Please does anyone know anything about SAP and ERP and how lucrative learning them will be in Nigeria and overseas

i heard about it while doin oracle at niit

niit is infact planning on introducing the course, though i don't advise u goin there

it works like oracle, i think, its a recording system, i remember its what the cbn plans to run on

its profitable

actually from wikipedia sap is an ERP system and an ERP system integrates all data and processes in an organisation in a unified system. I heard shell is using it but i want more details on it

ERP (enterprise resource planning) is an industry term for the broad set of activities supported by multi-module application software that helps a manufacturer or other business manage the important parts of its business, including product planning, parts purchasing, maintaining inventories, interacting with suppliers, providing customer service, and tracking orders. ERP can also include application modules for the finance and human resources aspects of a business. Typically, an ERP system uses or is integrated with a relational database system. The deployment of an ERP system can involve considerable business process analysis, employee retraining, and new work procedures.

SAP is a form of ERP software that integrates HR, Accounting Finance, CRm workflow processes, etc all tied together in one software package. Most of the big companies use SAP but their are other ERP software, some open source and other commercial.

My advice to you is this - don't learn the software, learn the technology that powers the software. Good luck.

SAP (System Application Products) is the name of the biggest European software company. The head office is in Walldorf, Germany. SAP was founded

in 1972 by five former IBM employees in Mannheim, Germany.

It is one of the very very  lucrative fields in IT with outstanding good pay.

Their Training and Certifications are quite expensive and presently Africa has south africa as the country for SAP training.

Nigeria has an office in Oakland Center Maitama Abuja, but they offer training sparingly san and they major in administrative functions.

SAP Actual and e-business comprising of financials CRM, ERP, xchange infrastructure and lots more.

It also has it own programming Language called ABAP.

the exciting thing about SAP is that its framework can easily integrate into databases like Oracle,Microsoft SQL server ,db2 and a lot more.

Well it also has a very strong JAVA PRESENT in most (like over 60%) of its application giving any one with JAVA knowledge an edge.

thanks guys. i would like to do a training on it and i am very good at java.

i know very much abt sap, it cost 1.2m(training +certificationn) in south africa.it has 12 modules u can tak any1 of d modules,any more question i will answer send ur mail 2 magageiks@yahoo.com

SAP is the in thing now o.
In fact some organisations are now implementing it in NAIJA
CHEVRON, TOTAL et al are some of the companies.
OCEANIC BANK is also working on it - they are presently training their staff
on the use of the softwares.
If you can learn it, you very well will have some considerable leverage.
The beauty of it is that all companies, in every sector of the economy can
use it so you are not going to be restricted.
Please, consider taking the course.

I have spoken to the former MD of SAP Nigeria, Mr Folabi Esan. He is in a position to direct you properly. He has given me permission to give you his number: 08035833988. All the best.

Thanks everyone. @tee zero thank u. i'll call him. I had thought it would be possible to do self study and maybe practice to understand SAP.

Self study may take a longer time but if you have the passion and the willingness to learn it could be your best option as you won't be learning under a rigid time frame.

Some professional software writers today do not even have any computer related certificates yet they are writing great codes out there.

It all begins with the passion.

as Afam and other have said, it depends on yr passion.   Very much intrested into the training as well and currently being in the support field with MS products, I'm concentrating on Basis and Security functions out of the available 12/14 modules.   

U can do the self study at least 50%, will need to obtain the installation software on a robust system which will take you very considerable hours to accomplish.  check-out www.ebay.com -  be careful as some of the advertised products are photocopies and SAP pictures copied unto CD - _{beware of int' 419}.   

Impossible is nothing - go for it.

SAP is a very good and reward software.
It will be an added advantage to u whenever u are hunting for a job.
Schlumberger uses it for the employee services data.

Hey!

Nice to see this topic.

I went for SAP training in India. I got back this year. My problem is that i have not been able to crack into the few organizations that have implemented SAP. I friend of mine has linked me to a guy implementing for UAC. Maybe i will get started there soon, otherwise, i am looking out for opportunities where i can be of service to my country via the huge robust Technology.

