Definition: A client is the grouping of several legally independent units that pursue a common purpose, such as a corporation.
The client is at the top level of the organizational structure. Central control tables are maintained at this level. While the program logic (in ABAP) generally runs across clients in SAP, processes can be configured dependent on the client. With increasing globalization and the standardization of corporate-wide processes, the single-client concept has gained in importance. Only within a client can cross-module processes be configured to fully integrate materials management with finance and controlling. Consolidating SAP systems within a corporation in today’s world means migrating organizational data, master data, and transactional data to a single SAP system with only one SAP client.