Questions and answers about SAP Business One fields and functions.
STRAIN DATA
Master data / User
A user is a person who works in SAP Business One and accesses the programme via a user code and password.
To create a new user in SAP Business One, open the "User - Definition" window and enter all relevant data in the "General" tab.
A superuser is a user who is granted all authorisations in SAP Business One and can therefore use all the programme's functions.
To create a superuser in SAP Business One, tick the "Superuser" checkbox in the "Users - Setup" window.
One Named User Licence is a user licence that is assigned to a specific employee in the company.
Since Release 9.2, the user code entry in SAP Business One is limited to 25 characters.
The password in SAP Business One must be at least four and no more than eight characters long.
To change a password in SAP Business One, click on the "Enter password" button and enter the new password in the window that opens.
If you activate the "Password never expires" checkbox, the user does not have to change the password after a certain time.
The checkbox "Change password at next login" forces the user to change the password at the next login.
A branch in SAP Business One is a location of the company where certain business activities take place.
A department in SAP Business One is a grouping of employees who perform similar tasks.
To assign a user group to a user, click on the "Assign authorisation groups to the user" button and select the corresponding group.
A mobile user licence allows a user to access SAP Business One via a smartphone app.
The Mobile Device ID in SAP Business One
Password management is a function that contains certain specifications for the password chosen by the user. It consists of various fields such as the security level, expiry date, minimum length and the number of authentications.
The security level is a predefined category that determines the contents of the following fields. The security levels Low, Medium, High and User-defined are available for selection. The contents are fixed and cannot be changed.
The expiry date describes the number of days after which the password must be renewed by the user. After this period has expired, the user receives a request to change the password when entering.
The following fields can only be entered or changed if you select the security level User-defined. For all other security levels the fields are already predefined.
The specifications concerning the composition of the password are the minimum length, the minimum number of upper case letters, lower case letters, digits and non-alphanumeric characters.
For example, the new password must not be the same as the last three passwords. To do this, enter the number "3" in this field. The higher the number, the higher the security level.
Enter the number of attempts available to a user to enter the user name and password correctly when accessing SAP Business One. If you enter "-1" here, the user has an infinite number of attempts.
If the specified number of attempts to log on to SAP Business One is exceeded, the user is locked and can only be unlocked by a superuser.
Enter an example here of how the user's password should be composed. This example password is used to help the user choose their own password. When a new password is created, SAP Business One checks whether this requirement has been met.
The user must change the initial sample password when entering for the first time and enter a new password of his or her own choice.
The "Low" security level is set by default in SAP Business One. The password must be at least six characters long and not fulfil any other requirements. The expiry date is set to 90 days.
The "Medium" security level requires a password that must be at least eight characters long. It must contain at least one number or special character and one upper or lower case letter. The expiry date is set to 60 days.
The "High" security level requires a password that must be at least eight characters long. It must contain at least one number and one special character as well as at least one upper case letter and one lower case letter. The expiry date is set to 30 days.
Master data / Business partner
A business partner is a person, company, organisation, institution or authority that is related to one's own company.
The business partner master data is a kind of collection of all partner-relevant data that is necessary for your own business.
There are three basic categories of business partner master data in SAP Business One: prospects, customers and suppliers.
Yes, due to the large number of additional fields available to you in the business partner master data, you can also create data beyond these categories.
The window for the business partner master data can be found in the main menu under Business Partner ? Business Partner Master Data.
The window for the business partner master data can be found in the main menu under Business Partner ? Business Partner Master Data.
The business partner master data window is divided into header data, business partner information and other thematically collected information on the tabs.
In the header data of the business partner there are fields such as the code, the name, the VAT number and the type of the business partner.
The business partner code must be unique and must not have already been used for another business partner or G/L account.
Yes, you have the option to set a number series for the business partner.
A customer has authorisation for all sales documents, opportunities and service calls.
Compared to the customer, a prospect has only limited authorisations for the sales documents quotation and order as well as for opportunities. He has no authorisations for service calls, deliveries or outgoing invoices. A supplier has authorisation for all purchasing documents.
The field for the name of the business partner is limited to 100 characters.
The foreign language name can be used as a second name field or as a translation of the name (if only one foreign language is needed).
You can select a group for the business partner from a list of values.
Groups are rough categorisations for business partners that are used for classification and evaluation.
The account balance shows the current balance of all outgoing invoices minus payments made by customers and minus credit notes you have granted to the customer.
The UID number is a unique identification number of the business partner in SAP Business One, which you can enter in the corresponding field. The system checks the correctness of the country code and the length of the UID number and warns you if it is entered incorrectly.
The "Opportunities" field shows the number of open opportunities in sales and takes you to the opportunity report window.
The "Orders" or "Purchase orders" field shows the current status of open orders for a customer or the current status of open purchase orders for a supplier. Clicking on the orange arrow takes you to the Sales order balance or Purchase order balance window, where you can view further information. Click on the orange arrow next to the date again to go to the actual order.
The "Orders" or "Purchase orders" field shows the current status of open orders for a customer or the current status of open purchase orders for a supplier. Clicking on the orange arrow takes you to the Sales order balance or Purchase order balance window, where you can view further information. Click on the orange arrow next to the date again to go to the actual order.
On the "General" tab, general information about the business partner can be entered, such as contact details, shipping method, password, assignment indicator, business partner type, contact person, ID no. 2, remarks, sales employee/buyer, GP channel code, technician, territory, language, alias name, GLN, block sending of marketing content and activity.
Information on the business partner's contact persons, such as name, telephone number, e-mail address and function, can be entered on the "Contact person" tab.
Various addresses of the business partner can be entered on the "Addresses" tab, e.g. delivery address, billing address or PO box.
The terms of payment for the business partner can be entered on the "Terms of payment" tab, e.g. payment term, discount and payment method.
On the "Accounting" tab, you can enter information about the business partner's accounting, such as tax number, VAT ID and account number.
Specific properties of the business partner can be entered on the "Properties" tab, e.g. customer number, supplier number or article number.
On the "Attachments" tab, documents or files relating to the business partner can be uploaded as attachments, e.g. contracts, orders or invoices.
On the "General" tab, the business partner's contact details such as telephone numbers, mobile phone, fax, e-mail and website must be entered.
The "Shipping method" drop-down list on the "General" tab is used to select the preferred shipping method for the business partner, e.g. delivery by post or carrier.
The "Password" field on the "General" tab is reserved for the business partner's password when integrating e-commerce applications.
The "Assignment indicator" value list on the "General" tab is used to select an indicator in the event that a customer's outstanding receivable has been assigned to a third party, such as a bank.
The "BP project" value list on the "General" tab is used to assign a project code for the business partner, e.g. for a specific project or a special service.
The "Business partner type" drop-down list on the "General" tab is used to select the type of business partner, e.g. company for companies, private for private individuals or employee for employees.
The "Business partner type" drop-down list on the "General" tab is used to select the type of business partner, e.g. company for companies, private for private individuals or employee for employees.
The "ID no. 2" field on the "General" tab is used to enter another freely selectable ID for the business partner.
To block the sending of marketing content for the business partner, you must activate the "Block sending of marketing content" radio button on the "General" tab. To do this, first click on the "Communication media" button. In the "Communication media" window that now opens, activate the communication channels to the business partner that you want to block (e.g. fax or email). Then confirm the entry with the "OK" button. The customer is now blocked for the selected communication channels and will no longer receive faxes or e-mails, for example. You can make the same restriction on the "Contact person" tab for each individual contact person.
The "Active" radio button on the "General" tab uses the "From" and "To" fields to define a time period within which the business partner is active. This means that all purchasing and sales documents can be created for this business partner. Outside of this period, however, only draft vouchers can be created.
The "Inactive" radio button on the "General" tab has the opposite meaning. The specified period and comment refer to the period during which the business partner is inactive.
The "Advanced" radio button on the "General" tab allows you to define both an active and an inactive period (from...to). The time periods must not overlap.
The "Advanced" radio button on the "General" tab allows you to define both an active and an inactive period (from...to). The time periods must not overlap.
The "Advanced" radio button on the "General" tab allows you to define both an active and an inactive period (from...to). The time periods must not overlap.
The orange link arrows are an important element on the business partner master data screen in SAP Business One. They are located next to the fields on the right-hand side of the header. Click on any link to view the document details that make up the totals figures.
Master data / Business partner / Contact person
On the Contact Persons tab in SAP Business One, you can create and manage any number of contact persons.
You can create as many contact persons as you like on the Contact Persons tab.
If you click on the desired contact person in the left bar, the corresponding data will be displayed on the right side.
Click on the "Define new" bar on the left-hand side to create a new contact person.
In the "ID contact person" field, you should enter the name of the contact person as you would print it on receipts, for example, including the desired salutation and title.
Click on the name of the contact person in the left-hand bar and then on the "Set as default" button below the area to define the contact person as the main contact person.
