SAP Administration

What Is Administration?

System administration is the upkeep, configuration, and reliable operation of computer systems, especially multi-user computers, such as servers. Administration ensures uptime, performance, resources, and security of computers and servers while staying within a set budget.

What Is SAP Administration?

SAP administration ensures the reliability, performance, management, and support of the SAP application environments. SAP administrator responsibilities include application and system management, problem response, and capacity planning. They understand the technical infrastructure standards and requirements for integrating specific SAP modules.

SAP Basis is the system administration platform for SAP environments. The SAP Basis administrator is responsible for:

Daily maintenance — review logs, troubleshoot problems, ensure system functioning.
Job scheduling — schedule automatic backup jobs to be performed when user demand is low.
Planning — adjust the SAP landscape before users are impacted, anticipate long-term trends.
Projects — plan and execute system upgrades and migrations, test software updates to ensure compatibility with the SAP landscape.

What Is Administration?

What Is SAP Administration?

SAP Basis is the system administration platform for SAP environments. The SAP Basis administrator is responsible for:

Daily maintenance — review logs, troubleshoot problems, ensure system functioning.
Job scheduling — schedule automatic backup jobs to be performed when user demand is low.
Planning — adjust the SAP landscape before users are impacted, anticipate long-term trends.
Projects — plan and execute system upgrades and migrations, test software updates to ensure compatibility with the SAP landscape.

A Basis administrator can also play a role in cost control, IT strategy, and business policy.

Additional Resources for SAPinsiders

The Basics of Basis Administration: Architecture, Monitoring, Troubleshooting, and More! This presentation answers questions about Basis administration to ensure your SAP landscape runs smoothly and efficiently. The presentation provides the groundwork for Basis administration success as well as new tips and techniques to add to the admin toolbox. It also explains the standard architecture for small, medium, and large SAP landscapes and how to ensure that you have the correct server equipment and infrastructure needed to support your SAP landscapes.

What is AIOps for SAP? SAP Basis teams are being asked to do more than ever before, maintaining increasingly complex systems using increasingly outdated tools. This presentation shows how artificial intelligence for IT operations (AIOps) can help Basis teams shift to proactive IT, predicting and preventing incidents before they occur.

An Advanced Guide to Administering, Monitoring, and Performance Optimization of an SAP HANA System. In this presentation, Kurt Hollis with Deloitte takes a deep dive into SAP HANA administration and master techniques and tools for effectively analyzing issues, monitoring the workload, and overall management of SAP HANA systems, including multi-tenant databases. Hollis explains how to leverage the SAP HANA cockpit and studio for security, user management, high-availability administration, system maintenance, and performance optimization.

Vendors that can help SAP customers with SAP administration: Accenture, APOS Systems, Deloitte, Managecore, and Soterion.

How to Restrict Payroll Payments Based on Position or Location

Published: 08/July/2011

Reading time: 10 mins

Learn how to restrict payroll payments for position- and location-based payments and automate the restrictions for every payroll period and for the entire organization. Also learn how to automate the calculations of payments based on constant values. Key Concept Companies sometimes have the need to restrict payments that are applicable only to employees in certain...…
Combine SAP Strategy Management and GRC Risk Management for Risk-Intelligent Strategic Execution

Published: 15/April/2008

Reading time: 22 mins

In most organizations, strategic management and risk management are completely separate processes. As a result, it’s often difficult to track strategic goals over time while assessing the risks that might affect strategic initiatives. With an integrated approach to strategy and risk management, you can ensure that business owners are focusing on the right initiatives both...…
Improve Your System Performance by Archiving Data in BW: Part 2

Published: 15/April/2006

Reading time: 9 mins

When you need to retrieve archived data, follow this process to load it back into your BW system. Key Concept Archiving removes outdated data, but sometimes a need arises to analyze archived BW data and you must reload it back into the BW system. For example, your company archived and deleted order data from four...…
How to Use Standard Configuration to Automate Declining Negotiated Leave Balances

Published: 03/November/2010

Reading time: 12 mins

Many organizations allow their HR department to provide additional leave entitlement for potential new hires as part of a negotiated employment contract. In most cases, the additional leave entitlement is reduced as the employee’s seniority increases and, once the combined level is reached, is dropped altogether. This may also occur during an acquisition if the...…
- SAP Systems Administration
Prepare for an Audit of Your SAP Systems: What You Need to Ensure a Successful Result

Published: 26/March/2010

Reading time: 32 mins

Learn the fundamentals about auditors and the audit process. See the primary categories of an SAP audit, and tips on some of the more problematic areas within one of these categories — the general computer controls audit. Key Concept General computer controls (GCC) reflect a set of IT management, infrastructure, and process controls you should...…
Understanding Server Management in SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.0

Published: 16/July/2013

Reading time: 8 mins

This article provides an overview of the management of SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence 4.0 servers and services as well as a description of their roles and functions. Key Concept The SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence (BI) 4.0 platform describes the software running in the background in two ways: servers and services. The BI 4.0 server is...…
How to Store Complex Annual Salary Requirements with Different Pay Periods

Published: 23/July/2012

Reading time: 13 mins

Learn how to store annual salary details in infotype 0008 (basic pay) with complex pay periods in non-payroll SAP ERP HCM systems. You can then store variable pay periods for various employees with full annual salary details. This can be achieved with configuration without changing the standard SAP functionalities and without ABAP development. Key Concept...…
Enhance the Standard HCM System with Unlimited Employee Social Information

Published: 18/December/2013

Reading time: 10 mins

Learn a simple and straightforward approach for configuring employee social information without any limitations for enhanced HR information and analytics. Employee social information in this context is related to employee behavior – for example, if an employee smokes or has to wear required footwear or a uniform. Previously, traditional HR systems contained only employee information...…
A Guide to Passing an SAP HANA System Security Audit

Published: 20/July/2015

Reading time: 25 mins

Follow these best practices to install, administer, and operate the SAP HANA system securely. More importantly, learn about control objectives that auditors check to gain assurance about controls in the SAP HANA system environment. Key Concept A system audit is an exercise performed to gain assurance that defined controls work as intended, thereby eliminating the...…
What Does it Take for HR to Become a Business Partner?

Published: 15/October/2008

Reading time: 23 mins

Learn three of the challenges that an HR department can face in a business environment. Find out three steps that HR can take to become a valued business partner within its organization and how SAP ERP HCM functionality can help achieve this goal. Key Concept The value chain categorizes the value-adding activities of an organization....…