In this blog, we will try to explain some tricks to solve this on your own/some prerequisites to check before creating a incident for resolution related to CPEL posting

As per the error message it says that Customer Project Expense List (CPEL) is unposted for the reason that the corresponding Employee Time Calendar is not posted to Accounting.So first of we need to confirm if the employee time calendar is really not posted to accounting.

Follow the steps below:

1. Go to General ledger work center

2. Select source documents view

3. Advance filter

Processing status : In process

Relevant Status : Relevant

Relevant Source document type : 555 - Customer Project Expense List

For the Un-posted CPEL 123, make a note of employee time calendar 456

You can open a duplicate screen

1. Go to General ledger work center

2. Select source documents view

3. Advance filter

Processing status : Finished

Relevant Status : Relevant

Relevant Source document type : 170 - Employee Time Calendar

In the Related Source Document ID : here enter the employee time calendar 456

If this document is showing with status FINISHED then go back to 1st screen where the Customer project expense list is showing unposted then go to the actions tab & post business transaction

Root Cause:

Then if the status is finished why the error message says the employee time calendar is not posted to accounting ?

The Root Cause is that the Customer Project Expense List and the original document (employee time calendar) arrive almost at the same time to accounting, it can happen in some cases, that when processing the Customer Project Expense List (CPEL), the corresponding original document is not posted, and hence remains Un-posted.

====

If you do not see the employee time calendar in the FINISHED status but with IN PROCESS status then check the error message for the reason, If you are able to sort it with solution search complete the employee time calendar and then post the CPEL.

====

Employee Time Calendar Is Not Showing In FINISHED/ IN-PROCESS Status:

If the Employee Time Calendar is not showing in the Finished/ In-Process status then that indicates the time calendar is struck in the backend and in such case you create a incident and also revert to us along with the permission to trigger/reconcile the struck messages.

====

If you have any further questions, you can reply to this blog and we shall try to sort it out if you have issues during CPEL posting.

Thanks

Lokesh Sharma

Nowadays many ByDesign using companies are managing long term customer contracts that are invoiced by an invoice schedule. E.g. in the areas of licensees or rental services this is often the case. When invoicing is due they face the natural requirement of having the correspondent time period visible on the invoice document. But this is currently not possible within the ByDesign standard, because the generated invoice request does not know anything about the service performance period that is invoiced by the invoice schedule.

To address this issue we plan to develop an Add-On with which the user can specify the service performance period for an invoice schedule entry. The Add-On then maps customer invoice requests onto the corresponding invoice schedule entry by invoice date and amount. Having that connection established we are capable of writing the performance period to the customer information field, which can then be printed on the invoice form.

Your company got aquired by a company with a deferred calendar year? Usually this is the time, when you might need to think of changing the fiscal year variant.

You search in the help and get the following article: http://scn.sap.com/docs/DOC-48723. As suggested you raise a ticket and ask for support and it will be closed immediately, because your company does not use company defined fiscal year variants, but "10-Calendar Year Equals Fiscal Year".

What other option do you have now?

During the last years I was contacted by different projects for support. After trying out various approaches I believe that setting up a new company with the new fiscal year variant is the best of all. And somehow the company is a new company. They have not only to use a different fiscal year variant, but maybe also a subsequent set of books (company set of books?). They maybe now belong to a tax group. They have different processes etc.

What would be the necessary steps to achieve this:

