SAP Business ByDesign Inventory Management
SAP Business ByDesign confirms 8 of the 15 inventory management capabilities we track, with a further 2 partially covered. Its deepest coverage is in Stock Management; it is thinnest on Planning.
SAP Business ByDesign provides solid inventory management functionality covering most mid-market requirements. It is not a core differentiator, but it handles standard workflows effectively.
- 8of 15
- Capabilities confirmed
- 102
- Documented features
- Stock Management
- Strongest area
- Planning
- Thinnest area
SAP Business ByDesign inventory management capability coverage
How SAP Business ByDesign scores against the 15 inventory management capabilities we track across every ERP in our catalogue.
- Stock Management4 of 8
- Planning4 of 7
“Not documented” means our research has not confirmed the capability either way — it is not a finding that SAP Business ByDesign lacks it. Coverage is scored against one shared capability list, so it is comparable between products.
What's in SAP Business ByDesign inventory management
The inventory management scope SAP Business ByDesign ships, grouped as the product itself organises it.
Financial and Management Accounting42
Ties purchasing, manufacturing, and sales activity into one general ledger and its subledgers, giving finance teams a consistent set of data to report on and make decisions from.
- Inventory ValuationValues material, work-in-process, and production lot inventory using standard, moving average, or actual costing methods, and clears the accounts generated by goods receipts, invoices, and landed costs.
- Actual CostingCalculates inventory cost based on the actual costs incurred rather than a standard or planned cost.
- Actual Cost RollupRolls actual costs up through a material's bill of structure to determine its total actual cost.
- Actual Cost Allocation RunsExecutes the run that allocates actual costs collected during the period across inventory.
- Production Variance AnalysisAnalyzes the variance between a production lot's planned and actual cost.
- Inventory ValuationValues material, work-in-process, and production lot inventory using standard, moving average, or actual costing methods, and clears the accounts generated by goods receipts, invoices, and landed costs.
- Actual CostingCalculates inventory cost based on the actual costs incurred rather than a standard or planned cost.
- Actual Cost RollupRolls actual costs up through a material's bill of structure to determine its total actual cost.
- Actual Cost Allocation RunsExecutes the run that allocates actual costs collected during the period across inventory.
- Production Variance AnalysisAnalyzes the variance between a production lot's planned and actual cost.
- Inventory Cost HistoryShows how a material's inventory cost has changed over time.
- Negative InventoriesAllows and tracks inventory quantities that go negative during processing.
- ValuationDetermines the monetary value assigned to an inventory quantity for balance sheet reporting.
- Valuation LevelsDefines the level, such as material or business residence, at which inventory is valued.
- Posting Inventory Valuation and Valuation DifferencePosts an inventory's valuation and any resulting valuation difference to accounting.
- Cost Types for Inventory ValuationDefines the different cost types, such as inventory cost or planned cost, used to value a material for different purposes.
- Valuation of Business TransactionsDetermines the accounting value assigned to a business transaction that affects inventory.
- Valuation of Material InventoriesDetermines the value of material inventory to meet IFRS, US GAAP, and local statutory requirements.
- Perpetual Cost MethodsContinuously updates a material's inventory cost as transactions occur, using standard or moving average costing.
- Standard Cost MethodValues inventory at a predetermined standard cost, with variances tracked separately.
- Moving Average Cost MethodRecalculates a material's average cost each time new inventory is received.
- Price Differences, Exchange Rate Differences, and Cash DiscountsAccounts for price, exchange rate, and cash discount differences that arise between a goods receipt and its invoice.
- Postings of Purchase Accounts for Procured StockPosts purchase account entries generated by procured stock.
- Moving Average CalculationCalculates the moving average cost each time inventory quantity or value changes.
- MaterialsHolds a material's accounting attributes, including its account determination group, costing method, and inventory cost, and lets users revise unit costs and review historical cost trends.
- MaterialsRepresents a material's accounting-relevant attributes, including its costing method and current inventory cost.
- Material Unit CostsTracks the per-unit cost of a material used to value its inventory.
- Production LotsTracks the cost and valuation of a batch of manufactured goods.
- Material Cost EstimatesCreates cost estimates for manufactured materials, compares them against current inventory cost, and writes the calculated figure back to material master data.
- Material Cost EstimatesRepresents a calculated cost estimate for a manufactured material.
