To help customers run simple, SAP has broken the limitations of its past via its innovation based digital core product-SAP S/4HANA. On 3rd February 2015, SAP announced its new business suite fully built on SAP HANA called SAP S/4HANA meaning SAP Business Suite 4 SAP HANA. This is considered to be the new product and biggest innovation of SAP since R/3 System.
SAP was founded in 1972 by former IBM Employees — Wellenreuther, Hopp, Hector, Hasso Plattner and Tchira.
SAP R/1 is the first ever product of the Software Giant — SAP (Systems, Applications and Products in Data Processing). As the name suggests, SAP R/1 is the system with one tier architecture. ‘R’ stands for real time data processing. A Software mainly consists of three layers — Presentation Layer, Application Layer and Database Layer. In one-tier architecture (SAP R/1), all these three layers were installed in one server. The first module developed was Financial Accounting System. It was introduced in the year 1972.
SAP R/2 is the SAP’s mainframe product and also the first ever compact software package for the end-to-end business applications. It was introduced in the year 1979. SAP R/2 runs on mainframes such as IBM, Siemens, Amdahl etc., The last version of R/2 System is 6.1.
R/2 System is two-tier architecture based product. Presentation layer is on one server while the application and database layers are present in another server. The mainframe solution is not open. But with the help of ALE (Application Link Enabled) Technology, R/2 can be linked to system and share online data.
In 1980s, SAP moved to their first facility in Walldorf, Germany. They added additional modules to their portfolio and by the end of 1981 R/2 had stabilized. In 1986 SAP opens its first international subsidiary in Austria. After three years in development, SAP also released their Human Resources Management module to their customers.
SAP R/3 is SAP’s integrated software solution for client/server and distributed open systems. SAP’s R/3 is the world’s most-used standard business software for client/server computing. R/3 meets the needs of a customer from the small companies to multi-billion dollar companies. The software is highly customizable using SAP’s proprietary programming language, ABAP/4.
The SAP R/3 System working process is described as follows:
- All requests that come in from presentation server are directed first to the dispatcher.
- The dispatcher writes them first to the dispatcher queue.
- The dispatcher pulls the requests from the queue on a first-in, first-out basis.
- Each request is then allocated to the first available work process. A work process handles one process at a time.
In 1992, SAP introduced R/3 with its client-server concept, uniform graphical interface, dedicated use of relational databases to a number of pilot companies and after successful implementation SAP rolls it out to the general public. SAP also introduced its new partner strategy.
SAP forms a relationship with Microsoft and SAP R/3 system for Windows NT is released. Towards the end of the 90’s, SAP introduces EnjoySAP, emphasizing the SAP users — the idea is to make the software easier to learn, faster to work with, and simpler to customize to customers’ needs.
The R/3 basis software is the set of programs and tools which interfaces with the computer operating system, the underlying database, the communication protocols, and the presentation interfaces. This software enables the R/3 applications (FI, CO, SD, etc.) to have the same functionality and work exactly the same way no matter what operating system or database the system is installed on.
SAP NetWeaver:
SAP NetWeaver was first introduced by TopTier Software, an Israeli company, in 1997. SAP has acquired this company in the early 2000’s. The first version of SAP NetWeaver was released in 2004 with version NW7.0.
It is a web-based, open integration, application platform that serves as the foundation for Enterprise Service-Oriented Architecture (Enterprise SOA) and allows the integration and alignment of people, information, and business processes across business and technology boundaries.
Using the mySAP.com platform, employees, customers, suppliers, and other business partners can work together across company borders — anytime, anywhere. SAP outsources their electronic marketplaces and corporate portals to SAP Portals subsidiary.
mySAP is not a single product but is a suite of products from SAP including SAP R/3. SAP R/3 was First launched in 1992 , is regularly updated ,and is market leader in ERP category till date. SAP R/3 many modules such as HR , Finance , MM covering all enterprise. Other products in the mySAP product suite includes SRM(Supplier Relationship Management), CRM(Customer Relationship Management), PLM(Product Lifecycle Management ) , SCM (Supply Chain Management).
In 2006 SAP introduces SAP ERP and shortly thereafter they purchase Business Objects, which makes SAP the market leader in business software, enterprise performance management, and business intelligence.
In 2009, SAP unveils its SAP Business Suite 7 software, it is designed to help businesses optimize their performance and reduce IT costs. A condensed ramp-up phase enables the first customers to go live with the software in March. In early May, the next generation of the suite is released to the rest of the world.
SAP HANA is an in-memory, column-oriented, relational database management system developed and marketed by SAP SE. Its primary function as a database server is to store and retrieve data as requested by the applications. In addition, it performs advanced analytics (predictive analytics, spatial data processing, text analytics, text search, streaming analytics, graph data processing) and includes ETL capabilities as well as an application server.
During the early development of SAP HANA, a number of technologies were developed or acquired by SAP SE. These included TREX search engine (in-memory column-oriented search engine), P*TIME (in-memory OLTP Platform acquired by SAP in 2005), and MaxDB with its in-memory liveCache engine. The first major demonstration of the platform was in 2008: teams from SAP SE, the Hasso Plattner Institute and Stanford University demonstrated an application architecture for real-time analytics and aggregation. Former SAP SE executive, Vishal Sikka, mentioned this architecture as “Hasso’s New Architecture”. Before the name “HANA” stabilized, people referred to this product as “New Database”. The software was previously called “SAP High-Performance Analytic Appliance”.
The SAP HANA database is developed in C++ and runs on SUSE Linux Enterpise Server. SAP HANA database consists of multiple servers and the most important component is the Index Server.
SAP Business Suite on HANA is a Business Suite solution fully integrated with and optimized for SAP HANA as database.
In SAP Business Suite on HANA, the Application logic is re-implemented directly in the SAP HANA database and optimized existing SAP Business Suite transactions to leverage SAP HANA.
Deployment Options:
SAP S/4HANA is the next-generation business suite. It is a new product fully built on the most advanced in-memory platform today — SAP HANA — and modern design principles with the SAP Fiori user experience (UX). SAP S/4HANA delivers massive simplifications (customer adoption, data model, user experience, decision making, business processes, and models) and innovations (Internet of Things, Big Data, business networks, and mobile-first) to help businesses run simple in the digital economy.
Deployment Options:
- SAP S/4HANA On-premise
- SAP S/4HANA Cloud
- SAP S/4HANA Private Cloud
- HANA Enterprise Cloud
Transition Scenarios:
There are three SAP S/4HANA Transition scenarios. They are
- Implementation
- System Conversion
- Landscape Transformation
Converting a system from SAP ERP ECC to SAP S/4HANA is considered as a highly risky process as the whole system gets converted to another form for all SAP S/4HANA Implementation Partners. In order to know how KTern helps in migrating from SAP ECC to S/4HANA with simple and powerful proven techniques.
KTern is a DXaaS Automation Platform built for SAP Enterprises to build their Digital Transformation Journey. Contact us at edsonfrainlar@ktern.com
