Answer / prasadjrn

CONFIGURATION: we will configure the system to meet the
needs of your business by using the existing data.

CUSTOMIZING: we will customize or adapt the system to your
business requirements, which is the process of mapping SAP
to your business process.

Configuration vs. Customization:

When considering enterprise software of any type, it is
important to understand the difference between configuration
and customization. The crux of the difference is
“complexity”. Configuration uses the inherent flexibility of
the enterprise software to add fields, change field names,
modify drop-down lists, or add buttons. Configurations are
made using powerful built-in tool sets. Customization on the
other hand, involves code changes to create functionality
that is not available through configuration. Customization
can be costly and can complicate future upgrades to the
software because the code changes may not easily migrate to
the new version. Wherever possible, companies should avoid
customization by using configuration to meet their goals.
Companies also should understand their vendor's particular
terminology with regard to this issue since words like
"modifications" or "extensions" often mean different things
to different vendors.

Regards,
Prasad JRN

Answer / mahender

configuration is arranging or mapping business scenario's
provided by the sap standard systematic approach .where as
customization arises when there is gap in between the sap
standard and business requirement,at that time we need to
custom the sap as per requirement .For this sap has
provided us uerexits, routines, and abap programme editors
etc., are give to use for customization

Answer / durga

Hi
Difference between configuration and custamization in a
nutshell answer is

Configuration:
Mapping business to SAP(or any software)

Customization :
Mapping Sap to Business

new explanations are welcome

Answer / shashank

Configuration is done based on the NEEDS of business
requirements .For Example : Adding fields in dropdown list .

Customization is where we ADAPT the based on business
requirements. Cusomization once done is difficult to
modify .

Answer / siva

Dear Friend,
Im not sure if my assumption for the answer is correct.

In customisation you customise with the existing set up.

For eg: extend the existing sales office to other Sales org
as well

In configuration you create a unit itself
For eg: Create a new sales org.

In short customisation is part of configuration.

Im assuming the answer by the process we follow,
we create a configuration document only if in case there
was a new additonal unit created.
In case if there is only assignment or changes with the
existing data we create only Scoping document and not
Configuration document

Correct me if I am wrong.

Thanks and regards
Siva

Answer / pbb

My understanding of the difference between customization
and configuration boils down to coding and development
(customization) versus a vendor-supplied menu- or wizard-
driven approach (configuration). Bhavin provided a good
example of the difference using an analogy about buying a
car: Configuration is the options you can select when
buying the car (eg, paint color, seat fabric, even floor
mats). Customization are any options or alterations not
offered when buying a car (eg, Turbo boost, different
stereo system, custom wheels).
When you configure a software program (eg, develop custom
code to change or extend functionality), there's always a
chance the code won't work when the vendor introduces the
next release, so extra validation steps are required. In
the case of major upgrades, customization can be just as
demanding and time-consuming as migrating to a whole new
application, as broken functionality may have to be
redeveloped from scratch. The cost in personnel and time is
one reason to want to avoid customization.

Answer / sridhar reddy

customization means to make or change according to the
requirement of the clients.
configuration means arranging in a particular way

Answer / anand

Configuration means changing xml and nls properties.
customization means changing jsp and behaviour class

Answer / nk8426

Customization - word itself explains us...i.e., using the
standard system available making few changes as per client
requirement.

Configuration - means... as per business(client) requirement
developing / creating a new feature or new structure.

In other words we do not configure new sales doc type...
what we do is customize i.e., the available standard doc
with few changes as per client needs.

Answer / madhusudhan

Hai,
There is a lot of misconception on Customisation and
Configuration, according to my knowledge both are same.

In material determination how you configure the system should propose when product A is not available then only system substitute with product B. If A is available 60% quantity.How do u do in that situation?

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