If you’ve been keeping up with us in the last month or so, you’ll have noticed that we have been offering a free SAP Business One Cloud trial (version for SAP HANA) for each of our readers. The trials were to be offered for a limited time until 15 November 2016, extended to 30 November 2016 due to popular demand!
Some trial users have requested some guidance to get started, so we will walk you through the essential steps below. If you prefer to be guided through the steps in a video, scroll down to the end of the post!
Here’s what happens when you sign up for a free SAP Business One Cloud trial with us.
Signing Up
1. Sign up for a free trial
If you haven’t signed up for a free trial yet, head over here to get started! In order to qualify for a free trial, you must be the owner or employee of a Singapore-based SME. For more information on eligibility, kindly refer to the sign up page.
All you need to do is fill in a simple form which will take no more than 5 minutes – no credit card details required.
2. Acknowledgement email
Once your submission has been received and is under review, you will receive an acknowledgement email. You may not receive this email if you do not fulfil the criteria outlined in the trial signup page.
3. Your trial is accepted/rejected
We will review your submission and send you an email with your trial credentials if your trial request has been aproved. Due to a high volume of demand, your trial request may be rejected, and you will receive a notification email with alternative suggestions. You may not receive a notice of rejection if you do not fulfil the criteria outlined in the trial signup page.
Logging In
In your trial approval email, you will receive your trial username and password, along with a link to log in to your SAP Business One Cloud trial. Simply open the link provided in Mozilla Firefox, enter your username (User ID) and password, and click the “Log On” button.
Your dashboard will load, and the window below will appear:
For your convenience, we have created some dummy data within your trial. You can use this data to test out functions, if you prefer not to upload your own data or do not have the time to do so.
The Main Screen
The main screen has 4 main components:
- The menu and icon bars on top
- The modules menu on the left
- The main working area in the centre which displays your KPI dashboard
- The message bar on the bottom
You will use the menu bar as well as the icon bar during data entry, but you will use it mainly to navigate through your records and activate different functions.
Your SAP Business One Cloud Modules
- Administration: Set up your system, import and export data, and define workflows and alerts. Many settings might only make sense in a productive copy of SAP Business One.
- Financials: Set up and maintain your Chart of Accounts, perform manual postings, and modify your accounting and reporting settings.
- Opportunities: Identify, classify, and maintain sales opportunities and eventually convert them into customers.
- Sales – Accounts Receivable and Purchasing – Accounts Payable: Generate quotations, sales and purchase orders, goods received and goods issued, invoices, and credit memos.
- Business Partners: Maintain your customer and vendor records.
- Banking: Organize incoming and outgoing payments.
- Inventory: Manage your stock items, price lists, and your warehouse.
- Service: Manage services offered to your customers.
- Human Resources: Manage your employees here.
- Reports: As SAP Business One integrates your business processes in a single system, you are able to generate reports utilizing data from different departments. You can find these items here.
Your KPI dashboard
Your KPI dashboard is located in the centre of your screen, and is customizable to suit your personal preferences. Easily add, rearrange, or hide widgets. With the dashboard, SAP Business One lets you keep an eye on your most critical business figures.
Editing existing widgets
Click the pencil icon on the top right of your dashboard. You will now see that your dashboard widgets have become transparent, and may have plus and minus signs on them like so:
Use these plus and minus signs to expand or reduce the size of your selected widget.
Hovering over a widget will cause it to become opaque. A small blue triangle to appear at the bottom right corner of the widget.
Drag this triangle to move your widget, or drag it all the way to the bottom right corner of your main window until a red semicircle with a white recycle bin icon appears to dispose of it.
Once you have finished making edits, click the tick symbol to the top right, or proceed to add new widgets.
Adding a new widget
Click the pencil icon on the top right of your dashboard to enter editing mode. If you are already editing your widgets, skip this step.
Click on the plus sign to the top right of your dashboard. Your widget gallery will appear.
You may browse your widgets by selecting one of the following categories from the dropdown menu on the left:
- All
- Dashboard
- Key Performance Indicator
- Business Object Count
- Workbench
- Browser
- Others
Alternatively, you can enter your search terms in the search bar on the right.
Once you find the widget of your choice, click the plus sign below it. A tick symbol will appear and turn green to signal that you have successful added the widget.
When you are done, click the back arrow button on the top left of your widget gallery to return to the editing screen and resize or reposition your widgets. When you are satisfied, click the tick symbol on the top right of your editing screen to confirm your changes.
Adding a Business Partner
Click on the Business Partners module, followed by Business Partner Master Data. The Business Partner Master Data window will pop up (refer to the screenshot above).
You are now in “Find” mode, and you need to move into “Add” mode.
Hover over the top of your Business Partner Master Data window until your cursor becomes a “move” symbol 
, and drag your window slightly to the right until the “add” symbol appears behind the window on your icons bar. Click the “add” symbol 
to toggle to “Add” mode.
Enter a Business Partner code as desired, and select whether the partner is a Customer, Vendor, or Lead in the dropdown menu on the right. Fill in all relevant fields with any information you may have, such as their name, company, and contact details. You may even add remarks and any attachments associated with the Business Partner.
Once you are done, simply click the Add button 
below to finish adding your new Business Partner.
Creating an Invoice
One the great benefits of SAP Business One is its ability to reduce the time and effort required to handle data in your business on a daily basis. No double entry of data is necessary, since the bulk of data can be pulled from information entered in before.
Let’s create an invoice by using the delivery document. Click on the Sales – A/R module, followed by Sales Order. If the Exchange Rates and Indexes window pops up, click Set Rate for Selection Criteria and enter your desired exchange rates in the pop up window. (To make any amendments, go to Administration, followed by Exchange Rate and Indexes).
Enter the date range you want to set rates for, and values for each currency (converted to Singapore Dollars). Click Ok on the pop up, followed by Update and then Ok on the Exchange Rates and Indexes window. For demonstration purposes, I have used current rates for the month of November.
After you have done this, click on the Sales – A/R module, followed by Sales Order.
The Sales Order window will appear with blank fields. For your convenience, the trial includes some preloaded data. Instead of creating a new Sales Order, you can simply click the back arrow icon 
on the icons bar to find a previously created Sales Order.
To quickly create an A/R Invoice based on this data, click the Copy To button 
and select A/R Invoice from the dropdown menu. You can also follow the same steps to generate a Delivery document or a Reserve Invoice.
The A/R Invoice window will appear, with all your data copied over. Simply click the Add button and click Yes on the pop up window to create your invoice.
Creating a Report
Head to Reports, Financials, Aging, Customer Receivables Aging. Your Selection Criteria window will pop up. Either enter the Customer or Employee codes you desire data for, or click the round button in the code field to bring up a list to choose from.
After editing the other configurations e.g. Aging Date and Posting Date, click the OK button to generate your report.
Your Customer Receivables Aging report will appear. To print, click the Preview and Print icon on the icon bar.
The Print Options window will appear, with four options to choose from: Receivables Aging Summary Report, Detailed Receivables Aging Report, Customer Statement Report, or Customer Statement Report (One Page per Customer). Select the option of your choice and click ok to generate the PDF report for printing or saving.
Your PDF document will appear. You may choose to save 
or print 
this document with the icons on the top right.
We hope this guide has been useful for you! Feel free to contact us or leave a comment if you have any questions or suggestions to add, and don’t forget to make full use of your trial before it expires!
Here’s the video guide if you prefer: