Instead of examining multiple reports, any manager would prefer to have an overview of the activity he or she conducts. In addition, a CEO certainly wants to have access to centralized information from all departments (receivables, sales, stock level, income and expenditure statement, performance indicators).
All this information / reports must be “collected” as soon as possible,
thus helping employees and managers to orient their activity towards the fulfillment of current tasks and towards the increase of daily productivity.
Whether we are talking about reports, graphical indicators, KPIs or dashboards, all these components must be able to process and analyze a large volume of data, from various sources, such as articles, partners, cash flow, profit, discounts, stocks .
SAP Business One features a powerful interactive analysis reporting tool, with department-predefined indicators and dashboards, helping end users to access and
to easily view the data in the application, and the managers to make the best decisions, in real time and to answer any questions related to the company.
Over time, SAP Business One has provided users with several tools to help challenge reporting:
- SAP Business One standard reports. Each functional area of SAP Business One has a lot of standard reporting available – financial and operational reports.
- SAP Business One – “view system information” – an excellent feature of the application that allows users to easily identify the names of tables and fields required for reporting.
- Query Generator – tool for configuring your own reports.
- Crystal Reports integrated into SAP Business One.
However, one of the most powerful analytical tools is Pervasive Analytics Designer.
Pervasive Analytics offers three analytical tools that can be used to speed up the decision-making process. With it you can create and edit key performance indicators (KPIs) and two types of dashboards: Dashboard and Advanced Dashboard.
SAP Business One offers a number of standard KPIs and dashboards, but users can set up their own performance and dashboard indicators on their own, without previous IT or reporting experience.
Once Pervasive Analytics is opened, you can see the section for defining new KPIs and dashboards, but also those that already exist in the database.
They are divided into three types: KPIs, My Dashboard and My Advanced Dashboard. In this section you will find the standard ones, as well as the ones configured by SAP Business One users. You can open any of the existing objects to view how to define them or to make changes. If a standard object is modified, it can only be saved by renaming it.
Creating a new dashboard or KPI does not involve IT knowledge or development. They can be easily configured by any SAP Business One user.
Next, we will detail how to configure a dashboard in SAP Business One.
When configuring a new dashboard, the first step is to select the source, on which it is made. The source of the report can be an existing script in the database (user-defined queries) or views.
User defined Query, in SAP Business One is generated by two tools: Query Wizard and Query Generator.
Query Wizard – does NOT require SQL knowledge. It guides you step by step through the process of creating a query. The system generates SQL statements in the background and keeps them permanently hidden.
Query Generator – Requires SQL knowledge. It has a user-friendly interface for creating an SQL query. The system displays SQL commands so that you can edit them directly.
In the example above, “view” is selected, which contains the information from the sales invoices.
After choosing the data source, the basic settings underlying the dashboard will be defined.
As measures and dimensions are chosen, the graph is created automatically in the right window.
Dimensions and measures are common terms used in analysis.
The numeric columns in the query (dashboard source) are displayed in the Measure area, and the non-numeric columns are displayed in the Dimensions area.
The selected numeric elements (drag and drop) can appear in the menu, can be sorted, renamed, as well, you can configure which numeric function to display (Sum, Maximum, Average, Count).
Up to three such columns can be chosen in the dashboard.
The dashboard can be parameterized and filtered, in the Filter and Parameter area:
Once the information to be displayed in the dashboard has been established, additional configurations can be made in its dashboard, namely:
- You can select a type of strategy to perform the analysis. SAP Business One offers: K-Means Clustering, Forecast, ABC Analysis.
- You can change the chart type;
- You can add action to the dashboard;
- The time slider can be activated.
A very useful feature of dashboards in SAP Business One is the ability to add actions to it.
You can configure a dashboard to launch an Enterprise search, to open an SAP Business One layout, or an advanced dashboard.
For example, if you have a dashboard that displays the top 10 products sold, we can launch the following actions directly from the graphic:
- Application search by article code (Enterprise Search);
- Display of the model where the product is defined (Master Data);
- Display of an advanced dashboard, automatically filtering by product code (Dashboard Advanced) in all dashboards.
Actions have been configured in the dashboard in the Actions To Be Triggered section:
After saving the actions and bringing the dashboard to the user’s cockpit area, when one of the codes is right-clicked, the associated actions appear:
The <Search by item code> option will display all SAP Business One documents that contain this product. They are grouped by document type. Documents can be filtered, by other fields, for a more advanced search.
The <Open Advanced Dashboard> option opens, a pre-defined advanced dashboard. Opening directly from the report, it automatically filters the item code in all the reports displayed in the advanced dashboard. All dashboards and KPIs in the advanced dashboard refer only to that product.
Another action to configure is the Display Dashboard in Sidebars. This allows you to connect a dashboard to a window in SAP Business One (master data or transaction). The dashboard is displayed on the right side of the layout in which it opens.
In the example below, the quantitative balance of the product from the consignment and from the company’s management is displayed. The dashboard is updated according to the item selected in the layout. If you switch to another product, the dashboard will be updated with the information of that product.
We are constantly challenged to add value, using the data in the system, turning them into opportunities.
SAP Business One’s Analytics solution offers a unique yet simple platform that helps unlock the true value of your data for smarter decision making. The rewards are significant for those who successfully use the analysis, thus increasing the competitive advantage, stimulating innovation in the company.
In this hyper-connected world, with large volumes of data, constantly growing, analytical solutions can help you simplify and innovate.
SAP Business one can create value for your organization and gain a quick perspective on the actions of the entire company. It narrows the gap between transactions, data preparation, analysis and action.
Paula Iordache
