Let me just tell you, buddy: A few years ago, some SAP salesmen staged their dog-and-pony shows for several major US oil companies. Never mind that SAP is a manufacturing-oriented system, unfit to be congruent with hydrocarbon industry processes. Their sales tap-dance dazzled the oil executives beyond all belief. They were somehow convinced that SAP was the way of the future, and that industry functionality would be served if every oil company ran its accounting systems from the same basic platform. The executives, none of whom had ever worked in the trenches -- and without consulting anyone who had worked in the trenches -- bought this pile of excrement hook, line and sinker.
SAP is an accounting process nightmare. It requires armies of people to run the thing, and its functionality is so counter-intuitive that EXTENSIVE training is required; there is NOTHING on the system that you can simply figure out from following menu paths. It is indeed Rubik's Accounting System, a broad minefield strewn with mis-steps and unintended consequences. NOTHING on SAP is ever easy, from ascertaining the business unit to which a cost center is assigned, to determining the set of vendor invoices that comprise the costs of a project.
And, Heaven help you, if you must run SAP in tandem with some other system, such as your payroll program or a custom division-of-interest database. It's tantamount to being busted for drugs in a foreign country: You're in for the HASSLE OF YOUR LIFE.
On the other hand, if you are a member of the accounting profession, SAP can guarantee you a job for life (if you don't particularly mind NEVER being able to complete anything). SAP is rife with unpleasant tasks that NO little kid ever dreams about doing when he grown up. Accordingly, you will never hear footsteps behind you, never face the prospect of someone else plotting to take your job from you. SAP is the tar baby of accounting systems if you want job security: You are stuck to it, and nobody else wants to come near you.
If you are reading this, it is quite likely that your company already has SAP, or is about to acquire it -- and you are one of the frightened, desperate, skippy-dog little bookkeeper minions, seeking reference information about this monstrous new system that's about to be shoved down your throat.
Good luck, chump. And, goodbye to your nights and weekends.
In my experience with SAP writers/publishers they tend to underestimate the design changes from one version to another. Although a configuration process may be very well explained, the instructions are very often obsolete for your version of SAP. Writers and publishers often claim that the book is valid for a SAP releases long subsequent to the publishing of the book. How do they know? The best way to insure that the instructions will be valid for your version of SAP is by noting the copyright date and comparing that against the release date of your software. If the copyright date is earlier than your software, the book is obsolete for your needs.
We did not come to Amazon.com to scold SAP and their architects and designers. Clearly SAP was not designed from an accountant prospective. We are here to evaluate the usefulness of a technical book. Like it or not, that is the nature of the beast. It is our job to use and implement the system. Finding a good technical reference that is concurrent with your system is a gold mine.