1. Request a new test tenant
2. Create a new company in the new tenant in parallel to the old company
   Advantage: master data can be re-used, at least the company independent part;
   historical data are still available
3. Create the new Set of Books
   Fiscal year variant is a key field for the Set of Books definition, that why it cannot be changed.
   The Chart of Accounts, etc. can be reused.
4. Assign the new company to the new Set of Books
   You cannot assign a subsequent Set of Books to a company after the first posting.
   But even if it would be technically okay, after my evaluations I do not think, it is a good approach for a new fiscal year variant.
5. Extract all open transactions and migrate them to the new Set of Books
   Similar to a standard migration, you need to migrate open items. For open POs and SO you need to check if you need to migrate them, re-using is no option.
   For data download you can use reports and OWLs. In addition SAP offers services to extract data with tools.
   Before the upload
   • Please check especially with respect to Fixed Assets, that the right values are used. Also the Fixed Asset IDs cannot be re-used.
   • Ensure that the old bank accounts data are not valid any longer (otherwise bank statement processing will determine the "old" bank accounts and clear old items)
6. Add the new company specific data to the master data for the new company.
7. All employees have to be transfered to the new company
   unfortunately "fire and re-hire" is the only option.
   Recommendation: define a new determination reason, e.g. "Reorg" to see the transfers for the re-org.
8. Update User Access Rights:
   You have to ensure, that the employees can only create and edit data for the new company. So check the access rights of all your employees.
   For self services the new cost centers will be defaulted.
9. Last but not least: Delimit the old company by maintaining the end date
   The validity of an organizational unit is considered when creating new data. So you will get an error when creating e.g. POs for the old company.

Feedback is welcome.

Marlene Katzschner

SAP ByDesign Platinum Engineering  

You may all be familiar with intrastat business topic. In this blog, I am going to talk about a recent enhancement in Intrastat feature in SAP Business ByDesign August 2015 release. With this release, we have further enhanced the Public Solution Model (PSM) in Intrastat so that you can view and read content of the Intrastat relevant data.

Background

Intrastat business topic allows you to prepare periodical declarations on the movement of goods, including both dispatches and arrivals between member states of the EU to be submitted to the statistical authorities of their country. The statistical authorities use the data to compile intra-community trade statistics, and thus the term Intrastat. Respondents in EU member states directly submit Intrastat declarations to the statistical authorities of their country.

SAP Business ByDesign supports preparation of Intrastat declaration only for Germany, Great Britain, Austria, France, and Italy. For Italy, preparing a country specific declaration file is not available; Intrastat declaration items can be downloaded in the Microsoft Excel format.

Public Solution Model for Intrastat

With the Business ByDesign August 2015 release, Intrastat is public solution model enabled. This public solution model will help facilitate and support any non-supported country or feature. Thus, whenever legal changes happen over course of time or specific requirements come up, SAP partners can use the PSM to enhance the intrastat solution in Business ByDesign and make it up to date with market needs and legal compliance.

What are the Possibilities with Intrastat Public Solution Model?

Public Solution Model Enablement has brought in a wide scope of possibilities for Intrastat. They are:

• It is possible to maintain Intrastat specific master data, including uploading or creating the commodity catalog and completing the material classification based on the codes in the commodity catalog.
• SAP Partners can read content of the Intrastat relevant transaction since the underlying object is PSM released. They can process the data further via suitable actions available in the PSM to create Intrastat-declaration-file-specific data as well as Intrastat files for supported countries. For non-supported countries, for example, Italy, the system provides the possibility to download the processed Intrastat declaration data in Microsoft Excel and using this data, they can create the files in the desired format.

A new "Meet the Expert" session from the SAP BusinessByDesign Development Team is available.

The session gives an overview about the organizational structure in BYD and some hints to consider when setting it up.

The recoding can be found here: https://service.sap.com/sap/bc/bsp/spn/esa_redirect/index.htm?gotocourse=X&courseid=7029091

Up from September 2015 the Cloud Partner Solution Management offers together with the Shared Service Center a new service available for ByD ISV partners. Partners often complained about no channel inside SAP to request feedback about development issues in relation with the Cloud Application Studio.

With the goal to improve the quality of developed solutions by partners within customer specific projects or multi-customer projects I would like to make you aware of the following services:

- Monitored Blog for development related questions (Cloud Application Studio): Even if partners always have the possibility to post blogs about their issues to the SCN community, there was no commitment to receive an answer by SAP experts. We will now monitor these blogs and try to give answers within a week. In addition partners can now post their topics/issues to a concrete mail-box (servicecenter@sap.com). The experts will then create blogs out of these topics/issues together with tipps and answers.

