SAP BASIS Introduction

Let us be generic a while for understanding purpose. Assume you currently own a bicycle. Your family income increases gradually and you decide to buy a bike. You look for a lot bikes and decide on one, as anyone would do. You go learn how to ride it. Then you purchase it. It all goes well until your bike starts giving you minor issues. You fix it yourself but you still have some more issues popping up.

What do you do now? You go to a mechanic. You pay him, get him fix your bike. Your bike runs smooth now. After a year, you have some other issues. Your brakes will not apply bike starts giving noise. So you to the bike manufacturer and he suggests some new engine oil, says your brakes are outdated and asks you to upgrade to newer ones. You have no choice but you do. Also, note that the manufacturer for original, upgraded spare parts charges you heavily and thus you cannot ride your bike until your bike upgraded.

After the upgrade, you take some time to get used to the newer version of your existing bike. You take the help of the mechanic again on how to use the newer spare parts & how to get used to it. You pay the mechanic some amount for consulting him. As days go, you cannot go back to your manufacturer because he charges you a lot. However, your mechanic gives you same spare parts & solutions at better price. Therefore, you decide to make your mechanic the permanent consultant for your bike. You go to him regularly for maintenance of your bike he suggests the latest spare parts, technology (say Tubeless Tire), cleans your bike, advice you the Do's and Don'ts, 'administers' your bike, takes lesser time to upgrade service your bike (even on weekends when you won't have to use your bike much) definitely charges you lesser than your bike manufacturer makes sure your life is smooth by taking good care of it so as to ensure your daily routine is not affected much because of your bike.

Now. Let us relate this to SAP. Your family's income is your business. The bike you purchase is SAP ERP software. Your manufacturer is SAP. Your mechanic is the SAP Basis person. Just like how a mechanic administers, monitors, upgrades your existing bike with newer spare parts, an SAP Basis consultant builds your SAP system, installs it, customizes it to your needs, monitors your system, upgrades your existing SAP system to newer versions, upgrades DB, kernel releases from SAP meanwhile making sure that your business has minimal or no loss at all. (These upgrades usually done during weekends or non-business times to make sure that business is not affected). He suggests Business the new releases from SAP & implements best practices to reduce sudden downtime (situation where an SAP system goes down or crashes just like a bike meeting with an accident because of improper maintenance). He takes care of your SAP system the way a mechanic takes care of a bike, so you could call a Basis consultant an 'Administrator' of an SAP system, the way you have database administrator (DBA)for Databases.

Following are the roles and responsibilities of SAP BASIS Administrator:

Installation of SAP system - Hardware and Software

Up-gradation of the system - Hardware and Software

Managing infrastructure i.e. client/server architecture and its configuration.

Administration & Monitoring of SAP system, its users and user interface (GUI)

Management of Database,Database backup schedule and restore

Management / configuration of connections between various systems and SAP

Technical trouble-shooting
Applying support patches, upgrading and installing add-on
SAP license maintenance