SAP AG on Wednesday launched an upgrade of its software for small and medium-sized businesses, saying it has added material-requirements-planning capabilities to the all-in-one product for small manufacturers.
The MRP functionality ties into the Business One upgrade's components for managing sales and customer data, giving manufacturers a better link between inventory and actual demand, the German software maker said.
"The No. 1 thing we hear from our customers is they want a single solution from a single vendor that works on an integrated basis," Dan Kraus, vice president for Business One at SAP, said. "(In Business One), we have the financial, CRM (customer-relationship management) and line of business applications -- all from one vendor."
MRP systems are used to determine what assemblies must be built and what materials must be procured in order to build a unit of equipment by a certain date. It queries the bill of materials and inventory databases to derive the necessary elements.
In Business One, SAP has added business intelligence capabilities to the MRP system, enabling companies to perform "what if" analyses by selecting a combination of planning variables, such as forecasts, open sales or production orders and stock levels.
Discover the benefits of scalable backbone and network services for application and cloud providers.
Network automation is gaining momentum. Here's how you can drive this powerful technology to its full potential.
Subsea cable alternatives can provide a level of comfort for those concerned about disruptions. Realistically, they will continue to play a small, but critical role in the short term.
