System Requirements
The minimum system requirements to install SAP ERP
should be known before you decide to install it. Some
minimum hardware and software requirements are
essential and must be looked into so as to install SAP ERP.
Since SAP is client server architecture software, the
application would be running on the server and the
clients would be connected to this server. A user interface
has to be installed at the user’s end which may be a
desktop, laptop or some other device. The number of
clients running on the server will decide the capacity of
the server.
Sizing
A sizing is an approximation of the hardware resources
required to support a specific software implementation.
Several resources are available to assist with sizing.
Solution Sizing Sheets are available to help you effectively
respond to customer requests for ballpark sizing
information. Sizing questionnaires are available to help
you gather customer requirements.
Sizing application systems is an iterative process.
Preliminary sizing’s, based on limited information, may
be rough estimates. As more information about the
implementation becomes available, the sizing estimates
can provide a better understanding of hardware
requirements.
Many hardware vendors provide sizing questionnaires.
Some of the tips to use these questionnaires are given
below:
• For user-based sizing inputs, enter the number of
concurrent, active users. Do NOT enter the number of
licensed users, do NOT double count users (if some of
your users work with several different components
attribute them to the component with which they work
most of the time). IBM uses the following guideline,
@35% of licensed users are concurrent active users. For
example if 1,000 user licenses have been purchased there
are 350 concurrent, active users.
• Read and understand the user definitions for the
different components. For ERP and CRM users, expect
most of the users to be low or medium workload users.
The guideline is that 10-20% of ERP or CRM users will be
high workload users. When in doubt, assume users to be
medium workload users.
BW user definitions are different than the user definitions
for ERP and CRM. SAP guidelines are; @70% of the users
are Info-consumer users, @25-27% is Executive users and
@3-5% or less are Power users.
Portal SAP’s default think time for Portal users is 211
seconds (In a previous version of the Net Weaver Portal
Sizing, the Quick Sizer assumed a distribution of 60%
concurrent active users with a think time of roughly 600
seconds between two Portal navigation steps, 34% with
about 180 seconds think time and 6% with a think time of
30 seconds. These results in an average think time of 211
seconds, which is quite realistic for an Intranet scenario
(NW-EP-INT). Think times of less than 60 seconds or less
will result in large workload estimates.
• Throughput based inputs – Specify the average
number of line items per transaction. For example if
during peak processing you need to process 10,000 sales
orders each with an average of 6 line items, specify “6”
and not 60,000. Also use whole numbers (round up or
down, the tool will not accept “6.5” line items).
• Keep in mind that there are many inputs which
require in-depth knowledge of the application and will
require that you work with a functional consultant to
determine the inputs (e.g. SCM, Utilities, BW Infocubes
and Datastore objects).
It is important to understand that “sizing” the hardware
for each customer’s ERP Software applications
implementation is an iterative process, which may be
refined and repeated a number of times. If you are in the
early stages of planning, you will probably have limited
information about your planned environment. In this
case, we can complete the sizing estimate with general
information about your ERP Software applications users.
When you are further along in your implementation
planning, you will know more about ERP Software
applications, the modules you plan to use, the number of
users and your potential transaction activity. At that
time, you may request another sizing estimate based on
more detailed information. In any case, after receiving the
results of a sizing estimate, you may choose to revise your
input and request a re-sizing.
it cannot generalize the software and hardware
requirements for any ERP Implementation as the
requirements differ from one implementation to other.
International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research Volume 2, Issue 7, July-2011