Users must be setup and roles assigned to user master records before you can use the SAP System.

A user can only log on to the system if he or she has a user master record with a password. A user menu and authorizations are also assigned to the user master record via one or more roles.

Roles are collections of activities which allow a user to use one or more business scenarios of an organization. The transactions, reports and web-based applications in the roles are accessed via user menus. User menus should only contain the typical functions in the daily work of a particular user.

The integrity of business data is also ensured by the assignment of roles. Authorization profiles are generated which restrict the activities of users in the SAP System, depending on the activities in the roles.

The mySAP.com Workplace offers users a role-based portal to perform his or her tasks via a web browser. This is documented in SAPNet under the alias Workplace. The following notes refer to the R/3 user administration and role maintenance.

Data is also protected in the SAP System by the following mechanisms as well as the assignment of authorizations described in the following sections:

• Secure Network Communication (SNC)
• Secure data formats (Secure Store and Forward (SSF))
• Internet security
• System passwords
• Database access
• Transport system
• Individual directory structures for the SAP System and so on