With SAP’s acquisition of Sybase now final, SAP customers are left to puzzle through how they’re going to adapt their mobile strategy moving forward.

In its early messaging, SAP vowed to provide data “anywhere on any device at any time,” but as with most mobile development, CRM is going to get the most attention early on.

In fact, SAP and Sybase had an existing partnership that brought SAP’s CRM application to the BlackBerry, iPhone and Windows mobile devices. CRM should continue to garner most of the mobile attention, according to analysts.

“Initially, it’s CRM — the partnership between Sybase and SAP was based on CRM for sales,” said Chris Hazelton, an analyst with the New York City-based 451 Group. “That is the area that is most heavily invested in mobility.”

SAP has pledged to maintain its existing relationships with other mobile middleware partners, although large customers that have already begun mobilizing SAP CRM are probably using Sybase already, Hazelton said.

“The impact short term is there will not be chaos,” he said. “You will see Sybase right now focused on low-hanging fruit, on big clients.”

That was exactly the message from John Chen, chairman and president of Sybase, when he spoke at a recent event in Boston outlining the SAP-Sybase roadmap:  Sybase will be focused on the low-hanging fruit. According to Chen, the low-hanging fruit is the 25 vertical markets SAP serves. At the Boston event, SAP and Sybase outlined an ambitious plan to provide a mobile platform and software development kit that will allow developers to build applications that can access data from SAP from any device. That platform will be delivered within the next nine months.

In the longer term, SAP will bring all its mobile CRM application development in house — that’s a big reason it bought Sybase, according to Kevin Benedict, principal consultant and founder of Netcentric Strategies LLC and an SAP Mentor.

SAP sees the demand for mobile applications and wants its share.

SAP sees mobile CRM opportunity

“I talked to a system administrator the other day [who] sells SAP CRM as a reseller,” Benedict said. “He said, last year probably 25% of their sales opportunities were asking for mobile CRM. In 2010, 100% of the sales pipeline required mobile CRM to be a component of SAP CRM. Within 12 months, the industry has changed dramatically, and now mobility is an absolute requirement.”

According to a survey of 2,000 IT decision makers by Cambridge, Mass.-based Forrester Research, 45% of enterprises prioritize “supporting more mobile applications for out-of-office users” as a critical or high priority in the coming year, and 33% state that “supporting more mobile applications for employees who work in the office” is an important or critical priority. In addition, supporting the use of more smartphones is an important or critical priority for 44% of enterprises.

While SAP CRM will get the lion’s share of attention from the united SAP-Sybase in the early days, SAP’s checkered history with CRM means that it will have to address other CRM deployments within its customer base.

“It’s important to note that CRM has never been a huge seller at SAP,” Benedict said. “You may have 90,000 SAP users, but only a small fraction own CRM or use it. You may have an SAP customer using Siebel or Salesforce. That is still important to having a mobilized CRM.”

Sybase’s track record as a mobile middleware provider should help with those environments.

And “there’s room for customization to be done by SIs like Accenture,” Hazelton said.

SAP, for its part, has pledged to continue its existing relationships with mobile partners and in fact claims that the forthcoming SAP-Sybase platform will make it easier for them by removing the need for mobile infrastructure, allowing them to focus on building applications.

There is also the opportunity for customers to develop mobile applications in house, but larger SAP shops should look to the Sybase relationship first.

“You do have a lot of competitors for Sybase [that] provide aspects of these services and back-end databases,” Hazelton said. “There are a number of players out there. But if you’re an SAP shop and a large company, you will probably see savings down the road by going with Sybase-SAP rather than trying to piece it together yourself.”

In-house development of mobile applications may make sense for environments of 10 to 20 users, he said, but once it gets into the 50 to 100 range, organizations need to think carefully about going it alone.

It’s also important to remember that a mobile CRM initiative may include more than just SAP’s CRM module, according to Benedict.

“The sales force in the field is not limited to a mobile interface with one component for SAP,” he said. “The sales guy is saying, ‘Here’s all the touch-points I need. I need order entry, inventory and shipping.’ And if there’s manufacturing info that’s available such as SAP event management that would detail where in the [manufacturing] process your products are — all of that may be very critical for mobile sales guys to have access to.”

