Articles by Andrew Karasev on ArticleSnatch.com

SAP Business One Localized Brazilian Version Part II: SPED, ICMS and NCM

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 13:47:29 -0500

When multinational company opens location in Brazil ERP system selection is critical to retain reasonable control and internal audit option. At the same time selected software should be in compliance with Brazilian tax code and legislation. Let’s try to review accounting systems software market in Brazil and selection recommendations Here in Brazil we have most of the ERP brand names present with offices in Sao Paulo and across the country. We would like to mention SAP, Microsoft Dynamics AX, Oracle as well as locally programmed application Microsiga You should be ready to do your homework in selection process however we would recommend you to start with license cost and implementation magnitude. In the case of Microsoft Dynamics AX formerly known as Axapta the platform is very flexible but it is good fit for large enterprise and implementation cost is rather high. It might be comparable to Oracle Applications/Ebusiness Suite also referred as Oracle Financials. SAP Business One is probably the only offer at this time from brand name which fits to mid-size and small subsidiary in Brazil Business One versus Microsiga. Here you should consider manageability factor. **End Summary** Topics: SAP Business One]]> Brazilian Localization]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Andrew Karasev is SAP BO consultant and Great Plains Certified Master, MVP, help@efaru.com 1-866-304-3265, 1-269-605-4904. He is also the initiator of eFaru project http://www.efaru.com and founder of Alba Spectrum information space

SAP Business One Customization or how do we modify user interface without programming

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 17:40:32 -0500

Customizability is one of the factors for ERP platform to be successful on the competitive software market. The history of adaptable software begins with reserved so-called user defined fields and simple interface to name them. Good example is old Great Plains Dynamics and its successor nowadays Microsoft Dynamics GP. This approach is pretty limited and if you remember old accounting packages it was normal scenario to invite programmers to have them create custom tables, provide user interface to their editing and link these tables with core functionality ones. Custom tables were separated in special dictionary and each new version update was associated with the need to review the tables as well as the code to be compatible. Modern accounting packages consider customization as something that should be handled on the level of metadata and the metadata itself is subject to reside in SQL database. This approach resolves possible future issues with customization upgrade as it is not separated from the core logic. SAP B1 is good example. Let’s take a look how you can add fields to existing table and instantly get user interface created automatically: 1. Customer invoices eligibility for sales commission. **End Summary** Topics: SAP Business One]]> SB1 Software Development Kit]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Andrew Karasev is SAP BO consultant and Great Plains Certified Master, MVP, help@efaru.com 1-866-304-3265, 1-269-605-4904. He is also the initiator of eFaru project http://www.efaru.com and founder of Alba Spectrum information space

SAP Business One Selection and Integration Projects or Locating Technology Oriented Partner

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 15:18:16 -0500

Small Business ERP selection process requires homework including candidates list, business processes mapping, vendor reputation and other steps and parameters. If you have doubts or not sure that you are on the same page with consulting firm sales folks then it is good idea to hold on and clarify the questions. Especially it is important when you are looking for custom integration and reporting in the phase two. Inexpensive or entry level systems should be tested on their openness to data feeding from your external databases and applications. From the low end we recommend you to take a look at Sage Peach Tree, QuickBooks and from the mid-priced review SAP Business One and Microsoft Dynamics GP. And also take a look at web based accounting packages such as NetSuite. Let’s review the competition and integration options for Business One: 1. Entry level accounting packages. Here you typically see proprietary database platform which is not too friendly to custom integration. And you should understand the reasons as if software application cost several hundred dollars then there is no room in this price level to cover brand name SQL database or something like Microsoft SQL Server or Oracle. **End Summary** Topics: SAP Business One]]> Data Transfer Workbench]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Andrew Karasev is SAP BO consultant and Great Plains Certified Master, MVP, help@efaru.com 1-866-304-3265, 1-269-605-4904. He is also the initiator of eFaru project http://www.efaru.com and founder of Alba Spectrum information space

SAP Business One and Dynamics GP or which ERP to choose?