- Do's and Don'ts Development Guide: Out of the experience SAP collected with partner developments for specific customers we created now a Do's and Don'ts Development Guide which helps partners to avoid common issues/mistakes up from the beginning of their development projects. The guide can be requested by the responsible PSA. It will be updated regularly.

- Quarterly Development Webinars: We'll start now with a serious of quarterly development related webinars. These webinars will focus on interesting development topics related to the Cloud Application Studio. In each webinar one specific topic will be presented in detail. On top we’ll discuss 1-2 concrete partner issues, which must be send 2 weeks upfront via mail to servicecenter@sap.com  If they can’t be discussed during the webinar, we’ll create a blog therefore in SCN.

The next webinar will be on 9th and 11th of September. Links to register are here:

SAP PartnerEdge

SAP PartnerEdge

Today, I want to show you another great feature in Excel reporting. Perhaps you have already discovered this strong functionality: The Excel Table Display.

When adding a report to an Excel sheet, it will be displayed as an Excel range with a format that is being generated by the Excel Add-In, applying the ByDesign visual design.

Switching the thing on

Put the cursor into your uploaded report, go to the SAP Business ByDesign ribbon and choose Grid Display > Excel Table Display. Your report will change to an Excel table, with all of the comfort of this Excel feature.

You will be able to apply formats, filters and other features. I just added a "Slicer" to my report, as an example. You can see the result below: a new box comes up, populated by values visible on the screen and allowing you to select a distinct value as a filter for the report. But please keep in mind, as well as for filters: ByDesign prepares the data based on your selections and sends them to Excel. Excel filters and slicers will only work on these data - available in Excel, which might be a subset of the data you might expect to see.

Using Excel formulas

Along with the Excel Table, another feature comes with that helps you to format a pretty report. You can add a column that is being calculated in Excel solely, like an average. In the example, I added a value doing a division of the net value by quantity, to get a net price.

To achieve this, just add a new column to the Excel table, by typing the column header (here: in G3). Excel will automatically add this column to the Excel Table and format it. Now, add your formula, using symbolic names (Excel talk: "structured reference") instead of cell references. The screenshot below gives an example. Typing the formula into one data cell will populate the whole column. In case your report shrinks or growths (perhaps due to a modified selection), your column will always look accurate.

Adding a new header cell:

Adding a formula:

References to certain values

In Excel, aggregation formulas (e.g. SUMIF, COUNTIF) are very popular. Using structured references, you can use them as well, e.g. to populate a dash board or key figures. I added an example to my report example:

Using the formula =SUMIF(Table1[Product];G16;Table1[Invoiced Net Value])will produce this key figure display (in this example, there might be a certain focus on product SR_INSP_01):

Summary

Switching to the Excel Table Display will let you treat SAP Business ByDesign's analytical reports with Microsoft Excel tools and formulas. You are able to add local calculations (formulas), to increase data filtering capabilities and add a usability the user already knows.

---

See also: Reporting with the Excel-Add-In - Report Types

If you plan to setup a partnership with SAP in order to develop extensions/solutions for or integrate your existing solution towards SAP Business ByDesign sometimes the question comes up - in which areas does ByD have whitespaces where it could be interesting to invest? Therefore SAP has created a list of whitespaces sorted by ByD applications (CRM, SRM, FIN, etc.).

What you will find are the concrete whitespace scenarios, rough descriptions on what is meant by the scenario, existing partners already investing in these scenarios and contact details. It is clearly the idea to create transparency as much as possible also in order to give the chance to co-operate between partners instead of developing something again, which probably exists already.

Therefore partners can also list their already developed solutions on this whitespace list to make other partners aware of. In addition partners can also get in contact with their PSAs or with the Cloud Solution Partner Management in order to put new whitespaces on the list which they have detected but which aren't on the list already. This can help to motivate other partners to develop a solution therefore.

