Once you implement SAP Business One into your business, you’ll quickly realize one thing: its complexity. Luckily, once you understand the ins and outs of the software, everything else it manages is automated and much more simple. One of those processes is inventory management. If you want to keep track of your inventory and management, what comes and goes and when that happens, SAP Business One is a marvelous tool.
Making Winning Strategies with SAP Business One
The goal of inventory management is to increase the efficiency of your organization. With a solid strategy, you can eliminate time waste, enhance service quality and customer satisfaction, and make more money. But without a system that gives you unique insights into your business and inventory, you’re stumbling about blind.
Where is the balance? How do you stock just enough to meet the demand of your customers without over-or under-stocking and impacting your business in some way? Maintaining that balance is why SAP Business One is one of the top tools for inventory management.
What is SAP Business One Inventory Management?
First off, let’s discuss what SAP Business One can do for inventory management. As you know, inventory management means controlling the flow of inventory to optimize organizational efficiency and profit. This breaks down into three key parts:
- Monitoring inventory data
- Interpreting the data correctly and building a strategy
- Executing the decided upon actions (strategy)
SAP Business One makes these three steps easy. The system automates much of the data collection and analysis, leaving you with time to decide how things should be done to get the most benefit.
To break down the Inventory module processes, you can do the following:
- Manage the master data for all items in your inventory
- Assign and manage serial, batch, and catalog numbers
- Manage transactions, including orders, transfers, receipts, inventory counts, quality settings, and more
- Customize the pick-and-pack process
- Automatically gather and interpret data
- Generate reports based on gathered data
- Managing price lists, as well as discounts (volume and period) and special pricing
How Does SAP Business One Help with e-Commerce Integration?
The first thing to consider is how your e-Commerce system is designed. Are you using an integration like SAP and Magento or Shopify? You may notice right away that there is no inventory lag. Once an item is purchased on your online shop, for instance, that inventory quantity is automatically updated within the SAP Business One database. You can also run Available-to-Promise (ATP) checks at any time and receive real-time data.
That is the ideal outcome. However, if your e-Commerce solution uses batch updates, any changes in your inventory will not be reflected in SAP Business One until the update occurs. Since this can lead to out-of-stock scenarios, it is recommended that you aim for real-time integration for any e-Commerce integration you have.
What Does Physical Inventory in SAP Business One Mean?
The physical inventory is a calculation based on the inventory currently present in the warehouse. Keep in mind that these numbers are always accurately reflected in SAP Business One. You can use the numbers in the system to locate where a discrepancy has occurred and rectify it.
What Physical Locations Can Be Assigned With SAP Business One?
When managing your inventory with SAP Business One, it helps to utilize both organization levels:
- The facility or plant: The physical address where the materials are stored or assigned
- The storage location: The area within the facility where the product has been placed
In order to maximize the effectiveness of SAP Business One, you should assign these physical locations correctly. You can then use the locations to automate tracking processes and enhance the supply chain. Employees can use this information when picking-and-pulling items for shipments. Also, you can track items to see when they arrived, left, and the exact location within the plant.
Are There Movement Types in SAP Business One?
If you want even more information on how your inventory is moving, take a look a the “goods movement” feature in SAP Business One. This function gives you access to hand-off, as in when the goods move within your organization or arrive at a vendor or customer’s location. The data can then be used to analyze your supply chain.
The goods movements can be designated with a 3-digit code within SAP Business One. Each movement you review can also generate a detailed document for you to review, such as:
- Goods Receipt – when materials are coming from a supplier to your organization. You can choose to hold those goods for inspection or release them.
- Goods Issue – materials that are sent to a customer or assigned for production. Both actions will reduce the inventory.
- Transfer Posting – material moving from one point to the next but doesn’t affect finances until the movement is complete.
- Return Delivery – these materials are returned from a vendor or customer.
Can I Manage Materials With SAP Business One?
Yes, within the Material Management module, you can check out the procurement processes of the organization. Inventory processes can also be completed. Using this module is key in getting a clean snapshot of all the inventory in the facility, as well as assisting your organization in handling product input and output efficiently.
What Is The SAP PP Module?
The Production Planning (PP) module in SAP Business One is part of the material requirements planning (MRP) function. With the PP module, you can build manufacturing processes and look at inventory levels so you can produce goods without running low or out of materials. The module is designed to handle production processes, such as controlling raw materials, requisitions of material, and planning.
You can integrate the PP module with Quality Management, Sales and Distribution, and Material Management, as well.
What is The SAP QM Module?
A valuable part of inventory management is Quality Management (QM). The SAP QM module gives you control of quality with tools that measure, control, and record the quality of goods. You can also set actions for each step of the quality assurance process, such as planning inspections, quality inspections, notifications, and reports.
What is Included in the SAP SD Module?
SAP Business One also provides accurate reporting of all sales orders and their distribution within the SD module. You can use the functions of the SD module to make pre-sales quotes, processing slips, shipping forms, invoices, and billing. This is the final module that integrates with the inventory management functions in SAP Business One. Use the valuable insight into sales data to formulate new strategies that help you purposely plan your future inventory and sales.
Bottom Line
If you are looking to streamline inventory management and increase productivity within your organization, SAP Business One is one of the best options. Implementing the software gives you a competitive edge by giving you tools for managing item data, production, sales and distribution, and so much more. WiSys can help you set up and get the most out of SAP Business One. Give us a call today to learn more.