In the past when people were discussing SAP, the conversation very quickly boiled down to modules, for example:

• SAP training courses were structured along SAP module lines so that you would attend SAP MM 101, 102 and 103. While at the course you would learn many things about MM, but not much about the rest of the SAP system and how SAP MM fits into it.
   

• A conversation with a SAP recruiter might go something like this:
   

  Recruiter … “which SAP Modules do you work with?”           Candidate … “well, I have a lot of purchasing process experience”           Recruiter … “yes, but which SAP Modules do you work with?”           Candidate … “well, it’s purchasing functionality … so that would be, umm, SAP MM, SAP FI and SAP CO mainly”           Recruiter … “great I have just the job for you”           Candidate … “fantastic, is it purchasing?”           Recruiter … “well it says here that they want an MM, FI and CO person and that’s you, right?”

Not necessarily! A MM, FI, CO role might include Inventory Management (MM), Accounts Receivable (FI) and Profitability Analysis (CO) – none of which a purchasing person is guaranteed to have

• Many programme teams were organised along SAP module lines, so that you would have a FI/CO, an MM and a HR team, for example. Training courses were (therefore) often prepared and delivered along SAP module lines too. The result of this was that solutions were frequently optimised along SAP module lines, and less often well integrated, and as for users, well, they were pretty much trained up in a SAP module and left to get on with it post go-live. Fortunately those days are mostly passed, and more and more programmes (from design to build to training) are being organised along process lines such as:

Order to Cash (including parts of SD, FI-AR and probably TY as well)
Purchase to Pay (including MM-Purchasing and FI-AP)
Record to Report (FI-GL etc)

SAP now are moving away from describing their system as a set of SAP Modules, and now are using the term ‘solutions’, which is much better, as follows:

• Financials

• Human Resources

• Customer Relationship Management

• Supplier Relationship Management

• Product Lifecycle Management

• Supply Chain Management

• Business Intelligence
   

SAP FI Module - where FI means Financial Accounting – essentially this SAP module delivers your regulatory ‘books of record’, including

• General ledger

• Book close

• Tax

• Accounts receivable

• Accounts payable

• Asset Management (SAP AM)

• Consolidation

• Special ledgers

SAP CO Module - The CO stands for Controlling – basically the SAP Module which allows you to manage your internal cost/management accounting, including

• Cost elements

• Cost centres

• Profit centres

• Internal orders

• Activity based costing

• Product costing

     Go here for more details on the SAP CO Module, or here for a 4 page SAP CO Tutorial

SAP PS Module - and PS is Project Systems – this SAP Module is where you can manage your projects, large and small, including

• Make to order

• Plant shut downs (as a project)

• Third party billing (on the back of a project)

SAP HR Module - ah yes, the HR is for Human Resources ... people are the important part of this SAP module, including

• Employment history

• Payroll

• Training

• Career management

• Succession planning

     Go here for more details on the SAP HR Module

SAP PM Module - where Plant Maintenance is the PM – this SAP module is where you maintain your equipment (e.g. a machine, an oil rig, an aircraft etc), including

• Labour

• Material

• Down time and outages

SAP MM Module - one of the most important SAP Modules where MM is Materials Management - underpins the supply chain, including

• Requisitions

• Purchase orders

• Goods receipts

• Accounts payable

• Inventory management

• BOM’s

• Master raw materials, finished goods etc

     Go here for more details on the SAP MM Module

SAP QM Module - and QM stands for Quality Management in this SAP module – improve the quality of your goods, including

• Planning

• Execution

• Inspections

• Certificates

SAP PP Module - one of the really big SAP modules is Production Planning – manages your production process, including

• Capacity planning

• Master production scheduling

• Material requirements planning

• Shop floor

SAP SD Module - another one of the large SAP modules is Sales and Distribution – from order to delivery, including

• RFQ

• Sales orders

• Pricing

• Picking (and other warehouse processes)

• Packing

• Shipping

     Go here for more details on the SAP SD Module

SAP BW Module - where BW stands for Business (Data) Warehouse which includes the following main functions:

• Data extraction from source systems

• Some technical and functional transformation of the data

• Storage of the data in what are called Infoproviders

• Reporting (which uses Infoproviders)

     Go here for more details on the SAP BW Module, or here for a 10 page SAP BW Tutorial

SAP ABAP - is not really a module - it stands for Advanced Business Application Programming and this is the is the structured programming language for custom development including reports. Go here for more details on SAP ABAP, or here for some SAP ABAP Tutorials

Go here to see over 200 pages of our best SAP Tutorials, including one on the SAP FI Module and one on the SAP CO Module. If you need more go here to find over 450 more pages of free SAP Articles. Go here for Online SAP Training, and if you are interested in having your own SAP system available to you 24/7 then check this out SAP Access

We hope you have enjoyed reading this article on the SAP Modules. If you are interested in learning more, check out the online SAP training courses offered by Michael Management Corporation

 Continue the 'introductory' Article Tour (8 of 9)