Here is the link to the ByD whitespace list:

https://wiki.sme.sap.com/wiki/display/AMI/SAP+Business+ByDesign+Whitespace-List

In a recent Blog post (http://blogs.windows.com/msedgedev/2015/07/02/moving-to-html5-premium-media/ ) , Microsoft summarized their position regarding HMTL5 and Silverlight.

As discussed in the media, Microsoft recommends to software vendors and the media industry to embrace HTML5, while giving a Silverlight support commitment.

We have been in contact with Microsoft on the topic for at least the last two years. With SAP’s UI5 strategy the move to HTML5 has started already. As this is an overall SAP technology policy, it obviously also applies for SAP Business ByDesign.

The ByDesign development ogranization has established an additional dedicated development team to re-implement today’s Silverlight based controls in HTML5. We waited until now, to ensure the re-use of investment made by SAP’s architecture and technology teams in the respective libraries. Also insight from our colleagues in Cloud for Customer and Cloud for Travel is reflected.

Still a large amount of work is waiting for us to re-implement thousands of controls. This ranges from very small ones to super large ones like the GANT-Chart used in project management.

We are in the midst of specifying out the delivery plan for this transition. We intend to provide a sneak-preview with feature pack 15.11. The transition will happen based on the criteria, how often a work center is used and grouped by applications. In short: Frequently used work centers will come earlier than complex key user scenarios.

First mobile applications,  leveraging HTML5 have already been delivered with 15.05 (Project Cockpit and Approval Application). As you may have seen, these comprise of a surrounding 'invisible' container application (enabling access to device specific capabilities like GPS, camera, email, phone, calendar). The actual content rendered within the container is HTML5.

The project will run through all of 2016 and carry into 2017.

Based on the guidance from the ByDesign user groups, the user interaction design will remain unchanged. No need to re-educate any users. In addition, all partner / customer add-ons built via the development infrastructure using the UI designer will work as before.

For customers, who intend to transition to Windows 10, we follow Microsoft’s recommendation to use Internet Explorer 11. For customers, who use Google Chrome, we suggest to either move to Internet Explorer 11 or to work with a Google Chrome Browser version that supports Silverlight until the transition is done.  We will keep you informed about which workcenters and work center views will be available with which feature pack. Many occasional users will be able to leverage the HTML5 based UI already in 2016.

For the ByDesign management team, this project in combination with the work to fully leverage HANA capabilities is key, as it secures the underlying technology platform for the next decade.

Saurabh and Geetha from the SAP Cloud for Customer organization have started a great blog series about Business Configuration Change Projects in the SAP Cloud for Customer SCN space:

Understanding Change Projects

The blog is really comprehensive and since the way Business Configuration is done in SAP Business ByDesign is similar, I can recommend the series to SAP Business ByDesign customers, partners, and everybody in this area.

Enjoy the reading!

As it may be already known that SAP Business ByDesign offers MDRO (Mass Data Run Object) as a way to automate mass processing of a task or business transaction. For example, MDROs are used in business processes in invoice runs, payment authorization runs, balance confirmation runs and outbound logistics confirmation update runs.

Every MDRO instance running in the background consumes system resources in direct proportion to the amount of data processed and if these MDROs are scheduled to run very frequently there will be a direct impact on responsiveness of UIs and other activities for the end user.

Our analysis on recent performance issues reported by customers pointed to multiple MDROs being scheduled to run every minute, in most cases there were no valid business reasons for such frequent scheduling, especially in the area of SCM for ATP (Availability To Promise) confirmation runs or MRP (Material Requirement Planning) runs. These were either scheduled due to lack of awareness of negative effects on performance or due to the fact that users were not aware of any alternatives available to address their business needs.

Hence we strictly recommend that the MDROs especially in the area of Supply Chain (SCM) in Business ByDesign are scheduled at a frequency of 4 hours(minimum) or more; as per their business needs.

For all of you, who want to know more about SAP Business ByDesign: Together with Kristof Schneider from University Alliances, Stephen Lofthouse and Jens Limbach, we produced 61 short videos content covering the strategy, basics, extensibility and other aspects of ByDesign. You can find the collection here:https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZZumF9ACFfm9YA3GY3EEg2kzL_pqBvdr.

