The four Cardinal Ws of Change Management

There is more to just configuring a system to suit the business processes of a company. End users attitude go a long way to determine if the system rollout will be a success. Many system implementation fail because of users resistance to change. This resistance is usually out of the “fear of the unknown”. Users tend to corroborate the dictum that says “the devil you know is better than the angel you don’t know”. Change management is a lot much easier when computer phobia as a phenomenon does not exist in a company i.e. users presently use a computer system for their business operations.

Consider a worse case scenario when people that handle core functional operations of a business do not make use of a system. Introducing an ERP system and getting them to use it can be a daunting task. Resistance can vary in degree depending on the extent of collaboration amongst the work force. The greater the number of opposing users, the more difficult will change management be. Irrespective of this degree, I intend to present a concise analysis of what I call the four Ws of Change Management namely:-














* Why the Change?
* What will change?
* When is the change?
* Who will change?

To guarantee successful implementation of a system, addressing the above mentioned fundamental questions is pertinent.

Why the change?
The aim of any organization is to make profit. To be profitable, organizations must streamline and optimize their business processes. The need for change to meet this challenge is thus inevitable. Change is further necessitated by the fact that organizations are continually looking for ways to run their business processes better.

What will change?
Ideally, everything will change. As a matter of fact, the phenomenon of business process re-engineering cannot be wholly separated from change management as a concept. The way business processes are carried out will change. Not only that, employee personal attitude to work will change. In some complex system transition, the corporate culture of an organization does change.

When is the change?
Change can be “total” or “in phase”. Thus, when the change will take place is ambiguous. However, the latter is more system transition specific. Employees attitude or if you like psychology must have been tuned (social and technical training) to the reality of an upcoming change. When the change will occur is also subject to the geographical and financial capacity of an organization. Suffice to say that, “total” change might not mean so much to organizations that don’t have disparate locations and more importantly, are financially buoyant to accommodate the total cost of such change.

Who will change?
Everybody! The truth of the matter is that, most changes are not one sided. This fact is more credible when the system bringing the change is an ERP system that integrates all the functional areas of an organization. In which case, the productivity of an individual is indirectly or indirectly linked to another individual. Thus, to optimize the change, everybody must change.

Why re-invent the wheel: Saving Documents as Draft

Documents can be saved as drafts in SAP Business One. This flexibility allows you to post the document at a later time or date. For example, if you need to wait for your boss to give his conscent before you post a document into the system, you can save the document as a draft and then call it up later and consequently post it. Since documents that are saved as drafts are not deleted when they are eventually posted, they can be used as templates for subsequent postings. Furthermore, if you issue the same type of check regularly, you can create the check as draft using the check for payment functionality. The saved check - draft can then be used as template and transformed into a check for payment document when you need to post the transaction. Hence, you don’t have to “re-invent the wheel”.

Documents that can be saved as drafts
1. AR documents (Sales)
2. AP documents (Purchasing)
3. Stock transfer
4. Checks for payment

Methodology
Creating a draft document is easy. The document to be created as draft must first be displayed before it can be created as draft. However, documents that have been added cannot be saved as draft. For a document that have been added, the save as draft sub menu of the File menu is grayed out (inactive) as shown in the document below.

Same thing happens when no document is displayed. After the document is displayed, access this path: File Menu > Save as Draft to save documents as draft.
AR Document
AP Document
Stock Transfer
Check for Payment

It is important to note the following:

1. The document numbering does not increase (i.e. the next document number remains the current document number of the saved document)
2. Document posting controls such as alerts and blocks for deviation from budget and minimum stock level are not activated.
3. System verification is not performed. For example, when a document’s posting date deviates from permissible date range.
4. Adding the draft document does not remove the draft from the system.

