SAP B1 blog

The stepwise analysis is part of the module opportunities (Sales Opportunities). This module is used to track potential transactions from initial contact through to conclusion. An Opportunity can be created for a customer, a sales lead, or a supplier.

Every opportunity goes through stages that map progress in the business process - typically from „Lead" to „Qualified",„offer"and „Negotiation" through to „Won" or „Lost". These stages are on the „Stages" tab of the same name within the opportunity defined and managed. New stages can be added using the „Next Stage" function; the last stage can be duplicated or deleted.

Each stage can be assigned a closing percentage (close %). The value of the last active stage indicates the current progress of the opportunity and is included in weighted pipeline calculations.

Steps can be linked to receipts: Via the „Receipt type" and „Document number"For example, an offer or a customer order can be assigned to a specific phase. If the „Display GP documents" checkbox is ticked, only documents from the current business partner are available for selection; otherwise, all documents in the system are available.

The stage analysis allows you to get an overview of the status of all opportunities at a glance, identify bottlenecks in the pipeline, and create well-founded sales forecasts. Without this module, potential deals would have to be managed externally, which would complicate data integration and the reporting would significantly impede within SAP Business One.

The stage analysis is not a standalone report, but rather the structured evaluation of the stage tab across all open opportunities. It should not be confused with the sales pipeline, which is a purely visual representation – the stage analysis provides the underlying data. It should also be distinguished from the Activity Management In SAP Business One, Activities (calls, meetings, tasks) can be linked to Opportunities, but they do not represent stages in the sense of stage analysis.