Friday, October 12, 2012

How Can I Start a Career as an SAP Consultant?

By Jon Reed

When you begin to think about your SAP career, you can start by deciding whether you want to be an SAP functional consultant or an SAP technical consultant. Of course, there can be some crossover between these two, and ideally, you will have a mix of both, but careers in SAP are about focus. Your focus is dictated by two things: the overall background of your experience, and where you want to be headed from here.

Those SAP professionals with a functional background in areas such as finance, supply chain management, or customer relationship management, will likely focus on the functional side of SAP in their consulting careers. On the technical side, there is a distinction to be made between two main career paths: SAP developer and SAP Netweaver Engineer, or what has historically been called the "SAP Basis consultant." Basis incorporates hands-on SAP systems administration functions.

Often, some DBA know-how is included in the Basis skill set, though on larger SAP installations, the SAP DBA is frequently a separate role. The same goes for SAP Security. While there is such a thing as an SAP Security consultant, security is often a skill set under the SAP Basis umbrella.
Business Intelligence (BI) is starting to impact all SAP roles and all SAP professionals should consider developing proficiency in this area.

With those distinctions in mind, how do you become an SAP consultant in today's marketplace? It's helpful to think of SAP consulting as a combination of two important skill sets: SAP implementation experience and enterprise consulting experience. It's not always easy to acquire both these skills at the same time. In the 1990s, you could sometimes get trained as a consultant while getting your first SAP exposure at the same time, and all you needed was a certification. That's not the case anymore.
To become an SAP consultant in today's market, you almost always need to have SAP implementation experience under your belt already. That means you've done a 2-4 year stint working in a hands-on capacity on a full-blown SAP project. Typically, this experience is acquired while being a full-time employee. On the functional side, product configuration skills are still important, as well as full life cycle experience throughout an implementation. On the Basis side, product installation and systems optimization is the key, and on the developer side, experience customizing SAP reports, making UI enhancements, and developing third party interfaces are examples of bread-and-butter skills. This type of experience, accumulated over years, forms the core of the SAP skill set.  Read more at erptips

Monday, October 8, 2012

Why is SAP bullish about 2012?

Earlier today, SAP firmed up on its pre-announced results for 2011, producing a comparatively bullish forecast for 2012. This should not surprise. SAP did a lot of the right things it needed to in 2011. In turn, that allows it to make bold statements at a time when economic forecasts are far from rosy.
What follows represents my interpretation of a conversation I had today with Jim Snabe, co-CEO SAP, a brief discussion with Hasso Plattner, co-founder and VIshal Sikka, executive board member plus assorted snippets of conversation with senior SAP policy makers over the last couple of days.
  1. 176,000 customers on business applications means SAP does not have to move the sales needle that much in order for an uptick to show in top line revenue.
  2. HANA, which is a big ticket software and services item is moving from hype to reality much more quickly than many of us thought. The introduction of modest (by SAP standards) solutions like COPA accelerator (financial reporting) on HANA will speed up (sic) sales to customers for whom HANA has been out of reach. The new revenue guidance suggests SAP is accelerating conversion, moving rapidly from 1:4/5 to more like 1:3.
  3. Despite continuing grumbles around the cost of maintenance, SAP has done a solid execution job in persuading customers that 22% is a price worth paying through incremental but perceived valuable add ons. That becomes less defensible absent fresh solutions past 2012-13. Even so, when you work the numbers, it becomes apparent SAP's maintenance stream represents a very long tail: like 10-11 years. It's a heck of a soft, fluffy cushion when seen as a 90-95% margin line item.
  4. Its ponderous foot slog towards mobile has turned out to be fortuitous. With Apple recording insanely good numbers, SAP's reach should mean it benefits hugely via the halo effect. I have never seen so many Apple devices being toted in enterprise. There are lots of question marks around execution and SAPs ability to get partners onboarded but SAP is not having too many problems developing a healthy pipeline. It will need to push hard in this area with developersduring 2012 to make that pipeline as fat as possible.
  5. The real shock is that some SIs are reporting heavy demand for new SAP implementations. That is as in major upgrades coming in at eye watering numbers - think $100 million. This is a short lived benefit for SAP because regardless of what the overall top line looks like, the core Business Suite trendline over time is down, not up. Not a problem in 2012 and 2013 but beyond?
  6. SAP is cautious about the impact of the SuccessFactors acquisition which is currently delayed for unspecified reasons but not connected to regulatory concerns. Flat in 2012 based upon SFSF 2011 numbers? That depends on when the deal is finally closed. We had expected the deal to close by now but the best they can say is 'Q1.' That has to blow SAP's cloud plans off course a wee bit but they have factored in for that very heavily. Downside yes, but tempered by conservative planning and forecasting.
  7. SAP has done a good job rebuilding goodwill with customers and, to a certain extent, developers although that last constituent could do with a good bit of love if SAP is to capitalise on its mobility and HANA potential.
What's not to like?
SAP's concentration on aggregated top line growth masks fundamental problems with keeping sales of the core apps moving along. Everyone knows that outside of the odd opportunistic deal or possible Oracle refugee, those deals are done. However, SAP also knows that if it is to have a credible future it needs to radically rethink business applications. That inevitably means cloud but how does it transition without giving the Street one heck of a fright? Here are two scenarios:
Read more 

