ERP for service providers: hours and projects in one system
SAP Business One with the MARIProject extension covers project-based business end to end. From quotation costing through daily time and travel expense recording to invoicing and project controlling.
Consultancies, IT service providers and engineering offices sell working time. If that time is not booked against the project, it is missing from the invoice and from the costing review – and the gap only shows once the project is finished. An ERP system for professional services therefore has to start at time recording, not at the warehouse.
SAP Business One for service providers – in brief
SAP Business One is the ERP system; MARIProject is the project-capable extension to it. Together they form an industry solution for professional services firms. SAP Business One covers finance, CRM, purchasing, sales and inventory. MARIProject adds what project-driven companies need on top: quotation costing, project and resource planning, time recording, travel expense accounting, project invoicing and project controlling.
Both work in the same database and on the same master data. No second project tool grows up beside the ERP whose figures later have to be reconciled with the accounts.
init consulting AG implements this combination as an SAP Business One Gold Partner – from the process review through configuration to ongoing support.
- Base system
- SAP Business One
- Extension
- MARIProject, an add-on for SAP Business One
- Vendor of the extension
- MARINGO Computers GmbH, Cologne
- Access
- fat client, web client, mobile app
- Database
- SAP HANA or Microsoft SQL Server
- Deployment
- cloud or on-premise
- Typical users
- consultancies, IT services, engineering and planning offices
- Implemented by
- init consulting AG, SAP Business One Gold Partner
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SAP Business One for service providers at a glance
The film shows what service providers use SAP Business One for. The detail is on this page:
The project is finished, the invoice is out – and the margin is smaller than costed
The cause is rarely poor work. It is that costs and services are only brought together afterwards. Anyone who learns what a project cost only once it has ended can no longer steer it. In a professional services firm that is precisely what decides the margin.
Hours are not booked against the project
Timesheets, spreadsheets and memory stand in for daily recording. What is not recorded appears neither in the invoice nor in the costing review.
The plan-versus-actual comparison arrives too late
If the comparison is only available weeks after the project ends, it is a record rather than a basis for steering.
Travel costs and subcontracted work arrive late
Incoming invoices from subcontractors and travel expense claims come after the work. Until they do, the full cost of the project is incomplete.
Work in progress is estimated rather than calculated
Work delivered but not yet invoiced is often estimated in a spreadsheet at the year end – with no link to the costs actually booked.
SAP Business One, extended for project work
Three building blocks, one set of data: ERP, project business and documents. What is booked in one is immediately available in the others.
SAP Business One
The ERP foundation
- Finance, fixed assets, banking
- CRM and sales
- Purchasing and procurement
- Business partner management
- Inventory management where needed
- Analysis and reporting
MARIProject
The project business
- Quotation costing with margin display
- Project and resource planning in a Gantt chart
- Time recording, on mobile or through the web client
- Recording and invoicing travel expenses
- Project invoicing with an invoicing assistant
- Project controlling and WIP calculation
- Customer service and support desk
B1ECM
Documents and contracts
- Automatic filing of documents out of SAP Business One
- Indexing and search schemes
- Contract management with B1ECM Contract
- Incoming invoices with B1ECM Invoice
- Multi-company capable
B1ECM is an in-house development of init consulting AG and connects SAP Business One with ELO Digital Office. Details on document management are on the page Document management with B1ECM.
ERP features that make the difference in project work
The functional areas below are documented by the vendor MARINGO for MARIProject. Which of them your business needs is settled in the analysis workshop – nothing is piled on that the need does not support.
Time recording
Project hours can be recorded on a mobile phone or over the internet. The project manager approves recorded hours and travel expenses on mobile, in part or in full.
Quotation costing
When costing against a price list, the margin is displayed automatically. The project contract is created from the costing without re-entering the data.
Project and resource planning
The availability display in the Gantt chart shows whether a member of staff is free on the planned date – across every running project.
Travel expenses
Travel expenses are recorded and invoiced and flow into the same project cost accounting as hours, material and subcontracted work.
Project controlling
Reports compare planned against delivered hours, and actual hours against billable hours. Colour markings can be defined freely so that variances show up early.
Project invoicing
The invoicing assistant automatically lists every billable item per project – by time and material, fixed price, milestone or percentage of completion.
Support desk and customer service
The ticket system, customer portal and service assignments run on the same data as the project business. Maintenance and service contracts sit next to the projects.
Project purchasing
Purchase orders and subcontracted work are assigned directly to the project, so purchasing costs do not have to find their way back into the project through the accounts.
