Multiple Branches or Different Companies In SAP B1
With SAP Business One 9.1, SAP introduced Multiple Branches functionality https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmM6ey2ShB4 which is great feature. Here i will try to explain which one to choose from Multiple Branches feature or separate companies in SAP.
If your company have multiple business units which are legally registered as separate companies and these legal entities should have separate financial reports then you can use different databases for each company i.e separate company for each branch/business unit. To get consolidated reports you can use the intercompany integration solution add-on by SAP. See also latest news on this, such as Intercompany Integration Solution vs. Multiple Branches: How to Decide or SAP’s add-on for Intercompany becomes compatible with Multiple Branches function
You can also develop consolidated Crystal reports also, see How to Work with SAP Crystal Reports in SAP Business One or you can extract reports from individual companies and consolidate them in MS Excel.
But in some countries branches or different business units are not required to be registered as separate entities or in some large organisation with multiple business units management wants separate financials for each unit, in such cases you can use Multiple Branches Feature in SAP B1.
Here i will discuss about Branches as Separate Companies (Separate Databases) and second option if some company wants to migrate its one company from one database to as a Branch in other database of SAP Business One or want to use branches feature
1- If separate entity/business unit is required by law to be separate company or management wants separate entities then you can configure separate database for such companies
Benefits
- One Company’s user cant login to other hence data protection will be valid
- Proper Sales and purchase transactions from one company to other company
- Separate and summarized chart of account for each branch/business unit
- In case of different databases separate master data and chart of accounts for each branch
Challenges
- For consolidated financials particularly for balance sheet and profit and loss, you need to use intercompany add-on to consolidate https://help.sap.com/http.svc/rc/273d119036004855b30640ca2df1e252/2.0/en-US/Intercompany_and_Multiplebranch_Customer.pdf or customize reports or extract data in excel and combine
- User have to sign out from one database and login to other database for transactions which will consume his time
- Company can not transfer stock it will be sale and purchase between different databases with less information of tracking (if they use Goods Issue and Goods Receipt Option)
- Management of different databases will be tough for example if there is a minor change in company’s print format system administrator have to do the same change in all companies which requires a lot of labor work
- If test companies required by users System admin have to restore Separate test company for each data base which will require labor work and additional storage on server also
- Different master data for same items and business partners in different databases
2 – They can close separate companies , initialize branches feature in main company and post opening balances of G/L and migrate open documents for reporting and controlling purpose from individual companies to branches in main company.
Benefits
- Consolidated system reports for financials and inventory also
- No Additional database will be requires
- Centralize Master Data and Chart Of Accounts for all branches
- If there is any change for example in print format no need to change in multiple databases
- Optimized user performance as they will not be required to logout form one database and login to other
- Direct copy sales documents to purchase documents (Delivery to Goods Receipt PO or A/P Invoice and A/R Invoice to Goods Receipt PO or A/P Invoice) for inter branch transactions which will make easy Inter branches sales or purchase transactions.
- No additional labor work requires for existing master data whenever there is new branch as system can assign new branch to existing master data automatically.
- New branch configuration process will be easy in future no need for external SAP B1 Consultant to Configure a separate company for branch
Challenges
- Database size can be increased after some years which could leads to slow performance in case on SAP B1 on SQL Server
- At first time lot of Labor work required to configure as it involves transaction’s data migration from multiple databases to one database
- Chart of Account Will be lengthy if company has policy for one GL for one branch as all GLs will be repeated one by one for each branch
Hi Abdul,
Thanks for writing such an informative blog. It is very useful. I have gone through the blog and would like to add my comments for the benefit of entire community.
Added some more Benefits if a separate database is created.
For consolidated financials particularly for balance sheet and profit and loss, you need to use intercompany add-on to consolidate https://help.sap.com/http.svc/rc/273d119036004855b30640ca2df1e252/2.0/en-US/Intercompany_and_Multiplebranch_Customer.pdf or customize reports or extract data in excel and combine
The details on Intercompany financial consolidation process are available on this URL - https://blogs.sap.com/2017/01/17/intercompany-integration-solution-for-sap-business-one-financial-consolidation/
Company can not transfer stock it will be sale and purchase between different databases with less information of tracking (if they use Goods Issue and Goods Receipt Option)
You can use intercompany solution for sale and purchase between the companies, the details on intercompany sale and purchase are available on this URL - https://blogs.sap.com/2017/03/22/intercompany-integration-solution-for-sap-business-one-intercompany-trade-between-partner-companies/
Different master data for same items and business partners in different databases.
