SAP Business ByDesign

Score8.3 out of 10

56 Reviews and Ratings

What is SAP Business ByDesign?

SAP Business ByDesign is SAP's cloud ERP suite offering, launched in 2007, designed for the SMB market. The product includes a broad range of capabilities including financials, human resources, sales, procurement, customer service, and supply chain. Business ByDesign is a new platform, delivered entirely through a SaaS model, with functionality that overlaps somewhat with BusinessOne, which is also an SMB product, although not a true SaaS product.

Categories & Use Cases

Media

Screenshot of the embedded analytics of SAP Business ByDesign, which makes it possible for key users or end users to define dashboards that contain tailored reports and KPIs for their role

Screenshot of some of the reports available with SAP Business ByDesign, that enable customers to create additional reports or KPIs

Screenshot of the document flow, present in each business document in ByDesign, which shows a graphic of the predecessor and successor business documents as well as any associated accounting documents.

Screenshot of SAP Business ByDesign's included Project Management module that is integrated with CRM to sell and bill projects, with HR to staff projects, and with SCM and SRM for procurement.

Screenshot of the Financial Closing business scenario, used to perform financial period-end closing activities to ensure correct financial statements, such as Balance Sheet, Income Statement, and Cash Flow Statement. The Closing Cockpit helps to minimize the risk of missing important steps or incorrect timing.

Screenshot of some of SAP Business Bydesign underlying functionality which allows business users to configure and adapt the solution to unique and changing needs without requiring extensive, expensive IT resources

Screenshot of SAP Business ByDesign's multiple mobile Apps e.g. for time recording, expense recording, manager approvals etc. One App is the Project Cockpit that helps project managers to keep track of important tasks and to collaborate with the project team

1 / 8

Screenshot of the embedded analytics of SAP Business ByDesign, which makes it possible for key users or end users to define dashboards that contain tailored reports and KPIs for their role

Automatic reordering
The software can be set up to automatically reorder a good when it falls below a certain threshold.
Category average: 7.6
Travel & Expense Management
Enter expenses from mobile devices, integrate credit card and travel booking, configure policy enforcement
Category average: 7.4
Budgetary Control & Encumbrance Accounting
Control spending at any budget level or time interval
Category average: 7.2

Performance Monitoring
Analyze business metrics and compare actual performance to plans, identify issues, prioritize demands and respond to changes
Category average: 7.3
Benefit plan administration
Benefit plan administration is administration of health insurance plans and 401k plans, and other benefits.
Category average: 7.2
Credit card processing
The software facilitates credit card processing.
Category average: 7.4

Henry Winchonlong View profile

Jefe de sistemas de información in Information Technology at Gilat Perú (201-500 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

SAP Business ByDesign has improved our operations decreasing the time to close accounting periods and monthly reports. Mainly we implemented SAP ByDesign to replace old legacy systems. Now, we are working on our finance and logistics processes integrated and avoiding reprocess and lack of information. Our users are increasing their skills from day to day.

Pros

I like the ease of use and the implementation methodology.
With SAP Business ByDesign you can integrate other systems with Web Services, and data technology to get information easy and fast.
SAP Business ByDesign includes an Analytics Module to create new reports in regards to your needs.

Cons

Regarding the functionality, SAP Business ByDesign can improve some logistics functions and additionally should improve the data entries to update exchange rates.
About the licensing, there are many types of licenses and it is very confusing to distinguish them.
The mobile apps are confusing and they do not have the same functions as the web version.

Return on Investment

Integrated processes, sales, logistics, and finance
Control of accounts payable from purchase orders placed before
Solving 80% of incidents reported in less than 24 hours

Usability

Alternatives Considered

Microsoft Dynamics 365 (formerly Microsoft Dynamics CRM) and SAP Business One

Other Software Used

Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Project, Microsoft Office 365, MySQL, Skype for Business (formerly Lync)

Brandon Knight View profile

Sales Representative in Sales at Glassdoor (51-200 employees employees)

Pros

Reporting- Users can slice and dice data very easily to generate the desired information views
Integrating Data- Financial data and sales data reside in a single platform
Help- Embedded help features, tons of online forums, chat help, etc

Cons

At times the system can be a bit tedious, what I mean by that is multiple clicks to complete a simple task.
Complexity can be an issue, but the system does allow for configuration to match complexity with user role
Internet Access- Cloud only system if our local internet is out, access can be challenging. We used mobile hotspots when needed and this worked fine.

Return on Investment

Great tool for me as a salesman, visibility into all my accounts and contacts. Great ROI for me personally as it helps me track my business prospects.
Easy access via the cloud for home, office, or on the go. Has mobile apps that are effective for simple tasks and reminders.
Great community to be a part of, tons of online resources. Also, have the ability to connect with SAP directly and with partner network, there are many layers of support.

Alternatives Considered

Epicor Cloud ERP, Microsoft Dynamics AX and NetSuite

Other Software Used

Salesforce App Cloud, Outreach, HubSpot

Verified User

Manager in Finance and Accounting (11-50 employees employees)

Pros

Managing projects and people
Prepare invoices
Tracking/following flows

Cons

Time off request could be better. Right now, there is no option for sick time
It crashes often
Customization could be better

Return on Investment

Positive impact on time gained.
One platform only to manage variety of functions.
Accessible from everywhere (computer and mobile app).

Alternatives Considered

Oracle API Manager

Other Software Used

TriNet, Trello, Microsoft 365 Business

Rod Taubman View profile

Managing Director in Corporate at Acclimation (11-50 employees employees)

Pros

Reporting is fantastic and is based on SAP's Business Objects design allowing a drag and drop UI for creating the fields you're interested in with the right views and filters
The Project Management controls are perfectly integrated into the solution allowing tight controls and easy set-up of projects. Everything flows smoothly from creating tasks in a gantt style control to being able to be entered into a timesheet. A PM can see project health from a cockpit view and make necessary decisions.

Cons

I am waiting for ByD to fully move away from the Silverlight dependance to being full on HTML5. Apparently this will happen over the next year.
There are many areas requiring multiple clicks to navigate that can be simplified. For example drilling down on expense claims; if you would like to navigate from a description to viewing a image of a receipt there could be around 8 clicks of navigation to move between the two (this is the worst case example btw)

Return on Investment

Positive - Access to the real-time reporting allowing for faster decision making especially when fixed price projects are heading into an over budget position.
Positive - Complex KPI can now be tracked and as a consequence intensive plans can be made to capitalise on this level of reporting. Staff also have clear visibility over their own performance.
Negative - We are a bit on the small side at 30 employees for a ByD solution so it was relatively expensive for us. It would be a much better value preposition above 50 employees.

Larry Peck, CPA

Director of Finance in Finance and Accounting at Pacific Gas and Electric Company (51-200 employees employees)

Pros

It is very easy to customize settings, and process flows, but not functionality.
It is easy to see what is open and what is completed.
It easy to get data out of the system.

Cons

It is difficult to get reports that tie sales order (materials) with projects (labor and T&E). This has to be done in Excel.
Approvals involve multiple steps.
Hard to enter expense reports and review expense reports.
Microsoft Silverlight is slow as opposed to Adobe Flash

Return on Investment

We were able to implement the project under our $100k budget.
The sales team moved back to Salesforce, which caused the company to use a separate person to enter the quotes in SAP as well as Salesforce.
We have improved tracking of support costs as well as whether a customer has an active support contract or not.
We have improved our inventory control for tracking changes to BOM costs or BOM items.
We have better control of ensuring that only products that are on the sales order and that tie to the customer purchase order are released to the customer. Extras are controlled.