Useful links - SAP Program, Training & Perspective

http://searchsap.techtarget.com/searchSAP.com - a SAP-Specific Portal for IT professionals focused on SAP. Site features include, Fast and focused search capabilities Links to relevant content, editorial insight and summaries, Daily industry news and weekly technology tips delivered via email.

http://freebooks.by.ru/view/Abap4in21day/index.htm
Sams Teach Yourself ABAP/4 in 21 Days - free book

http://www.antarcon.com/
Antarcon - Free SAP & ABAP community

http://web.mit.edu/sapr3/training/
http://web.mit.edu/sapr3/docs/webdocs/getstarted/gs.html

SAP Training - online training and learning material available

http://sap.mis.cmich.edu/sap-ual.htm
SAP University Alliance Links

http://sap.mis.cmich.edu/sap-esoft00.htmSAP Introductory Course Lessons and Other Course Support

http://web.mit.edu/sapr3/docs/webdocs/paperdocs.html

Downloading paper SAP documents

http://www.bus.utexas.edu/dept/msis/courses/syllabi_spring/MIS%20382N.4%20scott.htmhttp://www.bus.utexas.edu/dept/msis/courses/syllabi_spring/MIS%20373.3%20scott.htm

University of Texas Course - The University of Texas has one of the premier SAP courses, and has some of its course information on the web, including student projects.

http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/solutions/sap.html
SAP R/3 Redbooks - Here are several free books from IBM on SAP R/3

http://www.sapfaq.com
SAP Frequently Asked Questions

http://www.workflowing.com/id35.htm
Frequentaly Asked Questions about SAP Business Workflow

http://src.thehub.com.au/
SAP Resource Center

http://www.sapfans.com

SAP Fans  SAP Fans site
http://www.sapfans.com/sapfans/repos/saprep.htm
 

SAP Repository page from sapfans.com

http://www.brabandt.de/html/sap_tips___tricks.htm
SAP Tips and Tricks

http://sap.ittoolbox.com/
ITToolbox Portal for SAP

http://sap.ittoolbox.com/newsletter/selectlist.asp
2 Free SAP Newsletters
http://www.prima-tech.com/custom/sap/
More How-To SAP Books

http://198.112.59.30/home/print9497.nsf/all/SL10sapwrk
Computer World Aritcle, "Cashing in on SAP skills isn't so easy"

http://www.sap-professional.org/
SAP Professional Organization, has forum archives and links

http://help.sap.com/
SAP Help Portal, a great site for all SAP Documentation online for free

http://www.sap.com

SAP Home Page  - Official home page of SAP

http://www.sap.com/education/index.htm
SAP Education - these courses cost money

http://sap.ittoolbox.com/


http://academic.uofs.edu/faculty/gramborw/sap/saptutorial.htm

http://www.controller.cmich.edu/SAP/saphelp.htm

http://www.originet.com.br/users/miranda/

http://www.solutions-gmbh.de/hr/defaltEB.stm

http://ifr.sap.com/

http://www.geocities.com/santosh_karkhanis/index.html

ABAP Central  Information, help, source code, tutorials
  http://www.scott.net/~solomon/

