For the part of your process no add-on was built for
We build directly on the SAP Business One SDK — custom fields, automated workflows, tailored documents and bespoke logic — so it's still your system, supportable and upgrade-safe, long after we're done.
Standard configuration and certified add-ons cover most of what a business needs from SAP Business One. What's left is usually specific enough that no off-the-shelf product fits — an approval rule unique to your industry, a print layout your customers require, a calculation your finance team has always done in a spreadsheet because nothing else does it.
We build that layer using SAP B1's own SDK and DI-API, so customisations behave like native features rather than bolted-on scripts — documented, version-controlled, and tested against each new SAP B1 release before you're asked to upgrade.
Built to extend the platform, not work around it
Custom fields & data objects
User-defined fields and tables (UDF/UDT) to capture data SAP B1 doesn't track natively.
Workflow automation
SDK and DI-API automation for approvals, notifications and multi-step business logic.
Custom approval procedures
Approval rules matched to your authority structure, not SAP B1's defaults.
Tailored print layouts & reports
Invoices, delivery notes and reports formatted to your branding and customer requirements.
Industry-specific extensions
Bespoke functionality for requirements unique to your sector.
Legacy system bridging
Purpose-built links to legacy systems that can't be retired yet but can't be ignored either.
What changes for your business
Solves the last 20%
Covers exactly what standard configuration and add-ons leave behind.
Protects your upgrade path
SDK-based builds are tested against new releases instead of blocking them.
You own what's built
Source, documentation and configuration are yours — not locked to one consultant.
Grows with you
Custom logic is built to be extended later, not thrown away when requirements change.
How a manufacturer automated an approval chain SAP B1 couldn't handle out of the box
What a properly built SDK customisation looks like, versus a workaround.
Background
The manufacturer ran a four-level purchase approval hierarchy tied to budget thresholds and cost-centre ownership — a structure built around how the business was actually organised, not a generic sign-off chain. SAP B1's standard approval procedures couldn't express the combination of cost-centre and threshold logic the business needed.
The challenge
- Standard approval rules couldn't route a request differently based on which cost centre it came from and what threshold it crossed, so several manual workarounds had built up around the gap.
- Denied or escalated approvals weren't visible anywhere in the system — finance only found out about exceptions when someone mentioned them.
- A separate spreadsheet tracked override approvals, which finance had to manually reconcile against the system before every month-end close.
- One major customer required a specific invoice layout that didn't match SAP B1's standard print template, so every invoice to that customer was exported to Word and reformatted by hand.
The solution
A custom approval engine was built on the SAP B1 SDK to handle the four-tier cost-centre and threshold logic natively, so routing happened automatically as a system rule rather than a manual workaround. The customer's required invoice layout was built as a tailored print template generated directly from SAP B1, removing the Word export step entirely. Both customisations were documented, version-controlled, and tested against the next scheduled SAP B1 patch release before go-live to confirm there would be no upgrade conflict.
The results
— Finance Controller, industrial equipment manufacturer
This case study is illustrative, based on a typical custom development engagement. Replace with your own client's figures and quote before publishing.
SAP Business One custom development: frequently asked questions
The questions that come up before scoping a custom build.
What's the difference between a custom build and a certified add-on?
A certified add-on is a pre-built product covering a defined feature set; a custom build is written specifically for your requirement when nothing off-the-shelf fits, using SAP B1's own SDK and DI-API.
Will custom development break when we upgrade SAP Business One?
SDK-based builds are designed to behave like native features and are tested against each new SAP B1 release before you're asked to upgrade, specifically to avoid that risk.
Who owns the source code and documentation for a custom build?
You do — source, documentation and configuration are handed over as part of the engagement, so you're not locked to one consultant to maintain it afterwards.
Can custom workflows be built without modifying core database tables?
Yes — customisations are built using user-defined fields, tables and SDK/DI-API logic that sit alongside SAP B1's core structure rather than altering it directly.
How is a custom requirement scoped and priced?
The specific gap is mapped against what standard configuration and existing add-ons already cover, and only the genuinely custom part is scoped and quoted — not the whole system.
What happens if we want to extend a custom build later, with a different provider?
Since the build is documented and you own the source, another SAP B1-competent developer can pick it up — that's the point of building on the supported SDK rather than an undocumented workaround.
Describe the gap, we'll scope the build.
Tell us what you're currently doing manually or outside SAP B1 — we'll tell you what it takes to bring it in.