Introduction to ERP and Navigation in SAP

Author: Domicián Máté

Table of Contents Introduction ...... 4 What is an Enterprise Resource Planning System ...... 5 What is ERP?...... 5 Evolution of ERP...... 5 ERP Characteristics ...... 7 Major Reasons for Adopting ERP ...... 8 ERPs and productivity relationship ...... 10 Exercises ...... 11 Solutions ...... 12 Introduction to SAP ...... 13 Brief History of SAP ...... 13 SAP R/3 System’s Architecture ...... 14 The R/3 System’s Modules ...... 15 The hidden costs of introduction ...... 18 Exercises ...... 18 Solutions ...... 19 Navigation in SAP R/3 ...... 20 Log on SAP ...... 20 SAP Easy Access Menu ...... 23 The Menu Bar ...... 28 Business Workplace ...... 39 Distribution lists ...... 44 Workflow functions ...... 46 User Maintenance ...... 48 Job Scheduling ...... 52 Exercises ...... 53 Solutions ...... 56 An overview of GBI (Global Bike Inc.) ...... 58 Company History ...... 58 Corporate Overview ...... 59 Product, Manufacturing and IT Strategy ...... 60 Distribution and Partner Network ...... 61 Working at GBI ...... 62

How to Use GBI Mobile Application ...... 65 Exercises ...... 66 References ...... 69

Introduction

This material was written with the intention to explain the main characteristics of the Enter- prise Resource Planning systems (ERPs), how these systems work in theory and how to navigate in SAP Easy Access Menu in practice. The illustration of SAP R/3 systems is prepared for students at universities of applied sciences with no previous experience; however, any students who are interested in ERPs are welcome. This material is recommended both at clas- ses and for autodidactic study as well.

After having completed the course, students will be able to understand the advantages of adopting ERP systems and they will be able to navigate through the SAP User Interface to work on business processes and case studies on their own. Furthermore, this material is meant to serve as a reference for occasional users of SAP R/3 systems.

The following typographic conventions are also used:

This information is displayed by the instructor

Procedures

Exercises

Warning or caution

Solutions

Discussion

What is an Enterprise Resource Planning System

What is ERP?

An Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) System is a fully integrated Business Manage- ment System covering the functional areas of an enterprise, such as Accounting, Finance, Human Resources, Logistics, Production etc. (Anderson, 2011).

The word Integration is the key element for ERP implementation. An ERP system is an attempt to integrate all functions across a company to a single computer system that can serve all specific needs of users:  It organizes and integrates operation processes and information flows etc. to make the optimum use of resources such as people, material, money, machine etc.  It may also integrate key customers and suppliers as part of the enterprise’s operation.  It provides integrated database and custom-designed report systems.  It adopts a set of “best practices” for carrying out all business processes.

Enterprise Resource Planning systems ensure:  a database,  an application,  and a user interface for the entire enterprise, where the system rules manufacturing, distribution, finance, sales etc.

Evolution of ERP

In the growing business environment, the following factors motivate industry to develop ERPs (Hetyei, 2009):  aggressive cost-cutting initiatives,  the need to analyze costs/revenues on a product or customer basis,  flexibility to respond to the changing business requirements,  the demand of the management for more information needed for decision making,  looking for new solutions in the business world.

Information systems have traditionally been placed in two broad categories (see Table I.):

 Operations Support Systems (1950s-): OSSs process data which are generated during business activities in order to provide internal users (business owners and employees) and external users (buyers and distributors) with a big amount of information. Furthermore, OSSs support day-to-day operations and the lower level management functions. a) Transaction Processing Systems (TPS): record and process data which derive during the daily course of business. TPSs serve as the database of higher systems during the supervision of everyday business activities (settling invoices, paying salaries and placing orders). b) Process Control Systems (PCS): control, monitor and capture ongoing physical processes, and make routine decisions, real time adjustment to a process. c) Enterprise Collaboration Systems (ECS): support team and enterprise collaboration and communication. Collect, process, store, and transmit data and information in the form of electronic office communication.

 Management Support Systems (1960s-): MSSs are designed to provide accurate, timely and relevant information needed by managers for effective decision making. Thus, MMSs support the decision-making needs of strategic (top), tactical (middle) and operating (supervisory) management. a) Management Information Systems (MIS, 1960s-): provide information for the managerial end-users to support their day-to-day decision making needs. b) Decision Support Systems (DSS, 1970s-): are interactive, computer-based information systems that use decision and specialized databases to assist (un)structured decision-making processes. c) Executive Information Systems (EIS, 1980-): provide strategic information to support to needs of top management. These systems are easy to operate and understand and provide immediate access to selective information about key factors. d) Material Resource Planning Systems (MRP): carry out the prerequisite materials and disposable inventories for timing vendor and production provisions. e) Manufacturing Requirement Planning Systems (MRP II., 1980s-): unite the production with the supply and demand processes to claim and support ad-hoc and seasonal reports by using networks.

f) Expert Systems (ES): are artificial intelligence and computer based systems that emulates the decision-making ability of a human expert (Jackson, 1998). g) Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (ERP, 1990s-): integrate the resources of hardware, software, people, network, and data to perform input, processing, output, storage, and control activities that convert data resources into information products. h) Business Suits (BS, 2000-): are integrated applications that enable enterprises to perform essential, industry-specific, and business-support processes with modular solutions.

Table I. The evolution of ERP Systems Years Information Systems 1950s TPS 1960s MIS 1970s DSS, MRP 1980s EIS, ES 1990s ERP 2000s Business Suits

Source: (Hetyei, 2009), (Jackson, 1998)

ERP Characteristics

Any system has to keep few key characteristics to qualify for a true ERP solution. These features are the following (Mazzulo –Wheatley, 2006):  Flexibility: an ERP system has got to be flexible to respond to the changing needs of an enterprise.  Modularity and Openness: an ERP system has got to have open system architecture. This means that any module can be interfaced or detached whenever required without affecting the other modules.  User-Friendly Services: the menus and services of an ERP programs has got to be standard and comprehensible.  Wide-ranging: ERP systems have got to be able to support a variety of organizational functions and must be suitable for a wide range of business organizations.

 Beyond the Company: it must not be confined to the organizational boundaries, rather it is supposed to support the on-line connectivity to the other business enti- ties of the organization.  Best Business Practices: ERPs must have a collection of the best business processes applicable worldwide. An international ERP package imposes its own logic on a company’s strategy, culture and institute.

Major Reasons for Adopting ERP

In the following we list some of the major features of ERP Systems supporting business activities (Stair–Reynolds, 2010):  ERP provides a multi-platform, -facility, -mode and multi-currency, with multilingual facilities.  It supports strategic and business planning activities, operational planning and execution activities, creation of Materials and Resources.  ERP covers all functional areas like manufacturing, selling and distribution, paya- bles, receivables, inventory, accounts, human resources, purchases, etc.  ERP performs core activities and increases customer service, thereby augmenting the corporate image.  ERP bridges the information gap between organizations and provides complete integration of systems, not only across departments but also across companies under the same management.  ERP allows the automatic introduction of the latest technologies like Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT), Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), Internet, Intranet, Video conferencing, E-Commerce, etc.  ERP eliminates most business problems like material shortages, productivity en- hancements, customer service, cash management, inventory and quality problems, prompt delivery, etc.  ERP provides intelligent business tools like decision support system, executive information system, data mining and easy working systems to enable better decisions.

Why companies worth to undertake ERP Systems?  Integrate financial information: ERP creates a single version of the information that cannot be questioned because everyone uses the same system.  ERP systems integrate customer order information: ERP systems can become the place where the customer order lives from the time a customer service representa- tive receives it until the loading dock ships the merchandise and finance sends an invoice.  It standardizes and speeds up manufacturing processes: ERP systems come with standard methods for automating some of the steps of manufacturing processes.  It reduces inventory: ERP helps the manufacturing process flow more smoothly, and it improves visibility of the order fulfillment process at the company.  It standardizes HR information: especially at companies with multiple business units. HR may not have a unified, simple method for tracking employees' time and communicating with them about the benefits and other services.

Potential benefits of using ERP systems: a) Internal Benefits ◦ Integration of a single source of data ◦ Common data definition ◦ A real-time system ◦ Increased productivity ◦ Reduced operating costs ◦ Improved internal communication ◦ Foundation for future improvement b) External Benefits ◦ Improved customer service and order fulfillment ◦ Improved communication with suppliers and customers ◦ Enhanced competitive position ◦ Increased sales and profits

ERPs and productivity relationship

However, while the academic literature has earlier claimed that the presence of EPRs leads to better economic performance and they are essential elements of well-functioning economies, others some unanswered dilemma has still remained. In this paper we have an objective to answer how EPRs might impact on labour productivity. For instance, the usage of ERPs can be resulted in increased sales efficiency and the improved interactions in warranty services lead to satisfy the customers through providing lower quotations and increased awareness. The enhanced production and the less cost of inventories also improves the performance of organizations. Thus, Hu and Png (2012) demonstrated that more patent-intensive industries, such as ICT responded to stronger patent laws with higher growth, which resulted in increased GDP per capita. According to an economic paradox, the computers are fundable everywhere in the economies except in the productivity data (Solow, 1987). Although there was an appropriate economic growth in the world during much of the 1980s and early 1990s, the rapid diffusion of computing technology seemed to have little impact on productivity growth (Dirk at. al.). Several research studies over the past decade pointed out the factors that contributed to this contradiction. First, some of the benefits of ICT were not selected in the productivity statistics (Triplett, 1999). This is mainly a problem in the service sector, where most ICT investment occurs and very difficult to capture in statistical surveys. A second reason is that the benefits of ICT usage might have taken a considerable time to emerge, as did the impacts of other key technologies. Hence, ICT has diffused very rapidly in many OECD countries in the 1990s and several empirical studies could find a larger impact of ICT on economic performance than the earlier ones (in 1970s or 1980s). Thus, the role of ICT at the firm level was based on relative- ly small samples, drawn from private sources and the initial impact of them on productivity performance was unimportant. Much of the current interest in ICT’s potential impact on growth is not only linked to the ICT-producing sector, but to the potential benefits arising from its use in the production process. The use of ICT could have several impacts on productivity in this perspective. For example, it might enhance the firms’ production to expand their products and gain market share. Moreover, it could customize the services of firms offered, or respond better to the client demand. Thus, ICT may help reduce inefficiency in the use of capital and labour to reduce the spare inventories. These effects, in our hypothesis, might lead to higher productivity growth in firm level.

All these channels brought about by ERPS made them a very attractive re-search object of business disciplines to answer how they can impact on labour productivity. Earlier ap- proaches in accordance with this question identified non-financial performance as proxies for financial value (Bhatt, 2000; Booth et al. 2000). Only lately, the accounting discipline has originated with studies to provide domestic evidence of the economic impacts of ERPs (Hunton et al, 2003; Nicolaou et al, 2003 etc). The results of these studies find some proof of immediate or delayed in-creases in firm performance after ERPs adoptions. Moreover, En- gelstätter, B. (2008) found that the combined effects of adopting the different software systems without controlling for other obstacles interfering with enterprise system usage. They also claimed the ERP implementation has a positive impact when a company employs a pro- spector business strategy, which enables the firm to achieve higher levels of financial performance.

Exercises

Answer the following questions!

1. An ERP system is an attempt to integrate all functions across a company to a single computer system that can serve all those functions’ specific needs. a) True b) False

2. Information systems that provides strategic information tailored to needs of top management: a) DSS b) TPS c) MIS d) EIS

3. Potential external benefits of ERP: a) Reduced operating costs b) Enhanced competitive position c) Improved internal communication d) Improved communication with suppliers and customers

4. The MIS has got to be able to support variety of organizational functions and must be suitable for a wide range of business organizations. a) True b) False

5. Can ERPs impact on productivity growth? a) True b) False

Solutions

Check your answers!

1. True 2. EIS 3. (b), (d) 4. False 5. True

Introduction to SAP

Brief History of SAP1

When Xerox decided to exit the computer industry, it asked IBM to move its business systems to IBM technology. Then five IBM engineers abandon the project and they decided to leave IBM and start another company. As a result, in June 1972 they founded System Analy- sis and Program Development (SAP). In 1973, the first commercial product was launched. The SAP R/1, as it was called, offered a common system for multiple tasks. In 1976, the company, namely SAP GmbH, was founded and moved its headquarters the following year to Walldorf. Three years later, in 1979, SAP launched SAP R/2, expanding the capabilities of the system to other areas, such as material management and production planning. SAP developed and released several versions of R/3 in 1992 through 1995. By the mid-1990s, SAP followed the trend of computing to client/server architectures.

Figure 1.: The milestones of SAP

Source: based on SAP(2014a)

1 http://www.sap.com/careers/about-us/history.html 13

In August 1988, SAP GmbH became SAP AG (a corporation by German law), and the public trading of the shares started on 4. November 1988. The distribution placed on Frankfurt Stock Exchange. In 1995, SAP was included in the Dow Jones. A strategic alliance existed with Microsoft (1996). As one of the milestones of SAP history, the mySAP.com integrated E- commerce and other ERP services in 1999 and after Y2K the mySAP Business Suits could offer industry-specific solutions. SAP released the NetWeaver in 2004, a Web-based computing platform. SAP became one of the world's largest business software companies and the third biggest independent software providers by the revenue (as of 2007, see Figure 1.) The same year, SAP bought the BusinessObjects and also attained the award of "Germany’s Best Employer" for the 4th time. In 2010, SAP acquired Sybase and taped the power of mobile right when Android devices are exploding on the market. Moreover, in 2011, SAP reached for the “sky” by acquiring SuccessFactors, as a leading cloud-based software provider.

SAP R/3 System’s Architecture

What is the R/3 system? R/3 System’s Architecture is based on a multilevel client-server concept, which uses implemented methods to control this relationship between individual software components (Brinkmann–Zeilinger, 2000).  Client/Server Environment - Client – hardware/software environment that can make a request for services for a central repository of resources. - Server – hardware/software combination that can provide services to a group of clients in a controlled environment.

The SAP R/3 System has a three-tier client/server architecture. The R/3 System is structured in layers in which the largely independent function levels are linked to one another by inter- faces. All data is stored in a database, and the data is processed in the application layer on the application servers. The SAPgui frontend (presentation layer) is the interface to the user. All three layers are connected to each other with networks.

