya Pimpalgaonkar - L&T Infotech (Netweaver and MDM consultant) Today we are starting our new series similer to what we had earlier SAP ABAP Simplified series. This time the series is SAP MDM Simplified. We are trying to present the information to the fullest, however, sometimes loop holes do remains. Your support and comments drives us to present more targeted articles for you. Keep visiting MadeITsimple.com

What is MDM?

The MDM system is much more than a simple database application. Rather, it is an integrated system for master data management that uses a database management system (DBMS), but completely bypasses relational DB functions for almost all searching, Sorting, and retrieving of information.SAP Master Data Management (SAP MDM) enables master data on customers, partners and products to be consolidated and harmonized across the enterprise, making it available to all staff and business partners. A key component of SAP NetWeaver, SAP MDM ensures data integrity across all IT systems.

Why you need MDM?

Your company has a heterogeneous IT landscape with multiple systems containing data objects of say, material, customer, vendors, and employees. While communicating material inforamation to vendors and customers, confusions has ensured where the same material has been sent to the same vendor and customer many times. Now because of this, it has been very difficult for your organization to maintain centralized catalogue of products that are searchable by customers.

Further, poor data synchronization between your company’s system has resulted in slow and inaccurate partner and supplier communications. This time indeed you need Master Data Management to alleviate these problems.

MDM Components:

MDM Console:

Allows the system manager to administrate and monitor MDM srver software to create and maintain the structure of the repositories and control access to them. Records are not entered or managed through this.

MDM Datamanager:

It is a combined application where you can search and view data, as well as create new and maintain/edit existing data.

Portal:

It integrates the MDM components and enables web based MDM repository to work on.

Import Manager:

In order to load the data into the MDM system, you need is Import Manager.

Syndicator:

To send the purified, cleaned data back to the original system, MDM syndicator is used.

Rest of the features and components we will study in depth in the next article of this series. So while keep visiting MadeITsimple.com

About the Author

Ameya Pimpalgaonkar works as an SAP Consultant and is also the owner of http://www.madeitsimple.com, a simplifide rsource on CAT & GMAT, SAP-ERP, JAVA, Healthcare, Media, Economy & Finance and much more..

Integrate SAP MDM with Enterprise Portal in 10 minutes by Ameya Pimpalgaonkar

noreply@blogger.com (SAP BASIS Interview Questions) — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 17:55:00 +0000

From the authors of http://www.madeitsimple.com

In this article i am trying to focus the integration of SAP MDM i.e. Master Data Management into SAP Portal landscape. You need to load the business package to the portal and configure the connections to the MDM repository and other backend systems. Each iView must be connected to a portal system object derived from the MDM system. An MDM portal system object always references a single, specific MDM repository.

So follwing are the precise setps that one need to perform to get MDM integrated into EP.

Process Flow:

The first thign you have to do is, get the SCA files from SAP market place. If you have S - user id then you can download these files easily, else ask your basis support team.

Following are the pre-requisite:

Pre-requiesites: MDM server : 5.5 SP3 required It is recommended not to change the repository port once configured.

Following are the SCA file names that one can download from SAP Market place. 1) BPMDMTECHN04_0.SCA - Wizards & iview coding required to define MDM repositories. 2) BPMDMAPPLI04_0.SCA - Predesigned roles, iviews, worksets 3) MDMJAVAAPI04_0.SCA Once you are done with the downloading these files, we will deploy them using SDM i.e. Software deployment Manager. Using this GUI one can deploy the components on the portal server. Access this GUI from your portal server by using this url usr’sap’<SID>’JC00’SDM’program’RemoteGui.bat

Import all the files in the same sequence as posted above. Follow the deployment wizard untill deployment succesfull message is displyed.

With this your deployment is finished and you can check if components are ther on your server by accessing portal index.html page. You can access index apge by useing this url http://<;host>:<port>/index.html -> System Information -> Look out for MDM deployed components.

Configurations:

As you have finished the deployment, there are few configuration needed to be set so that you can start using MDM components on Portal.

Lauch Go.bat i.e. Visual Administrator and logon using your administrator credentials.

Go to services -> Connection container -> MDM Factory

Select the Porperties Tab and set the server details and maximum allowed connection i.e. pooling properties.

Now Go to Services -> Monitoring, here you can see the up-to-date information on MDM deployed components. You can also see the errors in the deployments if any.

With this your MDM deployment on portal is completed. In the next article we will see portal side configurations to connect to MDM repositories.

You can see the screen shot document of this process in our forums thred

http://www.madeitsimple.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=18

Regards, Ameya

About the Author

Ameya Pimpalgaonkar is SAP Netweaver Consultant and also owner of http://www.madeitsimple.com - simplified contents on SAP-ERP, Technology, Healthcare, Media, Travel and more.

SAP - Netweaver SOA by Ameya Pimpalgaonkar

noreply@blogger.com (SAP BASIS Interview Questions) — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 17:53:00 +0000

originally written by the authors of http://www.madeitsimple.com, SAP - Roadmap is now SOA!

SAP, worldâ€™s largest ERP manufacturers, have recently publish a road map and it says future is SOA, so what this SOA all about?

SOA - Service Oriented Architecture is an altogether new feature of SAP where SAP platform would be totally service oriented. All softwares would be converted to the webservices and launched onto the internet. With this no end user will be required to have full SAP implementation, this reduces TCO (Total cost of ownership) by more than 30% !!

For e.g an SAP tool would be developed and installed on developerâ€™s server and developer company will convert this whole tool as a webservice, webservice is the service of a software that is consumed at a client side without actually installing it.

Now quest arises, where can i create SAP webservices?