All that information may come from different systems on the back end, which demands a mobile middleware layer, such as what Sybase is providing. Of course, people have been asking for that for a while, and SAP consultants and integrators have still been there to offer their services.

“All of that could be done before, but it was always outside of SAP’s strategy and roadmap,” Benedict said. “People were doing it on their own, and they were doing that without any consultation from SAP or strategic input. What you’re going to see now is a shared management, shared roadmaps, so every component of SAP ERP, just as it has a Web interface as well as a desktop, now will have a mobile client as well. In the past, you had 20 different mobile app vendors figuring out mobile middleware, so you had this huge layer of technology that everyone was building on their own. Now, if anyone needs mobile middleware for syncing to the device, SAP is going to say, ‘Use Sybase.’”

Ultimately, that should save other mobile applications vendors from having to invest in the mobile middleware layer, which is costly and time consuming.

Mobile CRM the first step in a mobile strategy

SAP customers evaluating their mobile applications strategy in the wake of the SAP-Sybase deal should begin with CRM and move from there.

“Look at CRM as the first step,” Hazelton said. “Almost everybody is going mobile. That allows you to extend the workday. It’s not something popular, but that’s the reality of business — CRM is the first department. Companies are looking at people saying, ‘I want CRM now’ and within six to 12 to 18 months, I’m thinking of mobilizing other applications for business use. The initial investments in CRM should be significant but have the flexibility to add other applications on top of that.”

In fact, Apple’s new iPad tablet device is going to create a lot of mobile demand, predicts Jack Gold, principal of J. Gold Associates.

“Is there much interest in iPad? Yes. Are there many deployments? No,” Gold said. “People are still trying to figure out what to do with it, but Sybase has a relationship with Apple and is in pretty good graces with Apple. As well as you can be. So they will be pushing that relationship.”

Sybase has already done a fair amount of work with the iPhone, he said, and the coding differences between the iPad and iPhone are not all that major.

However, do not focus on the mobile device, Benedict warns.

“Enterprises should not make any choices based upon devices,” he said. “They need to build a standardization process, determine the middleware, which applications need databases on the devices and which can be a direct connect through Web services to SAP. [They need to] make sure whatever vendor they’re using takes responsibility for being device agnostic or staying current with mobile operating systems.”

via techtarget.com

Apple’s iPad is making touch technology a part of everyday business and bringing mobile SAP applications to the management level. Prototypes from nextevolution show how this can take place.

Take the office with you: accessing company software with iPad (image: nextevolution)

With laptops and smartphones having established the concept of working on the go,iPad has now arrived to take things to the next level. Reading e-mail and surfing the Internet from virtually anywhere have thus become commonplace for many managers, and the lines between work and leisure have noticeably blurred. But using SAP at the airport or the café around the corner? Surely the software is too complex to be an appealing option for managers on the move…

The demo apps nextPCM Contract Management and nextPCM Personnel File fromnextevolution (site in German) are looking to change that common perception. Both enable iPad users to access SAP systems and prepare information, transforming the device into a mobile workstation for decision-makers.

Target group: managers

Since these apps are tailored to live operations and packed full of too much functionality to allow for rapid decision-making, adopting them for iPad in their original form would make little sense; they thus do not provide managers with data directly from SAP systems.

This is why nextevolution wants to adjust its usage concept to suit managers’ needs. Thanks to mobile enhancements, its apps will access data through servers and put optimized information right into users’ hands, no matter where they are. The company’s goal is to enable iPads to display only the information needed to render a particular decision in short order, which itself will require just a touch of the screen.

nextPCM Contract Management (image: nextevolution)

A simple, straightforward interface

The strength of iPad lies in its ability to present content virtually anywhere in an attractive format, combined with its intuitive, touch-based interface. The iPad versions of business solutions follow the motto of “one task, one app”; they are thus highly focused in terms of usability and require no special instruction.

For example, if an employee handling a supply contract needs 100 different parameters for the agreement in the SAP application he or she is using, no more than 10% of this information will be of interest to the managers involved. Of greater importance are questions such as “Which contracts over €10,000 can I cancel in the next four weeks?” The corresponding app can provide the answer with just two touches: one to slide theeuro indicator to the desired amount, and another to spin the app’s date wheel to set the appropriate time period. One more swipe of the finger is sufficient to mark a contract for immediate cancellation. In the background, the app automatically informs all of the employees involved4, enabling them to take every technical detail into account while carrying out instructions.

