Searchable quick-reference definitions covering terminology
across product, engineering, manufacturing, supply chain,
integration and SAP.
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
Enterprise software that connects major business
functions such as manufacturing, procurement, inventory,
finance, supply chain and sales.
Simple explanation:
Instead of every department operating from completely
separate systems, ERP helps connect business processes
and data across the enterprise.
SAP
SAP is an enterprise software company whose systems help
organizations manage business processes and enterprise
data. The company name originated from the German phrase
for Systems, Applications, and Products in Data Processing.
SAP S/4HANA
SAP's modern Enterprise Resource Planning platform,
designed to connect enterprise processes such as finance,
procurement, manufacturing, supply chain and master data.
Simple explanation:
Think of SAP S/4HANA as a major digital backbone connecting
many of the processes required to run a large enterprise.
High-Performance Analytic Appliance (HANA)
SAP's in-memory database technology underlying S/4HANA.
It is designed to process large amounts of business data
quickly.
SAP Fiori
SAP's role-based user experience and application design
approach used to interact with SAP business processes.
Fiori is a product name rather than an acronym.
Innovation to Order (I2O)
A value stream connecting product innovation and
engineering to the enterprise information and processes
required to manufacture and operationalize a product.
New Product Introduction (NPI)
The process of moving a newly designed product from
development toward manufacturing and market readiness.
Master Data
Core enterprise information reused across multiple
transactions and processes, such as materials, suppliers,
customers and products.
Material
An item managed within SAP, such as a raw material,
component, semi-finished item or finished product.
Material Master
The central SAP record containing information about a
material used across procurement, inventory,
manufacturing and other business processes.
Simple example:
A sensor used in a Honeywell product could have a material
number, description, unit of measure, procurement data,
planning information and other attributes.
Bill of Materials (BOM)
The structured list of components and quantities required
to build a product.
Think of it as:
The recipe for the product.
Engineering Bill of Materials (EBOM)
The product structure representing how engineering
designed the product.
Manufacturing Bill of Materials (MBOM)
The product structure organized around how the product
will actually be manufactured.
Routing
The sequence of manufacturing operations or work steps
required to produce a product.
Think of it as:
The BOM tells us what we need.
The routing tells us how we build it.
Work Center
The machine, production line, labor group or physical
location where a manufacturing operation is performed.
Material Requirements Planning (MRP)
Planning logic used to determine what materials are
required, how many are needed and when they are needed.
Think of it as:
Do we have the parts needed to build what we plan to build,
and if not, when do we need them?
Procurement
The business process used to obtain goods and services
from suppliers.
Purchase Requisition (PR)
An internal request indicating that a material or service
needs to be purchased.
Purchase Order (PO)
A formal order sent to a supplier requesting materials
or services.
Context matters:
In procurement, PO means Purchase Order. In an Agile
delivery conversation, PO may mean Product Owner.
Inventory
Materials or products physically available within the
organization or supply chain.
Production Order
An SAP object used to authorize and control production of
a specified quantity of a product.
Engineering Change Management (ECM)
The controlled process for modifying product designs,
components, specifications or structures while
maintaining approvals and traceability.
Product Lifecycle Management (PLM)
Systems and processes used to manage product information
from concept and engineering through manufacturing,
maintenance and retirement.
SAP Production Planning (SAP PP)
SAP functionality supporting production planning,
manufacturing requirements and execution.
SAP Materials Management (SAP MM)
SAP functionality supporting materials, procurement,
inventory and related business processes.
SAP Sales and Distribution (SAP SD)
SAP functionality supporting sales orders, pricing,
shipping and customer fulfillment.
SAP Financial Accounting (SAP FI)
SAP functionality supporting financial accounting,
transactions and external financial reporting.
SAP Controlling (SAP CO)
SAP functionality supporting internal cost management,
profitability analysis and management accounting.
Data Migration
Moving business data from legacy systems into a new
environment such as SAP S/4HANA.
Data Quality
The completeness, accuracy, consistency, timeliness and
usability of enterprise data.
Integration
A connection allowing systems or applications to exchange
data and coordinate business processes.
Application Programming Interface (API)
A defined method allowing software systems to communicate
and exchange information.
Simple explanation:
An API is essentially a defined way for one application
to request information or an action from another
application.
Intermediate Document (IDoc)
A structured SAP message format commonly used to exchange
business information between SAP and other systems.
Batch Processing
Processing transactions or data together at scheduled
intervals rather than immediately.
Real-Time Integration
Exchanging and processing information immediately or
near-immediately when a business event occurs.
User Acceptance Testing (UAT)
Business-user validation confirming that delivered
functionality meets requirements and supports the
intended business process.
Cutover
The coordinated activities required to transition from
the old system or process to the new production solution.
Go-Live
The point when the new system or capability becomes
available for production use.
Hypercare
A period of elevated support immediately following
go-live to identify and resolve production issues quickly.
Universal Oil Products (UOP)
Universal Oil Products is the historical meaning behind
UOP. Honeywell UOP provides process technologies,
equipment, catalysts and related solutions used across
refining, petrochemicals, fuels and energy.
Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC)
Systems used to heat, cool and ventilate buildings.
Building automation technology can monitor and control
HVAC equipment to improve comfort and efficiency.