Since SAP Business One Release 9.1, the e-mail function has been enhanced and there is now an "E-mail group" drop-down list for the contact person.
Click on the "Define new" entry next to the "Email group" drop-down list to create a new email group.
Select the desired e-mail group from the "E-mail group" drop-down list next to the contact person.
You can use the e-mail group to classify the contact persons at your business partners in relation to the sending of e-mails.
A customer has authorisation for all sales documents, opportunities and service calls.
Compared to the customer, a prospect has only limited authorisations for the sales documents quotation and order as well as for opportunities. He has no authorisations for service calls, deliveries or outgoing invoices. A supplier has authorisation for all purchasing documents.
The e-mail group is used to classify the contact persons in relation to the e-mail dispatch and to enable targeted communication with specific groups of contact persons.
The "Password" field is reserved for the password of the contact person for e-commerce applications.
No, only one e-mail group can be assigned to a contact person.
Yes, you can subsequently make a contact person the main contact person by clicking on the name of the contact person in the left-hand bar and then clicking on the "Set as default" button below the area.
Master data / Business partners / Addresses
The Addresses tab is an area in SAP Business One where you can create addresses for each business partner.
You can create as many addresses as you like for each business partner - with certain restrictions.
There are billing addresses (only for customers/prospects) or payment addresses (only for suppliers) and delivery addresses. You can create different delivery addresses for delivery notes, production addresses for production orders, locations for service calls, addresses for quotations, etc.
You can create any number of billing and delivery addresses for a customer.
As soon as you have created more than one address in one of the two blocks, you can "Set as default" the most frequently used address using the button of the same name below the address overview.
The invoice or payment address of the business partner has an impact on financial accounting, as a reconciliation account must be defined for each business partner. This reconciliation account differs depending on whether the business partner is domestic or foreign.
Master data / Business partner / Terms of payment
On the "Terms of payment" tab, you can enter all data relating to the business partner's payment information.
Click on the orange arrow. The "Terms of payment ? Definition" window.
Select the price list for this business partner. The assigned price list is the basis for pricing in the purchasing and sales documents.
Enter an interest rate for late payments from customers here.
This field displays the value associated with the selected payment terms. You can overwrite this value if necessary. It refers to the total discount percentage applied to the business partner's payment term. This discount is taken into account when calculating payments to be made to the business partner.
The credit limit is the maximum value up to which your customer may have outstanding debts with your company. If the credit limit is exceeded, a warning message is displayed. You can also set whether the credit limit should be calculated on the basis of the open item amount or on the basis of the order total. This setting affects how the credit limit is calculated and what data is displayed in the corresponding reports.
The commitment limit works in the same way as the credit limit, except that here the total amount of cheques not presented is also included. This indicates the amount up to which the business partner may purchase goods or services on credit before having to make payments. If the credit amount exceeds the commitment limit, the business partner is asked to make a payment before he can buy more goods or services. By setting a commitment limit, you can better control and manage the credit risk for your business.
Select a predefined dunning condition from the value list. To create a new dunning term, select the "Define new" entry. Here you can enter the number of days that must pass before a reminder is automatically generated if the customer's payment term is exceeded. For example, you can enter a value of 10 days here, which means that a reminder will be generated automatically 10 days after the payment term has expired if the invoice has not yet been paid at this time. You can also specify which reminder level should be used and whether an email or a printout of the reminder should be sent to the customer.
The drop-down list allows you to select whether no interest and charges (entry No), only interest, only charges or both (entry Interest and Charges) are to be posted with the dunning run. If you select a payment term from the drop-down list, it is automatically applied to all documents you create with this business partner. For example, if you create an invoice to this business partner, the payment term you selected is automatically applied.
The "standard framework agreement" is a predefined contract type that can be assigned to a business partner in order to be able to access standard conditions more quickly when creating a framework agreement. The conditions for the payment of goods or services are defined. These include the payment period, the currency and the payment method (e.g. bank transfer or cheque).
"Effective discount groups" are groups that define which discount should be applied to a specific customer. For example, an effective discount group can be defined for customers who meet a certain payment deadline, such as prepayment or payment within 10 days. The discounts can be defined as a percentage or as a fixed amount.
The effective discount groups can then be assigned to business partners in SAP Business One. When a sales transaction is completed for a business partner with an effective discount group, the relevant discounts are automatically applied based on the payment terms selected for the transaction.
In SAP Business One, the term "effective price" refers to the actual price that a business partner pays for a product or service after all rebates, discounts and additional costs have been taken into account. In a business partner's payment terms, the effective price can be specified as a fixed amount or as a percentage.
In "Maintain priority", you select the business partner priority in sales orders from the value list. The priority is represented by a number that is assigned to the respective payment term. A lower number means a higher priority, i.e. the open items with this payment term are settled first before payments are made for items with a higher priority.
In "Maintain bank business partner", enter the business partner's bank details at the bottom left by clicking on the (Select from list) button next to the Bank country field.
If the bank of the business partner is not created, it must be entered via Administration ? Definitions ? Bank Processing ? Banks to create a new bank.
"Credit card type" refers to the type of credit card a customer has. This can be a Visa, Mastercard or American Express card, for example. If the corresponding credit card type is entered in SAP Business One, it can be used, for example, to create invoices or for reporting.
"Public holidays" refers to the public holiday calendar that is used for the due date calculation. You can select a predefined public holiday calendar from the value list or create a new one.
In the "Payment dates" window in SAP Business One, you can define fixed calendar days within a month on which invoices are due. Depending on the due date of the invoice, there are three options: on the 15th of the month, on the 25th of the month or on the 15th of the following month.
If you activate this checkbox, you allow that a sales order of this customer/prospect can also be copied only partially ? that means not with all lines ? into a subsequent document (delivery note or invoice). It is important to note that a partial delivery does not cancel or affect the rest of the order. The undelivered part of the order remains active and can be delivered at a later date when all items are available. If this checkbox is not selected, the sales order can only be copied in full to a subsequent document at a time.
If you select this checkbox, discount groups defined in SAP Business One will not be applied to this customer. Among other things, this can be useful if you want to use an individual price list with fixed prices for a particular customer without applying discounts. If you do not activate the option, the discounts defined in the discount groups will be applied to the customer, provided they are configured for the relevant items.
Master data / Business partner / Payment run
The Payment Run tab specifies data required for the payment wizard in the Banking module.
For a newly created business partner, a house bank is first automatically suggested on the Payment Run tab.
As usual, you can select a different house bank account on the Payment Run tab in the Business Partner Master Data window. To do this, click on the button (Select from structure) to the right of the country. In the window that now opens, click on the black triangle next to the corresponding country and select the desired house bank account.
In the right-hand area of the tab, select a payment method for this business partner if it is to participate in electronic payment transactions. If several payment methods are available, you can set the most frequently used payment method as the default. To do this, select the desired payment method and click on the Set as default button.
The field "Reference details" is used to specify a reference if required. This reference is relevant for the bank file that can be created by means of the payment assistant for electronic payment transactions.
By activating the checkbox "Payment block" the business partner will not be proposed in the payment wizard during a payment run.
By activating the "Individual payments" checkbox, the payment wizard generates an individual payment for each individual invoice.
The Direct Debit Authorisation checkbox on the Payment Run tab in SAP Business One is used to authorise the customer's consent to debit payments from their bank account. When this option is enabled, the customer gives their consent for the amount to be automatically debited from their account instead of them making the payment manually. This simplifies the payment process for the customer and reduces the administrative burden for the company. However, it is important to ensure that the customer has explicitly given their consent to use this option in order to avoid any legal problems.
The drop-down list "Code f. Bank Charge Assignment" allows you to select the bank charge for this business partner.
Master data / Business partner / Accounting
The "Accounting" tab is divided into two further tabs: "General", which contains all data relating to consolidation, reconciliation accounts, down payments and dunning, and "Tax", on which the corresponding tax status and tax group are assigned to the business partner.
Delivery consolidation means that you can specify another business partner to whom the outgoing invoice is issued.
Payment consolidation means that you can specify another business partner who pays the outgoing invoice.
To select a different business partner, open the selection list in the "Consolidation BP" field and select the desired business partner. At the same time, you must select the "Delivery consolidation" option from the option buttons in the upper area of the "Accounting - General" tab.
You can store up to four types of reconciliation accounts in total: "Accounts receivable" (customers) or "Accounts payable" (suppliers) fields, "Down payment clearing account" field and "Interim account down payment" field. A reconciliation account is an account in the general ledger that is automatically posted to when a posting is made to a subsidiary account (customer or supplier).
Click on the "Define reconciliation accounts" button to the right of the Reconciliation accounts entry to define further reconciliation accounts in the Reconciliation accounts ? Accounts receivable/payable window that is now open to define the other reconciliation accounts.
The account is automatically assigned when the business partner is created and can then still be changed directly at the business partner. The reconciliation account can only be changed up to the first accounting transaction (e.g. outgoing invoice, incoming payment, etc.).
