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

Hi, Habr! For a long time there were no publications about ERP for medium and small businesses from SAP. Yes, and on other topics, too, was not long ago.

Today we'll talk a little bit about the SAP Business ONE solution. Since the publication of him on Habré, almost 6 years have passed. Let's see how the product has evolved 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 SMB. And not just “availability”, but SAP HANA running-in on SAP Business ONE solution (in-memory platform for SAP Business ONE appeared a few years earlier than for other products). Yes, and immediately for on-premise and cloud users.

SAP Business ONE (version for SAP HANA) is the latest information in real time, using a single platform for transactions and analysis, empowering users to search and interactive analysis tools, simplified IT-landscape.

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

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

In today's article we will consider the following functionality: Branches, Work with fixed assets, Production, Contracts, Storage Bins, Inventory, Multiple units of measure, Check availability of goods in orders, Purchase application, Payment assistant, Access log and Control Panel.

Function Multiple branches ##

Finally, the function of several branches got to the other localizations. Previously, this option was only available 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 reduce the reporting on the company. Or use one database for the company and not see the activities in the context of structural units or branches. And he and the other option is not always acceptable (for example, it is necessary to submit reports in 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 different master data in different branches, with some master data can be shared by branches. • Register various documents created with own master data at the level of different branches.
• Share common data and settings in different branches, for example, products, document settings, etc. • Perform the Closing operation for each branch
• Use affiliates as selection criteria when creating reports
You can assign the following master data to several branches:
• Users
• Business partners
Only one branch office can assign the following master data:
• Warehouses
• Employees
You can assign the following master data to one specific branch or make it available to all branches:
• Ledger accounts
• Document Numbering Series

Fixed assets

Many have been waiting for this functionality. Now SAP Business ONE can manage fixed assets:

• depreciation planning of fixed assets using depreciation methods “Accelerated depreciation”, “Special depreciation”, “Phased depreciation” and “Uniform management of periods”;
• calculation of depreciation of fixed assets by months;
• management of information on fixed assets in the directory of goods and services;
• purchase and sale of fixed assets;
• making payments from cash discount for purchased fixed assets. SAP Business ONE credits the discounted portion of fixed assets by automatically creating a credit note for posting;
• changing the class of fixed assets through the creation of a transfer document;
• correcting depreciation of an asset by creating a manual depreciation document;
• applying multiple sets of accounts to each fixed asset for simultaneously posting the value and movement of the fixed asset to several areas of accounting;
• the revaluation of fixed assets;
• the application of several measurements to fixed assets in accounting for the target center;
• depreciation forecasting;
• depreciation run operation;
• statement of movements of fixed assets;
• viewing 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 of fixed assets from Microsoft Excel files.

Modules Build and Resources ##

SAP Business ONE includes a basic platform for easy production (more precisely, to say the assembly). On the basis of sales documents or MRP forecast, you can create production orders automatically. To create a production order based on the Sales document, you can use the Verification Assistant, which provides step-by-step instructions for the entire document creation process. You can start the wizard by selecting the Purchase Document check box in the Sales document, or directly from the Production module in the main menu of SAP Business ONE. In addition, in the production order you can see which Sales document is associated with the document.

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

The following changes occurred in the Build module:

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

• Component management for specification: This feature allows you to update specifications in bulk. You can add, delete, or change strings in custom specification ranges.
• The Production data tab has been added to the Product and service guide window for entering assembly information.
• The "By-product Handling - Manual Vacation" 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 agreements ##

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

• General framework agreements: for example, to receive a special premium at the end of the year or upon reaching a certain turnover of transactions with a business partner.

• Special framework agreements: used to obtain a special discount for a separate purchase or sale transaction. They are also used to determine the delivery schedule, for example, by specifying intervals at which specified quantities of goods should be delivered.

You can associate sales documents with the framework agreements, which are used as a basis for forecasting expected revenue, reservation and volume planning.
and purchase. In addition, framework agreements are taken into account when calculating cash flow and planning material requirements (MRP, MRP).