Showcase I: contract management

nextevolution made a showcase of nextPCM Contract Management at SAPPHIRE Now 2010, showing off its SAP integration and how it uses various standards – includingSAP Records Management – to oversee digital archives.

Users can search through stored contracts based on different criteria and view the most important parameters. On their iPads, they can also utilize the software’s commenting function to add notes to digital contract files, which are then immediately visible to all of their colleagues. Particularly key for managers, meanwhile, is how the software presents condensed search results and significantly reduces the complexity of the underlying data to enable decision-making at a glance.

The simple, intuitive date selection wheel (screenshot: nextevolution)

Showcase II: digital personnel files

The mobile extension of the SAP solution nextPCM Personnel File is closely connected to the SAP ERP Human Capital Management (SAP ERP HCM) solution, providing HR administrators with a comprehensive digital personnel file covering all of their colleagues. In paper form, a file like this would comprise several hundred pages, but only a fraction of the information is often necessary to make a particular decision.

To aid the search for personnel files, the iPad app provides a clear overview by displaying the organizational tree of the department in question. Besides spinning the date wheel, users can turn knobs and adjust sliders to refine their queries. The results are filtered to display all of the information relevant to a particular decision. This enables mobile managers to prepare employee appraisals, approve training courses, invite applicants to interviews, and more no matter where they are. The appropriate app launches to handle each scenario and prepare the data according to the needs at hand.

Underlying technology

Modular, service-oriented architecture (SOA) keeps the systems of presentation and business logic separate, meaning that both iPads and virtually any other output technology can access the application.

Data is exchanged through XML interfaces by means of Web services, a standard for communicating information among self-contained software modules that can be based on various technologies. The iPad app, for instance, logs into SAP NetWeaver Application Server through an SSL-encrypted connection. This communication interface also runs through Web services and includes SAP authorization checks as a standard function.

nextPCM Personnel File (Screenshot: nextevolution)

via SAP.info

Mobile software and in-memory computing technology were the prevailing topics at the first joint SAP and Sybase press conference, where the newly combined companies announced their strategy and joint product direction.

The wireless company of the future – with software from SAP and Sybase (photo: Frank Völkel)

At a co-located event in Frankfurt am Main (Germany) and Boston (Massachusetts, United States), SAP Executive Board members Jim Hagemann Snabe (Co-CEO), Bill McDermott (Co-CEO), and Vishal Sikka (CTO), joined Sybase CEO John Chen for the first time to talk about strategies, roadmaps, and new products that will result from the acquisition of Sybase. McDermott pledged that, within nine months, the companies will bring together technologies to deliver a mobile platform for business that runs on all major mobile operating systems – such as iOS, Symbian, Android, and BlackBerry OS.

What’s more, the companies will integrate the SAP NetWeaver Mobile component and SAP BusinessObjects Mobile software with Sybase Unwired Platform. The two companies ultimately aim to strengthen their position as market leader in enterprise mobility software and drive the trend toward accessing enterprise data from anywhere. SAP Chief Technology Officer Vishal Sikka regards the transformation to the wireless enterprise as a once-in-a-generation occurrence, and compares it with the introduction of the client-server principle. According to McDermott, the acquisition of Sybase has made SAP the market leader for mobile enterprise virtually overnight.

Currently, 900 mobile operators and their four billion users work with Sybase products. As a result, the purchase of Sybase will also open up new fields of opportunity for partners in the SAP ecosystem.

In-memory computing technology

Since Hasso Plattner’s presentation at SAPPHIRE, in-memory databases have been on everybody’s lips at SAP. Sybase has powerful databases, which are now slated to be developed further using the in-memory technologies currently under development at SAP. Furthermore, SAP’s flagship software SAP Business Suite will be ported to the Sybase database ASE 15.0. An initial beta version is slated to be released in the second half of 2011. ASE 15.0 is already certified for SAP BusinessObjects XI and Crystal Reports. Despite the focus on the Sybase databases, SAP will retain its own ecosystem and will continue to support all leading databases, including Oracle, IBM, and so on.

Sybase to remain independent

The Executive Board members from SAP and Sybase again stressed that Sybase will remain an independent business after the acquisition. Sybase produced excellent results over the past few years and grew faster than its competitors. However, the sales teams of the two companies will also sell each other’s products wherever this makes sense.

