SAP BTP for SAP Business One: apps and workflows alongside the ERP
An app for employees without SAP access, an approval workflow, a connection to other systems. SAP Business Technology Platform provides the tools for this in the cloud and accesses SAP Business One through the Service Layer.
Whether SAP BTP is the right route for your project, or whether an add-on or a direct interface fits better, is what we clarify in a consultation.
What is SAP BTP – and what does it have to do with SAP Business One?
SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP) is a cloud platform from SAP SE. It brings together data management, analytics, artificial intelligence, application development, automation and integration in one unified environment.
For SAP Business One, SAP BTP is a place for side-by-side extensions: applications and workflows run on the platform and read or write data through the Service Layer, the REST interface of SAP Business One. If SAP Business One runs in your own network, SAP Cloud Connector provides the secure connection.
SAP Business One works without SAP BTP. The platform comes in when a requirement is better placed next to the ERP than inside it.
- Provider
- SAP SE
- Areas
- Application development, automation, integration, data and analytics, AI
- Access to SAP Business One
- Service Layer (REST interface)
- SAP Business One in your own network
- Connected via SAP Cloud Connector
- Tools, selection
- SAP Build Apps, SAP Build Process Automation, SAP Build Work Zone, SAP Build Code
- In the Web Client
- Embedded as a URL mashup extension
- SAP Business One database
- SAP HANA or Microsoft SQL Server
- Billing
- according to the SAP commercial model, per service
The information is based on SAP SE training material on learning.sap.com. Individual sources are listed at the end of this page.
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SAP BTP from the perspective of init consulting AG
In the video, init consulting AG talks about SAP BTP. What the platform means in concrete terms for SAP Business One is set out on this page:
When companies using SAP Business One consider SAP BTP
We come across these situations in conversations. They are not proof that SAP BTP is the answer – but a good reason to ask the question.
Employees without SAP access need specific data
Field sales, warehouse or workshop staff need a handful of pieces of information or entries. A full ERP workstation is more than the task requires.
Approvals run via email and Excel
Requests, checks and approvals travel through inboxes. Nobody knows exactly who is responsible at the moment and what has already been done.
Data sits in several systems
ERP, web shop, specialist applications and spreadsheets are reconciled by hand. Every transfer costs time and is a source of errors.
A requirement does not belong in the ERP core
A special solution should only affect some of the users and leave the central system unchanged. What is needed is a place next to it.
What SAP BTP does for SAP Business One
SAP describes the platform in areas. For SAP Business One, these building blocks are the obvious ones. Which of them your project needs follows from the requirement, not from the list.
Your own applications
SAP Build Apps is used to create an application that accesses SAP Business One data through the Service Layer. For developers, SAP also offers SAP Fiori applications and the Cloud Application Programming Model.
Automating workflows
SAP Build Process Automation maps workflows and processes with visual tools, for example a process builder, a forms builder and embedded robotic process automation.
Connecting systems
The integration area connects systems and automates business processes across system boundaries – for example SAP Business One with other cloud services.
Data and analytics
SAP explicitly assigns data management and analytics to the platform: data from several sources as the basis for planning and analysis.
Central workplace
SAP Build Work Zone brings applications, processes and information together in one entry point and, according to SAP, also integrates SharePoint Online and Microsoft Teams.
Visible in the Web Client
Side-by-side applications can be embedded in the SAP Business One Web Client as a URL mashup extension. Users open them where they already work.
The description follows SAP SE training material on SAP BTP, SAP Build and the development of side-by-side applications for SAP Business One.
How SAP Business One and SAP BTP come together
The connection always runs through the Service Layer. Where SAP Business One runs determines whether a Cloud Connector is needed in between.
SAP Business One with Service Layer
The Service Layer is the REST interface of SAP Business One. It must be installed and reachable for SAP BTP. SAP Business One can run on premise or in the cloud, on SAP HANA or Microsoft SQL Server.
Publicly reachable or via Cloud Connector
If the Service Layer is in the corporate network, SAP Cloud Connector establishes a secure tunnel to the platform. It runs as an agent in the local network and mediates between SAP BTP and the systems on site.
Destination and application on SAP BTP
A destination on SAP BTP describes how applications reach the Service Layer – with a technical user or with the identity of the signed-in user. Apps, workflows and integrations build on it.
SAP SE describes this step by step in the course Building Side-by-Side Fiori Applications with SAP BTP on learning.sap.com.
SAP BTP, add-on or interface: what each is meant for
An initial classification from our consulting practice, not a rule. The decision depends on the user group, the operating model, ongoing costs and who maintains the solution later.
| Project | Obvious route | What matters |
|---|---|---|
| App for employees without an SAP workstation | SAP BTP, for example with SAP Build Apps | Data access through the Service Layer, authorisations, ongoing platform costs |
| Approval workflow with several participants | SAP BTP with SAP Build Process Automation, or mapped in SAP Business One | Whether all participants work in SAP Business One |
| Missing function in a core process | Add-on or customer-specific extension in SAP Business One | Whether all users work with the process in the ERP |
| Connecting a web shop | Web shop integration | Leading system for items, prices and stock |
| Asking the ERP questions in natural language | init-AI | Accesses data through the Service Layer and runs as a service in the customer network |
| Filing documents in an audit-proof way | B1ECM | Document management integrated into SAP Business One |
The classification is an assessment by init consulting AG and does not replace a case-by-case review. For integrations with other systems, see also SAP integration.
