Full Form of SAP:
Systems, Applications & Products
SAP Full Form is Systems, Applications & Products. SAP refers to a centralized database which is common for various applications running in an organization. It is basically an enterprise software which helps organizations to manage various applications like Finance, HR, Logistics, etc. What SAP basically does is that it integrates all areas of business. It is considered to be the leading ERP software in the world. The company which is very popular in this business is SAP SE. Let us explore more about SAP Full Form. So, let us start with the introductory segment of the topic.
Introduction to SAP
Also known as Systemanalyse und Programmentwicklung, Systems, Applications & Products (hereinafter referred to as SAP) is a multinational company based in Germany. It is a software company that creates enterprise software for the management of business operations as well as customer relations. The corporation is situated in Walldorf, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
It has regional offices situated in about 130 countries. The company hosts about 293,500 customers in about 190 countries. It is also a part of the Euro Stoxx 50 stock market index. In the year 1975, the company Xerox decided to exit the computer market. When they decided to do so, they consulted IBM and asked it to migrate their systems to IBM technology. In lieu of compensation to IBM over such migration, IBM was awarded rights to the Scientific Data Systems (abbreviated SDS) or SAPE software.
Dietmar Hopp, Hans-Werner Hector, Klaus Tschira, Claus Wellenreuther, and Hasso Plattner were five IBM engineers that belonged to the Al Department and were engaged in an enterprise-wide system, which was later told to be no longer required. These five engineers, instead of doing away with the project decided to leave the company and start another company of their own.
In the year 1970, the team established Systemanalyse und Programmentwicklung as a partnership provided under German Civil Code. Imperial Chemical Industries’ German branch based in Ostringen was the first client of this newly founded company. The company developed mainframe programs for accounting and payroll, instead of providing storage of data on punch cards on a mechanical basis. They termed their software as real-time system because there was no requirement of processing of punch cards overnight. This was the first version, which was also offered as standalone software, which could be provided to other interested parties.
Enterprise Resource Planning
Now that we have discussed historical facts that lead to the formation of SAP, let us move to another segment, which is Enterprise Resource Planning. In the year 1973, SAP officially launched its first commercial product in the market, which came by the name SAP R/98. It was provided as a common system for multitasking. This product allowed the use of a centralized data storage, which improved the data maintenance.
In the year 1976, SAP GmbH was established, and transferred its headquarters to the present location, Walldorf, Germany. Three years down the line, the company launched another product by the name SAP R/2 that caused expansion of capabilities of the system to diverse areas such as production planning, and material management. In the year 1981, SAP came up with a revamped product to the market.
Even then, SAP R/2’s position did not improve until 1985 to 1990. In the year 1992, the company launched SAP R/3. Subsequently in the year 1995, many different versions of R/3 were released. For quite some time, the company observed the trend of client/server architectures from mainframe computing. With the mySAP.com, the whole concept of business processes was transformed. In the year 1999, the company was awarded the Industry Week’s Best Managed Companies.
Corporate restructuring
In the year 1988, SAP GmbH was changed to SAP AG. The public trading commenced in the month of November in the same year. The company had its shares listed on Stuttgart and Franfurt Stock Exchanges. In the year 1995, SAP was added in the German Stock Index named DAX. In the year 2003, SAP was added in the Dow Jones STOXX 50. The name of the company officially became SAP AG, a public limited company following the annual general meeting in the year 2005. In the year 2014, the name was changed from AG to Societas Europaea or SE.
Focus on cloud computing
The company has shifted its focus on cloud based services and products since the year 2012. It has entered into acquisition agreements with many companies that keep cloud based services and products on sale. The acquisition was seen as a move to challenge the position of Oracle in the market. In the year 2014, the company acquired the Concur Technologies, which is a provider of cloud-based expense management and travel, for a lump sum of $8.3 billion. It is regarded as the most expensive acquisition of SAP. Many critics gave mixed reactions to the acquisition, with many stating that Concur Technologies was the wrong choice.
In the year 2014, SAP and IBM entered into a partnership endeavor for the purpose of selling cloud based products and services. IBM helped in providing services relating to infrastructure to SAP, with SAP running its cloud solution SAP HANA on top. The alliance boosted the expanse of both the companies in the market. Subsequently, SAP announced that it would engage in partnerships with the computer giant Microsoft Corporation for the purpose of making available tools to customers for data visualization and mobile applications. Its engagement in the cloud computing sector as well as in alliances with other companies help SAP to increase its revenue. The growth in revenue has often been contributed to the two major acquisitions involving Fieldglass and Concur.