Documents on the project
MARIProject comes with document filing of its own and can be connected to document management systems – at init consulting usually to ELO through B1ECM.
By time and material, at a fixed price or by percentage of completion
Service providers rarely invoice on a single model. MARIProject covers the variants below according to the vendor's documentation; the invoicing assistant proposes items as they fall due.
| Invoicing model | How it works | Typical for |
|---|---|---|
| Time and material | All recorded work appears automatically in the invoicing assistant on the date agreed in the contract. | consulting, IT services on time and material |
| Fixed price | The agreed amount is offered for invoicing automatically at the agreed time. | self-contained work packages |
| Fixed price with retention | Once the retention period expires, the retained amount is proposed for invoicing automatically. | projects with a warranty retention |
| Cut-off date, milestone or percentage of completion | The condition is defined in the project. Once the date is reached or the phase is complete, the amount appears in the invoicing assistant. | long-running planning and engineering projects |
| Retainer | Amounts or services defined individually for a set period. | framework agreements, ongoing support |
| Payment request | Individually definable single payments, including an approval process and partial invoice records. | projects with a payment plan |
| Commissions | Proposed for payout automatically when they fall due. | sales partners, referral models |
Source: vendor information from MARINGO Computers GmbH on project invoicing in MARIProject, retrieved 22 September 2026.
From the quotation to valued work in progress
Every step writes to the same set of data. That is why the costing review is not a separate report at the end of the project but a running answer.
Cost the quotation
Costing against a price list with an automatic margin display. The project contract is created from the accepted quotation.
Plan the resources
Project and resource planning in a Gantt chart, with a view of the availability of the staff scheduled.
Record hours and travel expenses
Recording on mobile or over the internet, directly against the project. Approval by the project manager is possible on mobile too.
Steer the project
Plan against actual for hours and costs, with freely definable colour markings for variances.
Invoice and value
The invoicing assistant proposes items as they fall due. For work not yet invoiced, MARIProject supports the WIP calculation.
Four typical starting points at service providers
What a firm needs from an ERP differs considerably within the sector. These four starting points are the ones we meet most often in professional services.
Management consultancy
Invoicing is by time and material. What matters is complete time recording, the invoicing assistant and a view of consultant utilisation.
Engineering and planning offices
Long run times, invoicing by milestone or percentage of completion. Resource planning and running controlling keep progress visible.
IT services and systems houses
Project business and maintenance contracts side by side. Support desk, customer portal and service objects run in the same system as the projects.
Replacing the spreadsheet costing review
The project and WIP spreadsheets have grown and only one person still understands them. The move happens step by step, starting with a manageable number of running projects.
What the solution does not do
So that no false expectation arises during the project, here are the points we raise in the first meeting anyway.
No shop-floor control
MARIProject knows project-related production but does not replace production planning with capacity scheduling and production orders. Anyone who manufactures needs beas Manufacturing for that – a different solution and a different project.
WIP calculation under IAS and US GAAP
The vendor documents the calculation of the value of work in progress under IAS and US GAAP. How that value is carried into a German HGB set of accounts is something we settle during the project with your accounting team and your tax adviser. We give no blanket assurance on it.
Not a substitute for payroll
Project time recording and payroll accounting are two different things. Whether and how the two are joined up depends on your payroll system and is looked at separately.
The benefit depends on recording discipline
Costing reviews and utilisation reports are only as good as the bookings behind them. If hours continue to be entered weekly from memory, the system changes nothing about that. This point belongs in the implementation, not in the software.
Terms from project controlling
These terms come up regularly in quotations and workshops. Here they are in the sense in which we use them.
- Costing review
- A comparison of the planned and the actual costs and services of a project. Kept up to date, it becomes a basis for steering; produced only at the end of the project, it stays a record.
- Work in progress (WIP)
- The value of work already delivered but not yet invoiced. MARIProject supports the calculation under IAS and US GAAP.
- Percentage of completion
- The share of the agreed work that has been delivered. It can be set as a condition for invoicing in the project.
- Time & material
- Invoicing by actual effort. In MARIProject this is the invoicing model „Aufwand": recorded work is proposed for invoicing on the agreed date.
- Fixed price with retention
- Part of the fixed price is retained for an agreed period. Once the period expires, the system proposes the retained amount for invoicing.
- Internal cost allocation
- Charging work between departments, sites or companies – for instance when one branch provides capacity for another's project.
- Invoicing assistant
- The function in MARIProject that assembles every billable item of a project, instead of having them searched out by hand from time records and documents.
