Discovering SAP modules - SAP ERP Tutorial

- [Instructor] SAP is not a simple software. You might already have heard this. It is true. SAP is very complex. But it doesn't mean it doesn't follow a structure. Like any complex software, SAP is also decomposed into different functional areas. We call these business functions as SAP modules. You can already see from the SAP menu there are several modules that you can access like Logistics or Accounting. Of course, there are many more modules. The module is split into smaller functional areas until we reach an SAP program behind them. How can we discover the SAP modules available in this system? Where can we find them? How can we find all the transactions related to the Sales and Distribution module? This is what I want to show you in the coming demo. The first time I have learned about SAP, I realized that there are many magical shortcuts in the system. These are the transactions. Just hit the VA03 and it will display the Sales Orders in the system. This screen shows me the Initial Screen. I just need to enter Sales Order. I had always an annoying question. How can I discover the transactions for the Sales and Distribution? Should I always ask one of my colleagues or browse on the web? What if I want to discover another functional area like Controlling. Where are the transactions stored? Let's go back and I will show you shortly. Of course, we need another transaction. Enter SE93. This transaction is about the transactions codes. Here you can define new transaction codes. But it can also display the definition of existing ones. Let's enter VA03 into this field. Press on the Display button. This screen shows the definition of the VA03. You can see description, Display Sales Order. You can also see that the transaction belongs to a so called Package. The Package code is VA. What does the Package mean? SAP organized the transactions of all programs, screens and anything into development packages. Development packages are very important. They are useful for finding related transactions and programs. These are like folders in your file system. If you would like to find your files fast, you need a clear folder structure. You save all the related files into the same folder. The other files with the other topics belong to other folders. This is the same with the development packages. They are for organizing SAP developments into smaller units like folders. Where can we browse these packages? How are they linked to SAP modules. For this, we need another important transaction. Go back and enter SE80. We arrived at the Object Navigator. I think the Object Navigator is the most important transaction for all developers. It is a central transaction for any above development costs. You will see you work more with the Object Navigator, you will understand more SAP's architecture. On the top we have two dropdown lists. These are for switching to the different views of the Object Navigator. Let's open the first one. There are many options here. But don't worry, just choose Application Hierarchy. After that, choose the transactions from the list below. And this is the view I would like to show you now. The Application Hierarchy shows the functional architecture of SAP. The top of all is called Application Components. But we can also call them SAP modules. Below you can see many modules. You can find functional areas like Basis Components, SAP Business Warehouse or Financial Accounting. On the right side you can also see their short code. Financial Accounting has the code FI. You might already heard these short codes for SAP professionals. For example, somebody's FI Consultant and somebody else is SD Developer. But wait, where can we find Sales and Distribution and our transaction? Just scroll down a little bit. And here it is. Just open this folder. As you can see, there are many sub-areas in Sales and Distribution. An SAP module has smaller units. Speed by it's functional pupils. If you scroll down in this list, you will find Sales functional area. Let's open this also. Another long list comes. If you scroll down, you will find our package code VA. So we are already on the development package level. Development packages build up the functional area. If you open the VA folder, you will find the list of the transactions. These are the transactions that belong to Sales and Distribution module. To the Sales functional sub-area, and to the VA package. Here you can find our Display Sales Order transaction. You will also find transactions that manage an Inquiry, a Quotation or a Contract. Logical isn't it? These transactions are closed so they are in the same package. You can browse another transaction that belong to another SAP module. Just you need to open another folder in the Application Hierarchy. If you double click on our transaction it will display its details. Can you see? Object Navigator is not only a list, but it has shortcuts to another function. Like now to the Transaction Maintenance screen. Object Navigator is really the heart of the SAP development. We can discover the SAP modules and many more. We already checked where our transaction fits into the big picture. But what is a transaction? Just look at the details screen. A transaction has a program and a screen. The transaction VA03 is really a shortcut for this program and screen. If you enter the transaction code this of a program is launch with this specific screen. We will be analyzing this program in the coming demo.