SAP Modules

There are various reasons for going for a modular design as it provides flexibility to the companies to implement only what they need and provide them with the capability to extend and customize the packaged software to suit the specific needs of the organization which is implementing the software. Some of the major benefits of modular design are highlighted.

What is SAP?

SAP is a leading provider of ERP Solutions known as SAP. SAP's products focus on Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). The company's main product is SAP ERP. The current version is SAP ERP 6.0 and is part of the SAP Business Suite. Its previous name was R/3.  SAP ECC is one of five enterprise applications in SAP's Business Suite. The other four applications are:

• Customer Relationship Management (CRM) – helps companies acquire and retain customers, gain marketing and customer insight
• Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) – helps manufacturers with product-related information
• Supply Chain Management (SCM) – helps companies with the process of resourcing its manufacturing and service processes
• Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) – enables companies to procure from suppliers

SAP Modules:

SAP R/3 was arranged into distinct functional modules, covering the typical functions in place in an organization. The most widely used modules were Financials and Controlling (FICO), Human Resources (HR), Materials Management (MM), Sales & Distribution (SD), and Production Planning (PP).

Each module handled specific business tasks on its own but was linked to the others where applicable. For instance, an invoice from the billing transaction of Sales & Distribution would pass through to accounting, where it will appear in accounts receivable and cost of goods sold. SAP typically focused on best practice methodologies for driving its software processes, and SAP also produced specialized modules (referred to as IS or Industry Specific) geared toward a particular market segment, such as utilities or retail.

There are various reasons for going for a modular design as it provides flexibility to the companies to implement only what they need and provide them with the capability to extend and customize the packaged software to suit the specific needs of the organization which is implementing the software. Some of the major benefits of modular design are highlighted below:

• Flexibility to implement and maintain
• Ability to Extend and Customize
• Can be implemented on a need basis. A financial organization can skip implementing the manufacturing modules.
• Security and Segregation of duties by restricting business processes of a particular department or Business Unit to a specific module
• Ease of Integration with legacy systems and third-party interfaces.

Complete Modules of SAP ERP:

SAP comes with various modules that can be broadly classified into application areas specified above. A complete list of SAP Modules is available here:

1. Basis
2. ABAP/4 Programming
3. FI (Financial Accounting)
4. CO (Controlling)
5. EC (Enterprise Controlling)
6. TR (Treasury)
7. IM (Investment Management)
8. HR (Human Resource)
9. SD (Sales and Distribution)
10. Logistics Information System
11. MM (Materials Management)
12. PM (Plant Maintenance)
13. PP (Production Planning)
14. QM - Quality Management
15. BW (Business Warehousing)
16. IS (Industry Solutions) / SAP for Industries specific solutions
17. CS (Customer Service)
18. SMB
19. CA (Cross-Application Components)
20. PS (Project Systems)
21. mySAP SEM
22. mySAP CRM (Customer Relationship Management)
23. mySAP Product Life Cycle Management
24. SCM (SAP Supply Chain Management)
25. Netweaver
26. mySAP SRM (Supplier Relationship Management)