Best regards

Rainer

In this blog, I would explain how to proceed when you face the error "Financial period blocked" with various business document.

Business Background :

Sometimes you would face the issue when you are trying to post a document to previous period or cancel a document from past period, you will be presented with an error message says Posting not possible: posting on XX/YY/ZZZZ blocked by accounting.

I have tried to cover some steps/process to resolve the issue for each document.

1. Goods and Service Receipt

You will get this error message when you are performing any of the following action

a.) Post the GSR to closed period with posting date in the past.

b.) Approver trying to approve the GSR BTM task which has a posting date in the past.

c.) Cancelling a GSR with posting date in the past

You can perform any of the following steps to resolve the issue

a.) Open corresponding period ( in this case Oct 2014) and set process control to proceed with your business process.

and

OR

b.) Change the posting date to period that is open (any of Sept or Oct or Nov or Dec etc) as you can see from above screenshot.

2. Supplier Invoice

You will get this error message when you are performing any of the following action

a.) Post an invoice to closed period with posting date in the past.

b.) Approver trying to approve the invoice BTM task which has a posting date in the past.

c.) Cancelling a supplier invoice with posting date in the past

You can perform any of the following steps to resolve the issue

a.) Open corresponding period ( in this case July 2015 ) , set process control and proceed with your business process.

Note : Check Goods and service receipt above for screenshots.

Process control is

OR

b.) Change the posting date(15.07.2015) to a date/period that is open (any of Sept or Oct or Nov or Dec etc).

3. Customer Invoice

You will get this error message when you are performing any of the following action

a.) Post an customer invoice to closed period with posting date in the past.

b.) Cancelling a customer invoice with posting date in the past

You can perform any of the following steps to resolve the issue

a.) Open corresponding period ( in this case August 2015 ), Set process control and proceed with your business process.

Note : Check Goods and service receipt above for screenshots.

Process control is

OR

b.) If finance doesn't allow you to open period , set process control and post to any open period.

Set process control

Cancel the customer invoice will not post into accounting yet but it will create a business task in un-posted source document view of general ledger work-center . You post the same to another period using Post to Another Period from drop-down of Action button.

4. Outbound Delivery

When you try to undo release outbound delivery when the delivery date/shipment date is in the past you will get the below error message

You can perform any of the following steps to resolve the issue

a.) Open corresponding period ( in this case Dec 2014 ), Set process control and proceed with your business process.

Note : Check Customer Invoice above for screenshots.

Process Control is

OR

b.) If finance doesn't allow you to open period , set process control and post to any open period.

you can refer the knowledge base article - 2214636 - Cancel Outbound Delivery of Past Date Without Opening Corresponding Period

5. Inbound Delivery

When you try to perform reverse warehouse confirmation or adjustment confirmation to cancel inbound delivery with delivery date in the past, you will get the error message as below

You can perform any of the following steps to resolve the issue

a.) Open corresponding period ( in this case March 2015 ), Set process control and proceed with your business process.

Note : Check Customer Invoice above for screenshots.

Process control is

OR

b.) If finance doesn't allow you to open period , set process control and post to any open period.

you can refer the knowledge base article - 1648199 - How to Post Reverse Warehouse Confirmation Without Opening the Relevant Accounting Period

6. Third Party Delivery Notification

When you try to create a third party delivery notification on a past date or cancel a third party delivery notification from past date, you would get the error message as below

You can perform any of the following steps to resolve the issue

a.) Open corresponding period ( in this case Aug 2014 ), Set process control and proceed with your business process.

Note : Check Customer Invoice above for screenshots.