Acquisitions
As mentioned in the earlier segments, SAP has entered into some of the key acquisitions to improve its business as well as expand the same. In this segment, some of the major acquisitions shall be mentioned: SeeWhy, which was engaged in Behavioral target marketing; datango, which was involved in performance support technologies; SuccessFactors, which is engaged in Management of Talent; Right Hemisphere, which focuses on 3D visualization; Yasu Technologies Pvt. Ltd. , which is engaged in Enterprise Rules Management; Frictionless Commerce, which is known for its SRM software; SAP Systems Integration, which is engaged in services pertaining to consulting; In-Q-My Technologies GmbH, which is known for its J2EE Server.
Business and Markets
As far as the year 2007 is concerned, the SAP is the biggest business software corporation in the world. It is the third biggest provider of software in the world in terms of revenue. The company conducts its operations in four geographical regions namely, EMEA (which includes Europe, Africa, and Middle East), NA (which includes Canada and the United States of America), LAC (Caribbean and Latin America) and APJ (which includes Japan and Asia Pacific). The company focuses on six industrial sectors and about 25 industries. Those six industrial sectors include process industries, consumer industries, discrete industries, service industries, public services, and financial services. The company also provides product sets for big enterprises, moderate sized enterprises, and small sized enterprises.
SAP Enterprise Service Oriented Architecture
SAP Enterprise Service Oriented Architecture, which is also known as Enterprise SOA, is enabled by the platform named SAP NetWeaver and develops on the advantages of Web Services.
SAP Labs Locations
For the purpose of this segment, we have SAP Labs Locations. It is the research and development (abbreviated as R&D) organization of SAP. As far as the year 2011 is concerned, the SAP Labs Location has hosted many SAP Research Groups. The labs are situated in Pune, Gurgaon, Bangalore, France, Germany, Bulgaria, Ireland, and Hungary, California, Winconsin, Rio Grande do Sul, Montreal, Waterloo, Shanghai, Xi’an, and Beijing. The largest of all is the SAP Labs India, which is the biggest development unit as far as the number of employees other than that of Walldorf, Germany. In the year 2009, SAP inaugurated its Labs campus in Brazil, which now represents the first of its kind in Latin America. It is the eighth biggest SAP lab in the world. Recently only, the SAP labs campus in Brazil was honored with Leadership in Energy and Environment Design (abbreviated as LEED) Gold Certification for its infrastructure.
Organization of SAP
The organization of SAP makes use of a two-tier structure of two boards, which are supervisory board and executive board. As far as the year 2015 is concerned, Bill McDermott, who is the CEO and the Chairman, Luka Mucic, which is the CFO and COO, Bernd Leukert, Robert Enslin, and Gerhard Oswald are the members of the Executive board. The SAP has different functional units for various R&D requirements, customer support, and field activities.
There are many SAP Labs are responsible matters concerning product development and field organizations are responsible for activities such as Marekting, Sales, and Consulting. The head office of the company undertakes all core activities relating to the management of the company and other activities such as SAP customer support, Product development. The SAP customer support, which is also known as Active Global Support (abbreviated as AGS), is an international organization that facilitates support to global SAP customers. Now that we have discussed the organizational structure, we shall move to the next segment, which is SAP Communities.
Communities
SAP has a functional community by the name SAP Community Network (abbreviated as SCN), which is a community of SAP partners, customers, influencers, and employees. These persons are generally in roles such as integrators, business analysts, developers, etc, who have knowledge in SOA, NET, ABAP, Java, etc. These communities are excellent informative hubs and help in expanding the network of SAP to different parts of the world. Communities play an important role in catering of many needs of various stakeholders in a company. SCN has therefore played an important role in the development of a conducive atmosphere in the company.
Conferences
SAP conducts some of the most recognized conferences in the world namely, SAP TechEd and SAPPHIRE. The former is customer-facing event organized by SAP wherein the company makes official announcement about major changes in its products. The conference is generally organized in Spring season in North America. The other conference mentioned above, SAP TechEd, focuses on aspects that are more technical. It is aimed at software development partners and consultants. The conference has been organized ever since 1995. It usually happens in fall. In the year 2015, it was organized in between fall and spring.
