SAP Partner
SAP Business One® is the system of record. We are everything around it.
The SAP Business One® solution is SAP's ERP for small and midsize companies. TranzDigital implements it, customizes it, connects it to the rest of your systems, hosts it and supports it, with a technical team that stays on the account after go-live.
- 01
- Runs on SAP HANA or Microsoft SQL Server
- 02
- Deployed on premise or in a hosted cloud environment
- 03
- Licensed per named user, with professional and limited user types
- 04
- Extended through the SAP Business One SDK, Service Layer and third-party add-ons
Where the line falls
What SAP Business One gives you, and what we build on top
The question every evaluation eventually reaches. Point at a tier to see which side of the line it sits on.
What we add
TranzDigital
What SAP ships
SAP
- Financials
- Sales & CRM
- Purchasing
- Inventory
- Warehouse
- Production & MRP
- Service
- Reporting
- Analytics
What it runs on
SAP
- SAP HANA
- Microsoft SQL Server
Everything above the middle tier talks to SAP Business One through the Service Layer and DI API. Nothing writes to the database directly, which is what keeps the system upgradeable.
What SAP ships
SAP Business One modules
The standard product. Nine functional areas writing to one database, which is why a sales order, the delivery against it and the journal entry behind it are a single connected record rather than three systems agreeing later.
- Tiers
- 3
- Built by SAP
- Modules and database
- Built by us
- Everything above it
The product
Nine functional areas, one database
Every module writes to the same place, which is why a sales order, its delivery and the journal entry behind it are one connected record.
- 01
Financials
General ledger, banking, budgets, fixed assets and multi-currency accounting, posting from the operational documents rather than from a monthly export.
- 02
Sales & CRM
Opportunities, quotes, orders, deliveries, invoices and returns, each linked to the document before it.
- 03
Purchasing
Purchase orders, goods receipts, landed costs, vendor invoices and reorder point planning.
- 04
Inventory
Multiple warehouses, batches, serials, multiple units of measure, price lists and stock valuation.
- 05
Warehouse
Bin locations, pick and pack, stock transfers and in-transit stock across sites.
- 06
Production & MRP
Bills of material, production orders, assembly and material requirements planning.
- 07
Service
Equipment cards, service contracts, call tracking and warranty history against a serial.
- 08
Reporting
SAP Crystal Reports layouts, query manager, alerts and scheduled distribution.
- 09
Analytics
Dashboards and KPIs, with SAP HANA analytics where the database supports it.
The practice
Seven things a partner is actually judged on
Most partners do the first three. The difference shows up in the four after them.
- 01ImplementScope the processes, configure the system, migrate the data, test it against real transactions and go live.
- 02CustomizeUser-defined fields and tables, approval procedures, formatted searches, print layouts and the reports people actually use.
- 03IntegrateConnect SAP Business One to storefronts, carriers, payment providers and whatever else you run, through supported interfaces.
- 04HostRun the environment: database administration, backups with restore tests, monitoring and version upgrades.
- 05SupportAnswer the phone afterwards, with the team that configured it rather than a queue that has never seen it.
- 06ExtendAdd-ons and purpose-built applications where the standard product genuinely stops.
- 07BuildWrite the software when no packaged product fits the process, against the same interfaces.
Our services
Where most engagements begin
Most clients arrive with an implementation or a system that is not working, and stay for integration, hosting and support.
- 01ImplementationScoping, configuration, migration, go-live.
- 02CustomizationFields, approvals, workflows, forms, reports.
- 03IntegrationConnect SAP Business One to commerce, field and warehouse systems.
- 04Support & HostingManaged environments, HANA, backups, upgrades.
- 05ConsultingProcess review, system audits and roadmaps.
- 06Add-ons & Custom AppsPurpose-built applications where the standard product stops.
- 07Customer CheckoutSAP Business One point of sale, integrated with SAP Business One.
- 08Change partnerSwitch partners or rescue a stalled project.
- 09Upgrades & migrationVersion upgrades, SQL Server to SAP HANA, cloud moves.
- 10Reports & dashboardsSAP Crystal Reports, queries, layouts and dashboards.
- 11TrainingRole-based training on your own data.
Deployment
Two databases, three places to run it
A decision worth making deliberately. It affects reporting speed, licence cost and who administers it.
SAP HANA
In-memory database with analytics built in. Faster on large queries and dashboards, and the platform SAP invests in.
- Better reporting performance
- Analytics without a separate tool
- Higher licence and hardware cost
Microsoft SQL Server
The familiar option. Cheaper to licence and to host, and well understood by most IT teams.
- Lower cost to run
- Familiar administration
- Reporting via SQL and Crystal
On premise, in a managed cloud environment we run, or in your own cloud account. Changing your mind later is a migration rather than a rebuild.
Fit
When it is the right product, and when it is not
A partner who never says no is not doing the assessment.
Usually a good fit
- You buy, stock, price and ship physical product.
- Inventory lives in more than one place.
- Customers have negotiated prices rather than list prices.
- You need batch, expiry or serial traceability.
- Somewhere between a few dozen and a few hundred users.
Look elsewhere
- You are a service business with no inventory to speak of.
- You need enterprise consolidation across many subsidiaries and countries.
- Accounting is the only thing that hurts, and the rest of the business is simple.
- You want the cheapest possible software and can absorb the manual work.
If this column describes you we will say so on the call. Our comparison pages name the products that fit those cases better.
Evaluating
The three questions that follow
Questions
About SAP Business One
Next step
Bring the parts of your operation that do not fit.
Every distributor has three or four processes that no packaged product handles well. Those are the interesting part of the conversation.