- Material Cost Estimate RunsExecutes a batch run that generates material cost estimates using defined selection criteria.
- Material Cost Estimate RollupRolls a material cost estimate up through its bill of structure to determine total cost.
- Material Cost Estimate ReleaseReleases a material cost estimate so it updates the material master as the new standard or planned cost.
- Update Inventory CostsUpdates a material's inventory cost based on the results of a cost estimate or valuation run.
- Material Cost AccumulationAccumulates the costs used as the basis for a FIFO or other cost determination run.
- FIFO Cost DeterminationCalculates a FIFO cost for selected materials from accumulated cost data and lets users apply it to revalue their current inventory.
- FIFO ThresholdSets the threshold used to trigger FIFO-based inventory revaluation.
- Inventory Valuation Based On FIFOValues inventory using the first-in, first-out costing method.
- Actual Cost RollupRolls actual costs up through a material's bill of structure to determine its total actual cost.
- Actual Cost AllocationAllocates actual costs collected during the period to the materials or cost objects that incurred them.
- Actual Cost ReleaseReleases calculated actual costs so they update the material master as the new actual cost.
- Customer ConsignmentManages consignment stock that a company places with a customer while retaining ownership until it is consumed, covering fill-up, issue and invoicing, returns, and stock adjustments.
- Customer Consignment in DetailWalks through the consignment process from fill-up to invoicing, return, and stock adjustment.
- Consignment Fill-up ProcessDelivers consignment stock to a customer's location while retaining ownership of the goods.
- Consignment Issue and Invoicing ProcessIssues consignment stock for customer use and invoices the customer for what was consumed.
- Consignment Return ProcessReturns unused consignment stock from the customer back to the consignor.
- Consignment Stock AdjustmentsAdjusts recorded consignment stock quantities to match what is physically held at the customer site.
Will SAP Business ByDesign meet your financial and management accounting needs? Build your requirements and perform a full analysis.
Build my requirements →Sales4
Gives sales teams a single view of deals, quotes, orders, and invoices, tying in product availability and pricing so reps can forecast accurately and spot cross-sell and up-sell openings. Fact sheets pull data from marketing, sales, and finance for a rounded picture of each customer.
- Customer ConsignmentLets a company place stock at a customer's location while retaining ownership until it is used or sold, then invoices only for what the customer actually consumes. It supports batch-managed, serialized, and specification-controlled products, though not kit items.
- Customer Consignment in DetailExplains how consignment stock is owned, tracked, and eventually invoiced.
- Consignment Fill-up ProcessDelivers stock to a customer's site to replenish their consignment inventory.
- Consignment Issue and Invoicing ProcessRecords a customer's consumption of consignment stock and generates the resulting invoice.
Will SAP Business ByDesign meet your sales needs? Build your requirements and perform a full analysis.
Build my requirements →Supply Chain Planning and Control37
Manages demand and supply planning, exception-driven procurement and production planning, resource load, and delivery date confirmation across the supply chain. Blends automated forecasting with hands-on adjustments so both internal and external supply stay flexible.
- Demand PlanningForecasts future customer demand to guide production and procurement decisions.
- ForecastingGenerates statistical forecasts of future product demand from historical sales data.
- Supply PlanningBalances supply against forecasted and actual demand to determine what to produce or purchase.
- Availability ChecksChecks whether enough stock or capacity exists to confirm a requested delivery date.
- Capacity PlanningPlans resource capacity against planned production loads to avoid overloading equipment or labor.
- Demand PlanningForecasts future customer demand to guide production and procurement decisions.
- ForecastingGenerates statistical forecasts of future product demand from historical sales data.
- Supply PlanningBalances supply against forecasted and actual demand to determine what to produce or purchase.
- Availability ChecksChecks whether enough stock or capacity exists to confirm a requested delivery date.
- Capacity PlanningPlans resource capacity against planned production loads to avoid overloading equipment or labor.
- Stock OverviewDisplays current stock levels for a product across sites and storage locations.
- Consignment Stock OverviewShows the quantity of consignment stock held at a customer or supplier site.
- Consignment Serial Stock OverviewDisplays serial-numbered consignment stock held at a customer or supplier location.
- Trigger Production and PurchasingConverts confirmed planning proposals into production orders or purchase orders.
- Demand PlanningRuns the demand planning process end to end, from creating forecasts and demand plans to consuming forecasts against actual sales orders.