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 14:50:12 -0500

SAP acquired a while ago accounting application initially architected and programmed in Israel. Around 2005 SAP Business One had good market gain here in the United States with version 2005A. Great Plains Dynamics in its turn is older and it was introduced on Windows and Mac platforms in earlier 1990th as one of the pioneering applications completely in graphic user interface. Each system has its pros and contras and consulting to both communities of users we would like to share our impressions: 1. Cost of licenses, implementation and ownership. Here we would like to give you some excurse into history. Dynamics GP was acquiring new modules through its own ISV channel. And large number of modules currently offered from Microsoft was actually adapted, including Manufacturing, Project Accounting and Fixed Assets to name a few. Business One is probably on the same route but its history is not as long. This means that if you need industry verticals for SAP B1 they are likely available directly from ISV partners and not directly by SAP. Having said that we would like to point out that Dynamics GP has more granolas ant its pricing is more diversified. Implementation hours might be comparable. **End Summary** Topics: SAP Business One]]> Dynamics GP]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Andrew Karasev is SAP BO consultant and Great Plains Certified Master, MVP, help@efaru.com 1-866-304-3265, 1-269-605-4904. He is also the initiator of eFaru project http://www.efaru.com and founder of Alba Spectrum information space

SAP Business One Old Release Support Consulting Notes

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 16:55:59 -0500

Accounting and ERP systems have their life cycle beginning from the introduction and then followed by market share gain, golden age and then retirement and phasing out. In the case of SAP B1 we see its market share gaining phase at this time of February of 2012. However there are customers here in the United States with versions no longer supported by SAP directly: 2007A and 2005A. There are also customers who are not current in annual enhancement program and who feel that they are sort of orphans. Some of these customers have integrations programmed in Software Development Kit, DI Server and Data Transfer Workbench. These customers have to keep their businesses running and have legitimate rights to receive timely support. Let’s take a look at your options: 1. Switching over from direct technical support from SAP to Consulting partner with technical support call center. SAP itself might be in the position to push its customers toward new version update projects. It is good idea to train technicians to provide support to cool new features versus to recover somebody who is on the outdated version. **End Summary** Topics: SAP Business One]]> SB1 Software Development Kit]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Andrew Karasev is SAP BO consultant and Great Plains Certified Master, MVP, help@efaru.com 1-866-304-3265, 1-269-605-4904. He is also the initiator of eFaru project http://www.efaru.com and founder of Alba Spectrum information space

Dynamics GP Payroll Typical Technical Support Cases

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 16:07:03 -0500

Probably many of the GP users are aware about issues with Social Security employer and employee contributions mismatch introduced in January of 2011. We found ourselves in the position to help numerous Great Plains customers where other consulting firms support indicated that they do not support SQL Server 2000 database platform anymore and this is why the case could not be resolved. You also probably know the work around. Set Social Security contribution to 4.2% and in this case old business logic will accrue Employee and Employer portion the same. It is better as in this case W2 should be printed correct. And consider increasing employer portion to 6.2% directly in General Ledger. In this small technology article let’s take a look at other issues discovered in US Payroll module: 1. Void Payroll Checks. It is normal scenario when you are making mistake in payroll transaction and when check is printed you would like to void, correct and reissue the check. Normally it works fine but let’s assume that recently you decided to change the bank account from where you fund checks and do direct deposit service. **End Summary** Topics: Dynamics GP]]> Payroll Module]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Andrew Karasev, http://www.albaspectrum.com Great Plains Dynamics GP and eEnterprise Certified Master, Microsoft MVP and consultant with 15 years and plus experience and expertise. Alba Spectrum, 1-866-528-0577, help@albaspectrum.com. If you are thinking implement Dynamics GP in challenging environment, we recommend you to give us a call