All in all, SAP based the architecture of R/3 on a three-tier client/server structure:  Presentation Layer: Graphical User Interface (GUI) or Web Interface  Application Layer: One or more, contains business functions and processes (written in a 4GL programming language ABAP/4)  Database Layer: One single data repository

The following Figure (2.) represents the client/server architecture of the R/3 System, and the communication requirements among the presentation and application and database layers:

Figure 2.: The R/3 System’s Architecture and the Client/Server connection

Source: SAP(2014b)

The R/3 System’s Modules

The applications (modules) of the R/3 System are based on a general business model, which permits a holistic overview of all the data and business processes used in a company. This general model covered the following application areas (Bruck-Emden, 2000):  Financial Modules: Financial Accounting (FI), Controlling (CO), Investment Man- agement (IM), Treasury (TR), Enterprise Control (EC).  Logistics Modules: Material management (MM), Sales & distribution (SD), Produc- tion, Planning and Control (PP), Product Data Management (PDM), Quality Manage- ment (QM), Plant maintenance (PM), Service Management (SM), Project Systems (PS).  Human Resource Management Modules (HR): Personnel Management (PM), Organi- zational Management (OM), Payroll Accounting (PA), Time Management (TM), Per- sonnel Development (PD), Training and Event Management (TEM).  Cross Application Modules: Workflow (WF), SAP Office.

Figure 3.: The R/3 System’s modules

Source: SAP(2014c)  Financial Accounting (FI): An important core module, designed for meeting all the accounting and financial needs of an organization. Within this module financial managers can review the financial position of the company in real time.  Controlling (CO): Represents the company’s flow of cost and revenue, offers all the support information needed by the management for the purpose of planning, reporting and decision making. Decision making can be achieved with a high level of information reducing drastically risks. Basically, it is a management instrument for organizational decisions.  Sales & Distribution (SD): The SAP sales and distribution is part of the logistics module that support customers, starting from quotations, sales order and all the way towards billing the customer. It is tightly integrated with the MM and the PP functional modules. It allows companies to input their customer sales price, checks for open orders and forecast etc.  Material Management (MM): This module is used for Procurement Handling and Inventory Management. MM is integrated with other modules, such as SD, PP and QM (Quality Management). Materials management is used for procurement and inventory management.

 Product Planning (PP): The purpose of PP (Production Planning) is to ensure that manufacturing runs effectively and efficiently and produces products as required by customers. The Production Planning module of SAP takes care of Master data needed like Bill of Materials, Routings and Work Centers and stores it in one separate component.  Quality Management (QM): Quality management is a method for ensuring that all the activities - necessary to design, develop and implement a product or service - are effective and efficient with respect to the system and its performance. Quality Management is the comprehensive solution that supports the company throughout the product life cycle and along the supply chain.  Plant Maintenance (PM): The PM module covers all maintenance activities, supporting the Planning, Programming and Implementation, with emphasis on the availability of equipment, staff costs etc. SAP’s Plant Maintenance support assessment to establishes the actual condition of a technical system, pre- ventive preservation to maintain and restore the ideal condition of a technical system and other measures that need to be taken using the maintenance organization.  Human Resources (HR): It deals with various activities done in the human resource department of an organization, such as administration, personnel development, training and event management, payroll etc. This module enables customers to effectively manage information about the people in their organization, and to integrate information with other SAP modules and external systems.  Project System (PS): The PS module was created to support the planning, control and monitoring of long-term and highly complex projects with defined long run goals. Projects are generally part of the internal processes of a company.  Workflow (WF): A workflow is an IT tool for organize and perform business processes. The WF applications aim to access information rapidly and reduce the expectation and lead-time of the systems and enhance the communication in the offices and also the effectiveness of companies.  Industry Solutions (IS): An IS supports the specific needs of various industries (financial intermediaries, machinery, manufacturing, electricity, high-tech branches etc.), which are developed by the SAP experts and their partners.

The hidden costs of introduction

 training of employee: if the level of the training is not adequate it could avenge in the future,  failure of integrate tests: recognitions to the full-test shortages inconvenient problems could occur in working processes,  personalization: the competitive advantages of the companies should be implemented into the software mainly in updates,  data conversion: the data of old system often redundant and should be cleaned for the repository.  data warehouse: different hardware and software servers are recommended to store the recovered data,  costs of advisors: these cost could be get away and appropriate system requirements are recommend to reduce them,  key users: the trainings to upgrade the level of end-users and the best motivation tools of instructors are also critical for system initialization,  implementation costs: the human abstraction and failure in development could cause system breakdowns,  „waiting for the best ROI”: the initialization is not only recommended to increase financial performance,  depression after initialization: the new system sometimes reduce the productivity of companies,

Exercises

Answer the following questions!

1. Count the historical highlights of SAP in order of appearance. a) …. leave IBM and start another company b) …. launched SAP R/2 c) …. was included in the Dow Jones d) …. computing to client/server architectures.

2. The servers are hardware/software environments that can make a request for services of SAP. a) True b) False

3. Entering sales order, demonstrating delivery and billing … a) Treasury (TR) b) Controlling (CO) c) Executive Information Systems (EIS) d) Sales and Distribution (SD)

4. The presentation layer is the interface to the user. a) True b) False

5. Different hardware and software servers are recommended to store the recovered data in warehouses. a) True b) False

Solutions

Check your answers!

1. (1), (2), (4), (3) 2. False 3. (d) 4. True 5. True

Navigation in SAP R/3

Log on SAP

(1) Use the SAP GUI to log on to the SAP system. Find and double-click on the icon that should be found on the desktop, (2) A dialog box similar to (Figure 4.) appears and then the specified SAP System should be selected (Note: if any problems occurred discuss with your lecturer and choose Log on or press Enter.)

Figure 4.: SAP Logon Dialog Box

Before logging on the system, some of the definition of SAP R/3 should be understand, such as the term “client.” SAP is a client oriented system. The concept of clients in several separate companies can be managed in one system at the same time (Schicht–Schmieden, 1999). The clients are the highest organizational level in R/3 system. In business terms, each client can represent a group of companies or a firm – regardless the size of organizations, The logon screen appears. Though, the system requests to enter the client, user, password, and preferred languages (Figure 5.).

Figure 5.: The Log on Screen

In commercial, organizational and technical terms, a client is therefore a self-contained unit with separate master records and its own set of tables. In SAP systems, different clients are identified by their client numbers.

(3) Use the client number that given by the instructor. (4) For reasons of access protection, a password must be entered to log on. The password entry is case-sensitive. According to the handbook of Hernandez et al. (2006) the common rules of password configuration are the following:

( Note: These rules could vary in R/3 systems.)  the length of passwords should be at least 8 characters,  the upper- and lowercase are disregarded,  the new password should be different from the old ones with minimum 2 characters,  the last five specified passwords are not available,  each of the alphabetical and numerical symbols are valid, except * and +.

(5) Choose the blank field or change into the chosen language types (EN-English, DE-

German etc.) in the Language field. ( Note: The SAP Systems are multilingual but the available languages depend on the earlier installed versions of the operating system.)

(6) All in all, enter the user name, the initial password and the logon language. Then choose or press Enter.

Figure 6.: Initial password validation

When logging on for the first time, a new dialog box appears in which a new individual password should be twice reentered (Figure 6.). ( Note: Remember on it anytime to log on the system.) For the first time of log on process a copyright note could be seen.

(7) Confirm it with or press Enter. After the confirmation an initial screen with the SAP Easy Access Menu appears.

SAP Easy Access Menu

The next (Figure 7.) shows the initial screen of SAP Easy Access menu, which introduced by (Anderson, 2011). (8) Identify the main functions of each element of the SAP System screen.

Figure 7.: SAP Easy Access Menu

The main elements of SAP R/3 Easy Access Menu are the following:

 Menu Bars The menus are displayed in Figure 7. (i.e. Menu, Edit, Favourites and Extras etc.) depend on the actual transactions in the system. The only exceptions are the System and Help menus, which are always available. (See the menus sub-functions in the next session.)