Advance payments receivable are receivables from customers for advance payments already made. Advance payment liabilities are liabilities to suppliers for advance payments already made.
You can generally disable the dunning mechanism for this customer using the "Block reminders" checkbox on the "Accounting - General" tab.
The "Dunning level" field shows the highest dunning level according to the dunning plan in which the customer with a dunning notice is located.
On the "Accounting - Tax" tab, set the tax status and the tax group for the selected business partner.
On the "Accounting - Tax" tab, you set the tax status and tax group for the selected business partner. A business partner is treated differently for tax purposes depending on whether it is based in Germany, within the EU or outside the EU (in a third country). Depending on the assigned tax status, a tax group can then be assigned.
Master data / terms of payment
The terms of payment can be defined centrally under Administration ? Definition ? Business Partner ? Terms of Payment in SAP Business One.
The terms of payment consist of the actual payment term and the cash discount term, which are assembled like modules to form the complete payment term in SAP Business One.
In addition, a number of other conditions can be predefined in SAP Business One, which are then assigned to the business partner.
When defining the payment terms in SAP Business One, you need to fill in the "Payment terms code" field and select the "Due date based on" dropdown list.
You can choose between document date, posting date and system date in SAP Business One.
The document date is the date on the document or the date of document creation in SAP Business One. As the date of the current day is automatically proposed when the document is created, this date makes perfect sense and should be used as the basis for calculating the due date in SAP Business One.
In SAP Business One in the dropdown list "From" you specify from which point in time the payment period starts to run.
The number of tolerance days you enter in this field in SAP Business One reduces the due date in the invoice.
An instalment payment in SAP Business One is the payment of a debt in several instalments within a specified period of time. To define the instalment payment scheme in SAP Business One, click the orange arrow next to the Number of Instalments field.
SAP Business One creates one row per instalment in the table, totalling the number of rows you have specified in the "Number of instalments" field. In addition, a pro rata percentage is automatically calculated in the % column.
In the Credit memo type drop-down list in SAP Business One, you specify how a credit memo is to be applied to the individual instalments. In SAP Business One, you have the options "First instalment", "Last instalment" and "Equal" to choose from.
There are two options available in SAP Business One for handling tax on instalment payments: "Apply tax to first instalment" or "Update tax pro rata".
With the "Open incoming payment" option in SAP Business One, you can specify whether an incoming payment including receipt should be created automatically after adding an outgoing invoice.
In SAP Business One, you can define cash discounts by selecting the "Define cash discount" option from the value list.
In SAP Business One you can specify one cash discount period per row in the table. The discount periods can run until the 5th of the following month.
In SAP Business One, you can activate the "Freight" checkbox so that the freight costs or additional expenses in the document are also included in the cash discount calculation.
In SAP Business One you have the possibility to use the cash discount periods several times without having to create them each time anew.
In SAP Business One, you can enter a payment term in the "Standard payment term for customer/supplier" fields under Administration ? System initialisation ? General settings ? BP tab, you can define a default value for each new customer/supplier to be created.
In SAP Business One, the payment terms assigned to the business partner are automatically copied to the document when a new document is created. Before the document is added, the payment terms or individual components of the payment term, such as the maximum payment term, can be changed. When changing the terms of payment in the voucher, note that this can optionally also entail a change in the price list, credit limit and commitment limit, which are, after all, linked to the terms of payment. The programme will bring up a notice when the payment terms are changed and allow you to change this information or keep the original settings.
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Master data / Activities
Activities in SAP Business One are tasks that help users manage business processes effectively. They allow users to plan, delegate, track and complete tasks to ensure that important tasks are completed within the specified timeframe.
Activities can be created for various purposes, such as tracking sales opportunities, customer service requests, service contracts, projects or other tasks. Users can link activities in SAP Business One to relevant business objects, such as customers, suppliers or items, to have a better overview of all related tasks.
To create a new activity, users open the "Activity" window via "Business partner" > "Activity". In the top left-hand area of the window, they specify the categorisation of the activity in the field of the same name. The type of activity is predefined by SAP Business One; this can be a telephone call, a meeting, a task, a note, a campaign or other. The fields on the "General" tab change depending on the type of activity selected.
Users can monitor activities in SAP Business One in real time, which allows them to track task progress, monitor deadlines and timelines, and ensure that important tasks are completed before delays occur.
The attachments in activities offer a wide range of possible applications. In practice, for example, it is necessary to archive all electronic business correspondence with a customer or interested party. This means that users are able to store all memos, e-mails, telephone memos, contracts, written agreements, etc. as activities including attachments in SAP Business One and to find them again quickly with an efficient structuring through the fields activity, type and subject.
Users can enter all other required data on the "General" tab. For almost all activity types that are created with a future start time, they can be reminded by SAP Business One. To do this, tick the "Reminder" checkbox in the bottom left-hand area of the "General" tab
The "Linked document" tab is used to link the activity to any document or even an article. Users can select the document type and receive a selection list of all documents of the selected document type from all business partners in the "Document number" field. If users want to restrict the selection list of receipts to the business partner selected in the activity, they activate the "Show receipts linked to BP" checkbox.
On the "Content" tab, users can also enter any long texts with line breaks.
From release 8.8, users can specify in the "Recurrence" field whether the activity is recurring. To do this, they select the recurrence interval from the drop-down list, i.e. Daily, Weekly, Monthly or Yearly. Then determine the dates of the recurrence interval so that this corresponds to your recurring activity.
For each activity, users can specify whether it should be inactive or completed after completion. A completed activity cannot be reactivated, while an inactive activity is no longer displayed in the individual activity overviews, but can be set to active again. The "Follow-up activity" button allows users to create another activity that is directly linked to the first activity.
In the "Business partner master data" window in SAP Business One, you can call up existing activities for a business partner by clicking on the "Show associated activities" button in the bottom right-hand area of the window.
You can either click the "Create activity" button from the drop-down list in the "Business partner master data" window in SAP Business One or the "Activity" button in the "Activity overview for business partners" window to create a new activity from the business partner.
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Once the connection between different systems has been established, SAP B1if can be used to create activities in SAP Business One. An activity, such as the receipt of an order in an online shop, can be triggered by a trigger in SAP B1if. SAP B1if can then extract the necessary data from the online shop and import it into SAP Business One to create an activity.
Master data / Articles
Answer: All goods and services that are bought and sold in the course of business in SAP Business One are created in the item master data. In addition to physical goods, services and fixed assets are also created as items. The latter, however, have no effect on the warehouse. The centrally created items are used in a wide variety of modules in SAP Business One, such as purchasing and sales documents, service area, material requirements planning, etc.
The item master data window in SAP Business One can be found under Warehouse Management ? Item Master Data. The same rules apply to this window as to the programme operation ? that is, you can search for existing items, update them and, of course, create new items. The Item Master Data window consists of thematically different tabs, which are presented in the next section.
The header data in the item master data window in SAP Business One is the most important information about the individual item. At the top of the window you will find fields such as the item number, item number series, item type, item group, ME group, barcode and item type checkboxes.
The "Item no." field in SAP Business One is the field in which you enter a unique number for the item. This number may consist of a maximum of 50 digits and/or letters and may only occur once. The article number can no longer be changed and the article can no longer be deleted once this article has been used in any transaction such as a document or a service call.
The article number series in SAP Business One is an automatic numbering system. You select the number series for the respective article from the drop-down list to the left of the "Article no." field. By selecting the number series, the article numbering is continued without gaps. You can select the "Manual" option to freely assign an article number.
In SAP Business One, a predefined article type must be assigned to each article. This article type is primarily relevant for the service module and distinguishes between the options "Article", "Labour" and "Trip". The "Article" option represents the classic article and is always the default value. The "Labour" option is used to define a "Working time" item that can be used, for example, to bill technician hours. The "Travel" option is used to define a "Travel expenses" item, which can also be used, for example, to charge the travelling expenses of a service technician. The article types "Labour" and "Travel" naturally have no effect on stock keeping.
The "Item group" drop-down list in SAP Business One is selected from the value list. Article groups are rough categorisations that are used to classify or evaluate article data. The article group can be defined on the basis of various characteristics. New article groups should be created in consultation with a key user, as these have an impact on article statistics and financial accounting. The article group should not be categorised too finely, as this would make evaluations too confusing.
The drop-down list "ME group" in SAP Business One is used to select a unit of measure group from the value list (from release 9.0 of SAP Business One). The "Manual" option is selected by default. By selecting the unit of measure group, several units of measure can be managed for this item. As soon as this item is used in a transaction, e.g. in a purchase or sales document, the unit of measure group can no longer be changed.
The "Barcode" field in SAP Business One is the field in which you select a barcode (European Article Number, EAN) for the item. Click on the button (selection list) to select an existing barcode from the list. If no barcodes are available for this item, click on the (Define barcodes) button to create a new barcode for this item in the following Barcodes window. Several barcodes can be defined for each unit of measure group. If there are several barcodes, one of these barcodes can be set as the default.
