SAP has become the world's largest independent business software provider on the strength of its powerful and dynamic family of innovative solutions for every company size, industry, and customer process. This family is led by SAP Business Suite and now includes a growing array of solutions for small and midsize enterprises (SMEs).

To meet its customers' evolving needs, SAP in 2003 introduced enterprise service-oriented architecture (enterprise SOA). Among its many advantages, enterprise SOA enables complex business processes, such as vendor selection, purchasing, and payment, to be represented as modular enterprise services. These services can be quickly assembled to compose new applications and enable new business processes. As a result, they give customers the ability to change their business processes efficiently and flexibly.

SAP licenses components of its software solutions on an individual user basis. Licenses may be issued for individual solutions and applications or for SAP Business Suite. In addition to the user licenses for a solution or application, certain specialized functionality that is not user-specific may be licensed separately as one of SAP's software engines.

• SAP Business Suite
• SAP xApps composite applications
• Industry-specific solution portfolios
• SAP solutions for small businesses and midsize companies
• SAP NetWeaver technology platform
• SAP Services

SAP Business Suite

SAP Business Suite is a group of business applications that enables organizations to manage the entire value chain across business networks. Each application is available individually or in combination with other applications or solutions, and all of the applications are based on the SAP NetWeaver technology platform.

SAP Business Suite applications help our customers increase the effectiveness of business relationships and streamline the management of their overall information technology infrastructure. Because of their flexible platform, SAP Business Suite applications may be deployed on a variety of computer hardware types and software operating systems.

The flagship application of SAP Business Suite is SAP ERP. This industry-leading solution combines the world's most complete, scalable, and effective software for enterprise resource planning (ERP) with a flexible, open technology platform that can leverage and integrate SAP and non-SAP systems.

SAP ERP contains a broad range of functions that support analytics, human capital management, financials, procurement and logistics execution, product development and manufacturing, sales and service, and corporate services.

In addition, SAP Business Suite includes the following SAP applications:

• SAP Customer Relationship Management (SAP CRM) – SAP CRM provides functions to manage the entire customer interaction cycle. It contains industry-specific capabilities that support marketing, sales, and service departments.
• SAP Product Lifecycle Management (SAP PLM) – SAP PLM enables organizations to manage the complete product life cycle, including initial concept design and engineering, production ramp-up, product change management, and service and maintenance.
• SAP Supply Chain Management (SAP SCM) – SAP SCM enables organizations to manage their supply chain by helping to synchronize the entire supply chain, from sourcing through manufacturing, distribution, and fulfillment. SAP SCM also assists in integrating these processes within the enterprise as well as across the network of suppliers, customers, and business partners.
• SAP Supplier Relationship Management (SAP SRM) – SAP SRM enables organizations to manage their spending with suppliers. SAP SRM simplifies and automates the procurement process through a self-service requisitioning process. The application includes functions for supplier qualification, negotiation, and contract management processes.

SAP xApps Composite Applications

In 2002, SAP announced the SAP xApps family of composite applications, a new breed of applications. SAP xApps composite applications are either general-purpose or industry-specific composite applications that integrate with customers' existing business applications and infrastructure in order to create more value from those applications and infrastructure.

The first composite application introduced in the SAP xApps family was the SAP xApp Resource and Portfolio Management (SAP xRPM) composite application. SAP xRPM is a project and portfolio management application that leverages business information from disparate systems and sources in the performance of business processes.

Other SAP xApps composite applications currently available include:

• SAP xApps composite applications for mobile business
• SAP xApp Analytics
• SAP Global Trade Services (SAP GTS),
• SAP xApp Emissions Management (SAP xEM),
• SAP xApp Product Definition (SAP xPD),
• SAP xApp Cost and Quotation and Management (SAP xCQM),
• SAP xApp Manufacturing Integration and Intelligence (SAP xMII),
• SAP xApp Integrated Exploration and Production (SAP xIEP).

SAP Industry-Specific Solution Portfolios

Business requirements and processes vary by industry. Due to SAP's unparalleled industry expertise, SAP has developed portfolios of industry-specific solutions that are based on SAP Business Suite applications to support distinct business processes.

Our industry portfolios are grouped into six industry sectors:

• Process industries – This sector includes the solution portfolios SAP for Chemicals, SAP for Mill Products, SAP for Oil & Gas, and SAP for Mining.
• Discrete industries – This sector includes the solution portfolios SAP for Aerospace & Defense, SAP for Automotive, SAP for Engineering, Construction, & Operations, SAP for High Tech, and SAP for Industrial Machinery & Components.
• Consumer industries – This sector includes the solution portfolios SAP for Consumer Products, SAP for Retail, SAP for Wholesale Distribution, and SAP for Life Sciences.
• Services industries – This sector includes the solution portfolios SAP for Media, SAP for Logistics Service Providers, SAP for Postal Services, SAP for Railways, SAP for Telecommunications, SAP for Utilities, and SAP for Professional Services.
• Financial services – This sector includes the solution portfolios SAP for Banking and SAP for Insurance.
• Public services – This sector includes the solution portfolios SPA for Healthcare, SAP for Higher Education & Research, SAP for Public Sector, and SAP for Defense & Security.

