SAP OVERVIEW

This training manual has been developed in conjunction with the SAP Overview
course to introduce SATORP employees to the basic functions in SAP. The SAP
Overview course is a pre-requisite for attendance at other SAP courses.

Table of Contents
1.

INTRODUCTION TO SAP ........................................................................................................................ 3

2.

LOGGING ON ............................................................................................................................................. 3

3.

SAP EASY ACCESS SCREEN .................................................................................................................. 4

4.

ACCESSING SAP TRANSACTIONS ....................................................................................................... 5

5.

DISPLAYING TRANSACTION CODES IN THE MENU PATH ......................................................... 5

6.

SAP BUTTONS ............................................................................................................................................ 6

7.

MULTIPLE SESSIONS .............................................................................................................................. 6

8.

FAVORITES ................................................................................................................................................ 8

8.1.

ADDING FAVOURITES ........................................................................................................................ 9

8.2.

DELETING FAVOURITES ................................................................................................................... 9

9.

SEARCHING ............................................................................................................................................. 10

9.1.

USING THE MATCHCODE BUTTON TO SEARCH ..................................................................... 10

9.2.

USING THE FIND BUTTON TO SEARCH ...................................................................................... 11

9.3.

USING THE WILDCARD WHEN SEARCHING ............................................................................. 12

10.

CUSTOMIZING THE LAYOUT OF THE SCREEN ....................................................................... 12

11.

REPORTING ......................................................................................................................................... 14

11.1.

APPLICATION TREE REPORT SELECTION GENERAL - SRET ............................................. 15

11.2.

CHOOSING THE SCOPE ................................................................................................................... 16

12.

VARIANTS ............................................................................................................................................ 17

12.1.

CREATING A VARIANT .................................................................................................................... 17

12.2.

RE-USING A VARIANT ...................................................................................................................... 17

13.

EXPORTING TO EXCEL ................................................................................................................... 18

14.

SAP BUSINESS WORKPLACE .......................................................................................................... 19

14.1.

SAP INBOX ........................................................................................................................................... 19

14.2.

WORKFLOW FOLDER ...................................................................................................................... 20

15.

APPENDIX ............................................................................................................................................ 21

15.1.

SAP BUTTONS ..................................................................................................................................... 21

1. INTRODUCTION TO SAP
SAP stands for Systems, Applications and Products. SAP began in Germany as a
company which provided business software to help businesses operate more
efficiently and effectively. The SAP software is designed to operate best practice
solutions in industry and it covers all aspects of a companys operation such as
Finance, Human Resources, Supply Chain Management, Payroll etc. All these
functions and departments of the company are fully integrated so that the different
functions of the company work seamlessly together. SAP also has industry specific
solutions for example for Banking, Oil and Gas, Aerospace etc.

2. LOGGING ON
If SAP is installed on your computer it can be accessed by clicking the
SAP Logon button on your desktop or from the Start menu on your
computer. You will be taken to the Logon screen.

To log on, select the Production client and then ...

Click on the Log On button.

You will have been given a temporary password and when you log on for the first
time you will be prompted to change the password to one of your own choosing.

Type your new password (known only

to you) into the New Password field.
Note: Choose a password that another
person will not be able to guess.

Type the same password again into the

Repeat Password field.

Click on the Continue button. The

SAP Easy Access Screen will appear.

3. SAP Easy Access Screen

The SAP Menu

button and the User Menu
button are at the top left of the
screen. The User Menu button displays the transactions that correspond to the
work role of the user. The work role of the user gives access to certain transactions
and clicking on the User Menu button will display these transactions.

Clicking on the Menu bar items

at the top of the screen opens up
drop down lists. The graphic
shows the options on display
when the Favorites menu is
clicked.

4.

Accessing SAP Transactions

SAP transactions can be accessed by typing the

transaction code into the Command field at the
top left of the screen and then clicking on the
Enter
button.

SAP transaction can also be accessed by opening up the folders in the SAP menu.
The folders are opened by clicking on the
arrow to the left of the folder. The
graphic below shows the folders that have been opened to access transaction
ME53N - Display Purchase Requisition.

5.

Displaying Transaction Codes in the Menu Path

The graphic above displays the

transaction code beside the
transaction name but your system may
not be set up to do this.
To display the transactions codes:

On the Menu Bar, click Extras

Click Settings. The Settings window will appear.
Place a check mark in the Display
Technical Names check box.
Click the Continue button.

The SAP Menu will contract and if you open the SAP Menu path again the
transaction names will be visible.

6.

SAP Buttons

You can see some of the SAP buttons on the SAP Easy Access screen. Here are
some buttons and their names. More buttons can be viewed in the Appendix of this
manual.

Button Name

Button Name

Button Name

Button

Name

Enter

Execute

Matchcode

Continue

Exit

Back

Save

Find

Multiple Sessions

7.

