Global SAP Systems – Design and Architecture

After his studies in electrical engineering and completion of an engineering doctorate at the University of Karlsruhe, Germany, Alexander Davidenkoff joined SAP AG at the end of 1992. He started in R/3 basis support and technical consulting and soon concentrated on international topics such as language and code-page technologies in SAP products. He began collaboration with the national organizations in Eastern Europe and Russia, supported colleagues, customers, and partners in numerous activities and projects, and contributed significantly to the improvement of language support in SAP R/3. Since the late 1990s, he has been working closely with the countries in the Asia Pacific region.In 1996, Alexander moved to International Development/Globalization Services at SAP, where he is responsible for project management of country versions, as well as globalization, localization, and translation issues. He now works in SAP Globalization Services as a solution manager for the Unicode rollout, global solutions, time zones, global integrated solutions using SAP NetWeaver, the architecture of complex system environments, and related topics. He also supports, advises, and trains numerous colleagues, clients, and partners in many countries. Dr. Detlef Werner earned his doctorate in 1989 from the University of Hamburg, Germany, as a chemist, where his work included computer-supported analytics. After an international career at medium-sized companies, Detlef joined SAP AG in 1998, working first on construction and conversion of the Internet Business Framework. Other work areas at SAP have included global partner management, the design of marketplaces for customers and partners, and support for customers on issues involving international implementation of business processes and related IT structures.Detlef is currently working as a Solution Manager in SAP Globalization Services, where the introduction of Unicode in SAP has been a core topic for many years. Since 2003, he has taught at the International University of Bruchsal, Germany, as a Visiting Professor for international management and e-business.

1 ... Introduction ... 13 ... 1.1 ... The Role of IT in Globalization ... 13 ... 1.2 ... The Importance of an Appropriate Enterprise Model ... 19 ... 1.3 ... Six Steps to Your Enterprise Model ... 23 ... 1.4 ... From Mainframes to Distributed Systems ... 26 ... 1.5 ... Summary ... 35 2 ... Business Requirements for Global Systems ... 37 ... 2.1 ... Covering Regional and Global Requirements ... 37 ... 2.2 ... Languages, Time Zones, and Data Transfer ... 62 ... 2.3 ... Summary ... 78 3 ... Overview of Architectures ... 79 ... 3.1 ... From Past to Future ... 79 ... 3.2 ... Overview of Global (Central) or Distributed (Decentralized) Architectures ... 86 ... 3.3 ... Prerequisites and Definitions ... 89 ... 3.4 ... Decentralized Architectures ... 95 ... 3.5 ... Regional Architecture with Shared Services ... 107 ... 3.6 ... Centralized Decentralized Architecture ... 115 ... 3.7 ... Central Architecture ... 120 ... 3.8 ... Variants and Combined (Hybrid) Architectures ... 134 ... 3.9 ... Summary ... 141 4 ... Factors Influencing System Architectures ... 143 ... 4.1 ... General Considerations ... 143 ... 4.2 ... Three-Dimensional Globalization Model ... 147 ... 4.3 ... Business Processes ... 150 ... 4.4 ... Business Process Management ... 154 ... 4.5 ... Organizations ... 161 ... 4.6 ... Product ... 174 ... 4.7 ... Summary ... 193 5 ... IT Implementation of Architectures ... 197 ... 5.1 ... General Requirements for a Data Center ... 198 ... 5.2 ... IT Infrastructure for a Global Solution Central ?Architecture ... 202 ... 5.3 ... Operating an SAP Single-Instance System ... 213 ... 5.4 ... Implementing Global SAP Projects in the Selected Architecture ... 223 ... 5.5 ... Tools for Changing Existing Architectures ... 247 ... 5.6 ... Summary ... 256 6 ... Customer Scenarios and Decision-Making Processes ... 259 ... 6.1 ... Experiences of SAP Customers with Different System Topologies ... 259 ... 6.2 ... Guideline for Decision-Making Processes ... 278 ... 6.3 ... Summary ... 293 7 ... System Topology Summary for the Global Solution ... 295 A ... Glossary ... 297 B ... Literature ... 305 ... B.1 ... Books and Articles ... 305 ... B.2 ... Links ... 307 C ... Authors ... 311