 Standard Toolbars

The icons below in the Standard Toolbar are available on all SAP R/3 screens. Those icons that cannot be used in the current application are greyed out. ( Note: by pausing the cursor above an icon, a quick info text appears. The icons tend to right are the following: o icon execute your commands or transactions. o The quickest way to run a transaction in the SAP system is to enter the transaction code. Every transaction has a code, which generally has at least four characters. The transaction codes can be entered into the Command Field. This item memorize the earlier given transaction codes in a puffer to support our job. The small triangle set the visibility of it. o save our entries as if it is possible. o exit the current transaction. o close the active session. ( Note: the defaulted value of opened sessions is set to 6 in the system in parallel per user.)

o stop or cancel the existing process/transactions, ( Note: the functions of the last three icons could vary on in each transactions). When leaving any transaction by using , or these icons may be strengthened with the displayed dialog window: Figure 8.: Exit or Cancel leaving sessions

( Note: be sure that the data is saved and then choose yes, or else cancel the leaving process.)

o print the actual results/lists etc. of transactions.

search for concrete character/string etc. in the text. ( Note: if not only the first hit is needed, use the second search icon to identify the next results of searches.) o these icons are similar to the functions of Home, PG Up, PG Down and End buttons of keyboard to navigate in the texts. o create a new Session.

o create a new Shortcut on the Desktop ( Note: a concrete transaction should be traced before this function is activated.)

o button customize the system’s Local Layout functions, such as Options, Clipboard, GUI settings, Character Set and etc. Figure 9.: Local Layout Menu

( : visit the Options Menu to discuss the opportunities how to calibrate the user-specific settings. The Visualisation Design, Language and Security options could be changed here.) Hint -The first steps in the procedure for creating a display layout are carried out on the Change Layout Screen, which can be call up in the way of clicking the Change layout or Cur- rent display variant button in the application toolbar. The Change Layout screen contains a row of tabs at the top. The first tab is selected by default to display the Column sub-screen, which is the main working environment in the screen. The Column sub-screen is dominated by the Columns, and Column Set windows. They are separated by two control arrows, which can be used for transferring data types between them. The Columns window displays a list of the line-item report. This list is often accompanied by the selection boxes of the Summation column. The columns window is covered by the Search button and other positioning buttons to change the display variants.

 Title Bar The title bar displays the name of a transaction that is currently used. It is located on every primary and dialog windows under the standard toolbar and above the application toolbar.

 Application Toolbar The application toolbar contains icons and buttons applicable to the transaction that is currently used. ( Note: the content of this toolbar always depends on the current transaction.)

 The SAP Easy Access Menu Two folders are available in Access Menu: the standard SAP and the Favorites Menu. By navigating through the SAP Menus and using path structures the users able to reach the concrete transactions. Each folder contains a standardized menu structure in accordance with the SAP modules and typical business functions of a company. Figure 10.: SAP Easy Access Menu

The next (Figure 10.) displays the SAP Easy Access Menu on the initial screen. It enables to navigate in the system by using a tree structure. ( Note: click on the small arrows to expand the menu tree and double-click on the available transactions to run it.) The Favorites Menu differs from SAP Menu in variability. If any transactions are frequently used, it would be sensible to add these to the favorites. ( Note: double-click on it to run without navigation through the SAP Easy Access menu.) Figure 11.: Favorites Menu

Folders, reports, transactions, other files and web addresses as favorites (See Figure 9.) can be added into favorites’ folders as well. ( Note: by clicking the Favorites Folder with the right-mouse button a hierarchical folder structure can be created.

 Status Bar The status bar shows the technical information about current system status with three components: the message field, system data field and a frame grabber. o The message field is a screen element by which the system displays confirmation, warning, errors and other messages to the users. o The system data field displays technical data about SAP environment, such as the name of the database, the mandants etc. ( Note: mandants are integral part of SAP, which dispose separate financial or organizational aspects. Real, training and test mandants could be existed in one system). The list (arrow) icon in the system data field display other sort of technical data, such as transaction codes, reaction time etc. o The frame grabber allows to adjust the size and shape of the application window by clicking it into a new position.

The Menu Bar

The menu bar is the uppermost element on all screens. It contains three components:

 Menu Headers

When the menu headers are clicked, they display lists or menus of commands that can be executed on a screen. Some of the commands in the menus have their own subcommands, which are displayed when the cursor is landed on those commands.

 System Shortcut Menu Icon

When icon is clicked, the system shortcut menu displays a short menu of commands (Fig- ure: 12.) for working with SAP application window. Most of these commands can also be executed by the System Menu, but the single exception is Stop Transaction command, which kills a transaction after started its execution.

Figure 12.: The System Shortcut Menu

 Control Buttons

The control buttons of the menu bar affect the application window in three ways when they are clicked. The first reduces the window to a small application bar at the bottom of the window desktop, the second maximizes and minimizes its size, and the third closes it.

The Menu Bar contains the following sub-elements tend to right.

 Menu Figure 13.: Menu Bar  Menu

Menu Bar  Menu  SAP Menu

This command enables a standard SAP Menu tree structure, such as Figure 10. ( Note: users apply this command if they do not prefer to close each of the folders one by one.) Menu Bar  Menu  Business Workplace Business Workplace is the inward letter system in SAP R/3 to support the mailing activities inside the company and among the stakeholders (i.e. employee, lenders, clients etc.) related to their business activities. Menu Bar  Menu  Refresh The refresh command has rejuvenated the system if any changes are realized since the user’s last working activities.

 Edit Figure 14.: Menu Bar  Edit

Menu Bar  Edit  Execute This command is similar to the icon that executes the traced transactions in SAP Menu. Menu Bar  Edit  Execute in new window This command firstly open a new session and executes the traced transactions. Menu Bar  Edit  Create shortcut on the desktop The favored and traced transactions as a shortcut can be created here on the desktop in order to support and speed up the users daily activities. ( Note: if the created icon is moving (click on this icon and holding it permanently with the left-button of mouse) on the SAP Menu Bar, the traced transaction could be started. A new session is occurred if the CTRL key is added to the same process as well.)

 Favorites Figure 15.: Menu Bar  Favorites

Menu Bar  Favorites  Add A frequently used and traced transaction can be added to the Favorites Menu by claiming the name of it. Menu Bar  Favorites  Delete This command deletes the traced favourite object from the menu. Menu Bar  Favorites  Move The favourite object position can be changed (moving up or down) with this command. ( Note: the last created object will be always in the first place of the menu). Menu Bar  Favorites  Insert folder A folder can be created into the Favorites Menu by claiming the name of it. Menu Bar  Favorites  Change The folder name and other parameters of the favorites can be changed here.

Menu Bar  Favorites  Insert transaction A concrete transaction can be inserted into the Favorites Menu. Menu Bar  Favorites  Add other objects Internet links, files and other SAP objects etc. could be also inserted as a favorite.

 Extras Figure 16.: Menu Bar  Extras  Settings

Menu Bar  Extras  Settings

This command specifies the display setting. ( Note: use the pipes in the checkboxes to activate these commands.)  Display favorites at end of list (the Favorites Menu is after the SAP menu).  Do not display menu, only display favorites (only the Favorites Menu is active).  Do not display picture (the SAP Logo’s advertisement is inactive)  Display technical names (the name of the transaction code is active) Menu Bar  Extras  Set start transaction The initial transaction can be activated.