Process Control is

OR

b.) If finance doesn't allow you to open period , set process control and post to any open period.

you can refer the knowledge base article - 2214636 - Cancel Outbound Delivery of Past Date Without Opening Corresponding Period

Every company wants to be on the fast track to growth.  One company that’s winning the race is Ogden, Utah based ENVE Composites. And their story holds some lessons for any company that’s striving to achieve exponential rates of growth.  ENVE Compositesis a manufacturer of carbonfiber components for high-end bicycles.  Its wheels, forks, bars, and other products are coveted by serious cyclists around the world.  According to CEO Sarah Lehman, ENVE quickly outgrew QuickBooks and Excel, and needed an application that would automate its manufacturing operations – and its overall business.  After a comprehensive search, she and her team chose SAP Business ByDesign.

No IT Department

Lehman was attracted to the simplicity of SAP’s cloud-based ERP application. “We do not have an IT department,” she says, “nor do we wish to employ 20 IT specialists. So the cloud to us was the perfect solution.”  Lehman was also impressed with SAP’s reputation for outstanding financial and manufacturing applications – and its commitment to small business.  “That a company with that level of expertise, and that level of commitment to software, IT, and infrastructure, was going to put their weight behind a small business platform – I was pretty much sold with that,” she says.

100% Year-Over-Year Growth

Since implementing SAP Business ByDesign, ENVE Composites has seen improved operational efficiency, greater accuracy, and better inventory management.  This has helped fuel growth in excess of 100% per year.  In addition, Lehman has confidence that SAP Business ByDesign has the ability to grow as her company adds new manufacturing capabilities and new international distribution.  In the meantime, she says, “I have had a very easy job, as CEO, to get buy-in within my company for SAP Business ByDesign.”  In fact, Lehman says she needs to manage expectations of a team that is“in Nirvana” and “thinks every problem we have today is going to be resolved by SAP Business ByDesign.”  For ENVE’s full story, click here. 

What’s Your Growth Trajectory?

Are you growing as quickly as you like? Or are you being held back by too many manual processes and the inability to get fast, accurate information?  Perhaps it’s time to explore how a new ERP solution can put your business on the fast track.  Whether you are brand new to the ByDesign world, currently implementing, or a live customer, join SAP for the 4th Annual SAP Business ByDesign Users Conference, October 11-14 at the Mirage Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.  To learn more and register, visit http://sapbydesignconference.com/.

I'd like to cover with this document, Settings that are required for Asset Under Construction Creation and Settlement Rule for direct settlement of the expenses to fixed assets for projects that are linked to an asset under construction.

If you want to select asset under construction functionality in your system configuration.

Step 1 : Scoping

To find this option, go to Business Configuration work center, and choose Implementation Projects view. Select your implementation project, and click Edit Project Scope. In the  Scoping step of the guided activity, select Financial and Management Accounting, then Fixed Assets, and Fixed Assets Files.

Step 2 : Assign AuC

You need to have a Asset Class which supports AuC and for this either you create a default class where all assets under construction are created. You can either mark the standard available fixed asset class 4000 as the default class to create asset under construction or create a custom fixed asset class.

So, here marked 4000 Asset Class as AuC class and also the depreciation method should always be 0000 - No automatic depreciation

Note: Before you mark 4000 as AuC, make sure that you have not created any other Non-AuC assets / Fixed Asset

Step 3 : Create a AuC Asset

Step 4 :  Assign an AuC to a project task

From Cost and Revenues work center > Projects view

Create/Select a direct cost project and click on Assign AuC or Settlement Rule

You can assign the AuC which you have created

Step 5 : Maintain the Settlement rule and for this you need to go to the fixed asset work center and select the asset under construction

Note: This settlement rule button will be enabled only for AuC and not for other assets

Settlement Factor, Enter the quote for each receiver as an absolute value. Taken as a whole, the settlement factor represents the settlement ratio (such as for instance 60:40) for which costs are allocated. The system automatically calculates the percentage for each unit.

Once the first project postings are done,  100% of the expenses are automatically settled to the linked AuC.

For instance, we have posted a supplier invoice to capitalize the AuC for the project cost

At, this stage you will see two postings

1 : Supplier Invoice

2 : Automatic Asset Settlement Postings

Step 6: Execute the Settlement Run

You can execute the settlement runs to capitalize the cost accumulated on AuC

As per the settlement rule that receiver assets that we selected in above rule were Asset 78-0 & 73-0, we can see above settlement is also done for the same assets.

