Supporting SAP R/3: The Essential Guide to Supporting an SAP Business Environment

by Dennis L. Prince

Providing the best possible support for SAP R/3 is at the eponymous core of the ambitious Supporting SAP R/3. But thanks to the friendly writing style of author Dennis L. Prince, as well as the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0761517502
• ISBN13: 9780761517504
• Release Date: September 1998
• Publisher: Premier Press
• Length: 469 Pages
• Weight: 2.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 7.6" x 9.4"

Customer Reviews

Applies to any enterprise-critical application

Although this book was written for IT/IS professionals who will be tasked with post-implementation support of SAP R/3, the information in this book applies to any enterprise application. I am making this statement based on experience in launching and supporting a wireless telecommunications billing system, which is a completely different application than R/3. The point is most of the information contained in this book is solid and addresses service delivery and support for enterprise applications that work.Some key strengths of this book include: (1) a clear view applications delivery milestones of R/3 before it is ready to be released into production. This is provided in Parts II and III and shows what production support personnel needs to be aware of while the development and implementation is in progress. I especially liked the chapters on stabilizing the application and preparing for hand-off into production. Also, the chapter on building a support domain was filled with excellent information that embodies best practices in service support. (2) Part IV, Supporting the live environment, is specific to SAP R/3, but can be used as a model for support processes for any ERP system (Baan, PeopleSoft, etc.) because the major production support issues are addressed. The best chapters in this section cover job scheduling (often overlooked, but can wreak havoc with meeting service level objectives), transaction and performance support and disaster recovery planning (another support area that is too often overlooked).If you are tasked with supporting SAP R/3 this book is essential. Other audiences for this book include: project managers who need to plan the cutover of R/3 into the production environment, help desk management, release managers and business systems analysts who bridge the IT/IS and user domains. If you are a consultant who works with any ERP package this book will provide you with a wealth of useful information to which you can apply to whichever application(s) you support. Finally, this book will also prove useful to any support organization that is tasked with service delivery and support of enterprise applications for which a third-party book is not available. I certainly could have used this book when I was supporting a wireless billing application.Highly recommended to the audience cited above and 5 stars for clear writing and information that is valuable beyond the scope of the book.

Yes you have to leave someone behind to support SAP

Having been through two SAP implementations and supported the FI/CO modules for two years I found this book on the mark. Of particular interest is the presentation of a dynamic support group that continuously evaluates it's role through the life cycle of SAP. This is not a book that one would give to your technical support group (not enought details). It is perfect for the application manager who must support the business processes of SAP.

Good book for those who minimized post-production support.

Prince does a good job of outlining and detailing the thought process that has to be gone through as the SAP home team ( those who will be responsible when the system fails) gets ready to "go live" with SAP. The first section talks about the "help desk" issues and are well stated and certainly worth preparing for. The inclusion of Chapter 5 " Supporting the Evaluation and Start Up Phase " seemed a little out of place to me but the points presented in that chapter had to be done somewhere. The post-production support process has many elements to it and those who have been suckled by the SAP consultant would do well to consider the thinking and steps they must go through to be the IT system owner again. The book touches on training but does not point out how the training team can be an essential element to getting a help desk off the ground. Prince also has a good chapter on testing which can also be tied to training and the post production support ( Help Desk) activity. The chapter on handoff puts meat behind the oft quoted but too freqently practised activity of transfering the knowledge base from the SAP consultants to the home team. I recomend this book to whoever finds himself/herself thinking about supporting the SAP R/3 system.