The checkboxes for the item type in SAP Business One determine the use of an item in the company. The "Stock item" checkbox is activated if it is a physical item for which you want or need to carry out stock valuation. As soon as this indicator is activated, SAP Business One tracks every stock movement (purchase, sale, stock transfer, inventory, etc.) and valuates this item according to the assigned warehouse procedure. The "Sales item" checkbox is activated if it is an item that is only used in this form in sales documents. The "Purchase item" checkbox is activated if it is an item that is only used in this form in purchase documents. These checkboxes are important as they influence the use of articles in the company.
You can select a price list from the value list available under Warehouse Management ? Price lists ? Price lists is created and maintained.
You can fill the price list with prices in this window. The price is displayed in the Unit price field to the right of the price list and can be overwritten there or ? if the field is empty ? also entered again.
Yes, you have the option of specifying the item price for a total of three currencies in parallel. In this case, select the entry "Main currency", "Additional currency 1" or "Additional currency 2" from the drop-down list to the left of the price and enter the desired price with the corresponding currency abbreviation.
The unit price field is located to the right of the price list and shows the price for the selected item. If the field is empty, you can enter a new price there.
In SAP Business One, certain item data such as description, foreign language description, barcode and remarks tab can be translated into any number of languages. The translated item data is then printed on the documents in the language selected for the business partner. To use this function, you must activate multi-language support in the company details.
Multi-language support must be activated under Administration ? System initialisation ? Company details ? Basic initialisation tab. To do this, tick the "Multi-language support" checkbox. For the actual translation, right-click on the field to be translated and select the "Translate" option from the context menu. You can enter the foreign-language texts in the "Translations" window that opens.
There is a method in SAP Business One to recognise the fields that are available for translation. In the "View" menu, click on "Display indicators" and select "Translatable fields". A small globe is displayed on the right-hand side of all fields that can be translated. In fields for which a translation already exists, a coloured globe is displayed.
In SAP Business One, certain item data such as description, foreign language description, barcode and remarks tab can be translated into any number of languages. However, other item data such as price, weight or suppliers cannot be translated.
In SAP Business One you can use as many languages as you like to translate item data. Note, however, that only the languages selected in the business partner data on the General tab are displayed.
The "General" tab contains basic information about an item. Here you can select a manufacturer, add an additional identifier or define a shipping method, among other things.
To activate the "Do not apply discount groups" option, simply tick the corresponding checkbox on the "General" tab in the Item master data window. This means that no discount groups are applied in a voucher and no discount is suggested that would also apply to this item. However, you still have the option of changing the discount manually in the voucher line.
You can use the "Manufacturer" drop-down list to select a manufacturer that is relevant for the item. You can also select the "Define new" entry to create a new manufacturer. This field is relevant if you have branded products in your item master data.
The "Additional identifier" is another freely available field with a total of 16 characters that you can use to add additional information to an item. This field is optional and can be filled in individually.
The "Manage item by" drop-down list contains various settings for item management. Select a management method from the list of values to define whether the item is managed by serial number or batch number or whether neither of these methods is used.
You can use the "Management method" drop-down list to customise the management of serial or batch numbers. Select either "On issue only" or "On receipt and issue" to specify when the serial or batch number should be managed.
The "Shipping method" drop-down list in the "General" tab shows the appropriate shipping method for this item. You can select a shipping method from the value list or select the "Define new" entry to create a new shipping method.
The drop-down list "Output priority by" in the "General" tab is only active if either serial or batch numbers are managed for the item. You have the option of managing the serial or batch number either only on issue or on receipt and issue.
The "Warranty template" drop-down list in the "General" tab is only active if serial numbers are managed for the item. You can assign a warranty template to a serial number item that is used in the service module.
The "Active" radio button on the "General" tab allows you to specify a period of time during which the item is valid or active. Valid means that this item can be used in all purchasing and sales documents.
The "Inactive" radio button in the "General" tab is the opposite of the "Active" indicator. In this case, the specified period including the comment refers to the period in which the item is inactive.
The "Advanced" option in the "General" tab allows you to define both an active and an inactive period for the item.
The "Purchasing data" tab in SAP Business One contains all information about an item that relates to purchasing, such as preferred supplier, supplier catalogue number, purchasing unit of measure and packaging unit.
The "Favourite supplier" drop-down list in the "Purchasing data" tab allows you to select a preferred supplier from the value list or create a new supplier.
The "Supplier catalogue number" field in the "Purchasing data" tab contains the external catalogue number of the article, which corresponds to the article number of the preferred supplier and can be displayed and printed on the purchasing and sales documents.
The "Purchasing UU name" field in the "Purchasing data" tab contains the name of the purchasing unit of measure for the selected item, e.g. piece, kilo, litre, crate or box.
The "Item per purchasing unit" field in the "Purchasing data" tab indicates how many items are in the purchasing unit.
The "Packaging unit name" field in the "Purchasing data" tab specifies the packaging unit of the selected item, e.g. carton, box, pallet or bag.
The "Quantity per packaging" field in the "Purchasing data" tab indicates how many purchase units are in the packaging unit.
The "Customs group" drop-down list in the "Purchasing data" tab allows you to select the customs group from the value list or create a new customs group. The customs group applies to the import of the item from a third country.
The "Length", "Width", "Height", "Volume" and "Weight" fields in the "Purchasing data" tab of the item master data specify the dimensions of the purchase unit of the selected item. The volume is calculated automatically and you also select the weight unit when entering the weight.
The factors in the "Purchasing data" tab of the item master data are used to define nested purchase units. You enter the corresponding factor for each level of nesting.
To represent nested units with factors, you must set the factors, e.g. factor 1 for the number of boxes ordered, factor 2 for the number of double packs per box and factor 3 for the number of tubes per double pack. The quantity in base units of the carton can then be calculated by multiplying all factors.
The "Tax code" drop-down list in the "Purchasing data" tab of the item master data allows you to select tax codes from the value list. You assign the tax code to the item that must be used for a domestic purchase.
The monthly and quarterly purchasing data in SAP Business One is based on the purchase invoices for the selected item. The table in the upper section shows all purchase invoices for the item, while the lower section shows the quarterly and monthly distribution of purchase turnover.
Units of measurement such as volume and weight only change between purchase and sale if the item has been further processed or disassembled in some way.
On the "Stock data" tab, you will find all the data relating to stock management for the selected item. The table in the lower section lists all warehouses (rows) and the availability of the selected item (columns).
The available stock is calculated by reducing the quantity in stock by the confirmed quantity and the ordered quantity.
If you tick the "Blocked" checkbox, the selected item can no longer be placed in the blocked warehouse.
You can define a standard warehouse for the selected item using the "Set standard warehouse" button in the bottom right-hand area. To do this, select the desired warehouse by clicking on the line number and then click on the button. The defined warehouse is suggested in every document when the item is selected.
The "ME name" field indicates the form in which the selected item is kept or stored in your warehouse (e.g. crate, carton, drum, pallet, etc.).
In the "Stock level" block, enter the minimum, maximum and required stock level for the selected item. If you want to specify the stock levels for each warehouse individually, you can tick the "Stock management by warehouse" checkbox. In this case, these three fields are also displayed in the table structure to the right of the "Available" column and can now be filled in for each warehouse.
Tick the "Inventory management by warehouse" checkbox in the "Voucher settings" window on the "General" tab under "Administration ? System initialisation".
Under "Administration ? System initialisation ? Document settings", you can select three different levels in the "Reaction to input/output from outside the defined range" block. Select the "No warning" option to ignore the underflow. Select the "Warning only" option to receive a warning when the value falls below the limit, which you can ignore. If you select the "Block output/input" option, you cannot add a receipt that caused the shortfall.
You can activate the "Block negative stock after" checkbox in the item master data. This means that the stock can never be less than zero. This procedure is recommended as it is in line with accounting regulations. Accordingly, you will receive a message if you deactivate this checkbox.
In the drop-down list to the right of the selected checkbox in the item master data, you can specify how a negative stock should be categorised. With the "Company" option, the stock is negative as soon as the stock level in the entire company, i.e. across all warehouses, is zero. With the "Warehouse" option, the stock is already negative when it is zero in the selected warehouse. With the "Item setting" option, SAP Business One blocks negative stock per warehouse if stock management by warehouse is switched on, otherwise negative stock is blocked at company level.
In some business areas, it can happen that a negative inventory arises. SAP Business One provides a procedure for handling this scenario in terms of valuation.
This method values the negative inventory based on the last recorded purchase or production cost. This means that the value of the negative stock is valued at the highest purchase or production cost last recorded in SAP Business One.
Then, when stocks are received, they are used first to balance the negative stock. Only when the negative stock is cleared is the stock valued at the latest purchase or production cost.
