SAP Business One

SAP Business One is an integrated enterprise resource planning (ERP) software that targets business software requirements of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) from SAP AG based at Walldorf, Germany.


Structure


SAP Business One contains 14 "core modules":


Administration Module = where configuration is performed

Financials Module = where various accounting and financial activities are conducted

Sales Opportunities Module = where existing customers and potential accounts are structured tracking

Sales Module = where orders are entered, shipped and invoiced

Purchasing Module = where purchase orders are issued and goods received into inventory

Business Partners Module = where Business Partners (customers, vendors, and leads) are contacted and maintained

Banking Module = where cash is received and paid out

Inventory Module = where Inventory is valued and managed

Production Module = where bill of materials is defined and manufacturing is tracked

MRP Module = where purchase and production planning takes place

Service Module = where after-service products are managed

Human Resources Module = where employee information is kept

Reports Module = where system-default and user-defined reports are generated (as on-screen tables, printouts or Excel files)

E-commerce= allowing customers to buy and sell online to consumers or other businesses.


Integration


Integration can be achieved using the SDK component called DIAPI. The DIAPI provides COM based interface to the business objects & business logic of SAP Business One. As those are APIs, using them requires software development skills. More simple way to achieve an integration is using the SAP Business One integration platform (a.k.a. B1i) the integration platform enables simple (XML based) definition of integration scenarios. the B1i platform is being used for integration with SAP's large enterprise systems R/3.


Integration needs are present even for small business users. For example, SAP Business One offers a client/server and Microsoft Windows GUI only. It is also limited to a single chart of accounts. Obviously, many of the potential users of SAP Business One need integration of their existing websites, consolidation of multiple ERP systems and other integration solutions. The Business One SDK provides some other components that allow development of addons to the Business One Application. Developers that use the SDK can share their knowledge and experience on the SAP Development Network (SDN). At the end of 2006, the product reached 13,000 customers worldwide.