> > Anyone knows if there is a way to connect R with the ERP SAP? Very big question. An ERP is an accounting system typically for a large business or governmental entity (ERP = "Enterprise Resource Planning" system). Modern ERPs are typically built on top of (multi-user) relational data base management systems (RDBMS).
R has many ways to connect to relational databases -- see the "R Data Import/Export" manual in your R installation. In the MS Windows version of R; menu "HELP" "Manuals (in PDF)" R can import text files or link to databases; see the RODBC and RDBI packages. Unless you are an auditor you are unlikely to get direct ODBC access to the ERP's transaction tables -- it would be a huge security risk. From a security standpoint end users should not have arbitrary write access because they could accidentially or maliciously alter senstive data. Even read-only access can be sensitive, because of salaries, costs and confidential payments to third parties (perhaps as part of a lawsuit settlement) and non-public financial information such as revenues and profits prior to their being announced to securities markets. Moreover, under the hood, the data are in normalized in third or higher normal form (spread out in a lot of tables) in an attempt to achieve "one fact in one place." As a practical matter; if you needed 20 items they might be in 20 separate tables. You need an experienced SAP data base query writer to write queries to consolidate the data you need into a manageable number of views (queries or virtual tables). There are also data and currency conversion issues. Some systems store accounting data in pennies to avoid floating point round-off and then divide by 100 (or reformat) prior to publishing. Consolidating across business units may require currency conversions and you have to know what exchange rate to use. >From the point of view of SAP you are no different than an end-user who wants data in an MS Excel worksheet. SAP can write a text file, create an ODBC connection (possibly to a data mart, or data warehouse/BI layer rather than the transactional system) or write an Excel XLS file directly. Here is a link to a discussion of the options on the SAP side. http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/boc/bi-solution-architecture?rid=/webcontent/uuid/c022b01b-0439-2d10-96bd-c9bce12b2177 You will need to be able to explain to the business analyst: 1. The priority of your project and who approved it (office politics). 2. What specific data items you need (ask for a "Chart of Accounts" in an electronic format that you can search, copy and paste). http://help.sap.com/saphelp_46c/helpdata/en/c7/a88ab243dd11d182b30000e829fbfe/content.htm 3. How often do you need the data: one-time or every month, week, day or hour? 4. Do you need the data to match official published totals? (very sensitive question -- because of the timing of the accounting cycle and post period adjustments). 5. How much history do you need? (may cause issues if accounting statements have been restated or if data is archived). The electronic Chart of Accounts will be your "Rosetta Stone" linking published data, account numbers and how the data is stored in the system. What data you need and how often will depend on what you are doing with the SAP data in R. Are you? 1. Forecasting Sales 2. Looking for outlier transactions 3. Optimizing inventory 4. Measuring or reducing risk? 5. Financial modeling / stress testing? Is this a one time project or periodic report? Jim Callahan, MBA Orlando, FL > Message: 21 > Date: Sat, 31 Jul 2010 11:17:30 -0700 (PDT) > From: Andre <a.azev...@adp.pt> > To: r-help@r-project.org > Subject: [R] How to connect R with SAP > Message-ID: <1280600250951-2309018.p...@n4.nabble.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii > > > Hello, > > Anyone knows if there is a way to connect R with the ERP SAP? > Thanks. > > -- > [[alternative HTML version deleted]] ______________________________________________ R-help@r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
