Difference between Implementation, Configuration & Customization in SAP

Implementation: implementation is the whole process that defines a complete method to implement the SAP ERP Software in an organisation. The SAP solution comes pre-configured meaning that in theory a company needs to merely set up master data (e.g. material, customer, vendor, pricing records etc) in the SAP system and start Transacting on the new system. This however rarely happens; as all companies are different in some way so normally the standard settings are copied and modified as per need.

Configuration: It is done through existing parameter and Functionalities available in SAP. All we do in configuration is sync the system with the company process so that system could perform as per the business requirement, and configuration is done utilizing the existing SAP structure and functionalities.

Customization: Basically customization involves developers, if we need to make a configuration that is not supported by SAP default functionalities then with the help of ABAPer new features are added to meet the business requirement. These changes are normally outlined on what’s called a functional spec, which is usually written by the responsible functional consultant.

Customization can be costly and can complicate future upgrades to the software because the code changes/modifications may not easily migrate to the new version.