It is important to note that this method is only used if the "Negative stock" option is activated in SAP Business One. If this option is not activated, negative stock is valued as zero.
You can go to "Administration ? System initialisation ? General settings ? Inventory" you can activate the checkbox "Automatically add all warehouses to new and existing items". Articles". This will automatically add all warehouses when a new item is created.
All fields on the "Planning data" tab are relevant for the Material requirements planning module.
On the "Properties" tab, you have the option of describing and categorising your items in more detail using properties. Before you can assign the properties to the item by activating the checkboxes, you must first define them under "Administration ? Definitions ? Warehouse management ? Item properties". You can create and assign a maximum of 64 properties for an item.
On the "Remarks" tab, you can enter any long texts and descriptions for a selected item. You also have the option of storing an image file for this item here.
Yes, as with business partners, you can also enter activities for items. To do this, right-click on the "Item master data" window and select the "New activity" entry. In the activity, the link to the item is documented on the "Linked document" tab. To call up the collected activities for the selected item, also right-click on the "Item master data" window and select the "Activity overview" entry.
Alternative items are items that can replace an original item if it is no longer in stock. Both the original item and the alternative item must be created in the item master data.
To define an alternative article, search for the desired original article in the article master data and right-click on the "Article master data" window. Select the "Alternative article" entry. In the "Alternative items" window, you can define the corresponding alternative items and their match in the table below the original item. Enter the article code or press the TAB key to open the selection list and select the desired article. Enter your estimated percentage match. This determines the ranking order if you define several alternative items for an original item. Confirm the line with the "Update" button and another line will open. Click on the "OK" button to close the window.
You can use the "Reverse link" button in the article master data to turn the original article into an alternative article, i.e. reverse the relationship between the two articles.
To activate automatic stock management by warehouse as standard for all items, tick the "Stock management by warehouse" checkbox in the "Document settings" window on the "General" tab under "Administration ? System initialisation".
Master data / document numbering
A period indicator is a tool that SAP Business One uses to enable you to use the same document number in different financial years.
You define the actual document numbering under Administration ? System initialisation ? Document Numbering. In the Document Numbering ? Definitions you get a list of all available voucher types.
There are generally two scenarios in SAP Business One and you should choose one of them. Only one document type is allowed per document numbering series or more than one document type is allowed per series.
In the window Series ? Outgoing Credits ? Definition window, you must enter a name for the document numbering series, fill in the first "No. field" for the starting point of the document numbering series, automatically fill in the "Next No." field with the value of the next document number to be created, fill in the "Last No." field. If you want to define two series with the same period indicator, enter a prefix and a suffix, enter a comment for the series, select a group from the value list, select a period indicator and activate the Cancel/cancel and lock checkbox.
Master data / Company master data
You can enter your company's contact details under Administration ? System initialisation ? Company Details on the General tab. These fields can be printed on all receipt printouts.
To change the master data of your company, go to Administration ? System Initialisation ? Company Details and change the required information on the General tab.
Yes, you can enter your company's contact details in your national language as well as in a foreign language on the "General" tab.
On all receipt printouts: The fields on the "General" tab can be printed on all receipt printouts.
You must enter your company's VAT identification number (UID) in these fields. The UID for Germany begins with "DE" and consists of nine digits. The UID number for Austria begins with "ATU" and consists of eight digits.
Here you must enter your additional tax number. The tax office can use this number to recognise your company as part of a group of companies.
Here you must select the public holiday calendar relevant to your country. The public holidays must be created here for each year. If the desired year does not exist, select the "Define new" entry from the value list.
Here you must enter the number of the tax office that is relevant for your advance return for VAT.
Here you must enter the Creditor ID assigned to you by your central bank. You will need this
The data protection authority assigns a seven-digit register number, the so-called data processing register number (DVR number), to companies that operate databases subject to reporting requirements.
FINANCE
Finance / Chart of accounts
Two windows are available in the Finance module: the Chart of Accounts window and the Edit Chart of Accounts window. The former is good for managing existing accounts or creating new accounts sporadically. The latter is excellent for reorganising an existing chart of accounts and creating new accounts by copying existing accounts.
The Chart of Accounts window can be used both in search mode with all fields not greyed out as search criteria and in add mode to add new accounts. The Chart of Accounts window is handled in the same way as other master data windows, such as item master data and business partners.
In the Edit Chart of Accounts window, you can quickly add new accounts if you are using existing accounts as a template. After opening the Edit Chart of Accounts window (Financials ? Edit Chart of Accounts), you can make a preselection.
The chart of accounts in SAP Business One is organised like a filing cabinet. The individual drawers of the filing cabinet are thematically standardised and correspond approximately to the account classes in the standard chart of accounts or in the standard chart of accounts.
Since release 9.2 of SAP Business One you have the possibility to rename the drawers as well. This is an important new feature, as the names of the drawers are printed as the top level of classification in the balance sheet and income statement.
The "G/L account" field shows the account number of the active account or title.
Up to 15 characters are available for the account number.
The account number must be unique, which means that there must not be two accounts with the same account number.
The account number must be unique, which means that there must not be two accounts with the same account number.
A maximum of 100 characters is available for the account name.
The external code and foreign language name are fields that can be used in the intercompany reporting solution to map account numbers and create an alternative structure for balance sheet and P&L reporting purposes.
The fields external code and foreign language name can be printed or exported in the standard reports balance sheet and profit and loss account as well as in the totals and balances list simply by selecting checkboxes.
The use of "external code" and "foreign language name" in the intercompany reporting solution is only suitable for very simple adjustments where no complex restructuring or outsourcing of intercompany sales is required.
The "Currency" drop-down list shows the account currency and is set to "All currencies" by default. This means that the account can be booked in any currency. However, if the account is only to be booked in a specific currency, a different currency can be selected from the list, e.g. EUR, USD, CHF.
If the content of the account (e.g. the balance or bookings) is classified as confidential, the "Confidential" checkbox can be ticked. In the authorisations, certain users can then be authorised for these accounts marked as confidential
The "Level" field shows the hierarchy level at which the account is located. The level can be edited and changed in the Chart of accounts window. Levels 2 to 10 can be used for active accounts, while level 1 is only available for titles.
The "Balance" field shows the current balance of the account. To view the balance in detail, you can click on the orange arrow to open the account balance window.
In the "Account type" drop-down list, you can specify the type of account, e.g. expenses, income or other accounts such as balance sheet accounts. At this point, SAP Business One differentiates between expenses, income and other accounts. This difference is also relevant for budgeting in SAP Business One.
The "Revalu. (currency)" checkbox activates the automatic currency translation adjustment for the account.
A translation difference (also known as a "foreign currency translation adjustment") refers to the difference between the carrying amount of an asset or liability denominated in a foreign currency and the value of that asset or liability in the entity's presentation currency.
When an entity holds assets or liabilities in a foreign currency, the value of those items is expressed in the entity's reporting currency. However, due to exchange rate fluctuations, differences may arise between the carrying amount of the items in the foreign currency and their value in the reporting currency. When the value changes due to exchange rate fluctuations, a translation difference arises.
A translation adjustment arises when an entity records these translation differences in a separate account to ensure that the balance sheet items are correctly presented in the entity's reporting currency. The translation difference adjustment is then used to offset these translation differences and transfer them to the company's income statement.
A reconciliation account is an account to which all postings are made that are also made to personal accounts (customer or supplier accounts). It is only available for the "Other" account type and cannot be posted to manually as it is used for automatic postings.
A cash account is an account on which payment flows such as bank or cash payments are made. If the "Indexed" checkbox is ticked, it cannot be used as a cash account and vice versa. A cash account cannot be indexed at the same time, which means that no revaluation is possible for this account. This field is only available for the "Other" account type.
In the "Project" field, a project can be assigned to which all expenses and income are allocated. The project functions like a cost unit.
The "Allocation rule" area allows you to assign a cost accounting allocation rule to each expense or income account. This allocates the posted expense or income to the cost centres in a defined allocation ratio. This option is used, for example, to allocate the energy expenditure to the individual cost centres in relation to the area.
The "Foreign language name" field offers an additional option for specifying a name. If you want to translate the account name, you can right-click on the account name. The foreign-language name can optionally be printed when printing most actual reports (Financial accounting - Financial reports - Actual reports).
If you want to export accounting data from SAP Business One to an external system, use the "Code data export" field. Enter the external account number here so that the exported data can be assigned.
Use the Default VAT Code dropdown list to assign a VAT code to the account. SAP Business One automatically calculates the VAT when the gross or net amount is entered in the journal entry and posts it to a separate row in the journal entry, together with the selected VAT group.
You can select a category for the account in the "Category" drop-down list. You can choose between the categories Balance sheet, Profit, Loss, Totals and balances list or Other. Then select the appropriate sub-category from the drop-down list to the right or click on the "Define new" entry to create a new sub-category.
