Plan to make a career as a SAP Consultant? If Yes, this guide is a MUST READ!  

What is a SAP Consultant?

SAP Consultant is a Subject Matter Expert (SME) either on the

• Business/ sales
• Functional
• Development or
• Basis

domains of SAP. The consultant provides advisory, recommendations, guidance, implementation help in their respective SAP domains.

Why SAP?

SAP (Systems Applications and Products) is the world's leading provider of business software which specializes in industry specific Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions.  

SAP is implemented in 9 out of every 10 Fortune 500 company.  

SAP consultants enjoy a premium remuneration over their  IT counterparts working in other technologies like Java, .net etc.

Types of SAP Consultant

1) Business/Sales Consultant - They try to win projects at customer end - without knowing much about SAP :-)

2) SAP Functional Consultant - They are responsible for customizing SAP as per customer demand. They talk with developers to code custom ABAP programs as per client requirements.  

3) Developer Consultant - They are responsible for coding ABAP/Java Programs  

4) SAP Basis Consultant - They help in installing, maintenance and performance tuning of SAP servers and databases

Above are the major consulting roles found in almost all SAP projects. Depending on the nature and size of the project there may be other consulting roles as well such as SAP security consultant, SAP Techno-functional consultants, etc.  

Skills required in becoming a SAP Functional Consultant

The skills expected of a SAP Functional consultant vary with experience. But a fresher SAP consultant must have following skills that almost all employers look for -

• Extensive SAP (module specific) knowledge.
• Good Domain (Banking, Telecommunication, etc. ) knowledge
• Good Communication and presentation skills. SAP consultants are often required to interface with the client and understand client's requirements. A SAP consultant should be good in explaining technical information to non-technical people
• Ability to work in Teams and good interpersonal skills.

Academic Background

• Academic qualification required to become a SAP consultant -- Any Under Graduate Course like Bcom, B.E., BSc etc.  with  any Specialization

• Any Post Graduate Course like MTech, MBA, etc. with any Specialization

SAP Consultant Salary

The salary of a fresher  SAP consultant in the USA is from $48,000 to $60,000 and the bonuses are from $1,000 to $2,000.

The salary of a fresher  SAP consultant in India is from RS 247,000 to RS 4,50,000 and the bonuses are from RS 10,000 to RS 15,000.

How to become a SAP consultant

From time to time we get emails asking "How do I become a SAP consultant." Obviously, there is no one answer.  There are many ways to enter the SAP market. Here are a few we can conjure ...   Obtain SAP Training & Certification. Choose a SAP module and get a certification from an authorized SAP training partner. SAP training is expensive, but it's worth the investment

Join a consulting companyIf you have good business/domain knowledge (and want to learn SAP ?), you could consider joining an IT consultancy company like IBM, Deloitte, Infosys. etc  as a junior consultant.

Join as a Trainee or in SAP supportYou can consider joining a company which has SAP implemented and work as a Trainee or support personnel. The company may later sponsor your SAP certification and training. The trick here is to find such a company and convince them to hire you

Join SAP Project as a non-SAP person.Many SAP projects require skills outside of SAP. For instance, lots of projects require a data conversion individual. If you are good in database and SQL, you might consider joining the project and later teach yourself SAP

  Any other ways to enter the SAP market? ... Leave a comment  

SAP offers various certification for different modules.

Certifications can be found based on the

• SAP Solution (Like SAP Business One, Business Objects, ERP, Netweaver, PLM etc)
• Your Role ( Development, Application, Technology)

As of today there are 220+ different certifications on offer

Each certificate has 2 levels

1. Associate
2. Professional – (Please be aware that the professional-level certifications also require several years of practical on-the-job experience and address real-life scenarios)

Eligibility Criteria

For SAP there are no specific criteria if you are enrolling for basic modules of SAP; any graduate can pursue their career in SAP. However, some SAP modules require relevant work experience in field like engineer graduate with relevant work experience of minimum two years can take a course in SAP MM, PP, and PM module while a commerce graduate or MBA can choose SAP FICO.

Registration for SAP certification

Since 2014 SAP certification vouchers are only available for purchased directly from SAP education. Pearson Vue is no longer accepting payment for SAP certification.

Registration for SAP Certification exams taken at Pearson VUE

1. Contact your local SAP education department to register to your S-user number
2. Purchase a voucher from SAP education. You have to pay $500
3. Create a new web account if you don't already have an account with Pearson Vue
4. Sign in to your Pearson Vue account and schedule your exam appointment. At the checkout screen, enter your voucher number in the space marked "Voucher/Promotion Code"
5. For few countries, online certification service is not provided and you have to call SAP where a representative will guide you through the process.
6. To register for SAP certification online, you have to visit the website http://www.sap.com/training-education/certification/about.html

 

Tips to prepare for SAP certification exam

• Find the right level of certification ( Associate or Professional certification exam)
• Start your search for your module directly in the certification web shop (https://training.sap.com/shop/certification/). Select the country and language to get all information for your location
• If you are new to SAP, use the options training and certification shop (https://training.sap.com/shop/catalogue/by-delivery-method) it offers a wide variety of training options to meet your learning needs, it includes e-learning courses as well
• In order to get a better idea about which topics are important for your certification, you have to review the syllabus. On the certification site, you can find an overview of the related topics
• SAP education also provides some sample questions on its site; these are actual questions asked during past exams. You will find these questions under certification details for each exam
• Learning with SAP books is a good alternative
• SAP learning hub general user guide allows to interact with SAP solution experts through a forum. It also offers multiple courses in various languages
• In SAP exam be careful in using English words especially words like can, only, always, except