Converting Business Processes into SAP Functionality

During the Business Blueprint phase of the SAP Implementation methodology, business processes are converted into an SAP-specific functional plan—a blueprint. One of the first steps in this process is to understand the current business processes existing within an organization. The first two to five days spent by a functional specialist are intended to obtain an overall high-level understanding of the organization as a whole. Examples include determining such information as how many legal entities exist within each geography and how they are structured financially on a global basis (if a company is of a global nature); how many business divisions exist; how many manufacturing plants and purchasing organizations exist; whether these purchasing organizations are at a regional, country, or global level; the operating principles of each division, plant, profit center, or cost center; and so on. Figure 26.2 provides a pictorial view of a typical manufacturing organization. Information gleaned from such a view is used to model and configure the organizational structure within SAP ERP. The process of doing so is described briefly in the next section of this chapter.

Figure 26.2. A typical manufacturing organization.

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