In case of ABAP which is the programming language of SAP or rather i would say language this is getting a backstage entry with JAVA taking over. In ABAP you can create a webservice by converting your function modules into webservice. This will provide you with the WSDL URL, WSDL URL? what it is?

WSDL stands for Wevservice description language, and URL is the internet link with which the service of your software is consumed over the internet.

Now let me discuss what is Netweaver platform all about.

SAP, more specifically R/3 screens if anyone have seen, are very much technical and does not provide any user support that is why SAP came with some new tools where in developer can make use of web technoligies and languages like JAVA and .Net framework as well. With the invent of this platform, SAP started itâ€™s journey towards openness.

SAP Netweaver is very large, or very vast landsacpe in which many components sit loosely coupled.

SAP MDM is also the newest member of this platform.

Netweaver development is done in the SAP provided tool named â€œNWDS - Netweaver developer studioâ€

Major coding languages are Javascript, HTML & CSS for styles, JAVA.

This tool provides perspective which is exclusively designed for JAVA , Enterpise portal ,MI (Mobile infrastructure), MDM.

one can use any of the provided prespective and code.

In the following articles i will discuss about FAQs asked on Netweaver platform. Further we will move towards understnding some of the Netweaver components like Enterprise portal, SAP MDM, Webdynpro, Visual composer and adobe flex.

Ameya Pimpalgaonkar Ameya Pimpalgaonkar is an SAP consultant and is the owner of http://www.madeitsimple.com - simplified resources on CAT, MBA, SAP, JAVA, Healthcare and much more..

About the Author

Ameya Pimpalgaonkar is an SAP consultant and is the owner of http://www.madeitsimple.com - simplified resources on CAT, MBA, SAP, JAVA, Healthcare and much more..

noreply@blogger.com (SAP BASIS Interview Questions) — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 17:50:00 +0000

Working across Sap heterogeneous forums systems at multiple places, SAP Master Data Management leverages accessible IT assets in business-critical data, delivering greatly reduced data repairs charges and very useful for sap business jobs. Moreover, by ensuring cross-system data consistency, SAP Master Data Management speed ups the implementation of business processes for jobs. SAP MDM is a key enabler of SAP Enterprise Service-Oriented Architecture forums.

SAP is at present on its second iteration of MDM software. Facing restricted acceptance of its primary release, SAP changed path and in 2004 purchased a small vendor in the PIM space known as A2i. This code has happen to the basis for the presently shipping SAP MDM 5.5, and for itself, most analysts believe SAP MDM to be more of a PIM than a broad MDM product at this time.

The components & tools of SAP NetWeaver master data management integrates business courses across the comprehensive value chain, delivering features and functions to help: Master data consolidation, Synchronization and distribution of master data , Centralized management of master data, Administration of master data, Management of internal content, Catalog search, Print catalog customization , Multichannel syndication of product catalog content, Business process support and Business analytics and reporting.

There are five normal execution scenarios:

Content Consolidation, Central Master Data Management, Master Data Harmonization, Rich Product Content and Global Data Synchronization With the SAP (MDM), you can:

1. Control customer relationships efficiently through streamlined visibility across various systems 2. Simply allocate master data to assigned systems through automated distribute and subscribe models 3. Lessen the number of part masters maintained worldwide by removing duplicates 4. Analyze and statement on spending by part, supplier, or other master data 5. Negotiate superior sourcing contracts based on analytical insights 6. Lessen supply chain charges by ensuring exact exchange of data involving manufacturers and dispensers or dealers. SAP Master Data Management is the basis for harmonized, reliable information that can be offered to client applications across the enterprise. It offers you a great way to attain information steadiness across your business or jobs and IT landscape. It enables improved decision-making, translating chance charges into gains, and reducing the charge of IT maintenance. SAP Master Data Management allows you to go with information across myriad applications and topographies , whether that details resides in SAP, non-SAP, or legacy applications. Therefore, you can lessen costs, develop decision-making, and attain business goals on jobs. The sap news says that SAP (MDM) increases the sap jobs search and by training this sap certified course education module, it supports and gives more vacancies for permanent sap jobs for all developers or trainers worldwide.

About the Author

Ron Victor is a SEO copywriter for SAP jobs
He written many articles in various topics like SAP news,SAP Forums,SAP Articles For more information visit sap employment
Contact him at ron.seocopywriter@gmail.com

100 basis interview questions and answers1

noreply@blogger.com (SAP BASIS Interview Questions) — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 19:09:00 +0000

92.At what stages we need to transport the requests
Whenever we need the change the objects and need to transport we have to perform transports
like user request , client transport etc..
93.How to perform the transport?
Through STMS_IMPORT or through FTP.
94.Whenever I Suppose to start the MMC , The message server is starting , but the dispatcher and
work process is unable to start ? what could be the problem ?
95.If the Gateway service failed , can you connect to other r/3 System?
96.I tried to cancel a job with “Cancel Active Job “ but I got the message “Job is not active “ I
killed the process in SM50 , but my SM37 is still showing ACTIVE . What can I do to fix this ?
· In SM37à select job name and user àExecute Second screen on the top select job à Check
status
· Start STMS and double click on the request it self, you will see which type of request it is
(Workbenchàclient Independent or Customizingàclient dependent).
· I recommend you to import every request on which client without looking inside the
request.
97.What are the Background job you applied ?
Checking the spool logs, Background job logs, Client Copies , etc
98.I Applied one background job Logs ,Client Copies etc..
99.what is the procedure to applying Patches ?
first we will download the patches from the service .sap.com to Trans Directory . In the trans
Directory extract the patches using CAR command after that using SAPM we have to import
patches into sap level and apply.
100.How to configure TMS ?