Displaying the list of saved documents - - Sales AR, Purchasing AP and Stock Transfer
SAP Business One allows you to display the list of saved marketing documents.
A generic selection window is displayed for marketing documents when the following path is accessed.
Sales-AR > Documents Drafts
Purchasing > Documents Drafts

User: Click the drop-down button in order to pick the creator of the document.
Open Only: Check this box to display drafts that have the status open.
Unflag this box to display drafts with open and closed statues.
*A draft document is open if it has not been added while it is closed if it has been added into the system.
AR documents/AP Documents/Stock documents: Check this box in order to select the sales/purchasing/stock transfer documents drafts to be displayed. If the box is not checked, no sales/purchasing/stock transfer documents are displayed.
Ok/Cancel: Click the Ok button to display the list and properties of draft documents based on the selection criteria defined. Choose the Cancel button to close the screen.

Key: Every draft has a unique number.
Document No.: This is the number that the document would have retained if it was added. This number is not unique. Suffice to say that more than one draft can have the same document number. See the draft documents with no. 7 in the marketing document drafts screen.
BP Code/BP Name: These details are pulled from the business partner master data.
Creation Date/Creation Time: These fields contains the date and time the draft was created.
Document: This field contains the type of the draft document – sales order, AP invoice or stock transfers etc.
Posting Date: The day the draft was posted is displayed in this field.
Total: The document total is displayed in this field.

Double click a line item to display and manage individual draft document.

Displaying the list of saved documents -- Checks for Payment
As for check drafts, no selection window is displayed. The list of check draft is displayed when the path below is accessed.
Banking > Outgoing Payments > Checks for Payment Drafts
Date: The creation date
To order of: This field contains the business partner number or G/L account for the payment.
Total: The check total is displayed here
Bank/Branch/Account: The bank details are displayed in these fields.

Double click a line item to display and manage individual draft document.
Managing saved documents-- Sales AR, Purchasing AP and Stock Transfer
Delete: To delete a draft, highlight the appropriate row, right click and choose delete, then update.
Close: To close a document, highlight the appropriate row, right click and choose close, then update.
Restore: To restore a document (change the status from closed to open), highlight the relevant row, right click and choose restore, then update.

Managing saved documents— Checks for Payment
Remove: To remove a document, highlight the appropriate row, right click and choose remove, then update.
Printing draft documents
When a draft document is printed, the word "Draft" is inscribed diagonally on the document.

The Physiology of SAP Business One

When I was putting this write-up together, a colleague of mine saw the topic and screamed: “when did Kenny (as I’m fondly called) become a medical doctor”. Don’t think in like manner. I’m not prepared to take you through the world of medicine. As a matter of fact, throughout my life as an undergraduate of computer science at the University of Ilorin, Nigeria; I didn’t take any medical/paramedical course, either as core or optional. However, I’m familiar with a number of medical buzzwords. I’d expect you to ask me if SAP Business one has a physiology. Yes of course, it has! That does not mean Henning Kaggermann assembled physiologists to put SAP Business One together.

I prudently chose this topic in order to critically explore and analyze an introductory article which will form the bedrock of subsequent publications and discussions on this weblog. SAP Business One is an ERP system specifically designed to meet the needs of small and medium size businesses (SMBs). The aim of this article is to identify and explain the basic functions (physiology) of SAP Business One.

The functional areas of SAP Business one includes Financial, Sales Opportunities, Sales, Purchasing, Business Partners, Banking, Inventory, Production, Material Requirement Planning, Service and Human Resources.

Financial: The financial module helps you to handle both cost and financial accounting. It is shipped with a number of country specific chart of accounts and it also allows you to define your own chart of accounts. The journal entry and journal voucher functionalities are used for manually entering and saving (temporarily) journal transactions respectively. Templates can be created for recurring postings using the posting template feature. Also, recurring posting allows you to configure journal transactions that recur on known dates. With the financial module, you can reverse journal transactions on defined dates.

The exchange rate differences functionality is used to automatically recalculate the account balance for customers, vendors and accounts when accounts are maintained in both foreign and local currencies based on set criteria. The conversion differences feature adjusts the differences between the account and the business partner balances in the system currency and the business partner currency via journal transaction recommendations.