In SAP you can work on more than one transaction at a time. You do this by opening
different windows and each window can display a different transaction. For example,
you might want to display a purchase requisition and its corresponding purchase
order in different windows. You might also want to display the work order linked to
the purchase requisition.

To open a new session click the create New Session icon.

You can resize the windows by placing your cursor over the edge of the window and
dragging to the size you want. You can have all the windows visible on one screen
and move between the windows by clicking on them.

If the windows are maximized and fill the whole screen you can move between the
windows by clicking on the buttons on the Task Bar.

8.

Favorites

You can insert your favorite transactions in the Favorites area of the screen. Using
Favorites has the advantage that the transaction is visible on the SAP Easy Access
screen and can be accessed by clicking with the mouse. The graphic shows ME51N
and iW12 in the Favorites section of the screen.
Most users only use a few
favorite transactions.
Favorite transactions are
available merely by clicking.
There is no need to drill down
through the SAP menu folders.
You dont need to worry about
forgetting transaction codes if
they are in your favorites.

8.1.

Adding Favourites

To add a favorite:
On the Menu Bar, click Favorites
Click Insert transaction
Enter the transaction code.

Click the Continue button.

The transaction will appear in your Favorites.

8.2.

Deleting Favourites

To delete a favorite:

Right click on it
Click Delete from the drop down list

9.
9.1.

SEARCHING
Using the Matchcode Button to Search

SAP has powerful search facilities.

button when you click in them.

Many fields will display the Matchcode

In this example, the cursor has been clicked in the Personnel no. field and the
Matchcode
button has been clicked to reveal the Personnel Number window
containing a number of tabs. In this example, the Organizational Assignment tab
is displayed.

Enter the search criteria in the

appropriate field(s) and click the
Continue button to display only
those employees who match
the search criteria you entered.

If you leave all the fields blank

and click the Continue button,
no filtering will be done and all
the employees will be
displayed.

Different fields are displayed on the different tabs and you can view
the different tabs by clicking on the right or left arrows at the top right
of the window.

To view all the tabs, click on the

Tab Selector
button at the
top right of the window. A drop
down list with all the tabs will
appear and you can select the
tab you want.

9.2.

Using the Find Button to Search

Sometimes when you click on the Matchcode

button, you will be
presented with a long list. You can search through this list using the Find
button. This will cause the Find window to be displayed.
Enter the search term and click the Find button. The graphic
below shows that the item which matched the search criteria
has been found.

Date Fields
The Matchcode button on Date
fields allows you to select the
date from the calendar.

9.3.

Using the Wildcard when Searching

If you know part of the data, the wildcard ( * )

will find the rest. The graphics show a
wildcard search which has found functional
locations which begin with ZR.

The wild card (the star * symbol) will find all the other data. You can enter the
wildcard before your search criteria or after. In the example above, the wildcard has
been place after the ZR- because the user was looking for functional locations
beginner with ZR-. If you only know some of the information in the middle, you can
place a wildcard before and after the search criteria.

10.

Customizing the Layout of the Screen

Different employees have different roles and may access the same transaction for
different reasons. In this example, the person approving purchase requisitions has
decided to display the Total Value column which is hidden in the default view. The
screen can be customized to show hidden fields. Similarly columns can be removed
if required. The graphic below shows part of the purchase requisition screen. The
Change Layout
button has been selected to reveal the drop down list.

Clicking Change Layout from the drop down list causes the Change Layout screen
to be displayed (see below). The list in the left pane corresponds with the
columns displayed on screen. Items in the left pane can be moved to the
right pane so that they will no longer be visible and items in the right pane can
be moved into the left pane to make them visible. This is done by clicking on
the item and then using the right or left arrow to move the item into the other pane.

In this example, Total Value has been moved into the

left pane and it goes to the bottom of the list. To make
the Total Value column appear on the left, it
must be moved to the top of the list by clicking
on the double up arrow.
With Total Value at the top, the Continue button is clicked, and the Total Value
column will appear as the leftmost column.

11.

Reporting

SAP has many report transactions. The initial screen provides you with fields into
which you can enter your filter criteria. Click on the Matchcode
field to reveal the list of options.

button in any

Once the fields have been populated with the search criteria, click on the Execute
button and the report will be displayed.
This graphic shows a report.
The Header area of the report
has 4 lines and the data below
is arranged in 4 lines
corresponding with the header
area. The short text for the
first item is Printers. The
requisition was for a quantity
of 50 and the requisition value
was 5,000 USD. The release
strategy is JC/RD which is for
5,000 50,000.

11.1. Application Tree Report Selection General - SRET

The SRET transaction allows you to view all report transactions
Transaction Code
SRET
Screen Title: Application Tree Report Selection General SRET
Expand the node(s)
To expand a node, click on the button or to expand all
nodes click on the Expand subtree

button.

The example above does not display technical names but these can be displayed
from the Settings menu.
Display technical
names

From the top menu select:

Settings >> Technical
Names on/off .

