SAP(R) R/3 Implementation Guide

Written by a team of industry-leading experts, SAP R/3 Implementation Guide guides managers through the implementation of this powerful system. This book provides a real-life perspective that can help you avoid common pitfalls encountered when implementing SAP. It shows you how SAP will impact your business and, more specifically, your customers, material suppliers, and distributors. It explains why many SAP projects fail or run over budget and time. And, managers will gain a better understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of SAP and become proficient with all of its intricacies.

Author and consultant Bradley D. Hiquet puts a new and much-needed shine on the old technology-reference-book model in SAP R/3 Implementation Guide: A Manager's Guide to Understanding SAP. Instead of forcing readers down the tedious but often necessary path of configuration commands, Hiquet chronicles the fictional journey of ElectroTech, a manufacturer of industrial electrical components and factory automation products, through its SAP R/3 implementation and rollout. Except for the book's first section, which deftly handles the requisite company, target market, and application overview, the rest is dedicated to this gigantic composite case study.

Assisted by real-life consultants at Conley, Canitano, and Associates, Inc., Hiquet has constructed the book to first address the myriad tribulations of ElectroTech's various departments, followed by an explanation of how implementing the cross-departmental SAP R/3 application can theoretically solve the problems. This approach is extremely effective. First, it provides specific examples of how antiquated and disjointed computing systems can adversely affect productivity and profitability. And second, it puts a human face on the issues. The book wraps up with a brief but informative chapter that outlines pragmatic, time-tested methods to help companies prepare for and successfully complete a SAP R/3 implementation. Sarah L. Roberts-Witt