ETCircle.com SAP FI and CO consultant information
If you were lucky enough to find the study book for BC100 in realtion with Part 1 of ABAP FICO series, you will probably be eager for a little more knowledge in ABAP. It would make sense if you follow the SAP courses where the next one is BC400 course. By the way, BC400 course is in the syllabus for getting SAP FI Professional Application Certification in relation with knowledge in FI Tables and ability to design document print layouts.
Back to the topic, BC400 seems to be wonderful course, but you should take the on-site training. With limited knowledge in programming, it will not be possible for you to understand the material just by reading the study book. I’ve already tried to read BC400 and follow the examples but it was really challenging and I’ve decided to stop. As a consequence I went for a book for beginners which will explain in more details the main concepts in Programming and ABAP as well.
During my research I was really surprised to find video lectures about ABAP on iTunes U. They are freely provided by Dr. Tony Pittarese from EAST TEENNESSY UNIVERSITY. Reference book for the course is Discover ABAP (2nd edition). It is a very well reviewed book and I’ve decided to give it a chance. Here are the links from which you can check on both the Book and video lectures.
- Discover ABAP 2nd edition – Amazon US
- Discover ABAP 2nd edition – Amazon UK
- Enterprise Programming ABAP (Google)
If you don’t have iPad you can freely download iTunes on your pc and then access it. I highly recommend you to read the whole book first and then revise your knowledge with the video lectures. More or less the video lectures are intended for students with programming background and thus are not suitable for non-technicals without proper preparation.
Following points are the content of the Discover ABAP book:
- ABAP and Getting Started with the SAP System
- ABAP Dictionary
- Programming in the ABAP Editor
- Fields and Calculations
- Modifying Character Strings
- Debugging Programs
- Modifying Transparent Database Tables
- Calculating Dates, Times, Quantities, and Currencies
- Using Data in a Database Table
- Program Flow Control and Logical Expressions
- Selection Screens
- Internal Tables
- Modularizing Programs
- Advanced Topics
For me up to the internal tables unit it was relatively easy and it was a pleasure to follow it. Internal tables are very important component which you should familiarize yourself with as it is a major part of every program in SAP. If you do not understand it well, you will do in the Video Lectures as I did. Modularizing programs and advanced topics are just barely covered and it is not supposed to understand them well.
The main part of the book is covering the basics of the ABAP which will give you very good foundations. From then you could either go deep further into ABAP world or step aside and proceed with the FICO Functional part. I’ve already identified a few books for the next more advanced part. I will share them when I read them and decide whether or not they are suitable. Till then, Have fun and enjoy practicing SAP.
