Business ONE: ERP for small businesses exists. And he too

Hello, Habr! For a long time there were no publications about ERP for medium and small business from the company SAP. And on other topics, too, has long been gone.

Today we’ll talk a little about the SAP Business ONE solution. Almost 6 years have passed since the publication of him on Habré. Let's see how the product has developed in recent years.

And much has been done, including important for Russia. Let us dwell on the major innovations of this ERP.

The largest is the availability of SAP HANA for SMBs. And not just “availability”, but running SAP HANA on the SAP Business ONE solution (the in-memory platform for SAP Business ONE appeared several years earlier than for other products). Yes, and immediately for on-premise and cloud users.

SAP Business ONE (version for SAP HANA) - this is real-time information in real time, the use of a single platform for transactions and analysis, the expansion of user capabilities for search and interactive analysis tools, a simplified IT landscape.

The capabilities of SAP HANA in terms of computing and analytics are enormous, therefore, a separate article will be devoted to the solution of SAP Business ONE version for SAP HANA.

In SAP Business ONE 9.2, access via a browser is added. Now the company’s employees can use workstations on Linux and MacOS (the “thick” client is available only in the Windows version), and also have access to relevant information anytime, anywhere - the main thing is to have the Internet and a browser at hand. We will also dwell on this in more detail separately, and now to the basics.

In today's article, we consider the following functionality: Branches, Work with fixed assets, Production, Contracts, Warehousing, Inventory, Multiple units, Checking the availability of goods in orders, Purchase requisition, Payment Assistant, Access Log and Control Panel.

Function Multiple Affiliates ##

Finally, the function of several branches reached the remaining localizations. Previously, this option was available only for Brazil. The functionality is very interesting and informative: it allows you to work with different branches / functional units in one company database. You can, of course, work in different databases for different branches and then somehow consolidate the reporting of the company. Or use one database for the company and not see the activity in the context of structural units or branches. Both the one and the other option are not always acceptable (for example, it is necessary to submit reports in the subject of the presence of the branch) and does not reflect the real state of affairs of the company’s branches.

Activating this feature allows you to:

• Register various master data in different branches, while some master data can be used jointly by the branches. • Register various documents created with your own master data at the level of different branches.
• Share common data and settings in different branches, for example, goods, document settings, etc. • Perform a Closing Period for each branch
• Use branches as selection criteria when creating reports You
can assign the following basic data to several branches:
• Users
• Business partners
Only one branch can be assigned the following master data:
• Warehouses
• Employees
The following master data can be assigned to one specific branch or made available to all branches:
• G / L accounts
• Document numbering series

Fixed assets

This functionality was expected by many. Now SAP Business ONE can manage fixed assets:

• Depreciation planning for fixed assets using the depreciation methods Accelerated Depreciation, Special Depreciation, Phased Depreciation, and Uniform Period Management
• calculation of depreciation of fixed assets for months;
• management of information on fixed assets in the directory of goods and services;
• purchase and sale of fixed assets;
• creation of cash discounts for purchased fixed assets. SAP Business ONE credits the discounted portion of fixed assets by automatically creating a credit posting memo;
• Changing the class of fixed assets by creating a transfer document
• adjusting depreciation of a fixed asset by manually creating a depreciation document;
• the application of several sets of accounts to each fixed asset for the simultaneous posting of the value and movement of fixed assets in several areas of accounting;
• revaluation of fixed assets;
• application of several measurements to fixed assets in accounting for fixed assets;
• depreciation forecasting;
• depreciation run operation
• statement of movements of fixed assets;
• View the statuses and details of the movement of fixed assets using the following two new reports:

• report on the status of fixed assets;
• report on the movement of fixed assets;

• Import fixed assets from Microsoft Excel files.

Modules Assembly and Resources ##

SAP Business ONE includes a basic platform for easy production (assembly will be more precise). Based on sales documents or MRP forecast, you can create Production Orders automatically. To create a production order taking into account the Sales document, you can use the Confirmation Assistant, which provides step-by-step instructions for the entire process of creating the document. You can start the wizard by selecting the Purchasing Document check box in the Sales document, or directly from the Production module in the SAP Business ONE main menu. In addition, in the production order, you can see which Sales document the document is associated with.

The Resources module is an extension of the Assembly module. Unlike goods, resources have available capacity for a period that can be assigned to production orders. The consumption of resources in the production process increases the overall production costs, which can be divided into basic types of costs for further accounting.

The following changes have occurred in the Assembly module:

• In BOMs and Production Orders (besides goods), resources and text strings can now be included. A new column for the NP account has also been added, in which you can assign a default NP account to each product or resource. The invoice indicated here is used in released production orders and assembly holidays. The new column Additional quantity allows you to enter the consumption of resources and goods, in addition to the consumption defined in the BOM. In the Specification window, you can change the order of the lines using the up and down arrows. The established order is reflected in production orders. You can add custom fields to the specification that will be reflected in production orders.

• Component management for a specification: This feature allows bulk updating of specifications. You can add, remove, or change lines in custom specification ranges.
• The Production Data tab has been added to the Product and Services Directory window for entering assembly information.
• The By-Product Processing - Manual Issue method is now supported for by-product components in production orders and is reflected in the receipt from the assembly. This new feature allows you to manually update the cost of by-products.

Framework agreement ##

How many people know that SAP Business ONE allows you to fix master contracts to reflect long-term sales or purchase agreements concluded with business partners? You can create framework agreements of two types:

• General framework agreements: for example, to receive a special bonus at the end of the year or after reaching a certain transaction volume with a business partner.