SAP Solutions for Small Businesses and Midsize Companies

SAP provides a broad range of business solutions for small and midsize enterprises (SMEs), which we define as companies with fewer than 2,500 employees or revenue of less than U.S.$1 billion. SAP solution offerings for the SME segment include the following:

• SAP Business One – The SAP Business One application is a business management application designed specifically for small businesses. SAP Business One enables small businesses to integrate and automate their business processes via a single application. It contains an intuitive user interface and supports business processes such as financial management, customer relationship management, purchasing, inventory management, and manufacturing. SAP Business One is based on the technology gained through SAP's 2002 acquisition of TopManage. In June 2006, SAP announced the 10,000th customer for SAP Business One.
• Qualified SAP Business All-in-One Partner Solutions – Qualified SAP Business All-in-One partner solutions, which are delivered through a network of approved SAP channel partners, are based on SAP Business Suite applications and SAP Best Practices that provide predefined business processes, and are designed to help customers and partners implement the software easily and quickly. Qualified SAP Business All-in-One partner solutions are sold, deployed, and supported exclusively by SAP channel partners as a defined-scope implementation with consulting services. There are currently over 550 qualified SAP Business All-in-One partner solutions available worldwide.
• SAP Business All-in-One Packages – SAP Business All-in-One packages are based on SAP Business Suite applications and SAP Best Practices offerings. The packages reflect SAP's years of experience in working with midsize enterprises in a range of industries and include preconfigured software for rapid deployment of best practices. SAP Business All-in-One packages help streamline operations while enabling business growth.

The SAP NetWeaver Technology Platform

As the technical foundation for enterprise service-oriented architecture (enterprise SOA), the SAP NetWeaver technology platform enables customers to integrate and process business information from disparate SAP or non-SAP sources in a variety of ways. The SAP NetWeaver technology platform incorporates flexible Web services-based integration capabilities in a unified platform.

The SAP NetWeaver technology platform aims to make it easier for customers to integrate both non-SAP and SAP applications to work together. It is based on industry standards and can be extended with commonly used development tools such as Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE), Microsoft .NET, and IBM WebSphere.

The SAP NetWeaver technology platform provides a composition platform that enables IT departments to compose and orchestrate enterprise services using model-based development. With enterprise SOA, organizations can rapidly enhance their existing business processes or develop and deploy new business processes.

A business process platform is the foundation for an enterprise service-oriented architecture (enterprise SOA). A business process platform includes composition technologies, an enterprise services repository, and enterprise services definitions that allow organizations to develop applications for specific business processes. SAP NetWeaver is a business process platform that allows customers to quickly respond to business change through the use of integrated composition technologies, an enterprise services repository, and reusable enterprise service definitions. With SAP NetWeaver, organizations can compose applications using enterprise services, orchestrate business processes and events, manage enterprise information, and deliver applications and content to users more quickly and cost-effectively, without developing new code.

SAP Services

In addition to its software portfolio, SAP provides comprehensive service offerings, which include consulting and education field services, along with global services for support, ramp-up, hosting, business process outsourcing, and custom development.

SAP Services offerings include:

• SAP Consulting – SAP Consulting provides all the advice and assistance customers need to reap maximum business benefit from their SAP solutions, including extensive hands-on experience, proven methodologies, and best practices.
• SAP Education – SAP Education creates a wealth of instructor-led and online courses to help users increase their proficiency and productivity with any SAP solution
• SAP Active Global Support – SAP Active Global Support offers round-the-clock support to give customers peace of mind. SAP offers a range of support options, from industry-leading SAP Standard Support and SAP Premium Support, both of which ensure continued business operations and reduced operations costs, to SAP MaxAttention, which is tailored to match the specific needs of SAP's larger global enterprise clients. In addition, SAP Safeguarding delivers technical quality management in an implementation project.
• SAP Custom Development – SAP Custom Development allows direct access to SAP experts who can help develop custom enhancements to SAP solutions based on unique customer requirements.
• SAP Managed Services – SAP Managed Services operates, manages, and maintains SAP solutions. Customers benefit from the power and functionality of hosted SAP solutions with minimal risk and lower TCO.
• SAP Ramp-Up – SAP Ramp-Up enables customers to profit from new SAP solutions first – before they go into mass shipment.