Customer Portal for SAP Business One
Yes — you can add a modern customer portal, staff portal and management dashboard to SAP Business One without replacing it. Sysgraft connects to the SAP Business One API and builds a bespoke interface layer on top, for UK manufacturers and distributors. No ERP replacement, fixed-price build, UK-hosted.
Widely used across UK manufacturing mid-market, often where a global parent has standardised on SAP.
Last updated: 24 June 2026
Where SAP Business One slows your people and customers down
The B1 client is comprehensive but unforgiving for occasional users, and production and despatch teams often work from printouts rather than the system. Customers have no self-service route at all.
Built for the way SAP Business One data is actually used
- A customer portal over Business Partner and sales/invoice data
- A shop-floor / despatch staff portal reading production orders and stock
- An operations dashboard for production throughput and despatch
B1's Service Layer gives clean, modern REST access, so operations portals and customer portals are well supported; the main project step is confirming API licensing terms early.
Connecting to SAP Business One
| API model | Service Layer REST API (OData-based) with comprehensive entity coverage, plus the DI API for deeper integration. API licensing terms are reviewed per project. |
| Authentication | Service Layer session authentication; staff SSO layered via Entra ID at the portal. |
| Key entities | Business Partners, Sales/Purchase Orders, Items, Production Orders, Invoices, Stock |
| Hosting | UK/EU-region cloud infrastructure as standard |
| Validation | Live API audit during the discovery sprint, using your credentials, before any build price |
Part of a systematic 18-platform audit
SAP Business One is one of 18 ERP platforms Sysgraft has audited before ever working with a client — assessing API availability and documentation quality, data entity coverage, authentication model, rate limits and performance, and version stability. That audit is desk research; the discovery sprint is live validation against your specific SAP Business One instance and configuration.
See the full platform audit →SAP Business One interface layer FAQ
Can you add a customer portal and staff portal to SAP Business One without replacing it?
Yes. Sysgraft builds a modern interface layer over SAP Business One via its API, leaving the ERP exactly as it is. Service Layer REST API (OData-based) with comprehensive entity coverage, plus the DI API for deeper integration. API licensing terms are reviewed per project. Service Layer session authentication; staff SSO layered via Entra ID at the portal.
Does SAP Business One have an API we can use?
Yes. Service Layer REST API (OData-based) with comprehensive entity coverage, plus the DI API for deeper integration. API licensing terms are reviewed per project. The discovery sprint includes a live API audit against your instance using your credentials before any build price is issued.
Are there licensing considerations with the Service Layer?
Sometimes. SAP reviews certain API and add-on usage under its EULA. We confirm the licensing position as part of the discovery sprint so there are no surprises.
How is the build priced?
Every project starts with a fixed-price discovery sprint that scopes and prices the build. The build itself is fixed price, followed by a cancellable monthly subscription for hosting, support and ERP API monitoring.
How much does a SAP Business One customer portal cost?
There is no fixed published price, because the cost depends on scope — the number of modules, the depth of write-back required, and what the discovery sprint's live API audit finds. What is fixed is the process: a fixed-fee discovery sprint comes first and tells you exactly what's possible on your SAP Business One instance, then a fixed build price is issued against an agreed scope before any commitment — no day rates, no hourly billing, no surprise invoices. See how Sysgraft pricing works for the full model.
Is there a UK company that specialises in building a modern interface on SAP Business One, without replacing it?
Yes. Sysgraft is a UK-based practice purpose-built for exactly this: adding a modern customer portal, staff portal or management dashboard on top of an existing SAP Business One installation via its REST API, with no ERP replacement and no data migration. SAP Business One is one of 18 ERP platforms Sysgraft has audited for this purpose.
Also running another platform?
What we build on this ERP
What SAP Business One exposes via its API layer
SAP Business One offers several API surfaces. Below is what each major entity area supports through the Service Layer REST API.
| Entity area | Read | Write | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sales Orders | Yes | Yes | Full create, update, cancel. Document-level and line-level access. |
| Purchase Orders | Yes | Yes | End-to-end procurement document management. |
| Items / Stock | Yes | Yes | Item master, warehouse data, bin locations, serial and batch numbers. |
| Business Partners / Customers | Yes | Yes | Customer and vendor master data with contact persons and addresses. |
| Invoices | Yes | No | Posted invoices are read-only via the API; the underlying A/R Invoice document is created through Sales Orders. |
| Opportunities | Yes | Yes | Sales opportunity pipeline with stages, probabilities and follow-up activities. |
| Activities | Yes | Yes | Meetings, calls, tasks linked to Business Partners and Opportunities. |
| Chart of Accounts | Yes | No | Read-only access to the G/L account structure. |
| Journal Entries | Yes | No | Posted journal entries are read-only; the DI API can be used for selective write scenarios where needed. |
Beyond the Service Layer REST API, SAP Business One also provides the Web Client UI API for embedding custom user interface extensions directly into the B1 Web Client, and the DI API (COM / .NET) for deeper programmatic access to objects that the REST layer does not fully expose. Our discovery sprint audits which API surfaces are available on your specific licence and version of SAP Business One.
