SAP B1 blog

Fully integrated for effective warehouse management

SAP Business One is more than just software. It is a tool that helps you keep track of your stock levels, from purchasing and sales processes to stock valuation methods. It also offers functions for manual Inventory Transactions, pricing and inventory.

But let's delve deeper into warehouse organisation. In SAP Business One, you can create any number of warehouses that can be completely separated during warehouse management. These warehouses do not necessarily have to be physically separated. It is also possible that you have main and spare parts warehouses in the same warehouse, but want to separate them for logistical reasons.

Another aspect that makes the SAP Business One warehouse organisation unique is the ability to map the physical subdivisions of the warehouse with up to four levels. These can be, for example, rows, aisles, shelves, boxes, containers, cartons, crates, boxes, etc. This means that the storage bin is the smallest usable spatial unit in the warehouse. This function enables precise and efficient warehouse management by facilitating the localisation and movement of items within the warehouse.

Basic principles for warehouse management in SAP Business One

The warehouses created are the basis for warehouse management in SAP Business One. It is possible to create a large number of warehouses that can be completely separated from each other in terms of warehouse management. This includes the calculation of article costs, the reaction to minimum stock levels, etc.

Different bearings for different units

The warehouses that you create in SAP Business One are logistically related. Every unit that you consider to be logistically relevant should have a warehouse in SAP Business One. A general warehouse, a spare parts warehouse, a secondary warehouse, a production warehouse, an interim warehouse or a scrap warehouse are just a few examples. As a rule, warehouses are physically separated, but as already mentioned, this does not have to be the case for warehouse management. Some examples:

• Blocked storage for reserve stocks
• Duty-free warehouse, for imported goods that have not yet been declared
• Quality assurance for sampling and goods inspection
• Drop-ship warehouse for deliveries from the supplier directly to the customer
• Returns warehouse, as ownership remains with the customer
• E-commerce warehouse to guarantee high availability

For each warehouse, you can specify whether or not the available quantities of this warehouse should be taken into account in the MRP. Optionally, a warehouse can also be assigned a different G/L account or a different VAT identification number can be assigned. This may be necessary for a warehouse abroad, for example.

Before creating or transferring the item master data, early and sensible warehouse organisation is an important aspect of system initialisation and well-designed warehouse management. By using a numerical code at the beginning of the name, it can be ensured that the warehouses are correctly organised and can be found.

Standard storage bin in SAP Business One

Organisation is essential in warehouse management. Good warehouse management can increase productivity, reduce errors and ultimately increase customer satisfaction. The ability to designate a default storage bin is a feature of SAP Business One that can help maintain this order. But what exactly does that mean? Remember that you have a warehouse with multiple storage bins. Each storage bin is designated for specific item types. You want to make sure that the items go to the right storage location after you have received goods. This is the "Force default storage bin" option.

Organise your warehouse properly

For a goods receipt, the items only need to be placed in the default storage bin if you select the "Force default storage bin" checkbox in SAP Business One. This means that SAP Business One automatically selects the default storage bin for the goods receipt, regardless of where the item is actually stored. This can help to keep the warehouse tidy and make warehouse management more effective. However, this is not the only advantage within the warehouse organisation in SAP Business One. You can also use it to ensure that items always go to the right place by enforcing a default storage bin. This can minimise the error rate and increase the accuracy of your stock levels.

Manage item costs per warehouse

One task of warehouse organisation is to make the costs of each item transparent. SAP Business One offers a function that allows you to manage item costs per warehouse. But what does that actually mean?

Imagine you have multiple warehouses. Not all warehouses are the same - some may be located in areas with higher operating costs, others may require special storage conditions that incur additional costs. In such cases, it makes sense to calculate the cost of each item differently depending on the warehouse. SAP Business One allows you to do just that.

With SAP Business One, you can tick the "Manage item costs per warehouse" checkbox if you want the warehouse valuation method to be applied separately for each warehouse. If you activate this option, the moving average price calculated for each individual warehouse and not for all warehouses together. This enables more precise cost control and can help you to make more efficient decisions.

But how does this work in practice? Let's assume you have an item that is stored in two different warehouses. The operating costs in warehouse A are higher than in warehouse B. If you have a goods receipt in warehouse A, you can include the higher costs in the item costs. If the same item arrives later in warehouse B, you can adjust the item costs to reflect the lower operating costs of warehouse B. In this way, the item costs in SAP Business One reflect the actual costs of each warehouse.