This can be eased by using intercompany solution, user needs to create business partner/item master in one company and the same will be replicated in other companies. Master data replication details are available on this blog: https://blogs.sap.com/2017/03/17/intercompany-integration-solution-for-sap-business-one-master-data-replication-and-content-sharing-across-partner-companies/
No additional labor work requires for existing master data whenever there is new branch as system can assign new branch to existing master data automatically.
Only default (first) branch is assigned automatically to existing data, afterward whenever you create a new branch you have to assign branches to Users, Warehouses, Employees, G/L accounts, Numbering series
Thanks,
Pankaj Sharma
Hi Pankaj Sharma,
Thanks for you comments regarding your last point Only default (first) branch is assigned automatically to existing data, afterward whenever you create a new branch you have to assign branches to Users, Warehouses, Employees, G/L accounts, Numbering series
There is an option in general settings when you add new branch it will be automatically assigned to existing master data.
Regarding stock transfer between companies inter company is using sales and purchase option with the creation of branches as customers and vendors here i am talking about goods issue and goods receipt. Further for sale and purchase between different branches or companies we can use sale and purchase documents even without inter company we just need to create branch as customer and vendor. If we are using branches feature then using sales and purchase documents is quite easy because by default system has option to duplicate sales documents to purchase documents
Regarding different posting periods, tax structure and different system and transaction currency for each branch means its legally required for each branch to be separate company and follow accounting practices accordingly.
Hi Abdul,
Thanks for your comment.
Only default (first) branch is assigned automatically to existing data, afterward whenever you create a new branch you have to assign branches to Users, Warehouses, Employees, G/L accounts, Numbering series
For your comments "There is an option in general settings when you add new branch it will be automatically assigned to existing master data"
Could you please share the path where such setting is available (Automatically assigned new branch to existing master data - Users, Warehouses, Employees, G/L accounts, Numbering series).
I only know about one setting under General Settings ->BP Tab "Auto. Assign New Branches to Existing Business Partner".
For your comments on this "If we are using branches feature then using sales and purchase documents is quite easy because by default system has option to duplicate sales order to purchase order"
You can only duplicate the following documents, Sales Order to Purchase Order cannot be duplicated.
A delivery to a goods receipt PO
A delivery to an A/P invoice
An A/R invoice to a goods receipt PO
An A/R invoice to an A/P invoice
Thanks,
Pankaj Sharma
Hi Pankaj Sharma,
Regarding Branches to numbering series one series can be used for one branch or for all branch so there is no point to auto add new branch in series of other branches and regarding warehouse if one warehouse has stock of one branch it can not be assigned to other branch as you in multiple branches stock is managed by warehouse.
Regarding duplicate option you are right we can copy deliveries to Receipts and A/P invoice to A/R Invoice how ever if user want to copy Sales Order to purchase order we can do by deploying FMS on Item Code and Quantity field based on Sales order number in a UDF on Purchase order this customization is quite easy because data base is same and we can use link objects option in UDF to add golden arrow for ease of user to go to sales order from purchase order.
Hi Abdul Mannan and Pankaj Sharma ,
Thank you for your input on this subject. I would like to ask if you know about the legal aspect of multiple Branches. If the Companies are separate legal Entities, can I still run them in the same Database as Branches? The localization, CoA and Tax Code structure is the same.
Thanks, David
Hi David,
Yes you can use one database for different branches (which are legal entities) but please make sure to check the local accounting practices and regulation because in some countries its not allowed to have one database for different legal entities. Some of my customers are using one database for multiple legal entities in the form of branches even they have title accounts same for all branches but active accounts in CoA are different for each branch.
You need to consider another point in case of branches user of branch A can view the transactions especially production orders of branch B. However marketing documents can be restricted by data ownership.
Regards,
Abdul