Where & How to start!

[somnath_manna]

Thanks to SCN more and more people are getting "onboarded" to SAP world. This is evident by the number of new registrations a majority of whom are entrants to the SAP world. Most of them if not all grapple with the basic question "Where and How to Start?". It's not just the newbies - even experienced consultants looking to move onto a different module etc. face the same issue.

This blog focus is on SAP SCM and more specifically APO. Now APO is the IT application built on to support Supply Chain Planning related business processes around Demand, Supply and Production Planning among other things. So its just not building a skill-set of APO / SAP but also a good understanding of the SCM business processes that will make someone stand out of the crowd.

First to tackle is SCM Business Processes

So where and how can you pick this up. In my experience this can come from

a) Structured learning from University / MBA courses (Supply Chain, Logistics area)

b) Preparation for relevant Certification like CPIM, CSCP from APICS

c) Industry / Domain experience

While university (degree or MBA) courses in Supply Chain, Logisitics area provide a structured way to pick up concepts of Supply Chain it is very important to carry out project work to get the real-life experience. The certification exams like CPIM and CSCP from APICS requires you to go through fairly involved preparation of either study material or reference material in form of books, journals, web sites. This also provides a good exposure to the concepts of Supply Chain. But nothing can replace the real-life experience working in the industry especially in Supply Chain / Logistics related roles. It does not matter if someone has worked as a Production Planner and have never used SAP, its the domain knowledge that counts. The fact remains a Sales Order, Production Oorder, Stock Transfer Requistions, Goods Issues and Receipts, Material Documents etc. all remain quite dry unless you have experienced them either in the system or physically.

The next is tackling SAP APO application

Of course training from a SAP approved institute will be a good way to learn the tool but beware it comes with experience and fiddling around in your non-Production system. But there are some good starting points in SDN as well as help.sap.com.

Within SDN the first place to start will be the Supply Chain Management Wiki. Look into the Learning Map page. The SCM Best Practices home (acessible from help.sap.com) takes you to the Business Blueprint, Building Block (Configuration) and Scenarios documentation. In SAP the core is Configuration - this comes from the SCM Best Practice Building Block guides. Then comes Master Data and Transaction Data. These can be logically picked up from the SCM Best Practices > Technical Information > Master Data link. The other source of information of course is help.sap.com. But rather than diving in there directly its better to use it as the ultimate reference guide. Another important source of information especially of tips and the inner working of the application is SAP Consulting Notes. In the SCM Wiki module-wise pages the important and useful consulting notes are already listed. If you have a valid Service Marketplace id use it to access service.sap.com/notes.  

The other source of information is Service Marketplace itself - SCM area. The alias link is here. This provides very detailed as well as high-level early product information of the application. Actually it provides link to many of the things talked about here except the SDN Wiki. Check on the SAP Online Knowledge Products commonly called OKPs. If your company has subscribed for OKPs then you are very lucky. Its a pretty good tool to pick up functionalities in the application through use of structured guides  as well as interactive demo sessions. 

Also do not forget to browse SDN SAP Advanced Planning & Optimization (SAP APO), Articles, Wiki and more importantly the BPX area. Hope you find this blog useful.