SAP User Groups
SAP User groups refer to non-profit organizations of SAP partners and SAP customers. These groups function independently. These groups act as channel of communications for the members of SAP. The largest such group in existence is the Americas’ SAP Users Group (abbreviated ASUG), with about 100,000 persons working at 3,800 companies. The members are professionals, having engaged in more than 17 industries. In the year 2007, the SAP User Group Executive Network (abbreviated as SUGEN) was founded. The groups have been recently mired in certain controversies relating to costs of the maintenance of contracts in the year 2008.
Competitive picture
SAP is one of the toughest competitors in the market. Among its competitors, most of them are majorly focused in the enterprise resource planning industry. The main competitor of SAP is Oracle Corporation, which is another giant in the software industry. SAP also participates in the market relating to manufacturing software, warehousing & industrial software, logistics software marketing, sales software, customer relationship management and supply chain management. Oracle Corporation dragged SAP to court over allegations of unfair competition in the year 2007. The latter lost the legal battle in the year 2010 and the case is regarded as the biggest copyright infringement related judgment in the history. The verdict was however later overruled in the year 2011.
Philanthropic endeavors
SAP has been actively engaged in many philanthropic endeavors. In the year 2011, the company was announced as a partner to the RED campaign, alongside other big brands such as Nike, American Express, Converse, Girl, etc. The mission of the campaign was to prevent HIV virus from transmitting from mother to the child by the year 2015. The company is reportedly funding a project meant for autistic children. It has also initiated a campaign to hire employees who suffer from Asperger Synderome and autism. As of May 2013, there are 6 such persons employed with the SAP.
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SAP Full Form: Special Assistance Plan
Full Form of SAP stands for Special Assistance Plan. The SAP or Special Assistance Plan was made in the year 1979. It is used for catering to students who are not only strong on the academic front, but also have excellent skills in the English language as well as their native language. Only certain secondary schools and primary educational institutes have the availability of this program. The native language is used for teaching numerous subjects in these schools. The English language is used for certain additional subjects.
An exam is taken before leaving the primary school that decides whether a student will get admitted in these schools or not. An aggregate score that can position them among the top ranks of his or her cohort must be obtained by the student for entering such school. Thus, these institutes are not only autonomous and independent but are considered to have a very high reputation among all the country’s secondary schools.
An opportunity of learning three languages is offered to some students in their secondary education. The English language, which is the first language, is used for the administrative as well as commercial purposes. The identity of culture is reflected in the native language, which is the second language. Foreign languages form the category of the third language, like French, German and Japanese.
Full Form of SAP: Standard Assessment Procedure
SAP Full Form stands for Standard Assessment Procedure. The Government of the UK utilizes a method for comparing the performance of energy of the houses. This method is known as the SAP or the Standard Assessment Procedure. In the year 1992, the establishment that deals with the building research developed this program. The basis of this program was the BRE model of the domestic energy. It helped by offering a framework that calculating the consumption of energy by the houses.
The amount of energy consumed by a house is assessed by this procedure. This is done when service and comfort of a predefined level are delivered. There are certain assumptions that are standardized for behavior as well as occupancy. These form the basis of this procedure. It also helps in the determination of the carbon dioxide emissions and the costs of fuel.
The performance of a house is obtained in terms of two factors by this assessment. One of them is the area of the floor per unit, and the other is the impact of the carbon dioxide emitted by it in the environment. The basis of these factors lies in the estimation of the energy consumed every year for the provisions like lighting, heating of space, ventilation and heating of water.
SAP Full Form: South African Police
Full Form of SAP refers to South African Police. The police force that was active in South Africa and enforced laws in that region was called the SAP or the South African Police Force. It was active in Namibia, which forms the south-western part of the Africa. The formation of this force was done in the year 1913. In the year 1994, the democracy was established in South Africa and this force was dissolved. There were three units in the force that were used for certain specific functions. These were:
(a) Koevoet
This unit was of paramilitary type. Its main purpose involved the countering of the insurgency. Hans Dreyer, who was the brigadier of the SAP, formed this unit in the year 1979. It was dissolved in the year 1989. The headquarters of this unit was located in the Oshana Region.