There are more opportunities abroad though, and the pay out there will be mind blowing, but getting a job abroad does not come easy too.

I advise you go ahead and learn it as it has very robust tools in the package ( I learned SAP Netweaver, I also had a look at SAP securities, Knowledge management,  etc.), but it will be good if you have opportunities of getting into US or Europe.

TEE ZERO, as for the no. of SAP MD in Nigeria, may i ask for permission to call him too?  All the Best Jeffman!

which sap module/modules would you advise one to study considering job placements in Nigeria first then abroad

oje how much is UAC plannin to offer u?

men it is like that netweaver is the future of SAP from a technical perspective. One SAP Career expert John Reeds actually advised people to go into functional areas like MM, FICO etc. He howeversaid for people with technical background, Netweaver is the way to go

I have been a Certfified SAP Consultant (Independent contractor) for 5 years and have been fortunate to worked in about a couple of implementations for about 6 different companies in the top FTSE companies. My background is in Functional FICO but I have been specializing in Oil & Gas for about 2.5 years now.

I have seen quite a few good advices and a few misconception as well.

It is true that the UK SAP market here is about the highest paying in the global SAP market (contractors I mean as cant say for the guys in permamnent roles) but you will need to understand that getting into the SAP market is probably a most difficult hurdle, but not impossible. I have seen dozens of people and friends that want come into the SAP world simply because they see someone driving big cars and other stuffs like that, but it doesnt work out for most guys that reason this way. You need to have building a proper career in mind and that will go a long way in nurturing your determination to succeed.

Trust me when I tell you that more than 70% of people that have written SAP certification exams (FICO) failed it, and this has nothing to do with being brilliant in school or not. You just have to be damn good and be very well prepared, and that is just the starting point of the whole race compared to being good enough to pick a job which is even nothing compared to keeping that job.

Make sure you go to a proper training academy and you can always check with www.sap.com/education if the training academy is certified. There are quite a number of phoney SAP training schools here in London that are just there for the money they will collect from students who are mostly unaware 'whats' and 'what nots'. I recommend that you ask whichever academy that does your money include the certification exams and know that they are mushroom and unqualified ithey say no.

I honestly do not know an oil&gas exploration company in the world that does not use SAP ( I have worked in the 3 of the biggest oil companies and presently work for one in London which is probably the biggest and the most know, at least in Nigeria) and most big companies, whether oil, finance and manufacturing are following suit.

The module to study is best best based on your academic background but its not sacrosant that because you made a first class in Accounting and even a Chartered Accountant that you will find SAP FICO a walkover. I have seen some of the best students with 1st class degree fail too many times. Its all in your determineation and hunger for success, and also the grace of God

JJAY1 - please can you put me through, i was planning onn going for training inthe uk for sap fico-banking sector, which training schools will you recommend u can reply here or mail me at ronk80@hotmail.com your help will be much appreciated

blancknbold

Sent you an email via that email address but returned as an invalid email address

blacknbold

Its way cheaper for you to do the training in Thailand, India or South Africa. Also you shouldnt limit your training to Banking as this is just a tiny sub-module of FI, you are way better off with an end to end FICO academy which brighten your chances a great deal.

Go to sap.com/education, and check the full details of the consultant education curricullum. There are "mushroom" training centres in London at the moment. Trust me you want to avoid those, the guys that teach there hardly knows their left from right and you need a certified training especially when your interest is FICO

JJAY1

Hi Guys,
I work for SAP AG for couple of years now, b4 then have done few implementations as an independent consultant.
All I can tell you is that, it'll be beneficial for you to take your time in choosing areas suitable for you in SAP.
Lots of potentials in most areas, if not all.
I wish you all he best.

Ade

Dear J Jay

I am a SAP FICO Certified consultant but not into SAP.
I am still into Mainstream Finance
Can u help me with a SAP FICO Break

hello every body
i am a recent graduate of computer science. please i will like to know if sap is OK for a fresh graduate in computer science with no work experience. your quick reply will be highly appreciated.

