Intelligent Colour Size Matrix

Create and maintain parent and child items within SAP Business One

Intelligent Colour/Size Matrix enables you to create and maintain parent and child items via matrix templates within SAP Business One. The matrix templates define the item code and description to be assigned to each child item created. The module also allows you to optionally copy parent item price list prices to their child items.

Functionalities

•Creates item codes within a user defined matrix template based on two item variables.
•Assign templates to parent items enabling user to create child items for the parent.
•Defines parent and child items in Item Master Data UDF – Colour Size Matrix.
•Assign multiple templates to one parent item.
•Apply parent pricing tab allows the user to copy selected price list prices from a parent item to all of its child items at any point in time.

Business Challenges

•Ensuring visibility and proper tracking of inventory for multi-variant items.
•Creating item codes for multi variant items.
•Efficiently completing inventory reporting and sales analysis by size and colour.

Key Features

•Customisable user defined colour/size matrix templates to meet your inventory needs.
•Multiple colour/size matrix templates can be assigned to one parent item to create multi-variant child items.
•Apply parent pricing to child items when applicable.
•Leverage standard order processing capabilities of SAP Business One such as special pricing, warehouse, availability check, etc in combination with colour/size matrix as items are processed through ordinary SAP Business One processing cycle.

Business Benefits

•Save time creating item codes by creating child items within user defined templates.
•Quickly set up a product range for a new multi-attribute.
•Beat the competition and capture the market with proper inventory tracking.
•Quickly fulfill orders for multi attribute items.
•Improves inventory reporting and sales analysis by allowing any business in need of tracking by the sizes and colours of their merchandise to do so efficiently.

To find out more about other Intelligent Essentials elements visit www.beabetterbusiness.co.uk or www.beabetterbusiness.ie

Intelligent Essentials, Making B1 Better!

Intelligent Essentials - Licensing

Find out more about Intelligent Essentials Licensing.You can readily access information with regard to the licenses you possess with regard to the different elements of Intelligent Essentials and allocate these to specific users within your organisation.

Intelligent Essentials - Making SAP Business One even Better!



Visit www.beabetterbusiness.co.uk or www.beabetterbusiness.ie to find out more about Intelligent Essentials and SAP Business One!

Integrated BI solution for SAP Business One

SAP Business One Sales Analysis Dashboard
Developed in Partnership with Visual Metrics

Recognising the tactical advantage an investment into Business Intelligence solutions brings is just as applicable to an aspiring SME company, as it is to an Enterprise giant.
IIS have been working with Visualmetrics to develop a streamlined and affordable Business Intelligence solution that integrates directly with the SAP Business One application.

Predominantly driven by a suite of high-powered Xcelsius B1 dashboards, the combined offering gives customers a pedigree B1 Business Intelligence solution at a cost that ensures a strong ROI.

To find out more visit: http://www.visualmetrics.co.uk/iis

Motivate your staff with SAP B1! Another SME to realise the benefits.

Small toy business Jellycat has implemented an SAP application to integrate its business functions.

SAP's SME-specific Business One package will automate the company's processes and provide financial reporting.

Danny Olive, finance director at Jellycat, said, "We needed a comprehensive, integrated and scalable solution to help us continue our business success."

This follows a push by SAP to expand its offering into the SME market. Jim Hageman Snabe, co-chief executive officer of the firm, said the company had made recent inroads into the sector.

He said: "Reaching more than 100,000 customers is a testament to the inroads we have made in expanding our volume business and our success in the SME segment."

SAP's current ERP and business software for small to medium businesses includes:

Business One
BusinessByDesign
Business All-in-One
BusinessObjects
NetWeaver
Crystal Reports®
Xcelsius®

Each of the SAP SME products has been developed to encourage better management of business processes, providing business owners and managers with insight and information into revenue draining processes and the solutions to streamline them. In a similar way to its large scale ERP products, SAP's SME products helps business owners and managers drive efficiency throughout their entire organisation.

Providing such training to employees also helps them visualise the link between their roles and the success of the business, clarifying the communication channels which SAP initiates. Through SAP, SME owners and managers can empower their employees to contribute to the future success of the organisation.

Sources: Ezine Articles and Computer Weekly

Improve your SAP Business One Solution with New Intelligent Essentials Elements

Intelligent Essentials is a range of enhancements from IIS that improves SAP Business One in key areas. Essentials provide one add-on that allows you to select the functionality that you require in your SAP Business One implementation.

Two new innovative Essentials Elements, Intelligent Email and Intelligent Colour Size Matrix are now available from IIS further building upon our dedication to making your SAP B1 Better.