(b) SAPS
This unit deals with rescuing the hostages and insurgency and domestic counterterrorism. It was formed in the year 1976 and is still active. It contains approximately ninety operators. This unit is stationed in places like Cape Town and Pretoria.
(c) Division for internal stability
This division is of semi-autonomous nature. Its main function involves the combating of unrest. It consists of more than seventeen thousand members. Its base center is present in Cullinan.
Full Form of SAP: Structural Adjustment Program
SAP Full Form refers to Structural Adjustment Program. The World Bank, in coordination with the IMF or the International Monetary Fund, gives loans under special programs known as the SAP or the Structural Adjustment Programs. The loans are especially given to those nations that experienced or are still experiencing the economic crisis. Some policies are required to be implemented by the nations for obtaining new loans. For the nations that have already taken these loans, the same policies can be implemented for decreasing their interest rates.
The main focus of these programs involves the reduction of the financial imbalances of the nation borrowing the loans. The terms of these loans can be adjusted in accordance with the growth of the nation’s economy, and hence, can be of medium or short term. The policies of stabilization are implemented by the IMF. The adjustment measures are handled by the World Bank.
These programs are involved in increasing the orientation of the developing nation’s economy towards the markets. This helps in forcing their economy to focus more on production as well as trade, which in turn aids in the boosting of the economy. The policies and programs of the free market are usually implemented by them. These include trade barrier reduction, deregulation, and privatization. Failing in the implementation of these changes results in the fiscal discipline of the nations, which is quite severe.
SAP Full Form: Special Access Programs
Full Form of SAP stands for Special Access Programs. Certain security protocols are implemented by the USA Government. These are known as the SAP or the Special Access Program. According to these protocols, access restrictions and safeguards accompany the information which is highly classified, which are more when compared to the ones that come with the information whose classification is regular.
This program is of two types. One of them is the acknowledged program. According to this type, the public disclosure of the existence of the information is allowed. But at the same time, the details of the information are still classified, and hence are not disclosed. The second is the unacknowledged type. According to this one, only a small number of people are authorized to access the information. There is a subset of this category, which is called the Waived SAP. These are used by the department dealing with the defense.
Within the US Defence Department, 3 categories of this program are employed. These are AQ- SAPs, IN-SAP, and OS-SAP. The AQ or acquaint category involves the protection of evaluation, testing, research and modification of certain new systems. The IN or intelligence category involves the protection of the operations, units, and intelligence of the CI as well as their execution. The last unit involves the supporting of the military activities of sensitive nature and their execution.
Full Form of SAP: Society for Applied Philosophy
SAP Full Form refers to Society for Applied Philosophy. The foundation of the SAP or the society of the Applied Philosophy was done in the year 1982. The research, as well as the study of philosophy that directly affects the practical concern areas, forms the main focus of this society. In the public debate, there are multiple topics that have the illuminating capability. Their illuminating can be done through the philosophy’s analytical and critical approach. This awareness led to the formation of this society.
Technology, Economy, law, medicine, science, and politics are some of the categories from which the topics of public debate arise. The purpose of this society involves the offering of the constructive solutions to the problems related to these categories by fostering and promoting the philosophy. They achieve this with the aid of lectures, conferences, and workshops.
The constitution of this society states that it does not ally itself to the ideology followed by any campaign, political party, or religion. Any individual who is dedicated to human values can obtain its membership. Wiley-Blackwell publishes a magazine of this society. In the area of philosophy, it provides supreme quality work, and hence, is well established. The topics that come under the area of applied philosophy are published by it and are interpreted in detail. Christopher Bennett helps in the editing of this magazine.
SAP Full Form: Statements of Administration Policy
Full Form of SAP stands for Statements of Administration Policy. The Offices dealing with budget and management produce a formal document, which is called an SAP or Statement of Administration Policy. This document helps in expressing the views of administration regarding a bill.
This document can either be very long, covering several pages, or simply a small paragraph. For a single bill, separate SAPs are formed for separate versions. When the considered bill is on the House floor or the Senate’s floor, this document is applied. It’s releasing is done by the OMB.
The format of this document resembles a press release, and it is unsigned. Its fields of ‘to:’ as well as ‘from:’ remain empty. When a group of five to thirty officials discusses a particular bill, it can result in the formation of a long SAP. The initial draft of this document is generally done by the policy staff of either the White House or the OMB.