- Earned value analysis
- A method that assesses progress, dates and costs together. Available in MARIProject as a freely designed report.
Customer in focus: EURATECH
EURATECH GmbH of Garching near Munich is an IT service provider and sells refurbished IT hardware. From the reference report: „In nur zwei Monaten konnte die gesamte ERP-Implementierung durchgeführt werden. Ausschlaggebend dafür waren die gute und enge Zusammenarbeit zwischen EURATECH und init consulting AG sowie die umfangreichen Erfahrungen der init bei der Implementierung entsprechender Lösungen." — the whole ERP implementation was completed in two months, which the company puts down to close collaboration and init's experience with implementations of this kind.
The report describes the implementation of SAP Business One. Whether MARIProject was part of that project is not stated in the report. The report itself is in German.
Who you will be talking to
Three colleagues look after ERP projects at professional services firms from our offices. You can reach them directly, without going through a switchboard.
SAP Business One for service providers – the questions from first meetings
Which ERP system suits a professional services firm?
What matters is what the business hangs on. In trade and manufacturing it is the flow of goods; at a service provider it is working time. An ERP for professional services therefore has to book hours, travel costs and subcontracted work against the project, keep the plan-versus-actual comparison current, and invoice on several different models. SAP Business One brings the commercial foundation, MARIProject the project-related functions. Which modules you need out of that depends on your invoicing models – we settle that in the analysis workshop.
Is standard SAP Business One enough for a service provider?
For finance, CRM, purchasing and sales, yes. For project-based business the standard lacks what service providers need daily: time recording against the project, travel expense accounting on the project, a running costing review and the valuation of work in progress. That is what we extend SAP Business One with MARIProject for.
What is MARIProject?
MARIProject is an add-on for SAP Business One from MARINGO Computers GmbH of Cologne. It extends the ERP with quotation costing, project and resource planning, time recording, travel expense accounting, project purchasing, project invoicing, project controlling and a customer service and support ticket system – inside the same interface and on the same master data.
How does the costing review work?
All costs are booked against the project: hours, travel expenses, material and subcontracted work. The reports set planned against delivered hours, and actual hours against billable hours. Variances can be spotted early through freely definable colour markings – while the project is running, not afterwards.
What is WIP valuation, and under which rules does MARIProject calculate?
WIP stands for work in progress, the value of work already delivered but not yet invoiced. MARIProject supports the calculation of that value; the vendor documents it under IAS and US GAAP. Carrying it into a German HGB set of accounts is something we settle with your accounting team during the implementation project.
Which invoicing models are supported?
Time and material, fixed price, fixed price with retention, invoicing by cut-off date, milestone or percentage of completion, retainer, payment request with an approval process and partial invoice records, and commissions. The models can be run side by side, which is the normal case in a mixed contract landscape.
On which devices do staff record their hours?
MARIProject is available as a fat client, as a web client and as an app for mobile devices. Project hours can be recorded on a mobile phone or over the internet. Project managers also approve hours and travel expenses on mobile, in part or in full.
Can travel costs and subcontracted work be invoiced as well?
Yes. Travel expenses are recorded and invoiced in MARIProject, and subcontracted work is assigned to the project through project purchasing. Both flow into the same project cost accounting as the hours, so the full cost of a project does not have to be assembled through the accounts first.
How does an implementation run and how long does it take?
The sequence is regularly the same: analysis workshop, system configuration, migration of the running projects, training, go-live with a supported period. The duration depends on the number of running projects, the invoicing models and the state of the data. We give a dependable answer after the analysis workshop, not before it.
What does SAP Business One with MARIProject cost?
The cost is made up of the SAP Business One licences, the MARIProject modules required, the implementation work and ongoing maintenance. For SAP Business One the range can be narrowed down with the project cost calculator; background is on Prices and costs. A dependable quotation follows the first meeting.
What does the solution not cover?
No shop-floor control with capacity scheduling – beas Manufacturing exists for that. No payroll accounting. And no substitute for recording discipline: reports are only as good as the bookings behind them. The full boundary is set out in the section What the solution does not do.
Let us talk about your projects – not about software
Bring a typical project with you: the contract, the current costing review and the spreadsheet you use today to value work in progress. After the meeting you will know what SAP Business One with MARIProject covers as standard and where effort arises.
Direct contact
- Phone
- +49 8456 2 78 04-0
- Head office
- Ruppertswies 14
85092 Kösching, Germany - Offices
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