After the settlement run you can see that in AuC - 82, the settlement run transfer postings appear

Also, since the settlement is done completely, the AuC net book value shows 0,00 but with the capitalized status

FAQ's :

1 . Will the AuC will have the status Capitalized or In-process during initial expense postings ?

A : So, When posting the initial expenses/cost the AuC asset is changing its status to Capitalized - Yes this is right AuC is nothing but a fixed asset with a special fixed asset class (with the AuC Indicator set to true).So there is no difference in the status handling between AuCs and FXAs.

2.  Upon settlement run execution, if the settlement is for 100 % then having the status as Capitalized with zero value ?

A :  Yes this works similar to normal assets as well, supposing you do partial transfer of individual material with 100% amount and the status would still remain capitalized.

In case of questions, feel free to post them below.

Thanks

Lokesh Sharma

The typical small to midsize business uses one software application for accounting, one for sales/ CRM, one for manufacturing – and perhaps one for HR.  Hate to break it to you, but that’s four “silos” of information.  And like their counterparts on the farm, silos are designed to separate, not share.  A Gainesville, Texas based company got fed up with silos and decided to do something about it.

Meet Resource Transport

Resource Transportspecializes in trucking the sand used in hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) of natural gas and oil.  The company had very little budget for IT, and no IT staff, so it wanted the support, backup, and data security of a cloud-based solution.  It also wanted to eliminate silos of information and connect its widespread employees.  They found the right combination in SAP Business ByDesignand SAP Partner,Navigator.

Untalkative Systems

Project Team Leader Betsy Hooper says, “We looked at taking some of the systems we have now to see if we could get them to talk to each other. But we decided that an all-encompassing solution was simpler, better, and more cost-effective” in working with SAP Partner, Navigator.  According to Hooper, “We chose SAP because several of us on the project team have prior experience with their solutions.  We know how SAP applications work, and the thought processes behind them, and that just naturally guided us there.”  She adds, “We liked SAP Business ByDesign because it’s so intuitive.  Employees that aren’t as computer literate can easily just click where they need to, and it’s very simple for them.”

Getting Connected

Hopper says that moving to SAP Business ByDesign has helped everyone get connected. “Instead of working in silos,” she says, “we can work together to make things happen.”  In addition, it has helped Resource Transport integrate its business and take advantage of best practices.  “There are procedures and they are already set up in the system,” Hooper says, “and that makes it a lot easier to say, well, it’s the system.  It’s the best way, and this is the way we’re going to do it. It provides a structure that we didn’t have before with the various silos and systems that weren’t very good.  It provides the structure we need.”

Start a Conversation in Your Company

Do your software applications talk to one another?  If not, how can you operate a cohesive business?  An ERP solution can help you pull everything together, from finance to manufacturing to sales.  And when that ERP solution is SAP Business ByDesign, you get the added advantages of cloud-based convenience and incredible affordability.

For Resource Transport’s full story,click hereto download the Customer Success Profile.  Whether you are brand new to the ByDesign world, currently implementing or a live customer, join SAP for the 4th Annual SAP Business ByDesign Users Conference, October 11-14 at the Mirage Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.  To learn more and how you can register, visit http://sapbydesignconference.com.

Please click to enlarge

When your company is just starting out – or on a tight budget – you might not think you can afford a sophisticated software application.  But the story of a company called AIM might make you think again.

American Industrial Manufacturers & Building Materials(AIM), a building product company located in Plano, Texas, is the consolidation of five regional manufacturing companies.  It operates manufacturing plants and warehouse locations throughout the United States.  As a newly-created entity, AIM had a very limited budget for technology, according to Chief Technology Officer, Michael Manning.  “We knew that we didn’t want to go through the investment of a hardware system,” he says.  “We also didn’t want to add the headcount that is necessary when you have an in-house system.  So we knew cloud was the answer for us.”  Still, the company wasn’t sure they could afford anything with the name “SAP.”  But when they discoveredSAP Business ByDesign,and looked at its total cost of ownership, they knew they had found the right solution.