 System

The (Figure 17.) represents the submenu elements of System Menu: Figure 17.: Menu Bar  System

Menu Bar  System  Create Session This command open a new session. Menu Bar  System  End Session This command closes the actual session and navigates to the last opened one. Menu Bar  System  User Profile  Own data The Maintain User Profile popup screen appears after this command or use su3 transaction to enter the user profile data. The address sub-screen is displayed by default when this screen appears. It contains several fields for entering personal, logistical and contact data. In the defaults tab can be entered the default values for several functions and formats of the system (i.e. start menu, logon language, time zone, decimal notation and date forma etc.). See Figure 19. and 20.

Figure 18.: Menu Bar  System  Own data

Figure 19.: Maintain User Profile - Address

Figure 20.: Maintain User Profile - Defaults

Menu Bar  System  Short Message However, SAP has its own e-mail application (Business Workplace) that can be used to send messages, reports and other documents to the users of the system. This process can be started from the output screen of any line-item report in two other ways. o click the Mail recipient button in the application toolbar if its available o follow the menu path of System  List  Send to Mail recipient This action call ands up the Create and Send Document screen (Figure 20.) on which a user can address their e-mail to its recipients, add a cover letter and attach other documents and send their reports. The send mail and the recipients receive with attachments can be read in BW, where the previous messages were also stored in outbox, inbox etc. This screen contains two sub-screens in which users can create a cover letter, attach documents, define properties, and enter the name of one or more recipients. The sub-screen are overlain by the Title field in which the title or description of the letter can be entered for the message and its contents.

Figure 21.: Create Document and Send – Document contents

Figure 22.: Create Document and Send – Attributes

The display (Figure 21.) of the upper sub-screen controlled by three tabs: Document content, Attributes, and Attachment. The first tab of Document content contains a text field in which users can enter a cover letter to its recipients. This field is optional. The attributes sub- screen contains data fields, in which the mails and attachments are described (Figure 22.). The first attribute of document class displays the format of the attachment and the document size indicates the size of it in bytes. The remaining fields of the Attributes sub-screen contain pop down menus of optional entries, such as Change option, Language, Sensitivity, Expiry date and Priority. The lower sub-screen of the Create Document and Send Screen is controlled by two tabs: Recipient and Trans options. The first default tab is the Recipient sub-screen contains a line item table for entering data about the recipients of the mail. Here can be added not only the name of a single recipient, but also a distribution list of multiple recipients and other system objects (i.e. external e-mail links, other levels of organizations etc.) could be used. ( Note: each line of the sub-screen also contains three selection boxes. From left to right they are: o express mail: sends a message to a recipient that a mail is waiting in the recipient’s BW. This message is flashed on the initial screen when the recipient logs on SAP. o send as copy: send a copy of the mail to a recipient and lists the recipient’s name in the header of the mail for all other recipients to see. o send as blind copy: the recipient’s name in this case does not appear in the header of the mail.

The Trans options sub-screen enables to set the conditions for transmitting the e-mail. ( Note: do not send before a concrete date, no forwarding option and after sending move to outbox function). Menu Bar  System Status This command also shows some information about the current system status Menu Bar  System Log off This command end the current session and exit the program. The confirmation window (Figure 23.) shows that the unsaved data will be lost. ( Note: if the user certain that all entries saved the prompt could be confirmed by choosing (Yes), or would click on (No) to cancel the log off command.

Figure 23.: Menu Bar  System  Log off

 Help Several types of help are available in the SAP system. A help function can be also found in the help menu (Figure 24.). Choose Application Help for context-sensitive help on the transaction that are currently used. Choose SAP Library to open the online contents. The Internet connection is available at help.sap.com. Figure 24.: Menu Bar  Help

Other frequently used helps are in accordance with the F1 and F4 button keys available as well. F1 provides explanations for fields, menus, functions and messages. ( Note: in the F1 help choose icon to get the technical information.) F4 gives information and possible other entries. ( Note: use also the F4 help by choosing directly to the right match- box of a selected field.)

Business Workplace

The Business Workplace screen serves many different functions for its users. However, sending, receiving and storing e-mail messages, which is the most frequent use of this screen by most users of the system.

The Business Workplace function can be found in the SAP Menu Bar. Use this menu element or CTRL+F12, or the icon in the Application Bar. (See Figure 25.) Figure 25.: Menu Bar  Start Business Workplace

After entering to the transaction of Business Workplace two frames can be differentiated.

In the left side of the Screen the user’s workplace (folder menu) is available. Figure 26.: User’s Business Workplace

The user’ Business Workplace contains an inbox function, where letters, documents, workflows, overdue entries, deadline messages, incorrect entries can be read, received and responded etc.

How to read E-mail in the Business Workplace

Step 1. Open the inbox folder and click the Unread documents subfolder to select and highlights it.

Step 2. The e-mail in the subfolder appears in a line-item table in the contents panel. each line displays the title, attributes, source, and the date of one e-mail. (Hint: to read the cover letter of an e-mail, click on its name to select and highlight it, and the letter is displayed in the preview panel.

Step 3. To access the entire e-mail, including its attached documents, double click its name in the contents panel.

Step 4. The Display Document (Title) screen for the e-mail appears. It contains tabs near its top for displaying sub-screens. The doc contents is selected by default, and display the covers letter of the e-mail and linked the attached document.

Step. 5. After reading the document close the application, reply it or just click on the back icon.

Figure 27.: Business Workplace – Inbox

The outbox function contains the user’ earlier send and saved messages, work items and workflows can be also managed.

How to reply E-mail in the Business Workplace Step 1. Double-click the line of the e-mail in the contents panel of the Business workplace screen. Step 2. The display Document screen appears, and click on the Reply button in its application toolbar. Step 3. The create document screen appears. It contains only two tabs for two sub-screens. Enter a name of description for the e-mail in the title field. Enter the cover letter in the text field of the Document contents sub-screen.

Step 4. Click the Send button in the application toolbar to send reply.

Figure 28.: Create Resubmission

The resubmission folder aims to schedule documents (mails, messages, documents), workflows etc. In this function the number of periods (day, week, month, year) of resubmission, the starting (first) and the end (date) of resubmission can be given as well. Other options, such as lead time and the dependence on attributes are also available. SAP R/3 Business workplace distinguish two sub-folders. The private folder contains the users own workplace, which is hidden for other SAP users. The shared folders are readable, changeable with any SAP users. Anyway, if a document, message etc. is deleted from the private folder, it would be subscribed to the Trash. Consequently, the items from the shared folder will move to Shared Trash. If the items are finally deleted from the trash they could not been recycled to the folders.

Appointment Calendar Function

The Business workplace Calendar function make it possible schedule all of the business activities of the users. In the appointment calendar, appointments and the appointments of other employees can be displayed and maintain. (Hint: note that appointments that were not created from the SAP appointment calendar interface, but rather from another (SAP) application may not be able to be processed with all functions.)

To call a calendar, choose: Menu → Business Workplace → Appointment Calendar (or use the transaction code of SSC1).

While an appointment calendar is being processed (Figure 29.), it remains open for display and maintenance by other users. Figure 29.: Appointment Calendar Function

This ensures at all times that the appointments of all users can be considered when appointments are being planned within a company. Whereas an appointment is being changed by a user, other users can only display the appointment. After you have called a calendar, go to change mode if it is an own calendar or a calendar that are authorized to maintain. Go to display mode in all other calendars. More Functions: For information on planning appointments in different time zones, see Time Zone-Related Appointment Planning. In a daily, weekly, monthly or yearly point of view several calendar appointments can be also fixed, such as the date, description, type, attributes and priority status etc. The list and availability of the participants can be regulated as well in this function. See Figure 28 and 29.