Software for everywhere: targeting iPad users

via SAP.info

The free book “SAP Guidelines for Best-Built Applications” provides tips for building complementary software that works with SAP Business Suite. The sixth chapter, entitled Enterprise Information Management, was recently published. And that’s reason enough to introduce SAP.info readers to the 150-page book.

Coding made easy: integrating third-party software with SAP Business Suite (photo: Frank Völkel)

The SAP Guidelines for Best-Built Applications That Integrate with SAP Business Suite (click on View this Article to download them) were originally launched at SAP TechEd 2009. Back then, the first two chapters were presented. Furthermore, SAP promised to extend the guidelines over time.

Under no obligation

SAP regards the guidelines as suggestions for independent software vendors (ISV), with the aim of harmonizing software from third-party providers to work with SAP products as effectively as possible. The guidelines are not compulsory. However, the authors are convinced that they can save companies on integration costs, support costs, and also development costs for new versions, if upgrades or updates are scheduled for SAP products.

The current version of the guidelines comprises six chapters spanning some 149 pages. The topics include application lifecycle management, service-oriented architecture, and, in the latest chapter, enterprise information management. In the coming months, the areas business intelligence tools, application development, andgovernance and security are slated to follow.

Roadmap for the guidelines – to be completed by TechEd 2010.

The current chapter takes a close look at enterprise information management (EIM). The authors give tips on topics such as data integration and data quality, master data management, enterprise search, and enterprise content management. As well as the information published in the book, readers will find many useful hints and links to other documents and Web sites. Sometimes, readers should note, access to SAP’s service portal for customers, the SAP Service Marketplace, is required.

In the freely accessible SAP community network SDN, the best-built applications have their own dedicated area. Here, you’ll find blog entries, webinars, and a wiki on the topic.

Book to download: SAP Guidelines for Best-Built Applications That Integrate with SAP Business Suite

Optimally linked: third-party software in the SAP system

via SAP.info

Thinking of upgrading your SAP software? We show you how to import updates, select the right SQL collation, and transfer from 32 bits to 64 bits. Read on for the details in part two of our series.

How does transferring from SAP R/3 to SAP ERP 6.0 work in principle? What updates do you need? How is data exported from the old system and imported to the new? What do you need to think about when switching from 32 bits to 64 bits? Such questions are on the minds of CIOs at companies that are currently planning a software upgrade to SAP ERP. Upgrades are often triggered when a company undergoes modernization or gets new server hardware, because more powerful processors with several computational kernels, larger working memory, and faster hard disks become available.

However, it is often the case that the old system works as it always did, and with its known weaknesses, such as a process chain that isn’t digital from end to end and custom-built modifications. In such cases, companies should be aware of the fact that the end of SAP R/3 maintenance is on the horizon. Furthermore, an upgrade brings with it very many of the benefits that companies need to remain future-proof.

In part one of our series – see the article DIY: Upgrade SAP R/3 to SAP ERP 6.0 – we had a look at the software upgrade process in general. In part two, we’ll now take a closer look at the following steps:

• 1. Old 32-bit system: Setting collation *BIN2 for SQL Server 2000
• 2. Old 32-bit system: Applying SAP Support Packages and 1:1 backup copy
• 3. New 64-bit system: Installing Microsoft Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition
• 4. New 64-bit system: Settings for the network and paging file
• 5. New 64-bit system: ECC 6.0 upgrade CDs and installing SQL Server 2005

Again, we’re showing you all the updates and settings using the example of the ITU in Geneva, which was one of the first companies in Switzerland to switch to the latest ERP software, including enhancement packages.

Setting collation *BIN2 and 1:1 system copy

First, we change the collation *BIN2 for Microsoft SQL Server 2000 on the existing SAP system with Microsoft Windows Server 2003 SE (x86, 32 bit, Service Pack 2). The current database collation is called “SQL_Latin1_General_CP850_BIN” (build 8.00.2040, HF2040, see also SAP Note 624951). The reason for this is that an upgrade to SAP ERP ECC 6.0 is not possible with the existing collation *BIN. If all the system data is already mirrored on the new server (HSC = homogenous system copy), it will not be possible to install the new SAP software at a later date.