In the "Planning level" field, you can specify the planning level that is used for the liquidity forecast via the SAP Business One integration framework. The integration framework can be used to integrate the SAP Business One installation of your branch office with the SAP installation of another branch office in your group in terms of processes and data. The "Remarks" and "Template for remarks" fields are used to enter further explanations or to select from predefined templates for remarks.
The options for the "Active" radio button are "Active", "Inactive" and "Extended". If the account is marked as "Inactive", it cannot be posted to during the inactive period.
The function of the "Cost accounting adjustment only" checkbox is to only use the account in the journal entry for cost accounting adjustment if the account category is not "Other" and the account currency is the local currency.
The purpose of the "Initial data collection" drop-down list is to specify initial data collection and select "Yes" or "No".
The "Budget relevant" checkbox is used to use the account in the budget if budgeting is required in SAP Business One.
If you activate the "Allow other VAT code" checkbox, you can select a different VAT code for postings to this account. If the checkbox is not activated, only the assigned VAT code in the Standard VAT code field is used for the calculation.
The checkboxes "Exchange rate differences" and "Currency conversion" are only displayed if the account has the account type "Other" and should be ticked if the account is to be included in the automatic calculation of exchange rate differences or currency conversion.
Finance / Bookings in general
Recurring entries in SAP Business One are entries that are made during the financial year. These entries are either posted automatically through the creation of a specific transaction, such as purchase invoices or deliveries, or created manually in the journal entry.
The majority of current postings are made automatically through the creation of a specific transaction in SAP Business One. Only the remainder of the non-automatically settled postings from the individual document types are created manually in the journal entry.
For efficient work with the journal entry, tools such as the journal vouchers and the recurring entry are available.
Automatic postings are an important feature in SAP Business One that enables companies to handle business processes automatically. These postings are generated automatically when certain events occur in the system, such as the posting of bank transactions or the creation of purchase orders.
There are different types of automatic bookings, including:
Automatic account reconciliation: This function automatically reconciles account statements with the corresponding entries in SAP Business One and creates entries to reconcile discrepancies.
Automatic payment processing: This feature automates the payment process by automatically matching open invoices and making payments according to the defined terms.
Automatic order suggestions: When the stock level of an item falls below a certain threshold, the system automatically generates order suggestions to replenish the stock.
Automatic postings for VAT: The system can automatically generate VAT postings to ensure tax compliance.
In asset accounting, entries are recorded for the capitalisation and write-up of fixed assets as well as for their depreciation.
Financial accounting / G/L account determination
G/L account determination forms the basis for automatic postings in SAP Business One. In G/L account determination, account assignments are defined that control all automatic postings of the individual document types.
Revenue, expense and stock postings can be fine-tuned through account determination by warehouse, item group or item, which overrides the G/L account determination settings.
If you plan a different account assignment or use an individual chart of accounts, it is advisable to make the adjustments in the G/L account determination with the help of a consultant.
The "Extended account determination" is an even finer control than the G/L account determination. It can be activated to switch off account determination by warehouse, article group or article. In extended account determination, field values can be queried and the corresponding accounts selected depending on the result.
In SAP Business One, automatic postings are made for different document levels, such as goods receipt, A/P invoice, A/P credit memo, A/R payment, delivery, return, A/R invoice, A/R credit memo and A/P payment. The postings are made according to the account assignments defined in the G/L account determination.
Finance / goods postings
The two approaches to goods posting in purchasing in SAP Business One are perpetual inventory and not activating this function.
The setting for the goods posting in purchasing can no longer be changed after the first stock posting in the client.
Variant 1 (perpetual inventory) always initially posts the purchases of goods to the stock account (current assets), and only with the delivery or the outgoing invoice is the actual use of goods (expense account) posted. Variant 2 (no perpetual inventory) immediately books all purchases of goods as cost of sales, although they are actually still in stock, at least in part, and belong in the current assets.
No perpetual inventory is not advisable for companies with high stock levels and low stock rotation, as the company tends to present itself worse in terms of profit than it actually is due to the immediately booked expense from the use of goods.
The goods receipt clearing account (We/Re account) is an account that acts as a placeholder for the period between goods receipt and delivery when using perpetual inventory in SAP Business One.
The We/Re account is used in SAP Business One to account for a possible time difference between the goods receipt and the liability incurred towards the supplier due to the A/P invoice.
A goods receipt is posted in two steps in SAP Business One. First, when the inward delivery note is posted, the physical goods receipt is posted to the stock account. The We/Re account acts as the contra account. As soon as the A/P invoice is posted, the We/Re account is cleared again and the liability to the supplier and the input tax are posted.
The We/Re account is cleared in SAP Business One as soon as the A/P invoice is posted. The payable to the supplier and the input tax are posted and the We/Re account is cleared again.
Finance / G/L accounts
In order to post financial data correctly, it is important that SAP Business One knows which account the item should be posted to for each item line in purchasing and sales. The G/L accounts are defined based on the method selected in the "General settings" window, "Inventory" tab, "Items" tab, in the "Define G/L accounts" field.
SAP Business One offers three methods for defining G/L accounts. These are:
By warehouse, By item group and By item.
The method for setting G/L accounts can be selected in the General Settings window, Inventory tab, Items tab, in the Set G/L Accounts field. Here you can choose between the options warehouse, item group or item level.
Yes, the method for setting G/L accounts can be changed at any time in the Item Master Data window, Inventory Data tab, in the Set G/L Accounts After field. The change will take effect from the next transaction.
Changing the method of defining G/L accounts in SAP Business One has an impact on the postings of the newly created items. The changes will take effect from the next posting. Items that have already been posted are not affected by the change.
Finance / Journal Entries
The journal entry number is automatically assigned by SAP Business One.
Yes, you can use a voucher number series for journal entry. Select it from the list of values.
Enter the posting date of the document in the "Posting date" field in the journal entry header.
The Due Date field shows the due date of the document. When posting incoming or outgoing invoices, the due date is automatically calculated based on the payment terms stored with the invoice.
A booking text is entered in the Remarks field. When a transaction code is selected, its description is displayed and can be added in the field. The Journal Entry field on the Accounting tab of the Receipt window is displayed in the Remarks field when the receipt is posted.
The Origin field shows the origin of the journal entry with a two-digit abbreviation. This abbreviation is an internal abbreviation for the respective document type that caused this journal entry (e.g. "BE" for incoming invoice).
If the journal entry does not originate from an opening entry or was created directly in the Journal Entry window, the orange arrow next to the Origin field can be used to call up the document behind it.
The "Origin no." field shows the document number of the document type from the Origin field.
The "Transaction number" field shows the consecutive journal number automatically assigned by SAP Business One.
The fields Template type and Template are used for the functions Posting template and Recurring entry. The fields Template type and Template are used for the functions Account assignment model and Recurring entry.
The "Ref. 1" field is an option for free entry and is displayed in many analyses. It can also be used as a search field within the journal entries. You should enter information that helps you to search for journal entries, such as the external document number of the posted document.
The "Ref. 2" field is available as an additional document number. If you enter an external document number in the Supplier reference number field for an incoming invoice, this is displayed in the Ref. 2 field.
Further voucher numbers can be entered in the "Ref. 3" field, even if there is already a consecutive voucher number in the posting line. The field is more informative than Ref. 1 and Ref. 2. However, only the last voucher numbers entered can be displayed.
This checkbox is used to re-evaluate the exchange rate when there is a foreign currency entry. The exchange rate is taken from the Exchange Rates and Indices window. The checkbox is for reporting purposes only and does not affect the booking values themselves.
The "Reversal" checkbox is activated if you are planning a reverse posting in the opposite form to the posting entered on a specific date. This can be used, for example, for accrual postings or the allocation and reversal of provisions between the old and new financial year.
Once the "Cancellation" checkbox has been selected, another field appears to the right in which you can enter the date for the cancelled transactions. SAP Business One reminds you of this date when you first access the system and opens the "Cancelled transactions" window. All journal entries that are to be cancelled on the current date are proposed in this window. Click on the "Execute" button to add the reversed journal entries.
The "Adjusting entry (period 13)" checkbox is used to mark the journal entry as a closing entry for the 13th period. Journal entries marked in this way can be excluded from the financial reports.
By activating the "EU report" checkbox, the journal entry appears in the summarised report.
If you deactivate the "Automatic VAT" checkbox, no automatic VAT calculation is performed. The checkbox is activated by default as long as a standard VAT code is stored for an account. The checkbox is no longer active after the journal entry has been added. If you want to select the field by default, you must deactivate the "Automatic VAT" checkbox under Administration ? System initialisation ? Voucher settings ? Per voucher ? Journal entry.
By activating the "Manage deferred taxes" checkbox, the function for deferred taxes associated with the selected tax code is applied. If you tick this checkbox, you only need to enter one business partner line in the journal entry. It is important that an account for deferred taxes is specified for the tax code. The checkbox can only be ticked if the "Automatic VAT" checkbox is activated.