Figure 30.: Appointment Calendar – Create appointment

Distribution lists

A distribution list is feature of an email client program that allows for users to maintain a list of email addresses and send messages to all of them at once. This can be referred to as an electronic leaflet. Sending mail using a distribution list differs from an electronic mailing list or the email option found in an Internet forum as it is usually for one-way traffic and not for coordinating a discussion. A distribution list is an email equivalent of a postal mailing list. The transactions for creating, maintaining and deleting Distribution lists are the SO15 and SO23 or just use the Business Workplace and click on the icon. Both transactions will bring to the same screen. Here you can view both Private and Shared distribution lists. Figure 31.: Create Distribution List

In this transaction we can search for distribution lists at the top of the screen. The search options possible are Type (Share or Private), Name, Title and 'Entry in DL'. For 'Entry in DL' an internal user can be chosen, and addresses, distribution list, external addresses and organizational users also available. Create a shared distribution list with name of Test-XXX with the following menu (See Figure 32. and 33.) and search for or create a share folder (i.e. TEST) to the shared distribution list. This shared distribution list is valuable for the other SAP users, which can be modified, changed, deleted as well. (The private distribution lists cannot be modified with other SAP users.)

Figure 32.: Create Shared Distribution List

Figure 33.: Create Shared Distribution List – Folder selection

After giving the needed attributes for the shared distribution list, add also the distribution list content (Figure 34. and 35.). Figure 34.: Create Shared Distribution List – Attributes

Figure 35: Create Shared Distribution List – Distribution List Content–

Add a participant internal, external user, fax, email distribution list to the shared distribution list and save it with the icon. (Hint check the created shared distribution list at Business Workplace).

Searching for a Distribution List Step by Step: Step 1. Click inside the first available field in the Recipient column to call up its search button (Figure 36.), then click it. Step 2. The selection screen appears with radio buttons for several recipient types. Se- lect the distribution lists option and use the earlier create TEST-XXX shared distribution list. Figure 36: Use a Distribution List

Workflow functions

The Business Workplace is the main interface between an end user and the workflow system. All dialog and missed deadline work items to which the user is assigned as a recipient are displayed in the user’s workflow inbox.

Task: As a head of department, you are responsible for approving leave requests. The relevant approval process is implemented using a workflow in your enterprise. The requests (in the form of work items) appear in your list of workplace (workflow inbox) and must be rejected or approved there. The rejected or approved requests (executed work items) are not only re- turned to the applicants after processing, but are also put into your workflow outbox (under Work items executed by me). You can therefore check the requests you have processed.

Figure 37: Business Workplace – Screen Areas

Source: (SAP, 2015b).

The Screen Areas of a workflow is the following (Figure 37.):

Overview tree

The workflow functions are available under the Inbox bump, which is under the initial node Workplace.

Worklist

A worklist is displayed in the upper right corner of the Business Workplace screen. Depending on whether the user is in the workflow inbox, the workflow outbox or the workflow resubmis- sions, have various functions available, which are described at the respective locations.

Work item preview

In the lower right corner of the Business Workplace screen, a work item selected in the worklist is displayed in a preview. Not all the functions of the work item display or the workflow log are available.

User Maintenance

In this subchapter our task is to maintain the users’ accounts. Create a new SAP user account for a client allowing the processing of the GBI exercises and case studies. The user maintenance functions can be found in the SAP Easy Access Menu under the following path or the SU01 transaction code can be used: Tools  Administration  User Maintenance  User Figure 38.: User Maintenance – Initial Screen

Enter an alpha-numeric number (such as debktk-000) for the new user and click on the (Create) icon. Figure 39.: Maintain User – Create

The Address tab is already selected. First, enter the last and first name into the required entry field and add further information you might find necessary. Then, choose the Logon data tab. Type in an initial password (set by the instructor) and repeat it in the following field. After the system has successfully checked your entry it displays the message shown below: With the created new account the clients could log on to the SAP system. Figure 40.: Maintain User – Logon Data

Click on the (Save) icon or press (Ctrl + S) to save the new user account. However, the user still have no rights in the system. The unique role access needed to use all transactions necessary for SAP exercises and case studies. If a general access need to the system-critical transactions, (i.e. for maintaining users profile, developing any transactions etc.) and use simply the SAP_ALL role for the accounts. Click on the icon to go back to the SAP Easy Access Menu screen. Change a users’ role in the SAP system. Run the SU01 transaction again directly in the transaction code field in the upper left corner and press Enter. Type an existed user number of the respective clients and click on the (Change) icon. Navigate to the Logon Roles tab and enter the desired role.

Figure 41.: Maintain User – Roles

Save the changes with the (Save) icon. Click on the icon to go back to the SAP Easy Access Menu screen. Display the changes at the existing user account in the SAP system. Run the SU01 transaction again directly in the transaction code field in the upper left corner and press Enter. Type an existed user number of the respective clients and click on the (Display) icon. Then, navigate to the Role tab and check that all fields are grayed out, which means that roles are only displayed and that they cannot be changed. Double-Click on the icon to go back to the SAP Easy Access Menu screen. If the task is to create another user by copying an existing account. Run the SU01 transaction again directly in the transaction code field in the upper left corner and press Enter. Type an existed user number of the respective clients and click on the (Copy) icon. In the next window enter the new client number and select the data that would like to be cop- ied.

Figure 42.: Maintain User – Copy

After the setting the initial password, the new user can be saved with the icon. Click on to get back to the SAP Easy Access initial screen. Now the task is to delete a user account in the SAP system. Run the SU01 transaction again directly in the transaction code field in the upper left corner and press Enter. Type an existed user number of the respective clients and click on the (Delete) icon. Confirm the prompt about deleting the user and all corresponding settings. Please be aware of the fact that this step cannot be reversed. Click on to get back to the SAP Easy Access initial screen. Next task is to temporary locked user account in the SAP system. Type an existed user number of the respective clients and click on the (Delete) icon. The same procedure should be processed to unlock the user account again. In the Unlock User screen will be displayed the reason for the lock. In this case unlock the account by clicking on (Unlock) icon again.

Job Scheduling

Job Scheduling Management comprises several applications to establish standardized, formal processes in order to support the management of centralized end-to-end solution wide background operations (Hormann– Kester, 2015):

 Processes for requesting new jobs, or job changes  Documenting and central scheduling of jobs  Central monitoring and error handling procedures.

The Job Scheduling standard SAP solution, and is technically implemented through Job Management Work Center in SAP Solution Manager. The Job Management Work Center provides central access to background operations in the Solution Landscape. It allows also the integration to external scheduling tools.

Figure 43.: Create a Job – Job Wizard

Scheduling of background jobs should be executed via a central, solution wide scheduling tool (Job Wizard) on all systems in the solution landscape, regardless of whether these systems are SAP systems or not. This way, a central view on the background jobs of the entire solution can be achieved at all times. In case an Operations Control Center is available or to be setup. Monitoring and Error Handling procedures can be ideally taken over by the Central Operations and Monitoring. A job provide an efficient and consistent Job Management Process, and handle efficiently by having a central and living implementation.

Exercises

Answer the following questions!