• Special master contracts: used to receive special discounts for a single purchase or sale transaction. They are also used to determine the delivery schedule, for example, by setting intervals at which agreed volumes of goods should be delivered.

You can link sales
and purchase documents to master contracts, which are used as the basis for forecasting expected revenue, reserving and planning volumes . In addition, master contracts are taken into account when calculating cash flows and planning material requirements (MRP, MRP).

Storage Bins ##

SAP Business ONE supports the management of storage bins for warehouses (mesh storage). The storage bin function can be activated for individual warehouses.

Upon receipt, issue, and transfer, SAP Business ONE allows you to automate the process of assigning goods to storage bins. Assignment can also be done manually.

Functions available when activating storage bins:

• viewing information on goods in stock, such as the quantity of goods and the number of goods;
• restriction of the appointment of storage bins, for example, by a separate batch, product or group of goods;
• limitation of the use of storage bins, for example, only for the receipt or issue of material;
• replenishment of stocks when storage levels fall below a certain minimum
• Support for group generation, updating and deletion of storage bins to simplify the process of managing storage bins
• management of serial numbers and batches in storage places. When assigning serial numbers and batches from storage bins, you can choose picking goods according to storage bins or data from serial numbers and batches. In addition, information on storage bins can be viewed in reports on operations with serial numbers and batches.

Inventory ##
SAP Business ONE provides new features for the complete inventory process. It starts with periodic inventory alerts and includes structured tasks and innovative reports.

Major extensions:

• documents for recording and controlling inventory and posting stock;
• freezing of goods during the inventory;
• recording the results of the inventory and rejection by two inventors;
• supplementing the function of the periodic inventory with the possibility of continuing the inventory process from warnings about the periodic inventory and recommendations;
• inventory of accurate serial numbers and batches;
• inventory support for storage bins;

• inventory reports to consolidate and analyze existing inventory and posting documents;
• inventory recommendations toolbar report;
• documents for recording and controlling incoming stock balances;

• unit inventory.

  
  
  

Multiple Units of Measure (EI) ****

SAP Business ONE provides the ability to manage products with multiple units. Using several UIs allows you to sell, purchase, accept and ship products in any necessary UI and determine the default UI by type of operation. All sales documents, procurement documents and stocks support goods with several defined ITUs.

This feature includes the following features:

• the use of common and product-specific UI without limitation;
• Configuring UI groups with rules for converting from basic UIs to alternative ones by groups;
• the use of these groups of information sources in the directory of goods and services, marketing documents and inventory documents;
• Default sales, purchasing, and inventory units, and automatic conversion to other applicable units during transaction processing;
• corresponding expansion of the functions of packaging, EAN code and price calculation:
  packaging settings for several UIs are included in the directory of goods and services and are used in trade documents to determine the recommended number of packages;
  For an item with multiple units, you can define several EAN codes and different prices for each unit.

Availability of goods in orders ****

The ATP function allows you to respond to customer requests, taking into account the analysis of all open customer orders, purchase orders and production orders. You can start checking the available quantity of required goods from the warehouse report.

In the course of checking the availability of goods in orders, an ATP basic report is also created, which includes additional information.

Checking the availability of goods allows you to find out:

• Is a certain product available
• Is there a specific product in a specific warehouse
• Is a certain quantity of goods
available • Is a certain product available for shipment at the picking date
You can also check:
• Available quantity of goods at the requested shipment date
• Earliest shipping date for full quantities by customer order
• A basic report on the quantity available, providing additional information on the availability of the goods. For example, free stocks and receipts available to meet potential orders.

Application for purchase ****

In SAP Business ONE, you can conduct internal procurement processes. The user or employee can create an application document for goods or services and copy it into the supplier’s proposal or purchase order (or the purchasing manager can do this by collecting requests from all employees / users). If you need to create several documents, you can use the vendor generation assistant to group create quotes for the vendor based on goods or bids. In addition, an application report is available that provides an overview of the various applications created by the company.

Payment Assistant ##

The payment assistant is a tool that allows you to create batches of outgoing and incoming payments for bank transfers and checks. The assistant has been significantly improved and its use has become easier, and its capabilities have expanded due to the addition of new functions and the expansion of the criteria for selecting documents for payment.

The result of the work of the Payment Assistant may be:

• save script
• saving script and recommendations
• creation of applications for payment (including the generation of an electronic banking file)
• creation of a request for payment and payment documents

The payment assistant generates a recommendation report. Using the form settings and displaying the columns with the necessary information, you can select the payments for our run:

Here we can add the Payment lines manually.
Based on the results, we can print Payment orders and Reports based on the results of the run:

Access Log ****

From version 8.81, SAP Business ONE has received the Access Log functionality. This Journal contains information about user access. Thus, system administrators or system auditors can at any time check the properties of users, levels of access to data and make sure that the system provides an adequate level of security.

Control Panel****

The control panel provides a personalized workplace for the SAP Business ONE user. With it, you can easily view, search, organize and carry out current work tasks and related activities.

By default, SAP Business ONE has 5 pre-configured Control Panel options:

• Home page
• Finance
• Sales
• Procurement
• Services

In addition, to build your own Control Panel, you can use the predefined widgets:

• Dashboards
• Common Functions
• Open documents
• Messages and Warnings
• Browser

This concludes the brief overview of the innovations in SAP Business ONE. Comment, share your impression, ask questions.

The following article will take a closer look at the features of the SAP Business ONE version for SAP HANA.

Thank you all for your attention!