5 years of so ago when I started working in SAP CRM , I was looking for books and guides for ramping up myself in CRM Sales area. My initial projects were mostly in sales and I was transitioning from a product developer in SAP Business by Design to SAP CRM. I did not find any books which introduced the SAP CRM Sales area. I was constantly searching google , SCN for any material I could lay my hand on. Then one day I was reading a blog which listed the skill SD-CRM consultant as a very good skill set. After some research and some discussion with some of more experienced consultants in my project , I realized that I could ramp up very fast in functional area of SAP CRM sales by reading SD material. At least conceptually I would be aware of all the concepts and then in CRM they would not be same. This was the time when I did not even know what a partner function was and was very embarrassed to know that I didn't have such a basic skill. I did not even know what a pricing procedure is , status profile etc etc. So you can understand how basic I was. I was just starting but the average Joe would know this and I didn't.
So I bought the following book in SAP SD and started my ramp up
- Implementing SAP ERP Sales & Distribution by Glen C Williams. If you are new to CRM and don't have knowledge in Sales Process in SAP , this relatively easy on pocket book is a god send gift. This would introduce you to concepts and customizing and after reading this book from cover to cover , you would be confident enough and no one would be able to throw jargon at you. My confidence grew very much after reading. The CRM Sales process mostly similar to SAP SD especially if you have production oriented process. Since there is no equivalent book available in SAP CRM , this could serve the purpose. I was working in a project where we had a LORD interface. There were so many times when I could use the functional knowledge from this book directly in my project.Was very satisfying to do so.
- Effective Pricing with SAP ERP
- The Ultimate SAP Pricing Guide
- Variant Configuration
Trust me guys after reading these books , my knowledge of configurations and business process in SAP Sales has grown tremendously. If you have a production oriented process implemented, then the knowledge is SAP SD is must and since you are SAP CRM consultant you are expected to understand end to end process as the process are executed from the WebUI. Even if you are a technical developer , the knowledge acquired with these books would help you develop better solutions and also raise red flags when you are asked to develop which doesn't utilize Standard features.