1. The SAP R/3 is a client system and several separate companies can be managed with SAP in one system at the same time. a) True b) False

2. Which of the following symbols means that Customize Local Layout in the Standard Toolbar? a) b) c) d)

3. Which of the following icons/commands can create a new session? a) CTRL+N b) c) d) Menu Bar  Edit  Execute in new window e) A and C f) all above

4. The F1 key gives help information and possible other entries. a) True b) False

5. How could you exit the SAP R/3 program? a) ……………………………………………………………….. b) ……………………………………………………………….. c) ………………………………………...... d) ……………………………………………………………….

6. How could you ‘create’ a new session in SAP IDES program:  ……………………………………………………………  ……………………………………………………………  ……………………………………………………………  ……………………………………………………………

7. Cross the checkboxes to specify the following settings: The transaction codes and the SAP logo are available; the Favorite Menu is displayed before the SAP Menu.  Display favorites at end of list  Do not display menu, only display favorites  Do not display picture  Display technical names

8. The icon cancels an action in the SAP system without confirmation. a) True b) False

9. Create the following favorite folder structure and send the snapshot of your computer to the instructor in a word document:  Transactions (folder): fb50 (transaction)  Link (folder): http://www.sap.com/hungary/index.html  Other (folder): Syllabus (pdf) or (ppt) of this SAP course

10. One of the disadvantages of JOB is the resubmission. a) True b) False

11. What are the attributes opportunities of job? a) Only for background b) After Date c) Protect Variant d) After Job

12. Invite the instructor today at 8.00 AM for a breakfast with the Business Workplace – Calendar appointment function of SAP.

13. Write and send a message to the instructor using the Business Workplace – Inbox function of SAP with the following content:

Dear Sir/Madam, I am very glad to be a member of this SAP course. Best Wishes

14. Create a shared distribution list into BAINMBA shared folder with the recipient list of at least five SAP users.

Solutions

1. True 2. (b) 3. (a), (c), (d) 4. False 5. System  Log off; click on the [X] icon of the SAP window; the direct transaction command of /nend, or /next; ALT+F4; CTRL+ALT+DEL; any command/icons that leave a session if there was only one active one etc. 6. Create a new Session with the icon. CTRL + F12 Edit  Execute with new window (after a transaction was traced) A new session is occurred if the CTRL key is added to the new shortcut created process. 7. , , ,  8. True 9. Create each of the given favorite folders. Insert the fb50 transaction, internet link and documents into the folders. Send a short message with the attached document that contains the current snapshot of your monitor to the instructor. 10. False

11. b, c, d are the correct answers 12. Use the SAP Business workplace – Appointment Calendar function. Choose the concrete date for the breakfast and double click on it. Add the title (Breakfast) to the event and other attributes as recommended. Finally save it with the Save icon. 13. Creating and sending new email file step by step: Step 1. Click the New message button in the application toolbar of Business workplace screen. Step 2. The create document and send screen appears. This is the same screen that can be used to mail an output report, but the only exception is that the Attachment sub-screen does not have a tab until any attachment.

Step 3. Complete the remaining sub-screens. Create a cover letter on the document content sub-screen. Enter the name of (instructor) recipients on the recipient sub- screen. Step 4. Click the Send button in the application toolbar.

14. Create a Distribution List Step by Step: Step 1. Enter the names of all members of the new list in the Recipient column of the recipient sub-screen. Step 2. Click the selection boxes of all the individuals that is wanted to be included on this list and highlight them. Step 3. Click the Create disc button in the application toolbar. Step 4. After the Create Distribution List Header screen appears, enter the name for the new list in the Name field. Then enter a description for the new list in the Title field and hit the Enter key. Step. 5. A message should be appeared in the status bar of the Create document and Send screen.

An overview of GBI (Global Bike Inc.)

Company History2

Global Bike Inc. has a pragmatic design philosophy that comes from its deep roots in both the off-road trail racing and long-distance road racing sports. Nearly 20 years ago, its found- ers designed their first bikes out of necessity they had races to win and the bikes that were available at the time did not perform to their extremely high standards. So, they took matters into their own hands and built legendary bikes that would outlast and outperform the competi- tion. From these humble origins, Global Bike Incorporated was born and continues to deliver innovative high-performance bicycles to the world’s most demanding riders. This heritage of entrepreneurial spirit and quest for design perfection is still the cornerstone of GBI’s corporate philosophy. GBI produces bikes for the most demanding competitors—whether the com- petition is on pavement or dirt, for money, fame or just bragging rights. John Davis earned his racing scars in the mountain racing circuit in America, where he won numerous downhill and cross-country championships. Early on, John realized that the mass-produced bicycles available were inadequate in many ways for the type of racing he was doing. So, John stripped four of his old bikes down to the bare metal and rebuilt them into a single “Frankenstein” bike that he rode to win the national championship. Once news of his Frankenstein bike got out, John’s friends and even his competitors began asking him to build them a Frankenstein bike too. While recovering from an injury in 1990, John started producing the first series of Frankenstein bikes in his garage—each one custom-built from cannibal- ized parts from other bikes. As more and more orders came in, John successfully expanded Frankenstein Bikes from his garage operations into a full-blown manufacturing facility in Dallas and began producing custom trail bikes which he sold through a network of specialized bike dealers throughout the country. At nearly the same time, halfway around the world in Heidelberg, Germany, Peter Schwarz was studying engineering and competing in regional touring races on weekends. In between his races and studies, Peter worked at a bike shop in Heidelberg, fixing student bikes and tun- ing the touring bikes that he and his friends rode for competitions. As Peter’s reputation as a fierce competitor and mechanical wizard grew, he also began to design and build road bikes based on an ultra-light composite frame that he had created for one of his engineering courses.

2 Based on SAP (2015) 58

Peter’s innovative use of carbon composite materials allowed him to build a frame that was significantly stronger and one tenth the weight of competing frames. As a student, Peter did not have a great deal of financial resources, so he partnered with a local company that manu- factured his frame designs as a contract manufacturer. Soon, Peter’s frames were being used by racers all over Europe and he started Heidelberg Composites to market and design frames which would be fabricated by a contract manufacturer on a larger scale. Heidelberg Compo- sites sold its frames to specialized bike stores throughout Europe and directly to racing teams, eventually becoming the leader in lightweight touring frames in Europe. Through a twist of fate, Peter and John met each other in 2000 and immediately recognized their mutual passion for performance and complimentary business models. Each had been looking for a partner in another racing field and each had been looking for a partner in a different market. They quickly realized that a merger between their two companies would be extremely synergistic and that the combination of their product lines and regional distribution channels would generate a great deal of efficiencies. So, in 2001, Heidelberg Composites and Frankenstein Bikes merged to form Global Bike Incorporated. Today, John and Peter share the responsibilities for managing GBI’s growing organization as co-CEO’s. John is responsible for sales, marketing, service & support, IT, finance and human resources groups and Peter is responsible for research, design, procurement and manufacturing groups from an organizational reporting perspective. However, GBI is a process-centric organization, so John and Peter prefer to think of the processes that they are responsible for, rather than the functional areas of the company that report to them. From this perspective, Peter is responsible for Idea-to-Market and Build-to- Stock and John is responsible for Order-to-Cash and Service & Support, as well as the supporting services for all four key processes. The simple way to look at their responsibilities would be to say that Peter spends money and builds products and John sells products and brings in money.

Corporate Overview3

Due to several tax and export issues, GBI’s headquarters is located in Dallas and GBI is registered as a US company, following US GAAP accounting standards. GBI operates a sub- sidiary company, GBI Europe, which is based in Heidelberg and is subject to IFRS accounting standards and German tax regulations.

