The correct use of master data is the most important condition in order to SAP Business One in full, long-term and scalable. In principle, the basis for all postings in SAP Business One has been maintained accordingly: the business partners (customers, suppliers and prospective customers), which are divided into three groups, items that are stored in the inventory and possibly warehouses, and ledger accountswhich are used when posting transactions. Each time a new document is created in the system or other actions take place, SAP B1 uses these entries to provide a large part of the required information.

Data that cannot be removed

Furthermore, if master data in SAP Business One is involved in an accounting or inventory transaction, it cannot be removed from the system. In addition, all partners and items associated with a sales order are also protected.


SAP Business One User Master Data

SAP Business One - Users
SAP Business One - Users

Every individual working with SAP Business One must be created as a user. The user is recognised as such in SAP Business One and can log into and work with the program using a user code and password. As an SAP customer, the so-called Named User Licenses purchased. This means that each individual user licence is assigned to an employee of the company in the master data. Among the users, there is also the super user, a type with special tasks in SAP Business One. This user has global authorisations and can, among other things, change the password of another user.
Otherwise, all user details are stored via the user settings, be it the affiliation to departments or groups or the user's password with corresponding rules.


SAP Business One Business Partner

Business partners are certainly the central master data in SAP Business One. These can have very different roles:

  • legal entities
  • Pursue
  • organizations
  • societies
  • institutions
  • Authorities
SAP Business One - Business Partners
SAP Business One - Business Partners

Business partner categorisation

SAP Business One provides a basic categorisation for these business partners into prospects, customers and suppliers. The prospective customer (lead) describes a target customer. This data provides the basis for sales activities and marketing campaigns. As soon as the prospective customer makes the first purchase, SAP Business One transfers them to the "Customer" status. The "Customer" status is used for business partners with whom you work together to sell products and services. Supplier data is in turn linked to the people and organisations from whom products and services are purchased. They participate in the generation of documents in the context of purchasing, the receipt of deliveries and the processing of supplier annuity payments.

A business partner is almost always linked to a transaction in SAP Business One. As soon as this is the case, the linked business partner(s) can no longer be deleted.

Business objects with the most categories and input fields

The business partner master data is one of the business objects with the most categories and input fields.

  • header data
    The basic data of the business partner such as name, type, group affiliation, etc.
  • Generally
    Basic general data on the business partner, such as general connection data, industry affiliation, groupings, etc.
  • Contact Person
    The different persons of the business partner, with their connection data, profiles, task, detailed information, etc.
  • AddressesBilling and delivery addresses with all the necessary details
  • terms of payment
    All data relating to the business partner's payment information, including payment terms and credit limits, price listsdunning conditions, exposure limits, interest rates, etc.
  • payment run
    The data required for the payment assistant in bank processing is entered here
  • accounting
    There are two further tabs here: Under "General", you will find all the data relating to consolidation, reconciliation accounts, down payments and Dunning etc. Under "Tax", the corresponding tax status and the tax group of the business partner can be assigned
  • Characteristics
    Here you have the option of describing and classifying the business partner in more detail using properties. The properties can then be used as criteria in the various areas of SAP Business One.
  • Remarks
    Here you can maintain long texts and comments and store image files.
  • Attachments
    Files in any format can be attached here.

Triggerable actions

A number of actions can be triggered from the business partner master data in SAP Business One with reference to the same. These include

SAP Business One GP promotions
SAP Business One GP promotions
  • Show associated service calls
  • Show related activities
  • Show related opportunities
  • Show associated recurring transactions
  • Show associated framework agreements for sales
  • Show associated service contracts
  • Create activity
  • Create service call
  • Create Opportunity
  • Create offer
  • Create sales order
  • Create outgoing invoice
  • Create outgoing credit
  • Create return request

terms of payment

SAP Business One - Terms of Payment
SAP Business One - Terms of Payment

The terms of payment are managed in the master data object of the same name. They are made up of the actual payment term and the discount period. These are then combined to form the complete payment term. You can also define a number of other terms that are then assigned to the business partner:

  • Basis of the due date (document or posting date)
  • Time from which the payment period begins
  • tolerance days
  • Payment by instalments - number of instalments
  • Create incoming payment automatically
  • Define discount
  • discount periods

In principle, all payment terms granted to customers or granted by suppliers must be created. This can be done in three different ways. The respective terms of payment can be overridden from level to level:

  • company master data
    You can define a default value for each new business partner to be created for customers or suppliers via the administration.
  • Business partner
  • The default value from the master data is adopted when the new business partner is created so that it can then be changed there.
  • receipt
    When a new document is created, the terms of payment associated with the business partner are copied into the document.

Activities in SAP Business One

SAP Business One - Activities
SAP Business One - Activities

You can document any interaction with any business partner as an activity. This can be a phone call, a meeting, a task or a note or a comment.
an internal activity. Activities can be created for or from specific objects in SAP Business One. The activities can then be called from the respective linked documents or, conversely, the documents can be called from the activities.
The activity can be assigned to an employee or a group. Activities can be provided with follow-up activities as required.