The comments made by the administration are taken by the staff of the OMB that deals with the legislative affairs. They operate as a broker and help in resolving them in the best of their abilities. When the differences between the Administrative Officials’’ opinions becomes big and important, the staff of the White House that deals with policies intervenes.
Full Form of SAP: Stabilization and Association Process
SAP Full Form stands for Stabilization and Association Process. For the Western Balkans, The EU or the European Union has formed a policy, which is known as the SAP or Stabilization and Association Process. The main aim of this policy involves the eventual granting of the membership of this union to the nations of the Western Balkans.
In order to form an area for free trade, a partnership of progressive nature has been established by the union with these nations. This also helps in making this region stable. Common goals of economy and politics are set by this process. This helps in measuring the progress of these nations based on their respective merits.
The launching of this process was done in the year 1999. The Thessaloniki Summit that took place in the year 2003 helped in further strengthening of it. The process involves trade relations, good relations with neighboring nations and regional cooperation, assistance in terms of finances and contractual relationships.
The framework of this process is known as the SAA. In this, in accordance with the partner nation’s situation, the adaptation of agreements is done. If any nation wants to join the EU, these agreements are concluded by the EU. The nation, in turn, needs to commit to the reforms pertaining to trade, politics, and human rights.
SAP Full Form: Session Announcement Protocol
Full Form of SAP refers to Session Announcement Protocol. In order to broadcast information related to the multicast session, an experimental protocol is used. This protocol is known as the SAP or the Session Announcement Protocol. The IETF published it.
The protocol pertaining to the session description is utilized by it. Its format is used for the session descriptions of the protocol for real-time transport. The user datagram along with the IP multicast are utilized for sending the announcement data.
The broadcasting of the SDP descriptions is made by the senders to an established multicast port and address under the SAP. It’s listening can be done with the help of the application made for the same purpose, and a guide that contains all multicast sessions can be made.
In the scope of the multicast delivery, a consumption of four thousand bits is done by every announcement of the SAP per second. Five minutes or three hundred seconds are the maximum intervals of the announcement. The expiration period of the announcements is equal to ten times the interval of an announcement.
For encryption and authentication of the announcements, separate methods are devised for the SAP. It is usually not recommended to encrypt the announcement. The modification which is unauthorized can be prevented by authorization. It also prevents other attacks of DoS.
Full Form of SAP: Service Access Point
SAP Full Form stands for Service Access Point. In the networking of the open interconnections of the systems, certain labels for the end points of the network are used. Each label is called an SAP or Service Access Point. There are multiple layers in an open system interconnection. For utilizing another layer’s service, a request can be made by a particular layer through a location, which is basically an SAP.
A good example of this can be PD or PLME. These are employed in IEEE. In this, certain services can be requested by the MAC or media access control layer from the PL or the physical layer. The logical link control of the IEEE, which is employed in the Ethernet, also utilizes these points. Some other examples include protocols of the data link layer.
When the network layer of an OSI is used, an address of NSAP is utilized for making an address for an element of the network. This concept is same as that of the IP address. For a connection, an address for a destination is specified by utilization of the presentation, session and transport layer by the ATM as well as the application layer of the OSI. The selectors of the presentation and transport layer, in combination with the addresses of the NSAP, forms the SAPs.
SAP Full Form: Secondary Audio Programming
Full Form of SAP refers to Secondary Audio Programming. For analog televisions, an audio channel of auxiliary nature is made, which is called an SAP or Secondary Audio Programming. The cable television can be used for its transmission. Its broadcasting can also be done over the air. In the year 1984, its setting was originally done by the committee of the national televisions in the US.
The video formats of the multichannel TV sounds along with the same of the committee of the systems of national television are utilized in Mexico and Canada too. Multiple times, the audio tracks are provided in the native language as well as in other languages. This is done with the help of an SAP. Another example where this service is used is the DVS or descriptive video service.
In the US, it is provided on certain cable networks like NBC and ABC and in some TV stations. The CPAC, which is a TV channel of the Parliament of Canada, is broadcasted in the French as well as English Language using the SAP. The subcarriers present in the video carriers are used by SAP for traveling. The location of its subcarrier is at twenty-five kilohertz. The mono audio present in its channel has been encoded for reducing noise.