3 Based on SAP (2015a) 59

Material planning, finance, administration, HR and IT functions are consolidated at the Dallas headquarters. The Dallas facility manufactures products for the US and export markets and its warehouse manages product distribution for the central US and internet retailers. GBI also has warehouses for shipping and export in both San Diego and Miami. San Diego handles West Coast distribution and exports for Asia, while Miami handles East Coast distribution and Latin America exports. GBI Europe has its headquarters in Heidelberg Germany. The majority of research and development is housed in the Heidelberg offices. Heidelberg is also the main manufacturing facility for GBI in Europe. The Heidelberg warehouse handles all shipping for southern Eu- rope. The Hamburg warehouse handles all shipping for the UK, Ireland, Middle East and Af- rica. GBI sells its bikes throughout the world and employs approximately 100 people, 2/3rds of the employees are in the US and the remaining 1/3 in Europe.

Product, Manufacturing and IT Strategy4

GBI is a world class bicycle company serving the professional and “prosumer” cyclists for touring and off-road racing. GBI’s riders demand the highest level of quality, toughness and performance from their bikes and accessories. Product development is the most critical element of GBI’s past and future growth. GBI has invested heavily in this area, focusing on innovation, quality, safety and speed to market. GBI has an extensive innovation network to source ideas from riders, dealers and professionals to continuously improve the performance, reliability and quality of its bicycles. In the touring bike category, GBI’s handcrafted bicycles have won numerous design awards and are sold in over 10 countries. GBI’s signature composite frames are world- renowned for their strength, low weight and easy maintenance. GBI bikes are consistently ridden in the Tour de France and other major international road races. GBI produces two models of their signature road bikes, a deluxe and professional model. The key difference between the two models is the type of wheels used, aluminium for the basic model and carbon composite for the professional model. GBI’s off-road are also recognized as incredibly tough and easy to maintain. GBI trail bikes are the preferred choice of world champion off-road racers and have become synony- mous with performance and strength in one of the most gruelling sports in the world. GBI

4 Based on SAP (2015a) 60 produces two types of off-road bike, a men’s and women’s model. The basic difference between the two models is the smaller size and ergonomic shaping of the women’s frame. GBI also sells an accessories product line comprised of helmets, t-shirts and other riding accessories. GBI partners with only the highest quality suppliers of accessories which will help enhance riders’ performance and comfort while riding GBI bikes. GBI operates two production facilities, Dallas and Heidelberg. Each facility has three assembly lines and can pro- duce around 1000 bikes per year. Total production capacity is roughly 6000 bikes per year, but can be increased by 15%-20% by using overtime hours and part-time workers. GBI has outsourced the production of both off-road and touring frames and the carbon composite wheels to trusted partners who have specialty facilities to fabricate the complex materials used. GBI maintains very collaborative research and design relationships with these specialty partners to ensure that innovations in both material and structural capabilities are incorporated into the frames. GBI primarily assembles semi-finished goods into finished goods at its production facilities. Finished goods are either stored in the local warehouse or shipped to other regional distribution centres to fulfil customer orders. During 2009, GBI integrated a shared services model for all IT functions, located in the Dallas office. Along with this move to centralize IT, GBI also implemented SAP ERP (version 6.0). Prior to this, divisions were running multiple, independent application environments. All ERP functions are centralized with the primary objectives to reduce costs and deliver best-in-class technology to all divisions globally. This centralized approach offers GBI an advanced business platform under a highly controlled environment, which enables con- sistency of operations and process integrity across the globe

Distribution and Partner Network5

Given the highly specialized nature of GBI’s bicycles and the personalized needs of riders, GBI sells its bikes exclusively through well-known and respected Independent Bicycle Dealers (IBDs). These dealers employ staff members who are experts in off-road and tour racing to help consumers choose the right GBI bike and accessories for their individual needs. Due to the highly technical nature of its products, GBI has embraced the Internet primarily as an information channel, maximizing its potential for educating consumers and partners and marketing its products to a large audience. Since GBI’s main sales channel is through special-

5 Based on SAP (2015a) 61 ty resellers and there are complex tax issues associated with selling in multiple states and countries, they have a limited amount of internet sales. GBI has established an extensive partner operation to ensure process continuity between GBI and its partners to deliver best-in-class products for its customers. Special attention has been paid to nurturing strong relationships with suppliers and GBI is generally the largest customer of its main suppliers.

Working at GBI

Task No. 1. Check the stock of black Deluxe Touring Bikes (Plant HD00). (Run the transaction code of MMBE.)

Solution: The transaction of MMBE can be opened via the following SAP menu path: Logistics  Materials Management  Inventory Management  Environment  Stock  Stock Overview Figure 44. :Stock overview of GBI

After the transaction is processed, search for the material number of the black Deluxe Touring Bike in the Material field and use F4. The result can be seen in figure 45. Figure 45.: Stock overview – Material by Material Type

Click on the Execute icon in order to open the stock overview. Check the quantities in the plants (Heldelberg, Dallas and Miami.) Figure 46.: Stock overview

This is due to the fact that the SAP system displays all plants which range alphabetically between DL00 and MI00. Then click one of the plant and check how much unrestricted use, quality inspection, returns. On-Order stock etc. available. See Figure 47. Figure 47.: Stock overview – Basic list

Task No. 2. Which GBI customers can be identified? Solution: Use the following menu path or use XD03 transaction code: Logistics  Sales and Distribution  Master Data  Business Partner  Customer  Dis- play  Complete After opening the transaction enter into the Customer field and press F4. Figure 48.: Costumer Display – Initial Screen

Then the following data will be opened and the Costumer’s Account number can be seen: Figure 49.: Costumer Account Numbers

How to Use GBI Mobile Application

First of all install the App GBI Data Viewer from a Mobile Store. Go to the App Store on the mobile device (Android or IOS operating system is recommended) and search for the author "SAP UCC Magdeburg". After the installation the result will be similar to the following: Figure 50.: SAP GBI Mobile Application

Source: (SAP, 2015b) In order to set up the connection to the SAP system, the selection of UCC is needed, which is hosting to SAP system, and enter the systems ID. Alternatively the connection can be enabled via an existing URL. Please ask SAP UCC for further instructions. In the end the client number, username and password is needed as well. Figure 51.: Enter to the SAP GBI Application

In the GBI DataViewer application, there are four different areas that can be used for various GBI case studies. The GBI Data Viewer supports the following applications: - Stock overview of the warehouse - Stock requirement of a material - Information about a Sales Order - Information about a Purchase Order

Exercises

1. Summarize the company’s brief history. …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… 2. Develop an organizational chart for GBI’s enterprise structure. …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………

3. Describe the GBI’s Product, manufacturing and IT Strategy. …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………

4. Make a short overview of GBI’s Distribution and Partner networks. ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………… 5. What is a customer? ………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………………. (A person with whom a company has a business relationship, who orders, purchases, or receives a product.) 6. How many silver Deluxe Touring Bikes do you have in stock? (Tip: use transaction MMBE, and DXTR2000 for the silver bike.) 7. Which customers can be identified in GBI? (Hint: Follow the menu path of Logistics  Sales and Distribution  Master Data  Busi- ness Partner  Customer  Display  Complete or use the XD03 transaction directly. Then Click on the field Customer and press F4. Then enter your Company Code (DE00).

8. What is a debitor? ………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………… (A person who owes a creditor; someone who has the obligation of paying a debt.)

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