Dynamics GP AP Check Batch Recovery and Reposting Consulting Notes

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:04:35 -0500

In Payables Management module computer check processing typically takes time or at least to say one minute or more. Traditionally Great Plains deploys two tiers architecture with the option to send batch posting to secured and backed by UPS processing server. If you are posting batches directly from your user computer and something happens with power and computer simply crushes then chances are high that you need to do data repair on the SQL or Pervasive/Btrieve levels. Let’s review why these things happen and how to get issue resolved: 1. Dexterity architecture model. This is sort of abstraction from DB platform and operating system. Dexterity is the shell programmed in C++. The abstraction from such platforms as Microsoft SQL Server or Pervasive SQL 2000 has its cost. If you are SQL DBA you may reasonably argue: ‘Wait a minute, why we don’t just use SQL transaction commit and rollback mechanisms?’ Well, Dexterity has its own atomic SQL Stored Procedures to do tiny things such as retrieving or saving just one record in the table. **End Summary** Topics: Dynamics GP]]> Technical Support]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Andrew Karasev, http://www.albaspectrum.com Great Plains Dynamics GP and eEnterprise Certified Master, Microsoft MVP and consultant with 15 years and plus experience and expertise. Alba Spectrum, 1-866-528-0577, help@albaspectrum.com. If you are thinking implement Dynamics GP in challenging environment, we recommend you to give us a call

Dynamics GP on Pervasive SQL Server and DDF Generator

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:06:36 -0500

The technique of ODBC connection to old versions of Great Plains Dynamics based in Pervasive SQL Server 2000 or Btrieve is reasonably straightforward. Modern day programmers are typically comfortable to deal with ODBC or native driver connection to Microsoft SQL Server and the number of consultants who are ready to connect you to B-Trieve database is limited. Let’s review the technology and the steps: 1. Great Plains versions on Btrieve/Pervasive SQL 2000. Back in earlier 1990th Great Plains Dynamics was introduced as one of the pioneering graphical accounting applications. Those days competition on the graphical computers had such names as Apple Macintosh and Microsoft Windows. Apple PowerPC server had Faircom Ctree database platform while Microsoft Windows server had either Ctree or B-trieve. In our experience with Faircom DB on Mac server is not very encouraging as we saw poor performance. In executive demonstrations we ended up with scenario where Dynamics clients are installed on Mac computers and the server is Windows with Btrieve database platform. In late 1990th and earlier 2000th Great Plains Dynamics was available on three DB platforms: Btrieve/Pervasive, Microsoft SQL Server and Ctree. And the versions were 7.5, 7.0, 6.0, 5.5, 5. **End Summary** Topics: Dynamics GP]]> Pervasive SQL 2000]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Andrew Karasev, http://www.albaspectrum.com Great Plains Dynamics GP and eEnterprise Certified Master, Microsoft MVP and consultant with 15 years and plus experience and expertise. Alba Spectrum, 1-866-528-0577, help@albaspectrum.com. If you are thinking implement Dynamics GP in challenging environment, we recommend you to give us a call

SAP Business One Countryside Consulting

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 15:04:30 -0500

When you are located somewhere far away from major business metros chances are high that your local consulting partner is overcharging you and has limited expertise especially in technologies. Isn’t that the true statement that internet is available everywhere? If the answer is ‘of course’ then we recommend you to think about remote support options. What is possible and what is not possible – we would like to open these questions in this small publication. We are not pretending to write something for programmer or IT professional. Instead we are sending message to managers that help is one email step away: 1. How does it work? We assume that you got software licenses purchased and local consulting firm has already done implementation phase one. The real value for you is probably in phase two where you expect something like custom integration with external database, EDI or maybe ecommerce portal. You have discussed the topic with consulting folks but they seem to be relatively reluctant to pursue the project and give you proposals. Sounds familiar? And it is not complex to understand their reluctance. Their organization is geared toward new software sales followed by initial generic implementation. **End Summary** Topics: SAP Business One]]> Consolidated Financial Reporting]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Andrew Karasev is SAP Business One Consultant and Great Plains Certified Master, MVP, help@efaru.com 1-866-304-3265, 1-269-605-4904. He is also the initiator of eFaru project http://www.efaru.com and founder of Alba Spectrum information space. By the nature of our service we are helping customers USA, Canada nationwide and internationally with consulting force speaking in English, Russian, Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese

SAP Business One Brazilian Localization Notes: SPED, NCM and ICMS

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 17:20:31 -0500

Multinational companies are opening their branches in Brazil and in this small publication the goal is to give you initial idea on ERP system selection and implementation. First of all you should understand the general picture in Brazil. The country has Federal, State and municipal taxes as well as Fiscal Chart of Accounts. The country is also in transition to adopt electronic filing on the level of Accounts Receivable and Payable one per month as well as on the level of General Ledger once per year. Taxation is more complex comparing to what we have here in the United States and it might be understood as combination of VAT and Sales Tax models. In the Value Added Tax the idea is as following. Raw components in their transformation to become finished good and being distributed could change hands several times and every business normally adds the value and sells the items to the next one. Whatever is the difference between the cost and price – this amount is taxed. This model is popular in Europe. **End Summary** Topics: SAP Business One]]> International ERP]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Andrew Karasev is SAP BO consultant and Great Plains Certified Master, MVP, help@efaru.com 1-866-304-3265, 1-269-605-4904. He is also the initiator of eFaru project http://www.efaru.com and founder of Alba Spectrum information space

Dynamics GP W2 Popular Issues and Work Around

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 11:57:27 -0500

Microsoft Dynamics GP Payroll module is sensitive to tax rates and formulae. If you are running payroll in house good recommendation is to be on the latest tax update. If you are on the old version then you have to either update federal and state income taxes manually or use the service from consulting firms who are specializing in tax rates update via SQL scripts. Let’s review known issues and how they could be resolved. We begin with the issue of mismatch in Employee and Employer portion of Social Security contribution (4.2% and 6.2% respectively): 1. Social security contribution model was long time considered as the ‘match’ meaning that employee contributes 6.2% from the gross wage and employer ‘matches’ or in other words contributes another 6.2% and this amount is not seen to employee. Situation was so stable that some accounting packages, including Great Plains Dynamics implemented the formula where employee and employer contributions percentages are taken from the same record. When in 2011 congress lowered employee contribution from 6.2% to 4.2% Microsoft Dynamics GP was not really ready to this change. **End Summary** Topics: Dynamics GP]]> W2 form filing]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Andrew Karasev, http://www.albaspectrum.com Great Plains Dynamics GP and eEnterprise Certified Master, Microsoft MVP and consultant with 15 years and plus experience and expertise. Alba Spectrum, 1-866-528-0577, help@albaspectrum.com. If you are thinking implement Dynamics GP in challenging environment, we recommend you to give us a call

SAP Business One Chicago Supporting Old Versions 2007A and 2005A

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 18:03:47 -0500

Technically support is not really challenging for consulting firm. However there are nuances as might be close to impossible to transfer application server (with license server) from one computer to another. Software license key is coded against MAC of the motherboard. So try keeping your old server in luxury conditions and if by whatever reason peripheral devices fail (hard drives or RAID, Ethernet card or RAM) then try to keep motherboard and order replacement to failed component How support works in Chicagoland, Northern Illinois, Northwestern Indiana and Southwest Michigan? We are ready to drive to your location from our offices in Naperville, IL and Saint Joseph, MI. It is always a good idea to establish personal relations and shake hands at least. However following support could be probably done remotely via web session (our preferred tool is Gotomeeting). Web session is perfect solution when you got urgent issue which got to be resolved in the matter of few hours as it eliminates to need to drive out onsite which should take few hours at least Q. What are your specializations regarding SAP B1? A. **End Summary** Topics: SAP Business One]]> Old Version Support]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Andrew Karasev is SAP BO consultant and Great Plains Certified Master, MVP, help@efaru.com 1-866-304-3265, 1-269-605-4904. He is also the initiator of eFaru project http://www.efaru.com and founder of Alba Spectrum information space

Dynamics GP New Year Resolution or W2 and 1099 forms as well as Social Security Contribution

