SAP’s cloud-based ERP system SAP Business ByDesign is updated four times a year. The February 2021 version update brought reforms in a wide range of areas. The updates were for the system basic functions, customer relationship management, finance, and human resource management, as well as supplier relationship and supply chain management areas.
Dive deeper into the key reforms.
Practicality for everyday life
Administrators can now check logged in users and close the open sessions if needed, as it also releases the documents locked by the user. SAP Manager Approvals now allows notifications for all approval categories except for time posting approvals. There was also a reform for mobile expense processing, as the new solution enables receipt scanning with the mobile phone, and with the machine learning the data is converted directly to the expense report as expenses. This allows faster and more flexible travel expenses processing, especially for people travel for work often.
Streamlined sales
The system now supports trade item identification GTIN and UPC numbers for sales kit products in over-the-counter scenario. The numbers also allow sales representatives to accept sales orders that contain sales kits via electronic data interchange (EDI).
It is now possible to cancel not started contract items. If the contract item status is Not Started, the cancellation date can be added. The date can be earlier on than the contract item start date. Previously, the cancellation was possible only if the cancellation date fell between the item start and end dates.
Reforms to finance management
Two new Web Services were added to the Finance area. ManageBankStatementIn enables banking transactions management by customer through bank statements. The web service interface offers the operations MaintainBundle and CheckMaintainBundle. Moreover, with the new field Party Tax ID in web service ManageTaxReceivablesPayablesEntryIn, it is now possible to create and post a VAT entry with Party Tax ID.
You can now re-open closed lease contracts if the right of use asset is not yet expired. Lease contract posting runs can be configured to carry out initiation, clearing or closure postings. In the new Lease Contract Processing Run view, you can now start the lease contract processing run to create and schedule mass data runs for the valuation, release or closure of several lease contracts.
Payment format 94 – ISO20022 was updated, and the payment method 23 – SEPA Credit Transfer was removed from it. This means the generation of outgoing bank transfer payments and their payment files is no longer supported with the combination of the payment format ISO20022 and the payment method SEPA credit transfer. This update requires configuration changes to ensure that the payments continue to work properly after the upgrade. The payment method 26 – SEPA Direct Debit was also removed from the same payment format, so that combination is no longer supported either.
Purchase account management can now be activated for additional countries, allowing to maintain the accounting principle for a country/region. In addition, the purchase account management is also possible to be activated for the third-party order processing.
Automation for time recordings and new work object to resource calendar
New scoping element for automatic time recording from service confirmations on service orders is now available. When it is scoped, the system automatically creates a time entry for already existing and a new time and material or fixed-price service order items, against which a service confirmation has been created and released. It also includes time entries for unplanned items added to a service order. The system creates a time entry against each individual item.
A new business object, Resource Calendar Generic Work Assignment, has been added to Public Solution Model (PMS). It means both the customer solutions that are built using SAP Business ByDesign Cloud Applications Studio and the captured by external solution can be added to the employee’s resource calendar. This business object works kind of an interface as you can add customer work objects to the standard resource calendar.
Upgrade for vendor invoice scanning and improvements to purchase orders
Intelligent supplier invoice scanning is upgraded. The identification of purchasing company data has been improved, which helps companies that upload PDF documents centrally for multiple companies. PDF documents can also be uploaded using an OData service and in addition, the service allows to upload and also start the scanning. Now it is possible to specify whether you want all the purchase order items to be copied or only the scanned items, an option especially useful in partial delivery scenarios. In addition, it is also possible to delete multiple scanned items.
The system now allows you to define the number of days for different combinations of companies, suppliers and purchasing units. When a new purchase order is created, the delivery date is calculated considering these settings. In addition, in intercompany project scenario if there are custom codes for account assignment for the purchase order, the customer codes now flow from the purchase order to the goods and services receipt.
Fluency to production order and production Task management
The possibility to change production order start and end dates became possible with the update 20.11. Now the planned output and component quantities of already started production orders can also be changed. Changing quantities affects all the production tasks in the production order, as all their quantities and schedules will be updated. Moreover, it is now possible to prevent the production task execution if the task is partially feasible or not feasible at all.
Source: SAP
Over 4,000 companies from 27 different industries have opted for Business ByDesign solution. ISLET Group has packaged the implementation of a comprehensive ERP system for two industries: ISLET SMART PRODUCTION for manufacturing companies and ISLET SMART PROFESSIONAL SERVICES for project business and specialist organizations. We’d love to discuss more about how Business ByDesign might fit in with your business!
Get in touch:
Jukka Penttinen
Chief Business Officer, Isletter
+358 40 355 1973
jukka.penttinen@isletgroup.fi
The author of the blog, Karoliina Luhanka, is ISLET’s SAP Consultant who manages both large lines and small details in projects. She has diverse experience from different industries, so she blends like a duck in water into different environments.
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