It is important to note that this function requires close and continuous monitoring. But don't worry, SAP Business One provides the necessary tools and reports within the warehouse organisation to facilitate this process.

Overall, managing item costs per warehouse is a powerful feature in SAP Business One that can help improve the accuracy of your cost calculations and ultimately increase your profitability with this part of the warehouse organisation.

The stock transfer in SAP Business One

Stock transfer is an essential aspect of warehouse management. It allows you to move items from one storage location to another in order to manage stock efficiently and ensure a smooth business flow. SAP Business One offers a function that simplifies and optimises this process.

But what exactly does that mean? Imagine you have an item that is no longer needed in a certain storage bin, but is missing from another bin. Instead of moving the item manually and updating the stock manually, you can carry out a stock transfer in SAP Business One.

In SAP Business One, you can carry out a stock transfer in the same way as a goods receipt. You can select a business partner and a contact person to appear on the document printout. This can be particularly useful if you are transferring items between different locations or departments. When transferring stock in SAP Business One, you can also select a business partner for the document printout. This can be particularly useful if you are transferring items to a customer or supplier. You can print the name of the business partner on the voucher printout to ensure clear and accurate documentation of the stock transfer.

Stock transfer in SAP Business One is therefore another component of an efficient solution for optimising your warehouse management. It enables precise control of item movements in your warehouse and can help to improve the efficiency and accuracy of your warehouse management.

Automatic assignment at output

Warehouse management can be a complex task, especially when it comes to allocating items for goods issue. SAP Business One offers a function that can simplify this process: automatic assignment at goods issue.

But what exactly does that mean? Imagine you have a goods issue, e.g. a sale or a delivery. You need to decide which items are to be withdrawn from your warehouse. This is where the "Automatic allocation on issue" function comes into play.

In SAP Business One, you can define various options for the automatic allocation of items at goods issue. These options can be defined at item, warehouse or storage bin level. For example, you can specify that items are to be assigned to FIFO principle (First In, First Out) or according to the principle of the shortest expiry date.

But that's not all. This function can also help to improve the efficiency of your warehouse management. By utilising automatic allocation on issue, you can speed up the process of picking items and reduce errors. You can also ensure that the items in your warehouse are optimally utilised, for example by selling the oldest items first.

Inventory in SAP Business One Warehouse Management

The periodic inventory is the centrepiece of warehouse management. This cyclical count is necessary to reconcile the quantities in SAP Business One with their physical counterparts in the warehouse. The assignment of cycle codes to each item and each warehouse facilitates this periodic count.

SAP Business One offers two types of inventory documents as standard:

Inventory count

This document is a list of the items to be counted and the persons responsible for the count. It is also possible to block the items to be counted in order to protect them from being issued. Once prepared in this way, a count sheet can be printed out, which serves as a practical guide for the counting process. After the count, the quantities can be entered into the count sheet. If manual entry is too time-consuming, SAP Business One allows the relevant data to be imported from MS Excel.

Inventory posting documents

These documents are used to eliminate discrepancies between the counted quantities and the stock quantities recorded in the system. The stock posting documents allow you to enter the item costs and post the difference in order to adjust the stock.

Inventory reports

In warehouse management, it is essential to maintain an overview of current stock levels. SAP Business One offers a range of inventory reports. These help to maintain an overview and make informed decisions.

Stock report

One of the most important reports is the "Stock level report". This report shows the current stock level as an overview or detailed report. You can restrict the display in the "Stock level report - selection criteria" window with regard to item, warehouse and location. In addition, you can use the "Hide items with zero stock quantity" checkbox to display only those items that have stock on hand.

Stock status

Another useful report is the "Stock Status" report. This report shows the same components for calculating the available quantity (In Stock Confirmed + Ordered = Available Quantity) as in the Item Master Data window on the Stock tab.

Inventory posting list

SAP Business One also offers the "Inventory Posting List" report. This report works in a similar way to the sales analysis in the Sales module and the purchasing analysis in the Purchasing. You can run the report by article, business partner and other criteria, such as sales employee, project or supplier catalogue number.

Help for the overview

These reports and many others allow you to keep an accurate overview of your inventory and make informed decisions. They are another example of how SAP Business One can help you optimise your warehouse management and improve your business processes.