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:26:28 -0500

Controllers are often in heavy workload mode so when it is time to print and mail 1099 and W2 forms you might find yourself in the situation when something is terribly wrong in the printed form and it is due today to be stamped and mailed by USPS. Also with recent congress activity GP got issue with Social Security mismatch for employee and employer portions. Microsoft recommended work around where correction is done for employer portion directly in the General Ledger. Later tax update was issued in January of 2011 however it was only applicable to versions 2010, 10.0 and 9.0. Earlier versions were no longer supported and fix is not available for them: 8.0, 7.5, 7.0, 6.0, 5.5, 5.0 and earlier. Let’s take a look at the work around: 1. W2. Issues might happen with such codes as Tips and Deductions where summaries for employee show amounts that are different from what you see printed on W2 form. It is possible to invite consultant to take a look at Payroll tables, especially UPR30300 and UPR30100 but if you are under time pressure consider editing W2 and save it with new numbers. **End Summary** Topics: Dynamics GP]]> US Payroll]]> 1099 Form Printing]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Andrew Karasev, http://www.albaspectrum.com Great Plains Dynamics GP and eEnterprise Certified Master, Microsoft MVP and consultant with 15 years and plus experience and expertise. Alba Spectrum, 1-866-528-0577, help@albaspectrum.com. If you are thinking implement Dynamics GP in challenging environment, we recommend you to give us a call

SAP Business One Legacy Version and How to get Support

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 17:11:57 -0500

When you are running your accounting application on the old version you might feel that consulting firms are reluctant in dealing with you. This is understandable as consulting folks are trying to get new software licenses or product sales and make reasonable money on initial implementation hours. Plus they have to keep hiring certified consultants and new hires are probably trained in current version. However you should accommodate yourself to the idea that the luxury to have consultant next door to your office is probably utopia and now you have to accept remote support option. How does it work, how to find consultant and what kind of support is possible and not possible? Well this is what we are trying to overview in this small publication. Let’s begin with legacy versions overview: 1. Historical versions 2007A and 2005A. These versions are no longer supported by SAP directly and it is difficult to get license key in order to transfer application server from one computer to another. However it is possible to get support from consulting organization which is focusing on secondary SAP B1 consulting market 2. Secondary Accounting application consulting market. **End Summary** Topics: SAP Business One]]> ERP Recovery]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Andrew Karasev is SAP BO consultant and Great Plains Certified Master, MVP, help@efaru.com 1-866-304-3265, 1-269-605-4904. He is also the initiator of eFaru project http://www.efaru.com and founder of Alba Spectrum information space

SAP Business One 2007A and 2005A Old Version Tech Support Atlanta Chicago and Nationwide

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 02:46:41 -0500

It might be a situation when you feel that reseller across the street being so nice in initial sales cycle and implementation phase doesn’t want to provide service anymore. And the reason is simple as you decided not to pay for annual enhancement contract with SAP Is it the end of the story for you? Probably not as these people are looking to the future and pursue new software sales but there are firms helping SAP B1 customers on the secondary market At this time of February 2012 current version is 8.82 but it is just the matter of time that it will be discontinued Q. Do you provide local service? A. Yes, in Atlanta, Chicagoland and Southwest Michigan Q. If we are in the countryside then is service still available? A. Yes via web sessions, remote desktop connections, Gotomypc and similar technologies. If you are ready to cover travel expenses we will ship consultant to your office. We would like to mention that our clients are dispersed proportionally across the United States so the quality of remote support is pretty decent Q. Could you move application from old crashed server to the new one? A. **End Summary** Topics: SAP Business One]]> Old Version Support]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Andrew Karasev is SAP Business One Consultant and Great Plains Certified Master, MVP, help@efaru.com 1-866-304-3265, 1-269-605-4904. He is also the initiator of eFaru project http://www.efaru.com and founder of Alba Spectrum information space. By the nature of our service we are helping customers USA, Canada nationwide and internationally with consulting force speaking in English, Russian, Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese

SAP Business One old version support or what to do if you are on 2005 or 2007 releases

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 17:20:28 -0500

There are so-called orphan customers or in other words who are without support. Typical reason is decision to stop paying annual maintenance plan somewhere in the past. If you do not have active annual contract then your original consulting firm is not interested in dealing with you including technical support. Situation is not ideal but it is not the end of the world for you. Let’s talk about what could be done and how you can be back on track. Let’s take a look at details: 1. Where to look for help? Probably not directly through SAP but rather via consulting firm with technicians familiar with old versions. It might be tough to find something like that sitting next to your office so we would recommend the idea to accept remote support via web sessions and phone conferences 2. What kind of issues could be resolved? Each SAP B1 VAR should have access to knowledge base on SAP portal. Business logic of the old version should be considered as subset of the logic of the recent release. **End Summary** Topics: SAP Business One]]> Old Version Support]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Andrew Karasev is SAP Business One Consultant and Great Plains Certified Master, MVP, help@efaru.com 1-866-304-3265, 1-269-605-4904. He is also the initiator of eFaru project http://www.efaru.com and founder of Alba Spectrum information space. By the nature of our service we are helping customers USA, Canada nationwide and internationally with consulting force speaking in English, Russian, Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese

SAP Business One as ERP Option when Multinational Corporation is Expanding to Brazil

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 16:29:33 -0500

Multinational Corporation typically has several objectives to ERP selection for its foreign subsidiary. We would like to talk about the three which as statistically most important based on our clientele. For CEO and Controller in USA based headquarters these are Financial and Operational Control via ERP, Consolidated Financial Reporting and Compliance to foreign country tax code. For the controller in Brazil the priority might be listed in reverse order and they should be respected as he is responsible for local subsidiary and its compliance with local legislation and at the same time he probably doesn’t have much of the desire to be ‘micromanaged’ by the headquarters. Let’s talk about these issues in some details: 1. Tax Calculation and Tax Rates Assignment. It might sound a bit amazing for somebody who is specializing in CPA type of consulting practice that Brazil doesn’t give you the same formulae for every business. Instead there are criteria based on your industry, your suppliers and type of product that you sell. SAP B1 consultants spent something like one hundred or more consulting hours entering tax brackets manually after they are determined and calculated. **End Summary** Topics: SAP Business One]]> International ERP]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Andrew Karasev is SAP BO consultant and Great Plains Certified Master, MVP, help@efaru.com 1-866-304-3265, 1-269-605-4904. He is also the initiator of eFaru project http://www.efaru.com and founder of Alba Spectrum information space

SAP Business One Sales Order Batch Style Negotiation via Web Interface

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:17:45 -0500

Have you seen the scenario where you do not want to commit sales order while price negotiation continues. How about the creation new sales order from the historical one with respect to the price tag? If you are franchisor and running franchisees network then you might like the idea to grant your franchisee sales reps access to their orders but restrict them from seeing what is going on with another franchisee. Similar requirements could be attributed to dealerships, grocery or oriental foods stores chain with central management and independent ownership on the level of the outlets. So we are talking here about intranet and extranet. As you might be aware Business One posts the document all the way through the General Ledger and this is why negotiation cycle is a bit complicated in direct user interface. Plus if your sales folks are only doing Sales Order negotiation and approval then there is no need to purchase full named user licenses for them. The product that we would like to describe is WebViews and it is available from M2-D2. Let’s take a look at details: 1. Inquiries. **End Summary** Topics: SAP Business One]]> Web User Interface]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Andrew Karasev is SAP Business One Consultant and Great Plains Certified Master, MVP, help@efaru.com 1-866-304-3265, 1-269-605-4904. He is also the initiator of eFaru project http://www.efaru.com and founder of Alba Spectrum information space. By the nature of our service we are helping customers USA, Canada nationwide and internationally with consulting force speaking in English, Russian, Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese

SAP Business One Web Sales Order Management and Inventory and Business Partner Inquiries

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 18:38:00 -0500

If you are opening your ERP system in both: intranet and extranet scenarios then the option to acquire named user license is not feasible. You would rather prefer thin client or in other words web interface. Let’s review the following logic. Your sales person including sales rep working for one of your franchises or dealerships needs to have some time and for negotiation related to price, quantity available for shipping and historical price and items ordered. In out-of-the-box Business One order is closed for modification as soon as it is added/saved. But what if you as salesperson need couple of weeks to keep order as not posted or in other words not committed? Plus you do not really need to work in SAP B1 as full featured user as your job duties are limited to negotiation and order tracking. And you should have the option to check inventory quantities available generally or in the specific warehouse. Additional challenge when you are working in B2B model your franchisee or dealer should only have access to their direct customers and negotiated price lists. We would like to share with you SAP BO Web View add-on features: 1. **End Summary** Topics: SAP Business One]]> Web User Interface]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Andrew Karasev is SAP Business One Consultant and Great Plains Certified Master, MVP, help@efaru.com 1-866-304-3265, 1-269-605-4904. He is also the initiator of eFaru project http://www.efaru.com and founder of Alba Spectrum information space. By the nature of our service we are helping customers USA, Canada nationwide and internationally with consulting force speaking in English, Russian, Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese

SAP Business One Multicurrency and Consolidated Financial Statements

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 17:29:24 -0500

If you are in essence multinational company with branches in foreign countries then consolidated Balance Sheet or Statement of Profit and Loss are important. Consolidated reporting could be achieved by various methods including simple export to Excel via queries from branches. There are ISV supported instruments to do the job. In our opinion the method of General Ledger entries consolidation in specially created company should be also considered as it naturally resolves such possible road blocks as multicurrency. Let’s come through the steps: 1. Standardize account structure and make chart of accounts similar in each subsidiary. The recommendation might look simple but if you have each SAP B1 hosted company implemented in not synchronized manner in each respected country then this recommendation might be not an easy one to make it happen 2. Create new company in Business One and name is ‘Consolidated General Ledger.’ This company should not be seen by the user who has the duty to enter documents. There is no need to setup customers and vendors here as it is only intended to accept General Ledger entries via automatic integration. **End Summary** Topics: SAP Business One]]> Consolidated Financial Reporting]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Andrew Karasev is SAP Business One Consultant and Great Plains Certified Master, MVP, help@efaru.com 1-866-304-3265, 1-269-605-4904. He is also the initiator of eFaru project http://www.efaru.com and founder of Alba Spectrum information space. By the nature of our service we are helping customers USA, Canada nationwide and internationally with consulting force speaking in English, Russian, Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese

SAP Business One Consolidated Profit and Loss Statement how to Build

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 09:25:54 -0500

Business One is good solution when you are midmarket organization with attributes of multinational corporation, such as branches in foreign countries and headquarters and research facility in the United States. SAP B1 is popular in international business scenarios as it is localized in such popular regional powers as China, Brazil and Russian Federation. There are known cases studies when companies with non-SAP Corporate ERP applications launched Business One for their branches in Brazil and later one switched to it in the headquarters as well. There are some challenges however and one of them is consolidated financial reporting. As you may know such popular tools as Microsoft Management Reporter and FRx do not have GL connectors to SAP BO. Some customers are doing GL trial balance export to Excel and then prepare it to fit consolidation template. This is definitely possible way but you may mention that it is time consuming and open to human errors. In this publication we recommend old-good-days method of GL consolidation: 1. How does it work conceptually? You have to create new company with account structure matching your template. Then you schedule regular GL entries migration into this company General Ledger. **End Summary** Topics: SAP Business One]]> Consolidated Financial Reporting]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Andrew Karasev is SAP Business One Consultant and Great Plains Certified Master, MVP, help@efaru.com 1-866-304-3265, 1-269-605-4904. He is also the initiator of eFaru project http://www.efaru.com and founder of Alba Spectrum information space. By the nature of our service we are helping customers USA, Canada nationwide and internationally with consulting force speaking in English, Russian, Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese

SAP Business One Consolidate Financial Reporting

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 17:46:09 -0500

If you were controller in the companies where accounting was implemented on Great Plains Dynamics, Navision or maybe Epicor then probably FRx was doing perfect consolidate P&L statement report via reporting tree. And now you are hired to the midmarket multinational company where headquarters and overseas subsidiaries are implemented on SAP B1 platform installed on the same MS SQL Server. FRx or Microsoft Management Reporter is not available for SAP BO. Accounting personnel here are exporting all subsidiaries GL Trial Balance reports to Excel and then spend few weekends composing the consolidated ones. Is it what you got to do and as you can imagine Excel worksheets do not allow you to drill down to transactions and audit reports. Here are our recommendations supported by successful implementations: 1. GL consolidation concept. This is very old solution. Imagine you have several legal companies and you need to produce consolidated Balance Sheet or Profit and Loss Statement. You simply create virtual company where all GL entries are imported from all the branches. Business One has pretty robust Balance and P&L reports with several possible layers 2. Multinational Consolidation. **End Summary** Topics: SAP Business One]]> Consolidated Financial Reporting]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Andrew Karasev is SAP Business One Consultant and Great Plains Certified Master, MVP, help@efaru.com 1-866-304-3265, 1-269-605-4904. He is also the initiator of eFaru project http://www.efaru.com and founder of Alba Spectrum information space. By the nature of our service we are helping customers USA, Canada nationwide and internationally with consulting force speaking in English, Russian, Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese

SAP Business One as ERP Option for Multinational Company Opening Facility in Brazil

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 19:21:52 -0500

Each country and especially such regional power as Brazil has its own regulations and tax code. In smaller countries business practice could be regulated by international GAAP. In large country even if GAAP compliance is declared you may expect unique requirements in invoice numbering, electronic filing and reporting. ERP application has to adopt local requirement in order to be ready for being implemented. There is special term ‘Localized ERP.’ You might have strong relation with consulting firm in the United States who are supporting your accounting system but if this application is not localized in the country where you are opening office then the idea to adopt it overseas with translating several forms to Brazilian Portuguese might not work. Then what we not got to do? Well review the options: 1. The scenario where you are sticking to brand name ERP vendors. Let’s review three: SAP, Microsoft Dynamics and Oracle. All three are present and you can visit their offices in Sao Paulo. With Oracle we are aware about Business Suite which is the fit for large facility assuming that you are deploying Oracle Financials in the headquarters in the USA or Canada. **End Summary** Topics: SAP Business One]]> International ERP]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Andrew Karasev is SAP BO consultant and Great Plains Certified Master, MVP, help@efaru.com 1-866-304-3265, 1-269-605-4904. He is also the initiator of eFaru project http://www.efaru.com and founder of Alba Spectrum information space

SAP Business One Customization as the Way to Get Control over the Source Code

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 14:05:19 -0500

When you are running IT department in midsize company you are probably thinking strategically about technologies and the way to have them implemented efficiently with future upgrade perspectives. In this small publication we would like to review advantages and risks associated with custom business processes programming and implementation. We will compare ISV channel add-ons and doing programming in-house referencing Software Development Kit. We do not pretend to be technical and this is not a manual for programmers as it is rather for managers. Let’s begin with pluses and minuses of ISV add-ons: 1. ISV Products. Modern ERP software vendors are opening their products to their partners also often referred as ISVs. The model works like this. ERP publishing company needs to make money on its core set of modules leaving horizontal and vertical solutions to consulting firms specializing in these areas. Consulting firm is leveraging its specific and dedicates some coding resources to create canned product referred as Add-On. For example core SAP B1 functionality offers some features of simple discrete manufacturing and if ISV partner has reasonable number of customers with process manufacturing requirements then consulting organization may decide to program the module on their own. **End Summary** Topics: SAP Business One]]> SB1 Software Development Kit]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Andrew Karasev is SAP BO consultant and Great Plains Certified Master, MVP, help@efaru.com 1-866-304-3265, 1-269-605-4904. He is also the initiator of eFaru project http://www.efaru.com and founder of Alba Spectrum information space

SAP Business One or how to Integrate Ecommerce Shopping Cart

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 15:19:32 -0500

First of all in order to answer on the question you need to understand your ecommerce nature and technology behind. SAP B1 is popular small business accounting platform among small and midsize ecommerce retailers. We have seen numerous successful and not successful integration cases and we would like to share with you our experience. This publication is not intended as technical whitepaper it is rather for managerial personnel and decision makers. Web portals are often created prior to ERP application selection and it is difficult to rebuild working portal in order to deploy nice turnkey integration solution. Let’s review the possibilities: 1. Magento and others canned shopping cart solutions. These are often seen when you are outsourcing your ecommerce portal to internet provider. Your provider gives you the ability to create your own catalog with product price, description and supporting pictures. It also gives you export and integration options in one or several formats. If you do not want real time integration then it is possible to schedule Data Transfer Workbench with integration based on the text file fire every maybe half an hour to imitate quasi real time data feeding. **End Summary** Topics: SAP Business One]]> Ecommerce Integration]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Andrew Karasev is SAP BO consultant and Great Plains Certified Master, MVP, help@efaru.com 1-866-304-3265, 1-269-605-4904. He is also the initiator of eFaru project http://www.efaru.com and founder of Alba Spectrum information space