SAP B1 blog

That Functional package FP 2608 enhances SAP Business One 10.0 in three areas that users will notice directly in their day-to-day operations. The Web Client is getting three new, deeply integrated reports. Account reconciliation is becoming significantly more structured through new applications for external reconciliation. And for the first time, the Service Layer allows developers to control event data and event triggering themselves.

Three new reports in the web client

SAP Business One 10.0 FP 2608 brings three new applications into the Evaluation Group of the Web Client. All three follow the same structural principle: a hierarchical table provides aggregated KPIs, a click on a row opens a detail table containing the underlying individual transactions, and from there the path leads directly to the source documents.

General ledger report: comprehensive audit trail of financial activities

The general ledger report (in the system: General Ledger Report) provides an unbroken audit trail of financial activities. Two predefined views are available. The general ledger view totals all postings at the general ledger account level. The business partner view, on the other hand, summarises all postings per customer, vendor, or both. Users can group and total the table by multiple dimensions simultaneously, such as by business partner name, posting date, debit/credit total, or year-to-date balance. From a totalled row, the user can jump to the detailed table containing all individual transactions for the respective business partner, and from there drill down further to general ledger accounts, journal entries, and source documents.

Purchasing analysis report: extended purchasing evaluation

The purchase analysis report (in the system: Purchase Analysis Report) goes beyond traditional period-based evaluations and offers two levels of detail: header data only, or header and line data combined. The hierarchical table can be grouped by supplier, for example, and shows quantities, costs and totals across years and quarters. In addition, the user can sort and filter the table, such as descending by supplier code or restricted to a single item. The detail table then shows all contributing transactions along with journal entries. With a single click, the user can access purchase invoices, item master data and journal entries.

Stock movement report: keeping an eye on inventory changes

The inventory movement report (in the system: Inventory Movement Report) tracks stock movements by quantity and value over time: goods receipt, sale, transfer, adjustment and return. Here too, SAP provides predefined views with a focus on sales, purchasing and inventory activities. An example view focusing on sales-driven inventory issues shows stock movement and financial performance broken down by customer, item and sales employee, including values, costs, quantities and profitability metrics. Here too, the detail table leads directly to sales documents, item master data and journal entries.

More selection fields, more flexible filters

All three web client evaluations offer more selectable fields for analysis compared to the corresponding original reports in the SAP Business One client. At the same time, filter conditions can be set more flexibly, such as by document types, date ranges or business partners. As a result, users work directly in the web client with a depth of analysis that previously required additional evaluations.

Account reconciliation: new structure for external reconciliation

FP 2608 introduces a new group for the banking sector in the Web Client. This contains the new applications for external account reconciliation, which, according to SAP, will change how G/L accounts and business partners are reconciled.

Manual bank reconciliation for quick account statement comparison

The Manual Bank Reconciliation (in the system: Manual Bank Reconciliation) is suitable for quick matching against a physical bank statement. The user selects the account, enters the bank statement details, reviews the open transactions and selects the matching ones. Balancing entries are available for small differences, such as bank charges. If the amounts match, the user completes the reconciliation.

External account reconciliation with three modes

External reconciliation covers both bank and business partner account statements and offers three working methods for this purpose.

In the mode Manual The user sets a date range, selects suitable pairs and reconciles them. If necessary, they can generate a reconciling entry directly.

In the mode Semi-automatic the web client provides intelligent suggestions while the user retains control. They define matching criteria, select a transaction or bank statement item, and the system suggests suitable matches. The "Proceed to next entry" function makes it possible to work through the list without switching dialogues. The user checks the suggestions, selects a match and reconciles.

In the mode Automatic the system processes large volumes in a single pass, based on previously defined parameters. The reconciliation runs automatically, and unmatched open transactions remain for further review.

The reconciliation history at a glance

The reconciliation history (in the system: Reconciliation History) shows the history of all reconciliation processes. Details can be retrieved per row, and a reconciliation that has already been carried out can be cancelled.

SAP explicitly names bank statement reconciliation and business partner statement reconciliation as affected processes. There is no information available regarding the classic payment wizard or previous bank statement processing.

Service Layer: more control over webhooks

Of the Service Layer receives two enhancements to the webhooks.

Customisation of event data: custom fields in the event

The payload of an event is in JSON format. Previously, only standard fields and key fields were available in it. As of FP 2608, the developer adds custom fields directly during event subscription. This eliminates the need for an additional service layer call to the OData service to reload detailed information. In the case of a sales order, for example, document numbers, business partner codes and document totals can be included as header fields directly in the subscription instead of subsequently querying them separately. The exact technical field identifiers for these header fields are not literally assigned as official service layer property names. Anyone using the function in a productive environment should therefore check the specific property names against the official service layer documentation.

Conditional event triggering: linking events to conditions

With Conditional Event Triggering, the developer defines a business condition as an expression, known as a conditional event formula. The formula is evaluated as a boolean value, thereby providing granular control over when an event is actually triggered at runtime.

SAP gives two examples. An event for newly created articles only triggers if the first three letters of a new article are „ABC“. It remains open whether this refers to the article name or the article number. An event for new orders only triggers if two conditions are met simultaneously: the due date is within seven days and the document total exceeds 1,000. The formula works in a similar way to a formula for user-defined values and can also be applied to other business scenarios.

In the demo, a user creates a sales order with printer line items in the web client. The document total is over 1,000, and the delivery date is two days in the future. The event triggers, and the notification arrives with the requested data.

No information is currently available regarding any incompatible changes or the discontinuation of functions at the service layer.

Custom values: automatic updates expanded

For user-defined values (UDV in the system), a formula can be defined for a customisable field. From FP 2608 onwards, two additional control methods are available for this.

The "On events" option automatically updates the field value as soon as a business document or business object is added or updated. The "On field changes or events" option goes a step further and additionally updates the field value when other field values change.

In the demo, the user configures the delivery date for a sales order as „posting date plus one week“. The posting date serves as the triggering field, and Add and Update is selected in the event selection field. If the posting date changes, the system automatically adjusts the delivery date accordingly.

Furthermore, custom values are now available for additional business objects: landed costs, inventory postings, inventory opening balances, and resources (in the system: Landed Costs, Inventory Postings, Inventory Opening Balances, Resources). They can be accessed either via the respective object detail view or via the central Custom Values application.

Classification

FP 2608 targets three separate areas that complement each other. With the three new reports, users get deeper analyses directly in the web client without having to resort to external evaluation tools. The finance department also benefits from the new applications for external account reconciliation, which structure the reconciliation process and handle it manually, semi-automatically or fully automatically depending on the volume. Developers, in turn, gain more control over what data an event supplies and when it is actually triggered thanks to the two service layer extensions. The extension of user-defined values rounds off the feature pack and makes automatic field updates more widely applicable.

This article is based on a single source: an SAP feature presentation on FP 2608 in the form of a transcript, not an official SAP release document. Detailed information such as exact service layer field names, specific menu paths and prerequisites for the upgrade must therefore be checked against official SAP documentation prior to productive use.