Individual report transactions can be viewed from the SRET transaction

Open a transaction
from the SRET screen

Double click on the line item for a transaction code.

Note: The transaction code will be opened displaying the
selection fields.

11.2. Choosing the Scope

In some cases the report transaction has a Scope field. The Scope field determines
how the report information is displayed. The graphics below display two layouts
which display the same information.
BEST Scope

ZBEST scope

The layout can be changed to suit different functions for example, an expeditor will
be interested in displaying quantity ordered, quantity delivered, date of delivery,
quantity to be delivered and date required. The section below explains how to
change a layout and how to save it as a variant which can be used repeatedly.

12.

Variants

A variant is used if you want to use the same report over and over again. When you
re-use a variant, exactly the same search criteria are entered in the fields every time
so you know you are running the same report.

12.1.

Creating a Variant

To create a variant, you enter the search criteria and then click on the Save
as Variant button.

Enter a short name in the Variant Name field

Enter a longer more explanatory name in the

Meaning field.

Place a check mark in the Protect Variant

check box. This will ensure that ONLY YOU will
be able to see the variant and use it.

Note: If you do not protect your variant it will become visible to everyone. This is not
a good idea because if everyone makes their variants generally available, a long list
of variants will be created making it more difficult for the user to find a specific
variant. Normally particular variants are only useful to one or two people and it is
better not to clog up the system with many variants.

12.2.

Re-Using a Variant

To use a variant again, open a report transaction and click on the Get
Variant button.

You can select from the list of variants

which appear.

The variant will populate the fields with the same search criteria each time and you
can execute the report.

13.

Exporting to Excel

The Export

button allows you to transfer data from a SAP table to Excel.

Click on the Export button.

Select Spreadsheet from the drop down list.

Select the Excel radio button.

Click the Continue button.

Navigate to the location where the file

will be saved.

Enter the name of the file.

Click the Save button.

14.

SAP Business Workplace

The SAP Business Workplace operates in a

similar way to email and items which require your
review and/or action will appear there as part of a
workflow process. For example, when a user
creates and saves a purchase requisition, the PR
will automatically appear in the Inbox of the correct
approver.

To access the SAP Business Workplace from the SAP Easy Access screen,
click on the SAP Business Workplace button. The SAP Business
Workplace Screen will appear. It contains Inbox and Outbox folders.

14.1.

SAP Inbox

The graphic shows that the Inbox folder has been opened and inside there are
documents and subfolders. There are 12 unread documents and 126 read
documents. The individual documents in the main screen can be displayed by
clicking on them.

The graphic on the left shows the screen that

appeared when the item Purchase Order 4500025375
in the main screen above was double clicked.

14.2.

Workflow Folder

The graphic below appeared when an item in the Workflow folder was opened.
There are action buttons for approving, rejecting etc.

15.

APPENDIX

15.1. SAP Buttons

Icon

Description

Name
Enter
Exit

Exit from a transaction or log off from the SAP Easy

Access screen.

Back

Return to the previous screen.

Save

Save your entries.

Matchcode

Used for searching.

Execute

Execute the transaction.

Continue
Create
Display/Change

Used to toggle between display mode and change

mode of the PO.

Display
Copy

Makes a copy of the selected PR or PO.

Find

Click on the button. Enter the item you are searching

for and click on the Continue

Header

Takes you to the Header screen.

Delete

Deletes the highlighted line item.

button.

Check
Attached Docs

View all attached documents of the line item selected.

Block

Block the selected item for further processing.

Unblock

Unblocks the selected item to allow further

processing.

Multiple
Selection

Allows you to enter advanced filter criteria.

Collapse

Collapses a section of the screen.

Dynamic
Selection

Allows filtering on specific fields.

Error

Indicates that an error exists in the which will prevent

action until the error is corrected.

Expand
Export

Allows you to export the data into an Excel

spreadsheet format.

Filter

Allows the search to be narrowed down further.

Multiple
Selection

Allows you to enter advanced filter criteria.

Next Page

Takes you to the next page.

Not Equal
Other PO or PR

Icon

Name

Allows the user to view another PO or PR.

Description

Services for
object button

Allow you to create different types of notes and

attachments that can be added to the PO or PR.

Select All button

Select All - Selects all the line items.

Deselect All
button

Deselects all line items.

Select Layout
button

Can be used to choose the data you wish to view, and

allows columns to be added and removed from the
view.

Services for
object

Allows creation of different types of notes and

attachments that can be added to the PO or PR.

Sort Ascending
button

Sorts the items in ascending order, this will be

dependent on the column selected prior to the sort
button being clicked.

Sort Descending
button

Sorts the items in descending order, this will be

dependent on the column selected prior to the sort
button being clicked.

Continue button

Used to continue.

Tab Selector
button

Displays the tab titles in a drop down list.

Warning

Warning message which alerts the buyer to check

certain fields. It will not prevent processing.