The withholding tax function for this journal entry is activated by ticking the "Manage VAT" checkbox. The checkbox can only be ticked if the "Automatic VAT" checkbox is activated.
If you close a journal entry without the tax code activated, the VAT will not be calculated and the entry cannot be posted properly.
Yes, you can also edit a journal entry retrospectively if the "Automatic VAT" checkbox is deactivated. However, you must then calculate the VAT manually and enter it in the posting.
No, you must always enter at least one business partner row in the journal entry to complete the entry.
The journal entry line area is an area where entries can be completed in an accounting software.
To navigate the journal entry row area, you can use the TAB key.
To select an account in the journal entry lines, you can enter the account number or press the TAB key to open the selection list. Select the desired account from the list and click on the "Select" button.
To maintain the "Debit" and "Credit" columns in the journal entry lines, enter the corresponding amount. When you enter the offsetting entry, simply use the TAB key to jump to the offsetting account (debit or credit) and the remaining amount will be inserted automatically.
To maintain the tax code in the journal entry lines, you can change the proposed tax code. The tax codes are automatically created when the company is created and the correct tax accounts are assigned. If you require additional tax codes or want to assign different tax accounts, you can do this in the "Tax codes - Definition" window under Administration ? Definitions ? Finance ? Tax ? Tax codes.
The tax amount is calculated automatically on the basis of the tax code stored.
The gross value is the calculated amount from the amount entered in the Debit or Credit field plus the tax amount calculated based on the tax codes.
You can achieve the same practice by clicking on the "Form settings" button to customise the column arrangement for the Journal entry window. Drag the Gross value column between the G/L account/GP name and Debit columns. Use the TAB key to scroll through the voucher line and enter the gross amount of the voucher in the Gross value field.
SAP Business One automatically calculates the net amount based on the tax code. The calculated net amount (= gross amount ? tax amount) is entered in the Debit or Credit field. If an input tax code has been defined or selected as the tax code, the net amount is automatically entered in the Debit field. If a sales tax code has been entered or selected as the tax code, the net amount is inserted in the "Credit" field.
If you click on the "Add" button, the journal entry is created. The Journal entry window remains in Add mode so that you can immediately create another journal entry.
To see all the fields of the document row in the journal entry, select the entry row and click on the small black triangle (expand edit mode) in the left-hand area of the header data window to expand the area below.
You cannot delete a journal entry in SAP Business One, but you can cancel it using the "Cancel/Cancel" function. Right-click on the entry to be cancelled and select Cancel/Cancel from the context menu.
A journal entry created on the basis of an A/P invoice can only be cancelled with an A/P credit memo and not with a reverse entry in the Journal Entry window.
You can use the Cancel/Cancel function to cancel only those journal entries that are not from vouchers.
Financial accounting / account assignment model
An account assignment template is a tool to assist with current postings that are similarly structured. It is a template that maps the structure of postings that occur repeatedly throughout the financial year and, when the actual posting is made, only the amounts for that posting need to be entered.
An account assignment template is defined in the "Account assignment template" window under the "Financial accounting" menu item. The code, a meaningful template description and the columns "G/L account/GP code", "G/L account/GP name" and "Tax code" must be maintained. In addition, the columns "Debit %" and "Credit %" must be maintained in the form of a percentage ratio.
The account assignment template is selected in the "Journal entry" window. The template type "Percentage" must be selected here and the code of the account assignment template must be entered or selected from the selection list.
Instead of the suggested percentages, the desired amounts for the entry record must be entered. It is sufficient to replace a percentage with an amount, as the other amounts are calculated according to their share. As soon as a new amount is entered, all amounts of the entry are recalculated again.
To "decouple" the journal entry from the account assignment template, the "Reset template" button must be clicked. If an amount is then entered, it will no longer be recalculated. New posting lines with other accounts can also be added. Once the journal entry has been unlinked from the account assignment template, this can no longer be reset for this journal entry.
Financials / Postings in foreign currency
The local currency is selected in the Company Details window on the Basic Initialisation tab (via Administration ? System Initialisation ? Company Details) when creating the company. The local currency cannot be changed after the first journal entry.
The system currency is a (different) currency that is kept parallel to the local currency. Each account balance is displayed in the system currency in addition to the local currency and can be used for reporting purposes.
The relationship between local currency and system currency can be set by the user in the Company Details window on the Basic Initialisation tab (via Administration ? System Initialisation ? Company Details) when creating the company.
The account currency or document currency is the currency assigned to a G/L account, business partner or document.
Exchange rates can be found under Administration ? Definitions ? Finance ? Currencies. In the Exchange Rates and Indices window (Administration ? Exchange Rates and Indices) the exchange rates can be set, but the foreign currency method must be set in the General Settings window on the Display tab (via Administration ? System Initialisation ? General Settings). The exchange rates can be maintained daily and an exchange rate can be set for a specific period.
SAP Business One already requires an exchange rate if it is a transaction that does not yet cause an automatic posting. This is necessary to keep the value of the transaction in foreign and local currency. An exchange rate is also required for a purchase order, quotation or sales order if it is in foreign currency.
If a rate is missing, the "Exchange rates and indices" window opens and you can specify the missing rate in the suggested field. SAP Business One positions the cursor in all fields in which a rate is missing that the programme needs for the work.
To set an exchange rate for a period, click on the "Set rate for period" button. In the window that opens, select a period in the upper area and set the exchange rate for the desired foreign currency for this period.
The exchange rates are entered horizontally in the window and the individual days of the month vertically. In the upper right area of the window, you can set the month and the year for the exchange rates.
Financial Accounting / Recurring Entries
Recurring entries are a tool in SAP Business One that helps users to manage their accounting more efficiently. Recurring entries allow recurring entries to be posted automatically with the same entry record and amount.
Recurring entries are created in the "Recurring entries" window. To define a recurring entry, you must add a code, a description, references, a transaction code, remarks, G/L accounts, debit/credit information, tax codes, an interval, a next execution date, a validity date and a confirmation.
SAP Business One reminds you of recurring entries by displaying a "Recurring entries confirmation window" when you use the system for the first time on the due date. This reminder only works if the checkbox "Show recurring entries for execution" under "Administration" > "System initialisation" > "General settings" is activated.
Recurring entries can be executed in SAP Business One by clicking on the "Execute" button in the "Recurring entries confirmation window". Alternatively, you can also manually call up the confirmation list in the bottom right-hand area of the "Recurring entries" window and change or execute the recurring entries there.
Recurring entries can be called up in SAP Business One in the "Journal entry" window by selecting the "Recurring entry" entry in the "Template type" field and pressing the TAB key to open the selection list with the individual recurring entries. Then select the desired entry and click on the "Select" button to load the recurring entry.
Finance / Bank Settlement
Bank processing in SAP Business One is an independent area that includes the management of bank data, the processing of incoming and outgoing payments and their posting.
Bank processing includes the management of bank data, the processing of incoming and outgoing payments and their posting.
Master data in bank processing includes the administration of the banks themselves, the allocation of the bank's own house banks and the maintenance of the business partner's bank details.
Banks are defined in the Banks window (via Administration ? Definitions ? Bank Processing ? Banks). If a bank does not yet exist in the system, create it by entering the country, bank code (sort code), bank name and the BIC/SWIFT code.
You define your own bank accounts in the House Bank Accounts window under Administration ? Definitions ? Bank Processing ? House Bank Accounts. To create a house bank account, you must maintain various fields, such as sort code, account number and template name.
The International Bank Account Number (IBAN) is the international bank account number of your account. It is made up of the abbreviation for the country and the bank and your account number. The "IBAN" field must therefore be filled in with the corresponding account number.
The Payment Wizard is a module in SAP Business One that facilitates the creation of data carriers for upload in electronic banking, thus reducing the manual execution of payments. The Payment Wizard enables companies to process payments in a variety of formats, including SEPA, wire transfers and cheques. It also provides a comprehensive overview of all outstanding payments and incoming payments so that companies can keep track of which payments are still outstanding and which have already been settled.
Furthermore, the payment wizard also supports the management of payment terms and targets. Companies can define and manage payment terms such as discounts, rebates and reminder fees to ensure that payments are made on time and correctly.
The Bank Statements and External Reconciliations module is used to post bank statements and reconcile the postings with the actual account transactions. This module can be used to import bank statements into SAP Business One. The postings in SAP Business One are automatically reconciled with the bank data.
The modules Incoming Payments and Outgoing Payments have no meaning in practice, as they are only the result of the payment wizard and the reading or posting of account statements.
The subject area of cheques, which also belongs to bank settlement, will not be dealt with in detail below, as this means of payment is practically no longer used in business in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
Bank details are assigned to the business partner in the Business partner master data window on the Payment terms tab. You can select and assign the required bank details there. You can also add and manage the bank details via the "Bank account management" menu. This can be helpful if you have several bank details for the same business partner.