Ready to change the collation: the file instcoll.exe to change to *BIN2

Please note: To change the collation to *BIN2 (see also SAP Note 600027), the fileinstcoll.zip (instcoll.exe) must be downloaded and then copied to the old server. The command line looks like this:

instcoll.exe –S<SERVER> –D<DB> where <SERVER> = SAPPRDITU and <DB> = P13  case

The following prompt then appears: “SQL_Latin1_General_CP850_BIN2” Continue? (Y/N): Y. The message is displayed as shown below.

Changing the database collation to *BIN2

The server can now be restarted and the new collation can be checked using the SQL Analyzer. As a result, the collation version SQL_Latin1_General_CP850_BIN2 is displayed. This is performed using the following commands:

select serverproperty(‘collation’)

select databasepropertyex(‘P13’, ‘collation’)

Importing SAP Support Packages

SAP Support Packages increase system reliability, program compatibility, and security. Several updates are combined to form a Support Package, which makes downloading them easier. Once all the components have been updated, a one-to-one system copycan be made. This is then created for the new server by homogenous system copy (HSC). A complete backup also includes backing up the database (P13, DB13), and in our case the backup file is P13DAT1.BAK. This file is copied to a dedicated drive on the new server. Here, it is important that you check the file size and the “created on” date. The file is needed for the HSC process.

Support Packages update the SAP components

Installing Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition

Operating system: transferring from a 32-bit to a 64-bit Microsoft Server 2003

So that the ERP upgrade can be performed later on the new server, the settings for using the working memory and the size of the paging file must be adjusted after the Microsoft Windows Server 2003 has been installed.

Settings for the physical and virtual memory

Compared with the old system, the Microsoft Windows Server 2003 version is identical to the production system.

Vorbereiten für ERP 6: Neuer Server mit Windows Server 2003

Getting ready for SAP ERP 6.0: new server with Windows Server 2003

Settings for the network and paging file

System control: settings for the network interface

Selecting properties – maximum data throughput for the network

Important: automatic TCP/IP settings for the IP und DNS

For message server access: The IP address is obtained automatically

Setting the paging file to 32 GB

ECC 6.0 upgrade CDs and installation of the SQL Server 2005: copying all the relevant SAP CDs for the ECC 6.0 upgrade to the hard disk.

Copying all ECC upgrade CDs to a separate drive

Installation of Microsoft Server SQL 2005 with the SQL4SAP.vbs script

Log file excerpt after the installation has been successfully completed

Selecting the Configuration Manager for Microsoft SQL Server 2005

Checking the SQL services and protocols for the SQL Server

via SAP.info

Mobility dramatically changes the way we do business. Where does that leave SAP? And how does that fit into SAP’s orchestration strategy? Vishal Sikka, CTO and Executive Board member and Kevin Nix, SVP Enterprise Mobility outline SAP’s mobile strategy.

SAP TV’s reporter Jessica Seilnacht is back from her trip to Israel. She had additional shootings also in Germany. Right now her team is working on the final video, which will be published soon on SAP-TV.com. They recently disclosed for the first time pictures of SAP’s mobile software, which is just in the development process and will run on iPads, iPhones and Blackberrys beginning January 2011.

The material is offered to Journalists through SAP-TV.com’s stockfootage platform to enhance the coverage about the quarterly results (Q2) which were just published this morning. Our strategy is, to provide TV networks around the world more than just only interviews. For the future they will increase our offerings of b-roll packages, which allow TV stations to produce news segments and packaged films. Until now they only offered pure b-roll material, which the networks could use to underlay news about SAP with moving pictures. With this change in strategy they expect the journalists to pick up and broadcast more stories about SAP and how the company helps thousands of businesses to run better. They also want to show, how and where SAP’s services and software are touching and affecting all of us in daily life.

First look at the latest SAP Business ByDesign software, running on devices such as iPad, iPhone, and BlackBerry. The software will be available in 2011. You can download the clip and also find embedding codes on our stockfootage platform

via SAP TV

Facebook is the undisputed number one social networking site. Now, Facebook users can analyze their profile with the free Friend Network Optimizer. But what exactly can the app do?