 ABAP Reference  Online ABAP programming language reference
  http://www.sts.tu-harburg.de/teaching/sap_r3/ABAP4/abapindx.htm

 Allen Davis & Associates  SAP Career Center - Tips & comments on SAP trends
  http://www.softwarejobs.com/sap.html

 Bill's page  Bill Bradford's page (resources & consultants contact)
  http://home.earthlink.net/~thebradfords/

 Cambridge Publications  MIT - SAP Mailing list archives (search engine)
  http://www.documentation.com/saplist/saplist.htm

 CT-Softwareberatungs GmbH  Tools and Training in the field of standard
software R/3 & ABAP programming (tips & tricks, sample reports)
  http://www.ct-software.com

 Finnish User Group  SAP Finnish User Group
  http://www.sapfinug.fi

 Group of MM Consultants  Sap's MM module information and links
  http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Campus/6345/

 Imre & Kinga Kabai's homepage  Helpful ABAP programs for system
administrators
  http://www.kabai.com/abaps/q.htm

 LOGOS Consulting  Experts in interface development using IDocs, ALE, RFC
and Desktop Integration
  http://www.logosworld.de/logos/index.htm

 PrimeStaff  IT & SAP Recruiting Specialists (resources & opportunities)
  http://www.primestaff.net

 RealTime-USA  SAP newsgroup archive and other services
  http://www.realtime-usa.com

 SAP Labs, Inc.  Sap's research and development teams
  http://www.saplabs.com/

 Sap R/3 consultants network  SAP R/3 and ABAP4 Knowledge Server
  http://www.bgs.dk/

 SAP Resource Centre  SAP related information, products, links.
  http://src.thehub.com.au

 Sapiens  Melanie Kovarik SAP page (links and other references)
  http://www.geocities.com/ResearchTriangle/1635/

 Sapient es, Inc.  Specializing in the placement of ABAP/4 programmers
  http://www.sap-abap-jobs.com

 SAPProJournal  Electronic version of SAP Professional Journal
  http://www.sappro.com

 CIO.COM / ERP  ERP/Supply Chain Research Center
  http://www.cio.com/forums/erp/

 SAP Info  Indian SAP Info site (Ramesh Kumar)
  http://www.geocities.com/Eureka/Park/5407/sapinfo.html

 Kabai's homepage  Imre & Kinga Kabai's homepage
  http://www.kabai.com/

 Siemens AG  SAP R/3 live & run (Siemens solutions)
  http://www.siemens.de/sap/index_en.shtml

 Siam-ease  Simmonds and Associates Product for SAP R/3
  http://home.global.co.za/~simmonds/siamease.html

 SAP Club  SAP Club site
  http://www.sapclub.com/content/mainframe.html

 SAP Resources  The specialist SAP recruiter service
  http://www.sap-resources.com/saprhome.htm

 SAP Assist  IT Toolbox Portal for SAP
  http://www.sapassist.com

 HelpS@P  The Knowledge Resource for SAP Professionals
  http://www.helpsap.com

 Foro ABAP  Foro de discusión sobre ABAP/4 en español
  http://members.es.tripod.de/abap4/

 SAPiT Consulting  Consulting firm specialized in SAP R/3
  http://www.sapit.net/

 SAR Consultants  Project implementation and specialist service
  http://www.sar-consultants.com/

 Zoption  Third-party software for SAP R/3
  http://zoption.com/

 Phase Two Consulting  Consulting firm specialized in SAP R/3
  http://www.phasetwoconsulting.com/

 Abapers.com  Online information service for ABAP programmers
  http://www.abapers.com/

 ABAP Efficient  Efficiencie Guidelines
  http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Flats/6338/abapp.html

 German Intro  An Introduction to German for ABAP/4 Programmer
  http://www.uottawa.ca/~weinberg/sap-germ.html

 Popey.com  Alan Popes Website
  http://www.popey.com/

 Wong  Matt Wong's SAP Basis Site
  http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Grid/4858/sap/

