The IDES Model Company

The Concept Behind IDES


The International Demonstration and Education System (IDES) contains a fullyfledged model company that has been set up in an R/3 System. The model company is based on a standard R/3 System. The IDES corporate group comprises a number of companies, each with predefined business tasks. All of these companies can be used individually, or in interaction with each other, to demonstrate how the R/3 System is integrated, and the range of functions that are available.

IDES is used principally in internal and external training courses, self-learning programs, and for presentations. It aims to prepare project team members and end users for using the R/3 System in practice. The IDES system provides an ideal learning environment: users get to work in a system that has been fully customized, and contains real-life master data and transaction data. The system further facilitates the transfer of knowledge by providing extensive data descriptions and process descriptions for cross-application business processes.

The realistic business processes of the company group have been set up as self- Online documentation learning units in IDES. The online documentation in IDES plays a central role in this self-learning process. Since integrated process flows are already defined in the system, users can use the IDES online documentation to familiarize themselves gradually with the core functions in any of the R/3 components. Detailed process descriptions and realistic business data mean that even beginners and users without detailed R/3 knowledge can familiarize themselves quickly with the R/3 System. This online help can also be used as a basis for developing internal training courses and holding R/3 presentations.

R/3 System IDES - Function in Details

IDES Logistics

A variety of products are manufactured and sold using the different organizational units within the Logistics area. IDES provides all the resources required for production and assigns them to the corresponding products through bills of materials (BOMs) and routings. Each product or product group represents a particular production type. IDES contains fully-integrated business processes for the production or sale of the following products or product groups:

Product	Process Type
Elevators	Engineer-to-order
Motorcycles	Make-to-order production
Cars	Sales-order-based repetitive manufacturing
Pumps	Make-to-order production
Personal computer	Repetitive manufacturing
Lighting products	Mass production
Paints / solvents	Process industry, Chemicals
Tablets	Process industry, Pharmaceuticals
Food / cosmetics	Retail

You can use IDES to create your own prototypes for business processes. As soon as you are familiar with the SAP System business processes, you can adapt IDES to meet your own individual requirements. The IDES enterprise structure helps you create business scenarios that reflect your own working environment.

You can then implement core business processes for your own company and analyze the various solutions. And IDES offers the additional advantage that you do not need to start from scratch each time. You can use existing IDES processes as a basis, then simply add organizational units and master data step by step until you have created your new, personalized business process.

The Structure of the IDES Group

The IDES group comprises four subgroups. The European subgroup consists of five companies, North America has two. Latin America and Asia each consist of one company. Each of these companies has its own clearly defined business objectives within the consolidated group and is organized according to local business practices and legal requirements. Consolidation takes place across the financial areas. For example, the French subsidiary operates solely as a sales company, or in Mexico, we represent high-inflation methods and the material ledger. The American and German subsidiaries produce goods, as well as carrying out purchasing and sales activities. Accounting and Human Resources for each individual company have been adapted to meet the particular business objectives. Germany and the United States, for example, have been set up to use flexible standard costing, whereas the United Kingdom uses static standard costing based on full costs.

IDES and Training

Many of the demonstrations and exercises used by SAP for the R/3 System training program are based on IDES data. IDES is the perfect compliment to the SAP training program. It enables you to revise training exercises and improve your understanding of the many functions of the R/3 System.

The IDES Release Strategy

A new version of IDES is available with every correction release. It is not possible to upgrade an existing IDES version to a new release. You can, however, install service packages for the corresponding correction release. This means that every new IDES Release involves a new installation. The IDES Release Strategy ensures that you always get new master data, transaction data, customizing functions, and documentation that are tested and checked for quality.

Introduction to IDES

IDES – the "Internet Demonstration and Evaluation System" in the R/3 System, represents a model company. It consists of an international group with subsidiaries in several countries. IDES contains application data for various business scenarios that can be run in the SAP System. The business processes in the IDES system are designed to reflect real-life business requirements, and have access to many realistic characteristics. IDES uses easy-to-follow business scenarios to show you the comprehensive functions of the R/3 System. The focal point of IDES, however, is not the functionality itself, but the business processes and their integration.

These IDES business processes are described in detail within this online documentation. The individual demos provide you with an overview of the master data, and contain step-by-step instructions of how to execute the individual processes.

IDES not only covers the Logistics area, but also Financials, and Human Resources. It demonstrates how the R/3 System is able to support practically all types of industries, from discrete production through to process industries, from engineering-to-order to repetitive manufacturing. However, IDES is not a sector-oriented model company. The individual processes are based on practice-oriented data for sectors such as Retailing or Banking. The IDES group manufactures products as diverse as elevators, motorcycles, and paints.

IDES is managed by SAP just as any regular business enterprise. SAP regularly updates the IDES data (master data, transaction data, and customizing). We also carry out period-end closing and plan with different time-horizons. Transaction data are generated to ensure that the information systems in all areas have access to realistic evaluation data. We are constantly implementing new, interesting business scenarios to highlight the very latest functions available in the R/3 System. New functions are represented and documented by IDES scenarios.
Above all, IDES shows you the possibilities of the integrated applications in the SAP System. We cover all aspects of a business enterprise, including Human Resources, Financial Accounting, Product Cost Planning, Overhead Management, Profitability Analysis, Planning, Sales and Distribution, Materials Management, Production, and much, much more.

IDES shows you how the R/3 System supports production processes, the supply chain, and the efficient usage of global resources. Or perhaps you would like to increase your understanding of just-in-time-production or the integration of the electronic KANBAN system in an MRP II environment? IDES provides the ideal way to learn about areas such as Product Cost Controlling, Activity-Based Costing, or integrated Service Management and Plant Maintenance. How to manage high inflation is just one of the ever-growing number of IDES business scenarios that you can choose from.