Intelligent Email provides email automation functionality for SAP Business One. Automatic and Batch emailing of statements and marketing documents has never been so simple.

It allows you to drive down the cost of sending out statements, accelerating the process and moreover improving customer service by permitting you to send out batch advance delivery notification and numerous other documents.

To get a copy of the Intelligent Email Brochure contact michelle.hunt@iisystems.net or copy the link provided!

http://www.beabetterbusiness.ie/Essentials/e4.pdf

Intelligent Colour Size Matrix enables users to create child and parent product codes. Within CSM you can create a master product which will then create a matrix of child products related to it. This solution is perfect for companies in the clothing or footwear sectors and any business where products come in variable shapes and sizes. The Intelligent Colour Size Matrix Brochure will soon be made available but in the meantime any one interested in gaining more information should contact us!

sales@iisystems.net

The How To: First Steps into the World of Social Media

Gaining support and encouragement from SAP as we enter the world of social media via monthly webinars has been fantastic and we continue to look forward to the forthcoming sessions as we embrace opportunities and elements of the landscape which haven’t yet been discovered by us.

Here are some of the tips that I’d like to share from the first two webinars which I’ve found effective and should help you on your way to making the first few steps into the world of social media.

Listen and Learn - The first step is to begin to observe what your customers and competitors are saying on the various social media platforms. Take your time and start with one platform; don’t take on them all at the same time because your likely to become overwhelmed.

Enable - Join or follow a forum and begin to comment as you gain confidence. This is the first step of social media interaction.

Connect - Reach out to those who have influence and seek to connect with your customers, competitors and all your business partners.

A useful blog post which may be of interest and use to those interested in SAP Business One connecting and engaging with SAP and other SAP Business One leading professionals and users from Intelligent B1 is "SAP in the World of Social Media".

To Do List Month One

•Check on main competitors.
•Check on customers.
•Find a niche social network and blog in your vertical; join and follow respectively.
•Respond to comments and queries if people looking for advice.

Note: If you’re a member of twitter use links shared by those you are following to find relevant and interesting blogs to follow.

Another useful and insightful blog post from Intelligent B1 is "Where to Start in the World of Social Media

To Do List Month Two

•Join LinkedIn and set up or check out your Company Profile.
•Join relevant groups and begin to interact with other professionals in your verticals.
•Present your Company’s unique message.
•Look at how you might encourage your audience to seek advice and put forward their queries via social media platforms in order to improve your service and products proffered.

Have Fun! The most valuable bit of advice is to enjoy it! If you’re not enjoying it your audience is unlikely to be inspired or motivated to engage with you and it’s also unlikely to last if it’s not something which you take pleasure in.

SAP growth a tribute to smart business investment

SAP has reported 16% growth in software and software related service revenues for the Second Quarter as it reaches the 100,000 customer milestone.

ERP investment hasn’t diminished in spite of the recession, their evidently has been an upsurge.

A Forrester Research survey carried out in the fourth quarter of 2008 that just 1% of Enterprise Software Decision Makers were planning to decrease their ERP investment.
This was during the heat of the recession when businesses were really feeling the pinch. Evidently there was and continues to be an increased awareness of the benefits of ERP Software in all circumstances but particularly when companies want to reduce costs and improve efficiency.

SMBs are now getting back into the ERP software market in light of the recovering economy. They are looking for software to automate their operations and scale for growth.

SAP were perceptive and as a result have benefited from the upsurge in SME ERP investment having focused a substantial amount of investment in their SME solutions which they continue to remain committed to.

“Our focus on customer-driven innovation is positively impacting our growth. Reaching more than 100,000 customers is a testament to the inroads we have made in expanding our volume business and our success in the small and midsized enterprise (SME) segment,” said Jim Hagemann Snabe, Co-CEO of SAP.

“Our success in the SME segment creates a strong foundation for the new version of our on-demand platform SAP Business ByDesign. The new version will be available on time on July 31st and is ready for volume deployment in six countries.”

Though the conventional response during a recession may be to curb ERP investment, businesses are evidently becoming aware that investing now will put them in a better position in the future!

To view the Top 10 benefits and results of implementing ERP in the current economic environment:
http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/erp-roi/ten-reasons-to-implement-erp-during-the-economic-downturn-29577

Keeping Business Software Simple; Connect the pieces with SAP Business One!

Software doesn’t need to be complex. It’s been created to make your life simple, enhance and optimise your business functions and ultimately make your Business Better.

There definitely appears to be a growing understanding and recognition that SME’s require and should utilise ERP systems.