Facebook now has more than 500 million registered users, so it’s no wonder that a large number of apps are available for the site. Virtual pets can be adopted, farms can be run, and other social networks – such as Twitter – can be integrated. Another app – the Friend Network Optimizer from SAP – provides information about your network of friends and your own user behavior. You find out how active you and your contacts on Facebook are compared with the Facebook community in general.

To do this, the app works in a similar way to SAP Crystal Presentation Design, which is part of SAP Crystal solutions for business intelligence and can be downloaded free of charge from SAP.info until the end of the year. As the dashboard generator, its task is to extract information from raw data and to visualize it so that it looks good and is easy to understand.

The Friend Network Optimizer works in a similar way by gathering profile information through a Facebook interface and presenting it to users in the style of SAP Crystal Presentation Design. To become familiar with business intelligence software away from the office, you just need to integrate the app into your own Facebook profile.

Easy to install

Every Facebook app needs information about the user’s profile so that it can work properly. For data protection reasons, an app can only be installed if the user expressly allows it to access information. If you open the application from the search function, through a recommendation from a friend, or a direct link, you will therefore need to click the “Accept” button. The app will then be added to your profile.

The Friend Network Optimizer needs various information about the user and his or her friends. These include name, photos, groups, status, lists of friends, and the wall on which entries are made, commented on, and discussed.

Straightforward analysis of Facebook profile

So, what does the Friend Network Optimizer actually do with your data? First, the app creates a list of your friends. Up to 50 of them can be chosen for an analysis or can be selected at random. Activity in your network is then displayed using graphics. For example, a diagram shows your number of activities in the past five days and those of your busiest friends. It also shows which friends were most active on a certain day.

Furthermore, your activities are divided into four categories: social activity, status updates, wall posts, and photo uploads. A number of points – described as “network reach” – states how active your friends are as a whole. The core information, however, is contained in your profile points, which are calculated using all the data. The profile points of all the app users are compared and ranked in order. A worldwide top ten is displayed under the “Leaderboard” tab.

From occasional user to Facebook star – using fictitious scenarios

But the app can do more than that. By altering various parameters, what-if scenarioscan be created, which are then immediately displayed on the dashboard. With just a few clicks, your network can be completely reshaped.

You can change your network reach by removing existing friends or adding pretend “new friends” – even if you don’t actually know them. You can also adjust other controls to create fictitious Facebook activity for the past five days, for example with fewer status updates or more photo uploads. The results are displayed dynamically and included in the calculation of your profile points. In such a way, users can find out what changed Facebook activity would look like.

Discover Facebook and SAP at the same time

People with a Facebook profile may be interested in the Friend Network Optimizer for two reasons. First, you can find out how active your own Facebook friends are and how much more active you would have to be to catch up with the most diligent users. Second, you can see for yourself what SAP software can do. The app reaches out to potential customers beyond a business environment, who can get to know SAP software on a private basis.

SAP is taking a similar approach with the Work/Life Balance Dashboard, which is also free of charge. Here, you can analyze the time you spend on various leisure and work activities. The actual time spent can also be compared with fictitious scenarios, such as the desired work-life balance. For those who want more, we still have Crystal Presentation Design available to download free of charge. You are then free to analyze data and create appealing presentations from your own spreadsheets.

via SAP.info

Thinking of upgrading your SAP software and transferring your data as you move to new hardware? In our new article series, we’ll show you the basics of carrying out an SAP ERP upgrade, right up to the point of going live. For an overview, simply continue reading part one.

There really are two completely different worlds: While private users update the software on their computers nearly every year, companies run the same programs on their servers for 10 to 15 years. After all, corporate clients have neither the option nor the desire to switch

IT systems on a whim. Meeting the short-notice requirements of today’s interconnected economy, however, does sometimes demand fundamental changes in companies’ ERP systems. This, in turn, entails the latest version of the software in question; see our article “Preview: EHP 5 for SAP ERP 6.0.”

It starts with the question of whether the targeted software upgrade will require a new hardware platform. Many companies run dated server hardware that should be swapped out during the transition to the latest generation of SAP software. We cover this later in the series based on the example of an actual company that switched SAP systems in 28 hours. Without sound preparation prior to the upgrade itself and strict adherence to the prescribed sequence of actions, this would not have been possible.