- Demand Planning ProcessWalks through the steps of building, reviewing, and releasing a demand plan.
- Demand Management and Forecast ConsumptionReduces the open forecast automatically as actual sales orders consume it.
- UoM-Based Rounding of Final Forecast FiguresRounds final forecast quantities to whole units based on the product's unit of measure.
- Demand PlansCreates and maintains demand plans that feed into supply and production planning.
- Automated ActionsSchedules background jobs that automate recurring demand planning tasks.
- Supply PlanningRuns material and capacity planning to match supply with demand, surfacing exceptions, product-level planning status, and resource load so planners can resolve shortages and overloads.
- Material PlanningCalculates net requirements and proposes purchase or production quantities for each material.
- Source Determination in PlanningSelects the appropriate supplier or production source for a planned requirement.
- Assign Source of SupplyAssigns a specific supplier or production source to a planning proposal.
- Assigning a Source of SupplyWalks through the process of linking a source of supply to a planned order.
- ProductsGives planners a single view of every product's current planning status, including demand, supply, safety stock, and days of supply, so imbalances can be spotted and addressed quickly.
- Material Planning SettingsConfigures the planning parameters, such as lot sizing and safety stock, used for a product.
- Material Planning RunRuns a scheduled material planning job that recalculates supply proposals for products.
- Automated ActionsSchedules background jobs that automate recurring supply planning tasks.
- Supply ControlConverts approved planning proposals into production, purchasing, and stock transfer actions, and lets planners monitor requests and orders through to execution.
- Handover to ProductionPasses a confirmed production proposal from planning to the production execution team.
- Handover to PurchasingPasses a confirmed purchase proposal from planning to the purchasing team.
- Planning Stock TransfersPlans the movement of stock between company sites to meet demand.
- Third-Party Order ProcessingManages orders fulfilled by a supplier shipping directly to the customer instead of through internal stock.
- Process Production ProposalsReviews and converts planning-generated production proposals into released production orders.
- Monitor Production RequestsTracks open production requests and their status through to fulfillment.
- Process Purchase ProposalsReviews and converts planning-generated purchase proposals into purchase orders.
- Monitor Purchase RequestsTracks open purchase requests and their status through to order creation.
- Monitor Purchase OrdersTracks the status of purchase orders from creation through supplier delivery.
- Process Stock Transfer ProposalsReviews and converts planning-generated stock transfer proposals into stock transfer orders.
- Automated ActionsSchedules background jobs that automate recurring supply control tasks.
Will SAP Business ByDesign meet your supply chain planning and control needs? Build your requirements and perform a full analysis.
Build my requirements →Manufacturing, Warehousing, and Logistics6
Configures and executes day-to-day warehouse and manufacturing operations, including physical inventory, stock transfers, supplier deliveries, customer and supplier returns, and quality checks embedded in production. Aimed at companies running manufacturing or warehousing operations that need inbound, outbound, and internal logistics automated end to end.
- Customer ConsignmentManages consignment stock that a company places at a customer's site while retaining ownership until the customer consumes or resells it, covering fill-up, issue and invoicing, returns, and stock adjustments.
- Customer Consignment in DetailExplains how consignment stock ownership, usage, and invoicing work in detail.
- Consignment Fill-up ProcessShips stock to a customer site under consignment terms without transferring ownership.
- Consignment Issue and Invoicing ProcessInvoices a customer once they consume or resell consignment stock held at their site.
- Consignment Return ProcessReturns unused consignment stock from a customer site back to the company.
- Customer ConsignmentManages consignment stock that a company places at a customer's site while retaining ownership until the customer consumes or resells it, covering fill-up, issue and invoicing, returns, and stock adjustments.
- Customer Consignment in DetailExplains how consignment stock ownership, usage, and invoicing work in detail.
- Consignment Fill-up ProcessShips stock to a customer site under consignment terms without transferring ownership.
- Consignment Issue and Invoicing ProcessInvoices a customer once they consume or resell consignment stock held at their site.
- Consignment Return ProcessReturns unused consignment stock from a customer site back to the company.
- Consignment Stock AdjustmentsCorrects consignment stock quantities held at a customer site to match actual counts.
Will SAP Business ByDesign meet your manufacturing, warehousing, and logistics needs? Build your requirements and perform a full analysis.
Build my requirements →Product Data5
Covers the master data for materials, services, kits, product categories, and entitlements a company sells or buys.
