SAP Business One’s Integration Hub – Central Blog (updated Dec 21 2020)

SAP is no longer selling or supporting “Intercompany Integration Solution for SAP Business One” – therefore the content in this blog post is outdated.
For more details please refer to this note: https://launchpad.support.sap.com/#/notes/3250656
_____________________________________________

Attention, update note: I no longer maintain this blog as my responsibilities at SAP have changed.
Some information may become outdated or inaccessible.
Please refer to the other documentation, rollout and enablement materials on the topics addressed here. Kind regards, Peter

_____________________________________________

Dear SAP Business One Community,

In this blog, we would like to inform you about a new way of integrating SAP Business One.

The SAP Business One Integration Hub is a tailor-made solution for our SME segment, for an easy integration into systems and solutions that are very relevant in this market.

In a keynote speech with Michael Schmitt and Rainer Zinow, Andreas Wolfinger presented this idea to the huge audience at the recent SME summits in Bangkok and Nice.

Integration is Key

One of the big advantages of SAP Business One is that integration has been an integral part of the product for a long time, no other product has such a flexible and strong asset for integration and extension. With the improvements delivered with integration framework (B1iF) 2.0, there are new and significantly improved, and above all much faster running integration options available. We can proudly say that our comprehensive multi-purpose integration platform is unique, and an enormous technological and business advantage.

A broad range of SAP solutions for legal compliance, reporting, integration of subsidiaries, IoT, and collaboration are based on our integration framework, partners offer vertical or horizontal solutions to cover complex requirements or to realize customer specific solutions.
So far, it has always required technically oriented consultants to develop solutions on this platform or to connect systems template-based. It should be noted here that integration generally requires a lot of knowledge and has high demands on processes/platforms and technical expertise.

However, we have found that many customers and partners expect SAP to provide a standard solution that covers common and basic requirements but is easier to set up.

The Idea

We added a simple, new kind of abstraction level on top of B1iF 2.0. This layer significantly reduces the technical complexity and makes it much easier for partners’ or customers’ consultants to set ready-made SAP integration scenarios live, even without technical knowledge and with just a few clicks.

The hub provides easy-to-set-up and ready-to-use scenarios, all to the benefit of resellers, implementers, and customers. We see significant acceleration in projects and sales, the actual setup doesn’t even take an hour.

The basic principle is very easy and fast to do: To use one of the offered templates you only have to specify connection parameters and confirm the mapping.

Several kinds of scenarios are already available and we plan to gradually deliver many more.
Some scenarios are only available to customers of the intercompany integration solution, others are free of charge. Where meaningful, we also offer a 30 days trial period for individual scenarios.

What’s there Today

The Integration Hub is part of the delivery of our intercompany integration solution since 2019, mainly as most scenarios arise in environments with multiple Business One databases/multiple legal entities.

Today, shipped with Intercompany PL41, these preconfigured templates are available:

(1) Shopify®   – Cloud-based e-Commerce platform

(2) Magento®   – Cloud-based enterprise e-Commerce

(3) UPS®   – Global shipping and logistics provider

(4) DHL®   – Global shipping and logistics provider

(5) Aramex®   – Global shipping and logistics provider

(6) FedEx®   – Global shipping and logistics provider

(7) Expensify®   – Expense management system

(8) Fixer®   – Exchange rates API

(9) Mailchimp®  – Cloud-based marketing and e-mail platform

(10 )SendGrid®   – Cloud-based marketing and e-mail platform

(11) Nexmo®  – SMS service

(12) Salesforce®   – Cloud-based CRM Suite

(13) Microsoft Dynamics 365®   – Sales/CRM software package

(14) WooCommerce®   – Cloud-based e-Commerce platform

(15) RFQ   – Request for Quotation with SAP Business One

(16) SAP S/4HANA – SAP’s ERP for large enterprises

(17) SAP ECC – SAP’s ERP for large enterprises

Find more info in SAP Note 2838864 – The SAP Business One Integration Hub, such as

• The dedicated page for SAP Business One Integration Hub on SAP Help Portal with videos
• An Introduction deck
• A Video – A Quick Look on Integration Hub
• The complete User and Administration Guide
• Download the software: Patches for upgrade or direct installation are in SAP Business One Software Download Center → SAP Business One → SAP Business One Products → B1 Intercompany Integration → B1 Intercompany Integration 2.0.

With this new hub, we focus on the most frequently used scenarios for meaningful expansion while covering the usual requirements and simple functions.

By addressing typical requirements for fast digital integration in companies we support them to become a truly intelligent company. Customers and their users benefit directly from the packaged and fully embedded cloud integrations.

Note – Compatibility with Version 10 of SAP Business One: Please see SAP Note 1844555. 

What to Expect Further

We are planning to extend the solution with further ready-made scenarios for the connection of popular web shops, SAP systems, CRM systems, HR solutions, logistics service providers, mobile solutions in production and logistics, social networks, or similar. Please check the SAP Business One product roadmap.

Please visit SAP’s Customer Influence Platform for improving the Hub, give feedback on additional templates, and find open or accepted Ideas. Check Details in my blog Integration Hub and Customer Influence.

We already received requests if we also want to offer the possibility to deliver or integrate partner content, according to the current state of planning this is not in our scope at first, we will later look at challenges like supportability or monetization in such a model.

We will inform you about news here or reference further sources.

Best regards,
Peter Hartwich, SAP Business One Solution Management