Sapnotebook - Free SAP Resource Library: Beginners

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What is ABAP?

We already talked about SAP and ERP. Here is some little information on ABAP and how it relates to SAP.

What is ABAP?

Well, ABAP stands for Allgemeiner Berichts-Aufbereitungs-Prozessor. I know it’s kind of difficult to understand. But that’s the german standing of it. It means “General report creation processor”, Made it a little simpler, isn’t it. Okay, The actual english version of it is Advanced Business Application Programming. It’s a high level programming language created by SAP and has a syntax similar to Cobol and is based on Fourth Generation language.

The ABAP Programming language was originally invented by SAP for developers to develop SAP R/3 and is primarily used to develop custom functionality on SAP like Creating Reports, Smart forms… etc.

Types of ABAP Programs

We have various types of ABAP Programs like Reports, BDC, Subroutine Pools, Function Modules, Includes, Type Pools, Class Pools, Interface Pools & Classes.

ABAP Workbench

This Workbench contains different tools for editing repository objects. These tools allow to develop and complete almost everything and some of the objects include ABAP Editor, ABAP Dictionary, Screen and Menu Painter, Function Builder and Class Builder.

Data Types

Refer the image below for all the Data Types.

ABAP Data Types

Where to Go from here? If you are new to ABAP and then you can find lots of ABAP Programs and ABAP Keywords and Syntax on SAP Database.

SAP Beginners Guide

So, Finally you have decided to make a career move into SAP and good to know that you have found ERPDB. Let this be your gateway to the world of SAP and allow me to walk you through everything you need to know from the SAP basics to getting a job in SAP.

Here are some posts which will give you a idea as to what SAP is all about. First, start here on What is SAP?. Once you know about SAP, I would suggest you to understand more about ERP.

Now, a big question will take over you asking where do I fit in into this vast SAP World. As you know by now that SAP has various modules and choosing the correct module will help you stir your career in the right direction. Read the post on “Best SAP Module?” which will help you to decide in choosing the correct SAP module.

Once, you have decided on the modules, look at the vast categories we have on ERP Database. We have also organized a list of all the SAP Ebooks which were collected from different blogs/forums and website and have provided the links to these books and do not forget to check out the SAP FAQs section too.

Now comes the Big question. Where should I get the training? SAP Labs has it’s own education program through out the world. Refer the SAP’s training centers and also check the SAP Course list. Well, SAP Labs is the best place if you want to get trained but sometimes we don’t have enough money, I would suggest you to check your local sources for the best alternative sap training institutes in your area and Kick off your SAP education program and once you have gained enough experience you can directly take the SAP certification without going through the training from SAP labs.

While learning SAP, go to the forums at SAP Developers Network, SAP Fans and SAP Forums to get all the queries resolved.

SAP Modules Briefed

Here is a brief overview of most of the modules and there processes in SAP. This should give you a brief outline of what each module is about and also makes you understand as to what each module does.

Materials Management (MM)

The grouping of management functions supporting the complete cycle of material flow, from the purchase and internal control of production materials to the planning and control of work in process to the warehousing, shipping, and distribution of the finished product.

Sales and Distribution (SD)

This module includes the business processes used to sell and deliver products and services to customers and business partners. Information about the product and customers (both of which are stored in the master data) is used in SD.

Production Planning (PP)

This module supports functions for the overall level of manufacturing output and other activities to best satisfy the current planned levels of sales (sales plan or forecasts), while meeting general business objectives of profitability, competitive customer lead times as expressed in the overall business plan. One of its primary purposes is to establish production rates that will achieve management’s objective of satisfying customer demand, by maintaining, raising or lowering inventories or backlogs, while usually attempting to keep the workforce relatively stable.

Plant Maintenance (PM)

Supports the planning, processing, and completion of plant maintenance tasks
Allows for planners to schedule routine maintenance in a way that is least disruptive for manufacturing and sales requirements

Quality Management (QM)

Supports the quality inspection aspects of the business, including purchasing, research, and sales
Allows for buyers and manufacturing personnel to track inspection lots and test results

Financial Accounting (FI)

Designed for automated management and external reporting of General Ledger (GL), Accounts Receivable (AR), Accounts Payable (AP), and Asset Management (AM) with a user-defined chart of accounts.
External reporting, such as income statement and balance sheet Represents cost and revenue flows throughout the organization
Aids in organizational decision making
Supports internal reporting such as cost center reports

Asset Accounting (AA)

AA provides tools to acquire, depreciate, evaluate, and retire assets. The kinds of assets covered are fixed, low value, leased, and real estate.
Low value assets depreciate in the year they are bought and are often aggregated as a single asset master record.
Depreciation often needs to be tracked (for more than one reason), so SAP R/3 allows you to depreciate the same piece of equipment in several parallel ways.

Human Resources (HR)

Takes care of payroll, time recording, applicant administration, and organization data. It supports the planning and control of personnel activities.

Industry Solutions (IS)

IS is scaleable and flexible, and can be tailored to the specific needs of each business. Examples are:
SAP Aerospace and Defense
SAP Automotive
SAP Banking
SAP Chemicals
SAP Consumer Products
SAP Engineering and Construction
SAP Telecommunication
SAP Utilities
SAP Service Provider

Work Flow (WF)

Links the integrated SAP R/3 application modules with cross-application technologies, tools, and services, including e-mail.
Work flow allows you to set up the followings:
Maintain your company’s organization structure according to responsibility.
Link the predefined standard tasks with the authorized agents in your company.
Activate existing event receiver links between triggering events and consuming workflow tasks.
Name a technical person responsible for each standard workflow template.

Project System (PS)

Helps you to plan, manage, control, and figure the cost of R&D projects, and so on. The common tasks revolve around allocation of people, resources, and money within the framework of schedule and task relationships.

Interface

n Interface is a declaration of a set of Methods with no information given about the implementation of those methods. Interfaces are used to define common functionality that can be used by different classes. Interfaces are implemented in classes by listing the interface name in the definition part of the class.

CLASS customer DEFINITION.
Public Section.
INTERFACES .
ENDCLASS.

An interface can be implemented publicly. The methods defined in the interface are implemented in the class. All methods that are defined in the interfaces must be present in the implementing class.

Much like a class, an interface defines methods. However, unlike a class, an interface never implements methods; instead, classes that implement the interface provide the implementation to the methods defined by the interface.

An interface can be accessed using an object reference as long as that objects class implements the interface. This is done using the interface resolution operator ‘~’:
->~.

SAP System Architecture

The SAP System follows a three tier architecture containing Presentation, Application and a database layer. Each of these layer has it’s own software component. With this setup, the overall system can be distributed among a range of computers or it can also be in one system like MiniSAP which has all these components in one computer. A common configuration includes where in the database and the application server run concurrently in a single large computer. All the other application servers run on their computers. Let’s explain all these three components further so that you can develop a better understanding of the SAP system architecture.

Presentation Layer

This is the view you see when you login into SAP from your computer. This is presentation layer that has been generated. The SAP GUI Software components ensure that the SAP system user interface is shown and that the user’s actions are passed to the application server for further processing.

Application Layer

The application layer is the one where the entire work is carried out for your. All your actions are processed at this place. This software component can have one or more than one based on the requirements and the processing needs of each and every organization.
The application server provides a range of services for the operation of the SAP system. The application servers processes are carried out through work processes. This is defined at the start of the SAP system. The work processes are components that are able to execute an application. One thing to note here is that each work process is registered as a user in the database system for the entire runtime of the SAP system.

Database Layer

Each SAP system has a central database in which the entire data is stored. Everything, like the customer records, programs, just about anything which needs to be stored is maintained at this level.

In a nutshell, any actions you do on the presentation layer is passed to the application layer for processing which would retrieve any relevant data from the database layer and the application layer processes the data and presents it to you via the presentation layer.

SAP System Architecture

Presentation Layer

Application Layer

Database Layer

Each SAP system has a central database in which the entire data is stored. Everything, like the customer records, programs, just about anything which needs to be stored is maintained at this level.

Common Controls in SAP

Let’s look at a few of the common buttons and controls in the SAP system:

On any screen in SAP, the green check mark means enter. If you prefer, you can also use the enter key on your keyboard.

The green arrow (back) button will take you back one screen in the application in which you are currently working. If you are at the initial application screen, the green arrow will return you to the SAP Easy Access menu.

The yellow up arrow (exit) button will take you back to the SAP Easy Access screen. Occasionally, if the application you are using has more than one level, the yellow exit arrow will only exit you from the application you are currently in, and place you in the higher level application. This might seem confusing, but you will understand as soon as you encounter such an occurrence.

Let’s look at a few of the common buttons and controls in the SAP system:

On any screen in SAP, the green check mark means enter. If you prefer, you can also use the enter key on your keyboard.

The red X button (cancel) will cancel the application you are currently using, and return you to the SAP Easy Access menu with a single click

The create session button will open a new SAP session in addition to the one currently in use. While it is not necessary to have more than one session open, it can be very helpful. Many users will have at least two sessions open at a time, one to change or create system data, and another to look at other areas for reference.

The help button can be very, well, helpful. When used properly it can give fast, relatively easy to understand, definitions of user actions. To use the button, position your cursor on the object you wish to know about, and click the help button. An information screen will be displayed describing the object