- MaterialsServes as the central place to create and maintain materials, covering purchasing, logistics, supply planning, availability, sales, and valuation details for each one. Material templates let a company set up new materials quickly using predefined settings for a product category.
- Assigning Statuses to a MaterialSets purchasing, sales, and valuation statuses that determine whether a material is ready for use.
- Changing Identified Stock TypesChanges how a batch or serialized stock item is tracked and identified in inventory.
- Availability ChecksChecks stock availability for a material against confirmed and planned demand.
- Batch Specific Quantity ConversionApplies a batch-specific conversion factor between units of measure for a material.
Will SAP Business ByDesign meet your product data needs? Build your requirements and perform a full analysis.
Build my requirements →Other capabilities8
Will SAP Business ByDesign meet your other capabilities needs? Build your requirements and perform a full analysis.
Build my requirements →The SAP Business ByDesign Evaluation Kit
An independent assessment of SAP Business ByDesign — strengths, gaps and real pricing — plus a requirements template you can score its inventory management against alongside every other system on your shortlist.
SAP Business ByDesign Evaluation Kit
2026 Edition · PDF guide + XLSX template
ERP Research
- Buyer's guide (PDF): SAP Business ByDesign independently assessed — where it is strong, where it is not, and what it actually costs
- Requirements template (XLSX): weight your requirements and score vendors side by side
- Built to work with the 15 inventory management capabilities scored on this page
- The questions to put to the vendor and to implementation partners
SAP Business ByDesign Evaluation Kit
SAP Business ByDesign add-ons & integrations
Extend SAP Business ByDesign with best-of-breed software that integrates with it:
SAP Business ByDesign inventory management vs the alternatives
Inventory Management coverage across the systems most often shortlisted alongside it, scored against the same capability list.
| Area |  |  | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stock Management | 4+2/8 | 3+3/8 | 3+1/8 |
| Planning | 4/7 | 1/7 | 1+2/7 |
Each cell reads confirmed+partial/scored. Grey reflects capabilities our research has not confirmed either way — it is not a finding that a product lacks them.
Inventory Management — strength by vendor
| Vendor | Strength | Best for | Starting price | Implementation | Actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ★★★ strong | Large, complex enterprises needing deep customisation and controlled upgrades | Custom | 6–18 months | |
| ★★★ strong | Small to midsize businesses wanting SAP reliability | $95/user/mo | 3–6 months | |
| ★★★ strong | Fast-growing mid-market companies wanting unified cloud ERP | $99/user/mo | 4–9 months | |
 | ★★★ strong | Large enterprises moving from on-premise Oracle to cloud | Custom | 9–18 months | |
 | ★★★ strong | Mid-to-large companies in the Microsoft ecosystem | $50/user/mo | 6–14 months | |
 | ★★★ strong | Midsize companies wanting unlimited users and flexible cloud ERP | Custom | 4–8 months | |
 | ★★★ strong | Discrete and mixed-mode manufacturers | $100/user/mo | 5–10 months | |
 | ★★★ strong | Midsize process manufacturers and distributors | $100/user/mo | 4–9 months |
Evaluating inventory management on SAP Business ByDesign
What to put in front of the vendor before you commit.
- 1Multi-location and multi-warehouse support
- 2Lot/serial number traceability depth
- 3Integration with barcode scanners and RFID
- 4Inventory valuation methods supported
- 5Real-time stock visibility across channels
SAP Business ByDesign starts at $120/user/mo with a typical total cost of $100K–$400K and a 4–8 months implementation.
Full SAP Business ByDesign pricing breakdown →SAP Business ByDesign implementation partners
Firms with proven SAP Business ByDesign delivery experience — start here rather than an open RFP.
Birchman
PlatinumBracknell, United Kingdom
Birchman is a UK founded business transformation and IT consultancy specialising in SAP and ERP solutions. We're a Global SAP Platinum Partner and the primary UK member of United VARs, the world's largest alliance of SAP solution providers, giving us access to local expertise and delivery capability in 80+ countries. We help organisations plan, migrate to and thrive on SAP Cloud ERP (S/4HANA), whether that's moving off legacy ECC6, running a phased cloud migration or optimising an existing SAP landscape. Our services cover the full transformation lifecycle: strategy and target operating model design, ERP implementation, data analytics, cloud infrastructure, application development, and IT governance. We back this with industry specific accelerator packages for Mining, CPG, and Professional Services, drawing on 20+ years of sector experience. Over that time, we've built a reputation not just for delivering transformation projects but for steadying them. Brought in when a project needs a safe pair of hands to see it through to a successful outcome. It's why so many customers trust us with their most critical digital transformation and SAP work. We measure our success by our customers', helping them get the most out of their SAP investment, not just at go-live but for years afterwards. Our Application Management Services and ongoing consultancy keep that relationship going, with continuous improvement built in as standard. We're big enough to lead complex, global transformation projects and boutique enough to still care about every client we work with.
