Skip to content

Studies & Degrees in SAP Consulting

SAP is a software company founded in 1972 and based in Walldorf, Germany. It is known mainly for enterprise resource planning (ERP) software: programs that connect a company's core processes, such as finance, procurement, supply chain, manufacturing, human resources and analytics, in one integrated system. ERP is the category of software and SAP is one of the companies that make it. Its main ERP product today is SAP S/4HANA. The company reports more than 110,000 employees and total revenue of €36.8 billion in its 2025 financial year.

SAP consulting is the work of fitting that software to a particular organisation. A consultant studies how the company buys, sells, produces and keeps its accounts, defines what the system must do, configures it, tests it, and trains the people who will use it. Studying SAP consulting therefore means learning two things together: business processes and the software that runs them.

What students learn

Courses are usually organised by functional area. La Salle – Universitat Ramon Llull, for example, describes functional SAP consulting as analysing business processes, identifying business needs and configuring SAP solutions. Its master's programme covers the key processes of an organisation (purchasing, sales, logistics and operations), work in SAP S/4HANA and a specialisation in finance (SAP FI).

Functional consultants work on the business side of the system. Technical profiles, such as developers and system administrators, work on programming, integration and maintenance. Most training programmes for newcomers are functional and focus on one module, often finance or logistics.

Qualifications and levels

SAP consulting is not a regulated profession and there is no official bachelor's degree with this name in Spain. People usually reach it from a degree in business, economics, engineering or computing and then add specific training. There are three common forms.

  • SAP certifications. SAP runs its own certification programme. A candidate who passes receives a digital badge that shows employers the skills certified, and SAP publishes free Learning Journeys to prepare for the exams. A certification is tied to one product or area, for example finance in SAP S/4HANA.
  • University master's programmes (school's own qualification). The Máster de Formación Permanente en Consultoría Funcional SAP of La Salle – Universitat Ramon Llull is taught online in Spanish, lasts nine months and has 60 ECTS credits, with 50 places and a start date of 5 October 2026. It is a título propio issued by the Universitat Ramon Llull, not an official master's degree. Under Spanish rules a Máster de Formación Permanente has 60, 90 or 120 ECTS credits and must be clearly distinguished from official university degrees. The school states that no previous SAP experience is needed and that the programme prepares students for the SAP S/4HANA Finance certification.
  • Short courses. CEU FP Madrid offers a face-to-face Curso de Certificación SAP S/4HANA Financial Accounting at its Moncloa campus, aimed at the certification exam in financial accounting.

Where to study

SpainExchange lists three active schools for SAP consulting, all in Spain: La Salle – Universitat Ramon Llull in Barcelona, CEU FP Madrid and Churruca Formación in Donostia / San Sebastián. The programmes found on the schools' sites are taught in Spanish. Check with each centre which SAP courses it runs at present, since course catalogues in this field change with each software version.

When comparing programmes, look at these points:

  • which SAP product and module the course covers, and whether it is the current version
  • whether students work on a real SAP system
  • whether the certification exam fee is included, and which certification it is
  • whether the result is an SAP certification, a university's own qualification, or a centre's certificate

Careers

Graduates work for consulting firms that implement SAP for clients, or in the IT and finance departments of companies that use it. La Salle lists these roles for its master's programme: functional SAP consultant, SAP FI consultant, SAP S/4HANA consultant, business process consultant and ERP consultant.

Official statistics do not count SAP consultants separately. The closest occupation in the figures of the US Bureau of Labor Statistics is the computer systems analyst, who studies an organisation's computer systems and designs ways to improve efficiency. The Bureau projects employment in that occupation to grow 8 percent from 2025 to 2035. It notes that analysts typically need a bachelor's degree and that some firms hire candidates with a business degree and the relevant skills.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a computing degree to become an SAP consultant?

Not necessarily. Functional consulting is about business processes, and graduates in business, economics or engineering often move into it. The La Salle master's programme states that previous SAP experience is not required.

Is an SAP certification the same as a master's degree?

No. A certification is issued by SAP and shows knowledge of one product or area. A Máster de Formación Permanente is a university's own qualification of 60, 90 or 120 ECTS credits. Some master's programmes prepare students for a certification exam as well.

What is the difference between SAP and ERP?

ERP is a category of software that integrates a company's core business processes. SAP is a company that makes ERP software, and SAP S/4HANA is its main ERP product.

In which language are SAP courses in Spain taught?

The programmes found at the schools listed here are taught in Spanish. The software and much of its documentation also exist in English, so reading English is useful.