What is evident is that the employees within these companies, across the various diverse functions that exist, don’t want to know where the information is coming from or how it’s created. They just want to be able to access it, understand it, trust it and act on it - quickly and efficiently.

Integrated solutions offer freedom from old ways of working. An insightful post by Nick Thompson, Director of DCSL Software on the SME Web site outlined a few of the potential benefits.

“If their customer information/appointment system/sales records are now consolidated and stored centrally somewhere, they could consider employing people based on skills, rather than location or family commitments.

They could reduce office space. They could synchronise information more easily, avoiding duplication and the risk of different versions of content being out of date.

Retailers could blend in-store and online systems to produce live stock and sales information.

Secure, role-differentiated information access could be extended to different groups of employees – and even to customers, so that they can serve themselves when they want a status update on their account or transaction (just as online banking or courier customers can do already today).

In a browser-based, intelligent, information-ready environment like this, much more can happen too. Rules and workflow can be brought into play, so that automatic notifications are triggered, warning users that an action is overdue, a bill hasn’t been paid, or an appointment has been missed.”

Refine, streamline and make your business more efficient; SAP B1 has been designed specifically to meet the needs of SMEs operating in today's dynamic and turbulent environments. The new version, SAP B1 8.8 continues to surpass expectations as it's cultivated. It’s refined, simplified further and even faster!

To find out more visit www.beabetterbusiness.com

49 Do’s and Don’ts and Customer Lessons for SAP Upgrades

49 Do’s and Don’ts and Customer Lessons for SAP Upgrades

With SAP Business One 8.8 now in unrestricted shipment though always valuable the tips provided by Jon Reed, Top Contributor for the SAP Community Network 2008-2009 are even more pertinent.
They’re extremely insightful, useful and conveniently laid out. Evidently a lot more is needed than the widely available common sense principles to complete a truly successful SAP upgrade.

The tips are based on a compilation of the advice he received from industry analysts, project advisors, upgrade consultants and SAP users who presented trade show sessions after upgrading.
Four key areas have been addressed:

Vendor Selection
Pre-Launch Planning
Technical Upgrade Considerations
Upgrade Skills and Training

The Customer Lessons that have been included where applicable bring the Do’s and Don’ts alive placing them in context for the guidance seeker!

Don’t: Make the mistake of assuming that a consulting firm with prior upgrade experience will be the right fit for your company’s upgrade.
Do: Choose a consulting partner that has experience and customer references in your particular industry and your version of SAP.
Customer lesson: Prior to beginning their upgrade, Kraft Foods asked implementation partners IBM and EDS to “own” the implementation with them and assume collective responsibility for its success.

With the right vendor the upgrade should be unproblematic. Ideally they will support you prior to, throughout and after the upgrade and impart advice to ensure the “Don’ts” don’t transpire.

The full 49 tips can be found in the whitepaper, “49 Do’s and Don’ts and Customer Lessons for SAP Upgrades” via ITToolbox.com; http://sap.ittoolbox.com/research/49-dos-donts-and-customer-lessons-for-sap-upgrades-20637?sp=kw

Set objectives and see the return on your investment in SAP B1

SAP has never claimed to be a quick fix revenue booster; it is a long term investment into the future success and profitability of a company.

For anything to be measurable objectives need to be set and for these objectives to be of any real value they should be formulated with a clear understanding of the issues that are having an impact on your businesses bottom line.

What does your company wish to gain from SAP B1? What do you particularly hope to achieve within your business from implementing it? What are the results you want to see?

The potential benefits are far reaching, some perhaps more relevant than others depending on the industry in which your business resides and more importantly the different and core functionalities which exist within it.

Elements of your business which can be expected to gain from implementing SAP B1 include productivity, labour costs, financial performance, inventory management, pricing, customer management, and process improvements.

More specifically, though not by any means exhaustively, a business in the Retail industry will be supported in matching inventory to customer needs, where as a Professional Services business will gain from speeding up collections with more efficient billing. A company in the Wholesale and Distribution industry can expect to create efficiencies and subsequently increase their margins.

Most notably for all technology support and maintenance costs will be reduced in the long term. SAP B1 is an investment and if maintained correctly can have transformative results.

SAP TechEd 2010 DemoJam

Dubbed the American Idol of the Tech world, Demo Jam 2010 will be the seventh time the event has been held. It gives customers, partners and employees as individuals or groups the opportunity to showcase their demo capabilities.

I think it's a fantastic idea; who doesn't love a bit of fun competition and great entertainment!

To find out more on how to apply visit:
http://www.sapteched.com/demojam/