This initial installment of our article series delivers an overview of the entire upgrade process without delving into the details. We then describe the updates legacy systems require; the installation of new servers, including operating systems and databases; the installation of SAP R/3, along with backups of the previous data status; database upgrades, and finally, the actual transition to SAP ERP 6.0, including installation of the latest enhancement package (see also “EHP: Keeping SAP Up-to-Date”).

As has been especially apparent at industry events and special in-house exhibitions, larger companies in particular have recently been considering bolstering their ERP systems. The basic tenor being heard from many IT managers indicates that numerous companies still rely on SAP R/3 4.7×200 and the key components FI, CO, FM, SD, MM, and HR. Over the years, these organizations have expanded their live systems and made other constant adjustments to meet current predominant requirements. It should be noted, however, that while maintenance is still offered for all SAP R/3 systems, updates are no longer released for the software.

Those interested have the option of making an incremental transition from SAP R/3 4.7c to SAP ECC6.0 (ERP Central Component), the latest version of the application. In this series of articles, we’ll tell you which basic steps are necessary to upgrade while aiding your general understanding of the process with plenty of screenshots. Meanwhile, the different sections will point you toward the impressive array of documents and guides SAP offers.

ERP-Upgrade: Approach

In the following step-by-step guides, we show you how to switch from your old hardware and software to an all-new system while transferring your data to an up-to-date database.

For the sake of our example, the starting system will be an HP ProLiant DL380 serverrunning on four processors and the Windows 2003 Server SE operating system. Its other software components include a Microsoft SQL Server 2000 database, the 32-bit SAP Kernel 6.40 NUC, SAP ABA/BASIS 6.20 SP64, SAP APPL 4.7 SP30, SAP HR 4.7 SP84, and SAP EA-XX 200 SP15.

In the existing system, the collation *BIN is first changed to *BIN2. This is necessary to facilitate the later transition from Microsoft SQL Server 2000 to SQL Server 2005. Each collation contains rules for sorting and comparing the entries in the Microsoft database. A full backup is then made for the subsequent homogeneous system copy (HSC) of the SQL database.

In this case, the target system is a 64-bit Dell RAC 5 server. The system is first configured at the operating-system level; we’ll use Windows 2003 EE x64. The database will be in the 64-bit Unicode version of Microsoft SQL Server 2005 and collation *BIN2. We’ll now install the 64-bit variant of SAP Kernel 6.40 NUC. All of the necessary SAP components and their service packs will be installed on the new server as they were on the previous configuration; this will involve a fresh installation of SAP R/3 4.7×200.

Then comes the HSC, in which we’ll restore the database backup from the previous server. The STM download takes place on SAP Service Marketplace (direct link).

Following the successful configuration of the new system, including the operating system and upgrade from a 32-bit to a 64-bit database, we can begin with the actual transition to the latest version of SAP ERP. Here, good planning and key-user testing that covers all of the business processes and preceding activities involved are especially important; we’ll deal with the latter topic in a separate article. At the end of the overall upgrade process, we’ll have a new SAP ERP 6.0 platform that includesenhancement package 4 . We’re now ready to go live!

The image on the first page of this article summarizes our basic approach, but in practice, a number of additional steps are needed between these phases. The only way to document them is with a great many screenshots, which we will present in the course of this extensive article series.

Why to Upgrade to ECC6.0

Planning ERP installations and their further components for the next decade used to be something of a tradition in companies’ IT departments. Major changes were a rarity, and when they were made, their scope was often still rather small. However, comparatively old and inflexible ERP systems can no longer keep pace with today’s business world. This is why IT managers are weighing the costs and benefits of upgrading their SAP software; for more, check out “Enhancement Packages Deliver the Innovations.”

In the end, it’s mainly about reducing maintenance costs and enhancing the business processes the new SAP ERP system covers. The latter is particularly key in coping with the increasing complexity of said processes: Obsolete software does not facilitate frequent adjustments and changes, and even slight modifications are relatively expensive. Enter the free updates that have been regularly available since the introduction of SAP’s enhancement packages, all of which are currently included in EHP4 (see also “From ERP 6.0 to Business Suite 7” and “SAP ERP 6.0 at a Fixed Price”).

Example case demonstrated at ITU in Geneva

We were recently on-location at the International Telecommunication Union in Geneva, Switzerland, to demonstrate our approach to switching from SAP R/3 to SAP ERP 6.0. Founded in May of 1865, the ITU is one of the oldest international organizations and a special entity of the United Nations. It currently comprises 191 member nations and deals with global issues concerning the technical aspects of telecommunication.