Budgets can be set up in the financial module in order to exercise control on a company’s spending. The cost accounting functionality is used to critically analyze the revenue and expenses of a company’s business areas/departments via the definition of profit centers and distribution rules. Financial reports houses financial, accounting and budget reports that can be compared based on set criteria.

Sales Opportunities: SAP Business One supports a CRM functionality called Sales Opportunities. Sales Opportunities is used to track and analyze the whole activities involved in getting a customer. These activities include meetings, phone calls and so on. The sales opportunity feature thus allows you to add, modify and close sales opportunities. The sales opportunities report contains report on won, lost and open opportunities. Other reports contained therein are stage and forecast reports.




Sales: The sales module supports the standard “quote-to-invoice” process. Sales quotation allows you to create sales quotation, although it is not a legal document. The sales order feature is used for creating orders which can be based on quotations already created. Delivery notes are entered using Delivery. Goods Return is used to reverse delivery transaction that has not been invoiced. The A/R Credit memo on the other hand is used to correct delivery posting that has been invoiced.

The A/R Down Payment Request and A/R Down Payment Invoice are used for creating and invoicing down payment for customers respectively. A/R invoice is used for invoicing. The sales module provides support for “one-time customers” via the A/R Invoice + Payment functionality which prompts the full payment of invoice amount on creation. Pro forma invoices can also be created using A/R Reserve Invoice.

A user can generate rows from several base documents to one target document based on predefined criteria using the Automatic Summary Wizard. Sales documents can be created as drafts using the Document Draft functionality. This feature allows you to save sales documents for future posting in the system. The Document Printing program is used to cumulatively print sales documents based on defined selection criteria. The system is shipped with a functionality called Dunning Wizard. The Dunning Wizard helps you to manage customers with unpaid open invoices via letter sending and reminders. Reports provided by the Sales Report feature are sales analysis and open item reports.

Purchasing: The Purchase module caters for the entire “procure-to-invoice” process. The Purchase Order, Goods Receipt PO and Goods Returns are used for posting order, receipt and return respectively. The A/P Down Payment Request is used for creating down payment request while A/P Down Payment Invoice is used for invoicing down payment. A/P invoice is used for invoicing. In order to reverse a Goods Receipt PO document that has been invoiced, the system uses the A/P Credit Memo functionality.

Organizations that import goods can use the Landed Costs functionality to calculate the total cost price of imported goods by summing up all the costs (custom, transportation, taxes and insurance) incurred in the process of goods importation. Purchase documents can be created as drafts using the Document Draft functionality. This feature allows you to save documents for future posting in the system. The Document Printing program is used to cumulatively print purchase documents based on defined selection criteria. Reports provided by the Purchase Report feature are purchase analysis and open item reports.

Business Partners: The Business Partner module manages information about business partners – customers, vendors and leads. The Business Partner Master Data contains information that are used for all marketing documents and activities related to customers, vendors and leads. Sales activities and interactions with business partner are documented using the Activity functionality. Reports can be generated for dunning letters and activities performed.






Banking: The Banking module handles all financial transactions – incoming payment, outgoing payment and account reconciliation. The incoming payment functionality is used to create receipt for vendors, customers and G/L accounts. The outgoing payment on the other hand is used for issuing and printing checks for employees, vendors and creditors. The Deposit transaction allows you to post incoming deposits received by your bank. The Banking module contains a functionality called the Payment Wizard which is a payment engine defined to automate payment processes based on user defined criteria. Account reconciliation which is the harmonization of debit and credit postings with bank postings is important for a company. Support is provided for this requirement in the banking module using the Bank Statements and Reconciliations functionality. The Documents Printing feature of the banking module is used for printing documents generated in the module.

Inventory: Information about an item is stored in the item master data. This information includes item name, item group, properties and manufacturer. This information is used for transactions that affect items. The Item Management functionality of the inventory module allows you to manage items using serial numbers, batches and catalogue numbers. Inventory Transactions program is used to manage goods receipt and goods issue postings that are not based on orders. The functionality also supports stock counting and material revaluation. Price lists and special prices can be defined for different items using the Price Lists program. The Pick and Pack Manager allows users to see where an individual order is located in the system. Reports that can be generated in the Inventory module include price lists, inventory transaction and management report.