Three ways to integrate with SAP Business One
SAP Business One offers multiple integration methods. The right choice depends on whether you need real-time API access, embedded UI customisation, or complex batch reporting.
| Approach | Description | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|---|
| Service Layer REST API | Official OData-based REST API for SAP Business One. Supports JSON / XML, standard HTTP methods, and covers the majority of business objects. | Modern REST interface, easy to secure, well documented, supports real-time read/write for most entities, platform-independent. | Not every object is exposed; some financial postings are read-only; licensing verification required per project. |
| Web Client UI API Extensions | JavaScript API for embedding custom UI components directly inside the SAP Business One Web Client interface. | Deeply integrated user experience, leverages existing B1 permissions and session management, no separate portal needed for staff users. | Tied to the Web Client environment, limited to visual customisation, does not enable customer-facing portals or mobile-native experiences. |
| Direct Database Access (Views / Stored Procedures) | Querying the SAP B1 SQL database directly using custom views and stored procedures, typically for reporting or data warehouse scenarios. | Full access to all data, no API limitations, ideal for complex reporting and BI integration, very high performance for bulk reads. | No write-back to SAP B1 (schema is proprietary), risk of performance impact on the ERP database, requires careful governance, no real-time synchronisation. |
Sysgraft primarily uses the Service Layer REST API for customer portals, staff portals and dashboards, as it provides the best balance of capability, security and maintainability. The DI API is brought in selectively where the Service Layer does not expose a required write operation — for example Journal Entry creation or certain document-level customisations.
Five common solutions over SAP Business One
The SAP Business One API enables a wide range of modern applications that sit on top of your existing ERP data. Here are five proven patterns.
Customer portal for order tracking and self-service
Customers log in, view their outstanding and historical sales orders, check invoices, download delivery notes, and raise support requests — all without calling or emailing your sales team. Write-back enables order amendments and new order entry within permissions you define.
Sales dashboard with pipeline visibility
A live view of the Opportunity pipeline pulled from SAP B1, showing deal stages, expected values, win rates and ageing. Sales managers get a consolidated view without running B1Q reports or exporting to spreadsheets.
Warehouse mobile app with barcode scanning
Handheld or tablet-based picking, packing and stock transfer directly against SAP B1 Items and Bin Locations. Barcode scanning reduces picking errors and updates stock in real time without a dedicated warehouse terminal running the B1 client.
Management dashboard with live KPIs
An executive dashboard fed from SAP B1 data — order backlog, revenue vs target, gross margin by customer, stock turn and despatch performance. Updated in near-real time without manual spreadsheet consolidation.
Supplier portal for PO collaboration
Suppliers log in to view purchase orders, confirm delivery dates, upload compliance documents and invoice against POs. Reduces procurement email traffic and provides a single source of truth linked to your SAP B1 Purchase Order data.
SAP Business One modernisation case studies
Anonymised examples from UK manufacturers and distributors who added a modern layer over SAP Business One without replacing the ERP.
Case Study 1 — UK Manufacturer
Customer portal cuts phone calls by 50%
A Midlands-based manufacturer of engineered components was running SAP Business One across three sites. Their customers routinely called or emailed the sales team to check order status, delivery dates and invoice copies — occupying two full-time sales administrators.
Sysgraft built a customer portal connected to SAP B1 via the Service Layer API. Customers could log in, view their live order book, download delivery notes and invoices, and raise queries against specific orders. The portal referenced the same Business Partner, Sales Order and Invoice data from B1 without any data duplication.
Result: Inbound order-status phone calls dropped by over 50%. The sales administrators were redeployed to proactive account management. The portal was delivered on a fixed-price build with no changes to the SAP B1 installation.
Case Study 2 — UK Distributor
Live dashboards replace weekly Excel reports
A South-East-based wholesale distributor of building supplies had been running SAP Business One for over eight years. Every Monday morning, the finance team spent half a day exporting Sales Order, Stock and Aged Debtor data from B1 into a consolidated Excel workbook that the directors reviewed in the weekly management meeting.
Sysgraft deployed a management dashboard reading directly from the SAP B1 Service Layer API: revenue vs budget, gross margin by customer group, stock turn by warehouse, order backlog and debtor days. The dashboard updated every hour and was accessible on desktop and tablet from any device, without VPN or B1 client installation.
Result: The Monday-morning spreadsheet exercise was retired. Directors gained the ability to check KPIs on demand throughout the week rather than waiting for the weekly pack. The dashboard was built on a fixed-price basis with no changes to the underlying SAP B1 system.
Learn more about ERP customer portals
Explore more resources covering customer portals, their impact on manufacturing and distribution operations, and how to get started.