SAP Announces R/3 3.1 Enterprise Business Software, Featuring 25 New R/3 Internet Application Components And More than 100 New BAPIs; New Solution Enables Companies to Add and Extend R/3's Business Processes Within And Beyond the Enterprise to Trading Partners, Customers and Company Employees

Business Wire, June 12, 1996

VIENNA, Austria--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 12, 1996--SAP AG today announced R/3(tm) 3.1, the newest enhancement to its industry-leading enterprise business software system.

With the addition of more than 25 new R/3 Internet Application Components, companies will be able to extend their secure, high-volume business transactions across the Internet and intranets directly to trading partners, customers and employees. This capability will facilitate faster turnaround with trading partners and more direct and speedy customer service and will provide employees with ready access to information within the company.

Available by the end of the year, R/3 3.1 will also provide third parties and corporate developers unprecedented open access to SAP's renowned business processes with more than 100 new business application programming interfaces (BAPIs).

The new solution also introduces the R/3 Internet Transaction Server based on the Microsoft(r) Windows NT(r) network operating system, which evolves SAP's traditional three-tiered client/server applications into a multitiered architecture to support the tens of thousands of new users that the Internet and intranets will demand.

R/3 Internet Application Components Enable Reliable Business Transactions Over the Internet and Intranets

As part of its goal to provide customers with a top-to-bottom platform for the Internet, SAP announced at CeBIT in March that it would work with Microsoft Corp. and other software vendors and alliances to define industry standard interfaces (BAPIs) to enable intercompany business transactions over the Internet. Since that time, SAP has conducted a series of customer workshops for codevelopment and implementation of R/3 Internet and intranet solutions at early customer sites.

"R/3 3.1 marks a major step in our Internet strategy," said Dr. Peter Zencke, SAP executive board member. "To have genuine enterprise Internet applications, you have to have an industrial-strength applications environment. R/3 3.1 turns the promise of Internet-enabled transactions into reality. Now, the Internet can be used for mission-critical business with customers, trading partners and employees."

SAP(r) R/3 Internet Application Components are accessible through the widely used Web browsers and utilize the intuitive, easy-to-use Web browser-style interface that is ideal for infrequent or occasional users. This familiar interface style provides companies with a means to mask the complexity of their businesses while enabling interactive transactions for a new type of user. While SAP R/3 Internet Application Components provide access to thousands of new users, they also provide the robust functionality, high level of transaction integrity, and security required by corporations today.

All the business transactions of R/3 are already Internet-enabled through SAP Automation. The new R/3 Internet Application Components complement the core R/3 application system, are easy to use and allow companies to add their individual corporate interface layer for new types of users, with minimal disruption to their current system. Now, companies can easily and safely extend their business processes beyond corporate boundaries to consumer-to-business, business-to-business, and intranet-business transactions.

The following are among the R/3 Internet Application Components offered (descriptions of the R/3 3.1 Internet Application Components listed below are provided as an addendum later in this document):

Consumer-to-Business

-- Shopping Basket Based on Electronic Product Catalogs (Supply Chain Management)

-- Service Calls (Supply Chain Management)

-- Interactive Requests (Financials)

Business-to-Business

-- Procurement Process to Preferred Vendors (Supply Chain Management)

-- Special Stock Inquiries (Supply Chain Management)

-- Bank Data Transfer (Financials)

-- Internet KANBAN (Supply Chain Management)

Intranets

-- Employment Opportunities (Human Resources)

-- Who's Who (Human Resources)

-- Ad Hoc Reports (Financials)

-- Reporting Actuals (Financials)

With R/3 3.1, SAP has provided Internet capabilities across the full breadth of R/3 functionality. But for these Internet Application Components and applications to work together, there must be a consistent business context. ALE/WEB, included in R/3 3.1, is an extension of SAP's ALE technology and establishes this consistent business context for the Internet Application Components.

"The announced R/3 Internet Application Components make it substantially easier to get a clear picture of the diverse capabilities of an Internet-enabled R/3 system," said Dr. Foerster, managing director and CIO of EDUSCHO, a popular retail chain in Germany. "The early availability of R/3 3.1 will let us skip a whole technology generation in current projects while leveraging the immense potential of R/3 3.1 to enhance our existing business operations."

BAPIs Provide Open Access to R/3's Business Processes

With the addition of more than 100 BAPIs, R/3 3.1 provides new levels of openness, giving SAP and third-party application components across-the-board access to R/3 functionality -- including R/3's more than 800 industry-leading business processes -- across networks, intranets and the Internet. BAPIs provide a stable interface into R/3 for third parties and corporate developers, which enables interoperability of their application components with R/3. BAPIs also provide the foundation for the R/3 Internet Application Components.