SAP Business One - The Practical Handbook No. 6

Anyone who wants to seriously use SAP Business One needs more than one Online Help. Helmut Hochberger's practical handbook has been the most comprehensive German-language work on this ERP solution for years. The 6th, updated and expanded edition was published in 2026 by Rheinwerk Verlag and, for the first time, also covers the three new topic areas of Production, Material Requirements Planning, and Resources. Enough reason for a closer look.

Who wrote the book?

Helmut Hochberger is a long-standing SAP Business One partner and consultant. He took over the practical handbook, originally conceived by Robert Mayerhofer, from Release 8.8 onwards and has continued it ever since. The 6th edition is entirely by Hochberger. His approach shapes the entire work: fundamental business principles and programme operation are consistently presented together. Anyone reading about purchasing in a chapter will first have the business aspects explained to them – and only then the steps within the system.

Who is this book suitable for?

The authors expressly address the book to every user of SAP Business One. This includes beginners as well as experienced users. The foreword by editor Eva Tripp aptly describes the book: it presents the complete SAP Business One solution and helps to utilise all functions and possibilities of the software.

Chapter 2 of the book states: SAP Business One is aimed at small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) starting from one workstation. The software is also suitable for subsidiaries of multinational corporations, as implementation costs and time are significantly lower compared to SAP S/4HANA or SAP Business All-in-One. The book therefore addresses precisely the target audience that the software itself aims for.

Structure and chapter breakdown

The book is divided into 19 chapters plus an appendix. The structure follows a clear learning path:

Basics first. Chapter 1 opens with explanations on how to work with this book. Building on this, Chapter 2 positions SAP Business One within SAP's product portfolio. Chapter 3 is then dedicated to the fundamental operation of the program — from installation and getting started, through navigation, to master data management. According to the book, this foundation applies equally to all modules.

Logistics and Purchasing/Sales. Chapters 4 to 7 cover master data, purchasing, sales, and warehouse management. The warehouse management chapter goes into depth, covering stock valuation methods such as FIFO and moving average price, pricing and price lists, serial number and batch management, as well as warehouse location management and stocktaking.

New in this edition: Production, MRP and Resources. Chapters 8 to 10 are entirely new. They cover the production process in SAP Business One, bills of materials and production orders, material requirements planning with the MRP wizard, and resource management. These enhancements are discussed in more detail in the following section.

Finance and CRM. Chapters 11 to 13 cover framework agreements, finance, and banking transactions. In finance, cost accounting with cost centres and projects, as well as foreign currency bookings, are also addressed. Chapters 14 and 15 are dedicated to sales opportunities and campaign management – both of which are now grouped under the CRM programme item.

Service, Personnel and Project Management. Chapter 16 introduces the Service Module. The book explicitly highlights here: SAP Business One is one of the few software packages that functionally covers the service sector. Chapter 17 deals with the Human Resources Module, Chapter 18 with Project Management.

Highlights and cross-cutting themes. Chapter 19 concludes with a collection of cross-module functions: alarm functions, approval processes, Drag & Relate, Excel import, configurable user interface, GDPR tools, 360° customer view and Analytical Portal.

The annex contains three parts: a compact overview of SAP Business One, an overview of new features, and the author biographies.

What's new in the 6th edition?

The biggest expansion compared to the 4th edition concerns production topics. Chapter 8 covers the production process completely: bills of materials with production and sales-oriented variants, route steps, scheduling in the bill of materials, and production orders including serial numbers and batches. The chapter also explains standard cost management and the allocation of standard costs in production.

Chapter 9 on Material Requirements Planning (MRP) builds directly on this. It describes the prerequisites in the item master, the configuration of forecasts, the planning assistant, and the interpretation of order recommendations.

Chapter 10 rounds off the trio: it explains resource master data, resource capacities and the use of resources in production, MRP and project management.

These three chapters make the book significantly more useful for manufacturing companies than any previous editions.

Another highlight of this edition is the GDPR chapter in Chapter 19. It describes how to activate GDPR tools in SAP Business One, manage personal data, and use the data management assistant. An access log for sensitive personal data is also explained.

Teaching concept

The book is explicitly designed for self-study. Each chapter concludes with practice exercises. The authors focus on structured learning paths: first comes the business management classification, then the programme operation. Information boxes and tips break up the text.

What is remarkable is the authors' approach to the target audience: the book is designed to help beginners get started, while also showing experienced users new or forgotten functions. This ambition runs consistently through all the chapters.

Technical Coverage: SQL and SAP HANA

A practical point: the book covers both database platforms. Chapter 3 explains the cockpit separately for SQL-based and SAP HANA-based installations. In the HANA variant, the book goes into detail on Fiori cockpits, widgets, and the workbench view. Therefore, those who operate SAP Business One on HANA will find specific instructions rather than generic descriptions.

Those who want to know not only how, but also why

„SAP Business One – The Practical Handbook“ in its 6th edition is the most comprehensive German-language reference work on SAP Business One Release 10.0. With around 950 pages, it covers almost all functional areas of the software – from basic programme operation, logistics and finance to the newly added production and planning chapters.

The book is suitable for users in SMEs who use SAP Business One daily and want to understand it. It is also suitable for consultants who need a structured reference. Anyone working in a manufacturing company and using or intending to implement the production, MRP or resource modules of SAP Business One will find a complete description of these areas in German for the first time in this edition.

The business-economic justification sets the book apart from pure click-through guides. Anyone who doesn't just want to know, like man etwas in SAP Business One macht, sondern auch Why, is absolutely right with this practical guide.

Helmut Hochberger: SAP Business One – The Practical Handbook, 6th, updated and expanded edition 2026, © Rheinwerk Verlag, Bonn 2026, ISBN 978-3-8362-9285-6 (E-book), ISBN 978-3-8362-9317-4 (Bundle)

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