What Is a Profile in SAP?

SAP is a suite of administrative and financial software from German company SAP AG. SAP is an acronym for Systems, Applications and Products; the suite is divided into individual modules that represent job functions within an organization. Access to each module is controlled by a text file containing configuration settings, otherwise known as a profile.

Access Permission

Each SAP user has a unique user identifier. Each user identifier, in turn, points to one or more SAP profiles, which identify and authenticate the user and specify the functions that he is permitted to perform. In other words, SAP profiles explicitly grant, or deny, access permission to SAP modules – including enterprise resource planning, financial management and supply chain management – to specific users, according to their job function.

Authorization

Authorization profiles for each user identifier are stored in a data record, known as a user master record, which contains information that rarely, if ever, changes. The user master record contains data such as user name, password, user type, authorizations, standard printer settings and standard transaction settings for that user. Note that user authorization can vary according to the type of computer, or server, on which the SAP application is installed.

Instance Profile

To balance the load between or among servers, more than one instance of the SAP application can exist. Each instance is controlled by its own profile, known as an instance profile, which contains configuration settings for resources and services tailored specifically to the requirements of that instance. Instance profiles typically contain settings for main memory, shared memory, buffers and work processes. SAP profiles are stored in a designated directory, or folder, which can be accessed by all the servers in a SAP system if necessary.

Default and Start Profile

Aside from the instance profile, SAP also supports two other types of profile, known as a default profile and a start profile. A default profile simply contains settings that are common to all instances of the SAP application within a SAP system as a whole, while a start profile contains commands that physically start SAP processes. Each instance of SAP has its own start profile, which starts all the processes that instance requires. Note that settings defined in the default profile take precedence over settings defined in the SAP source code. Likewise, settings defined in an instance profile take precedence over settings defined in the default profile.

References

• SAP Help Portal: Profiles
• Sams Teach Yourself SAP in 24 Hours; George W. Anderson