To select your own house bank, you must open the selection list of banks in the "Sort code" field, select your house bank and confirm this with the "Select" button.
An interim G/L account in SAP Business One Banking is used to record temporary entries and reconciliations when transactions occur between different bank accounts or accounts outside the system.
The interim G/L account is used as a stopover to record transactions that cannot yet be finally allocated. As soon as the final allocation of the transactions has been made, they are transferred from the interim G/L account to the corresponding target account.
This procedure allows transactions carried out between different bank accounts or accounts outside the system to be tracked and reconciled in SAP Business One before they are finally posted to the appropriate target account.
PURCHASE
Purchase / Receipt
A document in SAP Business One is a document created at a specific level of the purchasing process to store and track data from a variety of business areas.
The purchasing process in SAP Business One comprises a total of eight document levels: Purchase Requisition, Vendor Inquiry, Purchase Order, Goods Receipt, Goods Return Inquiry, Returns, A/P Invoice and A/P Credit Memo, Outgoing Payment.
Goods receipt in SAP Business One is only required for stock items.
An A/P credit memo in SAP Business One is required when a reversal of A/P invoice and goods receipt must take place.
Yes, in principle you can start the purchasing process at any document level and skip any document level in the purchasing process.
When you open the receipt window, the window is in add mode. As soon as you have made all the entries, the voucher is created by clicking on the Add button.
The document header contains the most important information of the order at a glance.
In the "Supplier" field, select the supplier to whom this order is addressed.
The supplier's contact persons are automatically displayed in the "Contact persons" drop-down list.
The supplier reference number is used to create a reference to the supplier's document. For example, you can enter the supplier's order number here.
The "Status" field shows the current status of the receipt. There are a total of five statuses that a receipt can have: "Open", "Open - Printed", "Cancelled", "Completed" and "Parked".
The status "Open" means that the document can still be partially or fully processed in another document.
Enter the posting date in the "Posting date" field. SAP Business One automatically proposes the current date.
Yes, if you have opted for the "Only one voucher type per series" scenario, the "Manual" entry is also displayed in the selection list to the left of the voucher number. Select this entry to enter the voucher number manually instead of having it assigned automatically.
The status "Parked" means that the document has been put to one side until it is retrieved again later to finalise it. Parked receipts are used, for example, if not all the information is available to add the receipt
SAP Business One offers various options to make the entry in a date field more efficient. For example, you can enter the current day's date by entering any letter and then pressing the TAB key. If you want to enter a date in the current month, simply enter the day (e.g. "12") and press the TAB key. If you want to enter a date in the current year, enter the day and month in digits (e.g. "1210") and press the TAB key. If you want to enter any date, enter the day and month in digits (e.g. "121016") and press the TAB key.
To cancel a document, right-click anywhere in the document header and select "Cancel/Cancel" from the context menu. This is necessary if an order has been created incorrectly or has been cancelled by your company. Please note that a cancelled document cannot be reset to the status "Open", but it can be duplicated and used as a template for another document. You can also cancel individual lines of the document (see section 5.2.2, "Middle of document").
The "Vendor ref. no." field in the "SAP Business One" purchasing document is used to create a reference to the vendor's document. For example, the order number of the supplier can be entered. The vendor reference number is copied to the subsequent documents in the document chain during further processing, but can be changed in each case.
Answer: In the "Local currency", "System currency" and "BP currency" drop-down list in the "SAP Business One" document, you can select the currency in which the document is to be displayed. "Local currency" refers to the currency of the company, "System currency" to the currency of the system and "BP currency" to the currency of the business partner. A detailed description of the foreign currency in vouchers can be found in section 12.7, "Postings in foreign currency".
On the "Contents" tab, the items you wish to order are entered line by line in a table structure.
No, only those items that have also been defined as purchase items can be used as purchase items. To do this, the "Purchasing" checkbox must be activated in the "Item master data" window (Warehouse management ? Item master data).
To create an item line in the order, enter the item number (item no. field) or open the selection list with the TAB key. Then you can enter the desired quantity and the discount granted by your supplier.
Enter the unit price, i.e. the price per base unit (e.g. piece), in the "Price after discount" field. This price is already suggested from the price list assigned to the selected business partner and can be changed if necessary.
The tax code is proposed automatically from the item master or on the basis of the tax assignment of the business partner.
The total price ("Total (HW)" field) is calculated automatically based on the quantity, discount and price after discount. It can also be changed and is then calculated back to the unit price, taking the quantity into account.
You have the option of searching for the item description in an empty item line. Enter either the complete item description or just a part of it and add an asterisk "*". The selection list opens in the "List: Item" window opens. The search term entered in the "Item description" field appears in the "Search" field of the selection list, which already limits the search.
The button (Form Settings) in the toolbar opens the Form Settings window. On the Table Format tab you will find a table with all available fields in the Form Settings ? Order. The order from top to bottom in the table corresponds to the order displayed in the Form Settings ? Order window from left to right.
You can change the display order of the fields by drag-and-drop. To do this, click on the desired field name with the left mouse button and keep the mouse button pressed. A black rectangle becomes visible after a short time. Then drag the field to the desired position and drop it there.
These form settings for the selected window are saved for each user. This means you have the possibility to set up each window the way you feel is best for working with SAP Business One.
Yes, for each field you can specify whether it should be visible (tick the checkbox in the Visible column) and whether you are allowed to make an entry or not (tick the checkbox in the Active column).
The button "Restore default" restores the initial state of the window.
sale
Sale / Voucher
The sales document chain is a sequence of document levels that map the sales process in SAP Business One. It includes the stages quotation, sales order, delivery, return request, return, outgoing invoice, outgoing credit note and incoming payment.
The document chain in sales and in purchasing differ in the document levels and the associated functions. The document chain in sales includes the steps quotation, sales order, delivery, return request, return, outgoing invoice, outgoing credit note and incoming payment. The document chain in purchasing, on the other hand, includes the steps quotation, purchase order, goods receipt and incoming invoice.
With the exception of the incoming payment, all document windows in the SAP Business One Sales module have a similar structure. The programme is operated using the same system as in the section "Working with data records". When the window is opened, it is in add mode. As soon as all entries have been made, the document is created by clicking on the "Add" button. Existing documents can be called up using the "Search data record" button or the "Ctrl "+"F" key combination.
To make changes to an existing receipt, the receipt must be opened in search mode. As soon as changes have been made, the button in the bottom left-hand area changes from "OK" to "Update". Clicking on this button confirms the changes made.
The document header in the Sales module of SAP Business One corresponds to the document header in Purchasing. In the Quotation document level, the delivery date field has been replaced by the "Valid to" field, which defines the validity period of a quotation.
The automatic availability check in SAP Business One is a function that allows you to quickly check the availability of an item in the document line. This function can be switched on and off by activating / deactivating the "Activate automatic availability check" checkbox (via the path Administration ? System initialisation ? Voucher settings ? Per voucher tab ? Document sales order). If you use an article in the voucher line whose available stock threatens to fall into the negative with the sales order, the availability check is activated.
The "Last Prices" report in SAP Business One provides an overview of the last prices you assigned to a selected item. This report can be very helpful in the Sales module, especially for pricing in the quotation. To open the "Last Prices" window, press (Ctrl)+TAB in the Unit Price field. In this window, you can select which document levels should be displayed in sales, how many prices should be displayed and whether special prices or prices from a framework agreement should be taken into account.
You can access the "Last Prices" report in SAP Business One via the menu path Warehouse Management ? Inventory reports ? Last prices. Alternatively, you can also call up the report directly from the quotation by pressing the key combination (Ctrl)+TAB in the unit price field.
In the "Last prices" window, you can display the document levels in sales, the number of prices that should go back in time, the last special prices used, the prices agreed in a framework agreement and the document date, the quantity and the historical price of the selected item.
The Available-to-Promise report in the SAP Business One Sales module shows the quantity of the item that is available in the warehouse in question on the due date.
The document windows in the Sales module of SAP Business One have various tabs on which information about a sales document is displayed. The tabs can vary depending on the document level. The most common tabs include "Contents", "Summary", "Addresses", "Financial" and "Additional costs".
The summary type is a function in SAP Business One that allows document rows to be summarised according to similar aspects.
The Summary Type drop-down list is located on the Content tab in the upper right area.
The summary of the document lines is only available for documents of the document type Article.
The summary of the voucher lines can be done either by articles or by vouchers.
When summarising by items, all document rows with the same items are summarised into one document row if the properties of the item rows are the same.
When summarising by vouchers, all voucher lines with the same basic vouchers are summarised into one line.
The Procurement Wizard for Sales Orders is a wizard in SAP Business One that can be used to create a purchasing document directly from the sales order.
If you select the option "Apply tax to first instalment", the entire tax amount of the voucher plus 15 % of the net amount is already due on the first instalment. The remaining net amount is divided among the remaining instalments according to the percentages entered.