A Complete Solution

In SAP Business ByDesign, AIM found a cloud-based application that was complete, integrated, and ready to run the entire enterprise – from financials, to human resources, to sales, procurement, customer service, and supply chain.  All without modification working with SAP Gold Partner, Navigator.  The company especially values the document flow functions of SAP Business ByDesign, which enable AIM to trace transactions from initiation to payment.  “Without SAP Business ByDesign,” Manning says, “we would not really know how to accept orders, process orders, record shipments, and just do basic order-to-cash transactions.  It allowed us to do those things very easily, and so it fit a very, very important business need for us.”

Extending to the Ecosystem

With an affordable monthly license, SAP Business ByDesign has proved to be a great fit for AIM’s budget.  And now, the company is encouraging its broader ecosystem of affiliates – many of whom are using legacy applications – to adopt SAP Business ByDesign.  “We think it would be good to have the entire network on SAP,” Manning says.  He adds, “SAP Business ByDesign allowed us to get off the ground and run our business.”

Build Your Business on a Strong Foundation

As AIM clearly demonstrates, you don’t need a big IT budget to afford a powerful ERP solution.  You just need SAP Business ByDesign.  For more on AIM,click hereto download the Customer Success Profile. If you are looking to build your business on a strong foundation using SAP Business ByDesign, currently implementing or a live customer, join SAP for the 4th Annual SAP Business ByDesign Users Conference, October 11-14 at the Mirage Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.  To learn more and how to register, visithttp://sapbydesignconference.com.

How do you know when software is hampering your growth?  One clue is that you find yourself doing manual workarounds to key business processes.  Another is that you can’t get the answers you need without an act of Congress (and we know how rare those are these days).

That’s what happened to BioDerm Inc., a Largo, Florida-based medical device company.  Because the company operated two different databases – QuickBooks for financials, warehousing, and manufacturing and Act! for CRM – Byron Dyke, BioDerm CFO, found himself spending three weeks after the close of every month just reconciling inventory and getting financials out.  “We tried importing records into QuickBooks,” he says, “but it really didn’t work very well.”  The company had no budget for IT hardware, software, and staffing. So they looked for a cloud-based ERP application.  That search led them to SAP Business ByDesign and SAP Partner, Navigator.

One Solution for Everything

“SAP Business ByDesign came up as the one solution that would handle everything we needed to handle,” says Dyke.  “It’s got the marketing capabilities, it’s got the CRM capabilities, and the inter-company capabilities.  There was no other product out there that had that kind of coverage.”

The Advantages of the Cloud

For BioDerm, a cloud-based ERP was essential.  “The cloud has several advantages,” Dyke says.  “It’s much less expensive, much less hardware-intensive, and much less labor-intensive to implement.  And you can get so much more value for your money than trying to put in a huge networking system, and hiring an IT staff.  We have basically one person that handles all of SAP Business ByDesign.”

Faster and Easier

Since using SAP Business ByDesign, BioDerm has doubled its revenue.  Financial statements are now generated two days after the close of the month.  And inventory management is far easier.  “It’s been a pleasure not to have to go out and do physical inventories, and to not have to go in and edit spreadsheets of data,” Dyke says.  Perhaps the most important benefit is that BioDerm employees trust that the information they receive is accurate and up-to-the-minute. And they use that information to make better decisions.  “The disciplines that SAP puts into SAP Business ByDesign are just invaluable,” Dyke says.

What’s Holding You Back?

If you’re not growing as fast as you’d like, take a look at your software.  Does it support you or thwart you?  Does it provide the answers you need to make key decisions?  If your software comes up short, perhaps it’s time for a change – to SAP Business ByDesign.  Join SAP for the 4th Annual SAP Business ByDesign Users Conference, October 11-14 at the Mirage Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. To learn more and how to register, visit http://sapbydesignconference.com

For BioDerm’s full story, click here to download the Customer Success Profile.