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70 Chapter 3

SAP SAP
CRM ERP
system system

Business Advanced
Warehouse Planner & Optimizer
module module
(BW) (APO)

Source Line: Course Technology/Cengage Learning.
FIGURE 3-15 SAP CRM system landscape

As described previously, the SAP ERP system processes business transactions and
provides much of the raw data for CRM. SAP’s Business Warehouse (BW) is a flexible
system for the reporting and analysis of transactional data that makes use of data mining
techniques. Data mining is the statistical and logical analysis of large sets of transaction
data, looking for patterns that can aid decision making and improve customer sales and
service. By analyzing sales transactions using data mining, firms can discover trends and
patterns to use in planning marketing activities.
The Advanced Planner and Optimizer (APO) is a component of SAP’s Supply Chain
Management (SCM) system that supports efficient planning of the supply chain. APO’s
role in the CRM process is to provide higher levels of customer support through its
global available-to-promise (ATP) capabilities. In the standard SAP ERP system, the ATP

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