Storage places ##

SAP Business ONE supports warehouse storage management (cellular storage). The function of storage bins can be activated for individual warehouses.

With admission, vacation and relocation, 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:

• view information on goods in stock, such as the quantity of goods and the number of goods;
• limiting the destination of storage bins, for example, by a separate lot, product or group of goods;
• restricting the use of storage bins, for example, only for goods receipt or distribution;
• replenishment of stocks when storage levels fall below a certain minimum
• support of group generation, updating and removal of storage bins in order to simplify the process of managing storage bins
• management of serial numbers and batches in storage areas. When assigning serial numbers and lots from storage bins, you can choose to pick the goods by storage bins or data from the serial numbers and lots. 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 to complete the full inventory process. It starts with periodic inventory alerts and includes structured tasks and innovative reports.

Main extensions:

• documents for recording and controlling inventory and posting stock;
• freezing of goods at the time of the inventory;
• recording inventory results and deviations by two inventories;
• addition of the periodic inventory function to the possibility of continuing the inventory process from periodic inventory warnings and recommendations;
• inventory of exact serial numbers and lots;
• inventory support for storage bins;

• inventory reports for consolidating and analyzing existing inventory documents and stock postings;
• inventory toolbar report;
• documents for recording and controlling incoming stock balances;

• inventory by unit of measurement.

  
  
  

Several units of measurement (UI) ****

SAP Business ONE provides the ability to manage products with multiple units of measure (UI). Using multiple UE allows you to sell, purchase, accept and ship products to any desired UI and determine UI by default by type of operation. All sales, procurement, and inventory documents support items with several defined UIs.

This feature includes the following features:

• use of generic and product specific UI without limitation;
• setting up UI groups with conversion rules from basic UI to alternative ones by groups;
• the use of these UI groups in the directory of goods and services, marketing documents and inventory documents;
• IT of sales, procurement and inventory by default and automatic conversion to other applicable IT during processing;
• appropriate expansion of the packaging, EAN code and pricing functions:
  Packaging settings for several UE are included in the product and service directory and are used in sales documents to determine the recommended number of packages;
  for a product with several UE, you can define several EAN codes and different prices for each UE.

Availability of goods in orders ****

The ATP function allows you to respond to customer requests based on an 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.

During the product availability check, a basic ATP report is also created in the orders, 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 particular warehouse?
• Is a certain amount of product available?
• Is a specific item available for shipment on the pick date?
In addition, you can check:
• Available quantity of goods on the requested date of shipment
• Earliest shipment date for full quantity per customer’s order
• Base report on available quantity, providing additional information on product availability. For example, free stocks and receipts available to meet potential orders.

Purchase request ****

In SAP Business ONE, you can conduct internal purchasing processes. A user or employee can create an application document for goods or services and copy it into the supplier’s offer or purchase order (or the purchase manager can do this by collecting bids from all employees / users). If you need to create several documents, you can use the vendor offer generation assistant to create offers to the supplier on the basis of products or orders in groups. In addition, a report on applications is available, providing an overview of the various applications created in the company.

Payment Assistant ##

Payment Assistant is a tool that allows you to create lots 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 been expanded by adding new features and expanding the criteria for selecting documents for payment.

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

• saving script
• saving script and recommendations
• Creation of requests for payment (including generation of an electronic bank file)
• creating a payment request and payment documents

The payment assistant creates a report on recommendations. Using the form setting and displaying the columns with the necessary information, you can select payments for our run:

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

Access log ****

Since 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 check user properties, data access levels at any time and ensure that the system provides an adequate level of security.

Control Panel****

The control panel provides a personalized SAP Business ONE user workstation. With it, you can easily view, search, organize and perform current work tasks and related activities.

By default, SAP Management ONE has 5 control panel options pre-installed:

• Home page
• Finance
• Sales
• Purchases
• Services

In addition, to build your own Control Panel, you can use pre-installed widgets:

• Information panels
• General functions
• Open documents
• Messages and warnings
• Browser

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

In the next article we will take a closer look at the features of the SAP Business ONE version for SAP HANA.

Thank you all for your attention!