YOu are better off joining a company that runs SAP or with a SAP consulting compnay e.g Accenture, IBM, KPMG, Atos Origin, CapGemini etc. they will be able to groom you

Hello. As the pioneer MD of SAP Nigeria, I have some knowledge of SAP (system and company) and its competitors. Over the next 24months we intend to build the premier enterprisewide management information and decision support systems (EMIDS) company in Nigeria. If you are interested in participating in this venture and have any relevant experience or certification, SAP or other, please get in touch. Phone number is 0803 583 3988.

MD of SAP Nigeria, nice thoughts, suppose I can reach you on 08035205333,

This is for the Guy Interested in SAP,
Worth mentioning SAP has quite a number of modules, and the expertise required to administer them are different though they might intersect at some point,
Channelling your energy towards the module that best suits your current experience is the way forward,
So much ado about SAP BW….the frenzy is on…but hey…does it suit you!!!
Take a step back….ponder on which career path you want to pursue…, And don’t let the ‘big money syndrome ’ blind a sensible and well thought out plan…,

Please i really need to know if your knowledge of the Oracle DB gives one an advantage and if it is can one combine it with SAP

ETL_Dude:

MD of SAP Nigeria, nice thoughts, suppose I can reach you on 08035205333,

This is for the Guy Interested in SAP,
Worth mentioning SAP has quite a number of modules, and the expertise required to administer them are different though they might intersect at some point,
Channelling your energy towards the module that best suits your current experience is the way forward,
So much ado about SAP BW….the frenzy is on…but hey…does it suit you!!!
Take a step back….ponder on which career path you want to pursue…, And don’t let the ‘big money syndrome ’ blind a sensible and well thought out plan…,

As an aspiring DBA what module do you feel might be the best for me

Hello,

Alexis i would please like you to throw more light on

"My advice to you is this - don't learn the software, learn the technology that powers the software. Good luck"

I am interested in SAP am considering BW, MM or Netware, please anyone in the Nigerian, UK or Canadian market have any ideas for me.

If i am spending so muc studying SAP, i believe that at least u should pursue a module that would be rewarding.

Also, fellas what do you think of self study, how can i get access to materials

That might be pretty difficult the materials are pretty expensive and a bit hard to find too but i am working my butt off to get it and just see what its all about

To all of you interested in getting into SAP, it is a good area to get into, for technology people have a look at BASIS for Developers have a look at ABAP and for Business people have a look at any of the core functional areas.
BASIS is a lot easier if you have background in Network administration and know database management
ABAP is a lot easier if you come from a programming background especially JAVA is very beneficial
FUNCTIONAL is a lot easier if you have some business process knowledge in a particular area

New Dimenesion things like BW CRM are also areas worth looking at
BW has 2 area functional designers that build information and write queries and BW developers that also write extractors and integrate BW with other modules, Financial reporting is most in demand hance you have lots of FI consultants that have ventured into BW
CRM is more for Sales people and covers a wide range of skills, but is most beneficial if you have both functional and technical knowledge.

Project based work is what makes you a proper consultant and thats what gives you your edge, breaking in requires carefull planning, demand and supply, and luck, but then you can make you own luck.

Which ever route you choose to pursue remember that delivering enterprise wide application solutions whether its SAP or Oracle, requires for you to be able to understand requirements in the context of the business and map these to the system, determine the gaps and propose solutions on how to fill these gaps, that is the true challenge which no training course will teach you.

And for those of you wondering, yes I am an SAP Consultant, Both Functional and Technical with multi modular exprience and have been consulting for over 12 years.

We are constantly trying to develop the Nigerian ecosystem and will continue to do so. The problem with the Nigerian scenario is salary expectations and it will take a liitle time for it to be very lucrative but having said that there are on going projects in Nigeria which are paying very good rates.

In our country technology does not drive competition so is not considered as a core part of the business or a competitive variable variable the angle mostly played is one of efficiency and trend. Business cases are getting stronger as execs become more aware of the benefits.

One last thing if you really want to pursue a career in SAP don't let the barriers to entry stop you, it's a lot easier to break in than you think. Also with regards to training depending on where you are get in touch and I'll point you in the right direction. Look upon training as just that 'training' because many people will promise a lot and deliver very little.

I can be reached at gofestac@yahoo.com