SAP B1 is dedicated to small and medium-sized companies. This ERP and MRP enriched accounting application becomes more and more popular, especially since the release of SB1 version 2007A. The intuitive and very simple interface of SAP BO often comes with the fact that the certified SAP Business One consultant does not have a strong technical background in data conversion, customization, SDK programming, and also performing SQL queries ad- hoc. We should mention here that you can always go and implement the SAP Business One SDK programming in the integration build, however we will focus on “low profile” here. Let’s start:

1. SB1 Data Transfer Workbench: CSV file and Excel templates. Throughout our practice, a large number of Sap Business One functional consultants recommend simply following the Excel template files, filling them out and saving them in CSV format as the preferred way to integrate. In addition, they also recommend it for a one-time integration on initial data conversion and migration only. If you don’t need additional discovery and are looking for a second opinion in the SAP Business One partner community, this advice is good and very reliable. However, what if you need continuous and even scheduled integration?

2. Simple ODBC queries. Let’s step aside and try ODBC on Source Data Type. If you are an IT professional, SQL DBA or programmer, you know that the ODBC connection opens up a whole new world of nice tools like MS SQL Server Linked Server, SQL View to break the restrictions of text files.

3. Scenario of SQL views. Now imagine, instead of relying on hand-created CSV files, you create an SQL view, which will be the basis for the integration. If you need to integrate SB1 with a legacy front-end database (including SQL Linked Server builds for such platforms, such as Oracle, DBII, Ctree, Pervasive SQL), you should look for the required SQL view structure in the SQL templates. Excel for the desired SB1 objects and simply create them at the Microsoft SQL Server level

4. Programming of the continuous integration of Workbench. The Workbench help suggests that you save the integration structure in XML format (you do this in step 5: Run the data import, click the Save button and you can save the integration in the XML schema). Create a -bat file (DOS batch). Then schedule it in Start->All Programs->Accessories->System Tools->Scheduled Tasks. This would be a sample line in the BAT file: C:Program FilesSAPData Transfer WorkbenchDTW -s C:Program FilesSAPData Transfer Workbenchconfig.xml.