Recurring activities

A repetition can be defined for activities of the corresponding type. A repetition interval can be selected from a drop-down list so that the activity is repeated daily, weekly, monthly or annually.

Overviews and reports

Activities can be displayed in lists as an overview and filtered in the SAP Business One calendar.
In addition, these activities can also be transferred to MS Outlook via Outlook integration.


Article master data in SAP Business One

All goods and services that are bought and sold in the course of operational business are recorded in the item master data. The article master data is used in a wide range of modules in SAP Business One. This includes purchasing, sales, service, material requirements planning and much more.

Article master data SAP B1
SAP B1 master data article

Data in master data Article

All data that is used in the various contexts and tasks of the article in SAP Business One is recorded in the article. This includes, among other things

  • item number
    Number with up to 50 digits, which must be unique. . Once used in a transaction, it cannot be changed or deleted.
  • article number series
    Series for the automatic numbering of articles
  • description
    Description of the item with up to 100 characters
  • Foreign language name
    Description of the item in another language
  • item type
    Mainly relevant for the service module in SAP Business One and provides the categorisation into articles, work and travel
  • item group
    Rough classification of articles into categories for the purpose of segmenting the articles in order to use them in evaluation and statistics.
  • ME group
    Units of measure group that can be used to manage units of measure for the items
  • EAN Code
    Field for a European article number (EAN). You can create several barcodes per unit of measure group. The EAN 13 and Code 39 formats are supported.
  • price list
    Selection field for the previously created price lists that are to be used for the item.
  • item type
    Selection fields for the typing of articles. You can define stock items, sales items and purchase items.
  • Manufacturer
    Information about the manufacturer of the item in SAP Business One
  • shipping method
    Selection field for the type of shipping of the article in SAP Business One
  • Manage items by (series or batches)
    Field used to determine whether an item should be managed by serial number or lot number.
  • Management method (serial or batch)
    It is possible to track the use of serial or batch numbers either only on issue (when leaving the warehouse) or each time the item is booked.
  • warranty template
    Serial number items that are used in the "Service" module can be stored with a warranty template
  • active
    Here you can specify the period for which an article should be active, i.e. available for processing.
  • Inactive
    Here you can specify the period for which an article should be active, i.e. available for processing.
  • Here you can specify the period during which an item should not be active, i.e. not available for processing.
  • Preferred supplier
    Selection list of the preferred supplier for an item. The system then suggests this supplier for orders.
  • delivery method catalog number
    It is the supplier's article number for the corresponding article in SAP Business One
  • Name PurchasingUnit of measure
    Purchasing unit of measure and smallest possible unit for purchasing the item
  • Item per purchase unit
    Unit containing a purchasing unit of measure
  • Name packaging unit
    such as box, package, barrel, crate etc.
  • quantity per pack
    Purchase units per packaging unit
  • customs group
    applies to the import of the article from a third country
  • "Length", "Width", "Height", "Volume" and "Weight"
    Dimensions of the purchase unit
  • tax code
    Tax code that must be used for domestic purchases.
  • In stock
    Number of relevant articles that are stored
  • Confirmed
    Number of relevant articles claimed by customer orders
  • Ordered
    Number of relevant items ordered from suppliers.
  • Available
    Number of relevant items that have been ordered from suppliers and are in stock
  • item cost
    average cost of the item

Document numbering in SAP Business One

Defining the numbering of documents is an activity that can be carried out in the system development phase.
initialisation, i.e. before SAP Business One is put into operation. With the help of period indicators, you can use the same document numbers in different financial years.

SAP Business One provides two scenarios for numbering documents. However, once you have decided in favour of one of these scenarios, you can no longer change it after commissioning. Only one or more than one document type per numbering series is permitted.

You can also link a numbering series to a group via the master data, determine the digits of each number in the series or cancel the availabilities. In a document, you can also link a numbering series to a time period or a group.


company master data

Similar to the article or business partner master data in SAP Business One, you also enter your own company data. Firstly, your own contact details and country and foreign languages are entered. The following information can also be entered:

  • UID number
    The VAT identification number of the company for which the client is operated in SAP Business One.
  • Additional tax number
    The tax office can use this number to identify the company as part of a group
  • tax office administration number
    Number of the tax office responsible for your advance VAT return (UVA)
  • public holidays
    Selection field for the corresponding public holiday calendar
  • DVR number
    seven-digit register number of the data protection authority
  • Advanced tax reports
    Checkbox which, when ticked, activates the selection of the period type (year, quarter, month and period).
  • SEPA Creditor ID
    Creditor ID from the central bank. Required if you process electronic payment transactions using the SEPA standard (= Single European Payment Area) via the payment wizard in SAP Business One


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