Products: SAP Cloud ERP (S/4HANA) Public & Private, Business Technology Platform, Implementation
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delaware
PlatinumLondon, United Kingdom
SAP Platinum Partner and global Platinum Reseller — one of just eleven worldwide — and one of twelve RISE with SAP Validated Partners. Winner of the 2024 SAP Pinnacle Award for SAP BTP customer value and the SAP Partner Award 2026 for Partner Industry Innovation. 5,000+ professionals across 38 offices in 20+ countries support the full SAP lifecycle, from S/4HANA and RISE with SAP implementations to application managed services for 250+ AMS clients globally. The UK practice, established in Bristol in 2017, spans 200+ consultants across SAP and Microsoft technologies.
Products: SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud, SAP S/4HANA Private Cloud, SAP S/4HANA On-Premise
View profile →Softengine
PlatinumVan Nuys, United States
SAP Business One specialist with vertical market expertise in retail and wholesale distribution.
Products: SAP Business One
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TEKROI PRIVATE LIMITED
PlatinumHyderabad, India
TEKROI Private Limited is a Hyderabad-based SAP Business One partner operating under SAP PartnerEdge (Sell & Service). Founded in 2020 by Venkata Siva Reddy Polu and Anitha Vennapusa, the firm rests on a founding team whose first SAP Business One go-lives date back to 2005 — more than 20 years of practice and over 350 implementations delivered across roughly 30 countries, spanning India, Nepal, East and Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Africa, the UK and Europe, and the Americas. A team of 60+ consultants, developers and support engineers works from the company's Innovation Hub in Bowenpally, Hyderabad, with a second office in Kathmandu, Nepal. Services cover new SAP Business One implementations on both SQL Server and HANA, SQL-to-HANA migration, cloud subscriptions, post go-live support and AMC, analytics, and IoT integration. Delivery is organised into 32 industry-specific solutions — 25 of them manufacturing verticals — including pharmaceutical API and formulation, chemicals and blending, food and confectionery, cement, steel and natural stone, cables and LED, automotive and two-wheeler CKD assembly, aerospace and defence components, medical devices, pre-engineered buildings, construction and EPC projects, trading and distribution, retail, healthcare services, agri warehousing and logistics, and technology services. TEKROI also develops TEKAI, an AI layer that connects assistants such as Claude, ChatGPT and Perplexity to live SAP Business One data. SAP featured TEKAI in its global AI Partner Innovations playbook as one of only four Generative AI solutions for SAP Business One worldwide, and the only one from an Asia-based partner. The company name captures its approach: TEK for technology, ROI for return on investment.
Products: SAP Business One, SAP Business One AI MCP Connector, SAP Business One on HANA
View profile →SAP Business ByDesign Inventory Management FAQ
Does ByDesign track inventory value, or just quantities?
Both — inventory valuation runs alongside actual costing and FIFO cost determination, so stock quantities are always tied to a financial value that posts to the general ledger. This is standard for ByDesign since inventory and finance share the same data model rather than syncing between systems.
Can ByDesign handle physical inventory counts and cycle counting?
Yes — physical inventory management supports count tasks and reconciliation against book stock, with task control to assign and track who's counting what. It's a standard capability rather than a specialized cycle-counting add-on.
Does inventory support consignment stock from customers or vendors?
Yes, both directions are covered: customer consignment tracks stock held at a customer's site until they consume it, and vendor consignment tracks supplier-owned stock held at your own site. Both keep ownership and valuation separate from your own on-hand inventory.
How does demand and supply planning work with inventory?
Supply planning and supply control run against demand planning data to recommend replenishment, feeding into production or purchasing as needed. Inventory is rated moderate overall — planning logic is capable for a midsize operation but less configurable than a dedicated MRP/DRP engine.
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