Production: The Production module is a robust system which is capable of generating multi-level bill of material for production orders. Different types (sales, assembly, production and template) of bill of materials can be created using the Define Bill of Materials program. The Receipt from production is used to report the completion of a product while Issue for Production transaction issues items to production orders. Reports can be created for bill of materials.




Materials Requirement Planning (MRP): MRP is a system that allows you to plan material requirement. It uses data such as forecasts, inventory, purchase order and bill of material as input and generates production orders and purchase orders as output. Define Forecast can be used to create forecast for production and purchase orders before the receipt of sales orders. The MRP Wizard functionality is used to automate the entire process – scenario creation to gross requirement analysis. The Order Recommendation Report is based on the MRP recommendation and allows you to post production and purchase orders automatically.




Service: The Service module enhances better customer relationship via speedy resolution of client complaints. The Service Call feature allows you to manage service calls for customer complaints. The Customer Equipment Card allows you to manage information about items that are eligible to receive service. The Service Contract functionality allows you to manage three types of service contracts namely serial number, customer and item group. The Solution Knowledge Base is a repository of solutions that can be referred to, in order to facilitate speedy problem resolution. Reports that are available in the Service Reports program include service call, service contract and customer equipment reports.


Human Resources: The Employee Master Data feature is used to create and manage employee data. This information includes employee address, education details, financial details and personal details. Three main reports are supported. They are employee list, employee absence and phone book.

Note: The physiology described above is for the 2004 version. I intend to provide a more detailed analysis of SAP Business One 2005 in subsequent publications. However, it is important to note that, additional functionalities of the 2005 version includes Microsoft Outlook integration, XL Reporter, Fixed Asset and ehancement to the print laoyout designer.

A Weblog is Born … Out of Lessons Learnt

Blogging in my opinion is a career on its own. It has become a field of choice for a number of individuals especially software consultants. Maintaining a weblog is no doubt a tasking pursuit. This is because; it takes you from your core job functions to a “non-profit world of information sharing and dissemination”.

The addition of Kehinde Eseyin’s SAP Business One weblog to the list of bloggers is no doubt the birth of an unparalleled SAP Business One knowledge base. The objective of the weblog is to increase the knowledge base of the SAP Business One Users Community (SBOUC) via publications, users’ interaction and online collaboration. I intend to achieve this objective by providing concise information on matters bothering on the total subject areas that makes a complete SAP Business One Consultant with particular reference to solution consultants.

My decision to open a weblog is out of necessity, my passion for information sharing and above all, lessons learnt. In my IT career, I have worked with, trained and bagged certifications in some leading software products including SAP, Oracle and Microsoft. However, I have come to the knowledge of one simple truth – “to stay ahead, you need to keep learning”. To excel in this competitive IT world, one needs to change with technology. Suffice to say that, continuous pursuit of knowledge via information sharing is key to success.

Moreover, I have a number of web and newspaper publications to my credit. Of a truth, writing is not an easy task. As a matter of fact, it is quite challenging. However, I have learnt that the reward outweighs the challenges that come with it. It is rewarding because it sharpens your expertise the more. I recall with ecstasy, the first time I published an article on Mark Rittman’s Weblog, I got more than enough feedbacks and those feedbacks actually got me on my toes. Coincidentally, I was faced with one of the technical problems I helped solved in the course of my duty the following week. Resolution was speedy, courtesy of a prior analysis, understanding and resolution of the same problem.

By and large, learning, using and writing about technologies, especially SAP Business One is fun to me. However, it is more fun to me when I can share my knowledge and expertise proactively. Suffice to say that, tailoring users to the “how to do things” than reactively when I have to proffer solutions makes me fulfilled.

Kehinde Eseyin’s SAP Business One Weblog promises to be a weblog that will meet the needs of the SAP Business One Users Community. Your comments and feedbacks will be highly appreciated.

Enjoy!

Kehinde Eseyin