 ASUG  American SAP User's Group
  http://www.asug.com

Saturday, October 6, 2012

How to Become a SAP System Analyst



Instructions

  1. Train to Become a SAP Analyst

    • 1
      Begin the appropriate education to become a SAP system analyst. A bachelor's degree in computer systems, industrial engineering or business management is desired by the companies who hire SAP specialists. In addition to majoring in computer science, you should choose a variety of elective courses, such as finance and database maintenance, to give you a well-rounded education.
    • 2
      Brush up on SAP computer software. It's utilized in different industries for system applications and data processing methods. By exploring the areas of this program you like best, you can better focus your job search after college.
    • 3
      Manage your choices wisely during college to prepare for a career as a SAP analyst. In addition to taking classes like SAP XI and NetWeaver, learn about business administration and sales and marketing. While working in the corporate structure, an analyst tends to overlap with many different departments.

      SAP (Systems Applications and Products) is a business-based software that runs on a platform called NetWeaver. SAP functions with business applications and data systems used by many kinds of companies worldwide and employ thousands of system analysts. (picture & text courtesy: ehow.com)

    Find Employment as a SAP System Analyst

    • 4
      Apply for a position as a SAP system analyst. A larger organization can offer you the most opportunities for growth and job diversity. Some companies design and configure SAP modules in-house or hire consultants or information systems agencies to take on the analyst role.
    • 5
      Get a professional certification to add to your credentials. In addition to your bachelor's degree, obtain a master-certification in SAP systems to give you an added boost in getting a job. You can apply for certification at the official SAP website (see Resources below).
    • 6
      Continue your education. For further advancement in this field, a postgraduate degree can serve you well. Additionally, you need to possess either a master's degree or 10 years of solid experience in information technology in order to attain certain positions in this field.

Source: How to Become a SAP System Analyst | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_2070986_become-sap-system-analyst.html#ixzz28WvK2dcm

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

SAP Career: What You Should Consider

Dear SAPiens and aspirant SAPiens. 

Are you seriously considering SAP as your ERP career? Then, you must be serious and curious to know much more about SAP, its different modules, experiences and its effect on salary structures. There is a beautiful quote by Napoleon Bonaparte "Ability is of little account without opportunity", but the world is always open to skilled personnel and human capital is the most important resource to a firm, society and to the world as well. 


The question is answered if you are still thinking why SAP and why not other ERP software? Study shows a consistent figure of job creation by the ERP softwares. While SAP creates 5010 number of jobs in the last 30 days worldwide, the perfomance of  other ERP leading softwares such as Oracle, Axapta, Navision are negligible. 






Graph courtesy JobGraphs


Considering the SAP modules, FICO is always on top attracting talents in to the job market. Besides, industry needs more CRM, A & D, ABAP, ABAP and BW/BI. Though it is not rightly predictable about the market trends, but continuous research shows a stable market behavior.



Graph courtesy JobGraphs


Money certainly plays an important role in our life driving our desires to a new height. So, salary/ Cost to the company (CTC) is always matter to an employee and to the firm/company as well. Observing the graph, it is pretty clear that UK is on the top followed by Australia and the United States.



                                                          Graph courtesy JobGraphs


SAP is always in demand compare to other ERP softwares in the market. Considering the geographical demand of SAP software, US tops the list, followed by Australia in the 2nd list and Germany in the 3rd list.




                                                         Graph courtesy JobGraphs


In job creation, France has created 121 number of jobs in the last 30 days, whereas Italy was able to created 89 and Spain 35 number of jobs in 2011.


                                                              Graph courtesy JobGraphs


SAP role/position plays a central role in the market. Studying the below figure, it shows SAP senior consultant (20%) plays a major role followed by SAP lead (13%) SAP developer (11%) and SAP analyst (9%) respectively. Both SAP technical consultant (1%) and SAP trainer (1%) play least roles.




                                                          Graph courtesy JobGraphs


Experience always counts, whether it is job market or education sector. The below figure shows SAP professional with 5+ years of experiences can play a significant role.


Graph courtesy JobGraphs


I hope this above study will give your much information to follow your dream! Wish you all a great success ahead. 


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