From the consultation to the right extension
init consulting AG provides consulting, implementation, training and support from one source – regardless of which route is chosen in the end.
Consultation
You describe the project: who will use the solution, which data is needed and what currently happens outside the system.
Reviewing the system landscape
SAP Business One release, cloud or on-premise operation, database and Service Layer. This shows whether and how SAP BTP can be connected.
Choosing the route
SAP BTP, add-on, customer-specific extension or interface. We give reasons for the recommendation and state the ongoing costs.
Concept and quotation
You receive a quotation covering scope, set-up and training. SAP licence and platform costs are shown separately.
Implementation and operation
Set-up, development of customer-specific extensions, testing and training. After that we remain your point of contact: ticket support, hotline, remote access and version upgrades.
What SAP BTP does not do for SAP Business One
We would rather answer these points here than in the first meeting.
No replacement for the ERP
Side-by-side applications read and write their data through the Service Layer. SAP Business One remains the leading system for documents, accounting and master data.
Separate platform, separate costs
SAP BTP is a separate SAP platform with its own commercial model. For SAP Build Apps, for example, SAP mentions a pay-as-you-go model and a free version. What applies in an individual case depends on the services used.
No Service Layer, no connection
The Service Layer must be installed and reachable for the platform, in the corporate network via SAP Cloud Connector. Without this prerequisite, SAP Business One cannot be connected.
Visual tools do not replace a project
Even an application built with SAP Build Apps needs a concept for data access, authorisations, operation and maintenance. SAP explicitly aims its side-by-side development course at developers.
Terms used on this page
- SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP)
- Cloud platform from SAP SE that brings together data management, analytics, artificial intelligence, application development, automation and integration in one environment.
- Service Layer
- REST interface of SAP Business One. Applications on SAP BTP use it to access data and business processes in SAP Business One.
- SAP Cloud Connector
- Agent in the local network that connects applications on SAP BTP with on-site systems through a secure tunnel.
- Destination
- Connection definition on SAP BTP. It specifies how an application reaches a target system such as the Service Layer and how it signs in.
- Side-by-side extension
- Application that runs next to the ERP on a separate platform and accesses its data through an interface, instead of being programmed inside the ERP itself.
- SAP Build Apps
- Tool on SAP BTP for creating applications with visual means. It connects SAP Business One data through the Service Layer.
What companies want to know about SAP BTP and SAP Business One
What is SAP BTP?
SAP BTP stands for SAP Business Technology Platform. The cloud platform from SAP SE brings together data management, analytics, artificial intelligence, application development, automation and integration in one unified environment.
Do I need SAP BTP to use SAP Business One?
No. SAP Business One runs on premise or in the cloud on SAP HANA or Microsoft SQL Server, without SAP BTP. The platform is an option for extensions and integrations that are meant to run alongside the ERP.
How is SAP Business One connected to SAP BTP?
Through the Service Layer, the REST interface of SAP Business One. A destination is set up on SAP BTP for this. If the Service Layer is in the corporate network, SAP Cloud Connector establishes a secure tunnel.
Does SAP BTP also work with SAP Business One on premise?
Yes. SAP Cloud Connector runs as an agent in the local network and makes the Service Layer reachable for SAP BTP through a secure tunnel. We check which prerequisites your installation must meet in a consultation.
What does SAP BTP cost?
That depends on which services are used. SAP BTP has its own SAP commercial model; for SAP Build Apps, for example, SAP mentions a pay-as-you-go model and a free version. In our quotations, platform costs are shown separately from set-up and training. Prices for SAP Business One itself are on the prices and costs page.
What is SAP Build Apps?
SAP Build Apps is a tool on SAP BTP for creating applications with visual means. In the SAP training course, a project is created and connected to SAP Business One data through an OData integration with the Service Layer.
When is an add-on or a direct interface the better choice?
In our experience, when all users work in SAP Business One anyway and the function belongs to the core process, or when two systems only need to exchange data. SAP BTP plays to its strengths when users without an SAP workstation are involved or workflows span several systems.
Who supports us after implementation?
init consulting AG offers ticket support, a telephone hotline and remote access as well as ongoing maintenance and version upgrades for SAP Business One. To support
Discuss your project with us
Describe who should use the solution and which SAP Business One data is needed. We assess whether SAP BTP is the right route and set out the alternatives with their ongoing costs.
Your contact
- Phone
- +49 8456 2 78 04-0
- Head office
- init consulting AG
Ruppertswies 14, 85092 Kösching, Germany