In the days ahead, we’ll be publishing further articles in this series to give interested readers a solid basis for upgrading their SAP software.

via SAP.info

Feature Pack 2.5 for SAP Business ByDesign Solution is generally available. Three Starter Packages starting at $13,500 make it easier to adopt the on-demand software.

SAP announced the general availability of the feature pack 2.5 for the SAP Business ByDesign solution beginning July 30, 2010. This comprehensive, fully integrated on-demand business management suite is now available in China, France, Germany, India, the United Kingdom and the United States. SAP also announced the introduction of three new predefined starter packages that provide customers a compelling starting point for their adoption of the complete SAP Business ByDesign solution.

General Availability of Feature Pack 2.5 for SAP Business ByDesign

The general availability of the feature pack 2.5 for SAP Business ByDesign delivers significant customer-centric innovations including real-time, in-memory analytics, support for mobile devices, customizable rich user interface and increased flexibility.

The new feature pack provides the mature customer lifecycle management capabilities necessary to support a large volume rollout and reduce the cost of delivery. In addition to being fully enabled to provide multi-tenancy, it has been engineered for customer- and partner-specific business extensions, and provides flexibility to easily make changes to the default user interface, report and forms. It also leverages the proven life cycle management system from SAP, protecting all changes during upgrades.

Partners continue to be a core part of the  go-to-market strategy for SAP Business ByDesign, and solution partners as well as solution resellers leverage the new business model and opportunities to the advantage of customers.

Starter Packages Make it Easier to Adopt SAP Business ByDesign

Starter packages for SAP Business ByDesign enable customers to rapidly and cost-effectively address specific functional requirements and business pain points and receive short term value while laying the foundation for future growth through the ability to add additional, fully integrated functionality without disruption.

Starter packages are predefined, focused subsets of the full SAP Business ByDesign suite that are deployed simply and are available at fixed implementation prices, starting at $13,500. A dedicated implementation methodology, as well as embedded e-learning, enables these packages to be implemented quickly, in as little as three weeks depending on a customer’s requirements. As business grows, users can expand the scope and turn on additional functionality that is already built into the solution.

Available for as few as 10 users, the three starter packages currently available include:

• Customer relationship management (CRM) starter package - The CRM starter package provides customers with best business practices for sales force automation (SFA), enabling them to efficiently generate leads, manage all stages of the sales process and close deals, while laying the foundation to expand to the entire order-to-cash process. The CRM starter package can be implemented in approximately three weeks at a fixed implementation price of $13,500 (EUR 9,900) and a special subscription price of $89 (EUR 79) per user.
• Enterprise resource planning (ERP) starter package - The ERP starter package provides customers that have outgrown accounting-only systems with the integrated financials, accounting and analytics capabilities needed to manage the next stage of growth.. The package can be implemented in approximately six weeks or less and is available at a fixed implementation price of $37,500 (EUR 24,900) and the usual subscription price of $149 (EUR 133) per user.
• Professional service provider (PSP) starter package - The PSP starter package is designed to give small businesses and midsize professional services firms affordable access to the world-class business process management capabilities they need to not only manage their businesses end to end, but also to level the playing field against well-capitalized competitors. Designed to go live in approximately eight weeks, the PSP starter package is available for a fixed implementation price of $45,000 (EUR 34,900) and the usual subscription price of $149 (EUR 133) per user.

“With the feature pack 2.5 for SAP Business ByDesign, SAP has made solid progress toward serving the needs of small and midsize companies looking for a fully integrated suite,” said Bill McNee, founder and CEO, Saugatuck Technology. “This release provides yet another important signpost of a market beginning to shift from best-of-breed to best-of-suite on-demand solution deployment.”

“With the general availability of feature pack 2.5 we have achieved a major milestone,” said Peter Lorenz, executive vice president, SME solutions, and corporate officer, SAP. “By providing this new release, we deliver substantial innovation to support our customers’ business needs today and tomorrow. The on-demand services for SAP Business ByDesign are operated on the most modern cloud infrastructure and allow for true volume business. We also expect the new starter packages to enable our customers to quickly adopt the services and realize immediate results on their path to an integrated on-demand suite.”

via SAP.info