The SAP Story: What a Cow Taught the World About Enterprise Software
- Jun 9
- 1 min read
The Evolution of SAP offers great lessons in storytelling as this is the oldest continuously evolving IT system. Enterprise software suites like SAP are built on thousands of interconnected software patents rather than a single master filing. However, the structural backbone of early SAP PLM—which integrated mechanical CAD models directly into the ERP database master logic—rests on this early, foundational system utility patent filed by SAP and it is a fascinating read into the very backbone of product design and assembly today. In early PLM, different companies used entirely different codes for the same exact material (e.g., a buyer's system vs. a supplier's database). This invention built an electronic translation backbone directly inside the enterprise system so that heterogeneous data objects could be recognized seamlessly across corporate boundaries without semantic errors.
The Real Patent Link: US Patent Application US13/928,074 / Publication US20130290144A1: Collaborative product taxonomy instantiation
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