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Managing Pre-orders
on SAP Business One

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SAP Business One is a robust ERP that integrates well with Shopify for syncing products, orders, and inventory. It supports negative inventory and partial fulfillment, making it suitable for pre-orders. However, it doesn’t offer a dedicated “pre-order” module out of the box, so you’ll need to configure or customize workflows accordingly.

This guide will break down how SAP Business One handles key pre-order functions like negative stock, Shopify’s “On Hold” status, and fulfilment workflows—so you’ll know what to expect, where it excels, and any workarounds you may need.

How ERPs and pre-orders work together in the modern ecommerce stack

As the central source of truth for your ecommerce operations, ERPs play a crucial role in pre-orders—primarily in two areas:

Product & inventory management (tracking stock, syncing availability).
Order processing (handling pre-order statuses and fulfilment flows).

Below is a typical flow. Click through to see how Shopify, the ERP and pre-order application interact.

1

Order & Inventory Sync

The ERP synchronizes orders and inventory across various sales channels (e.g., Shopify, Amazon, retail POS).

Key Considerations for Managing Pre-orders on SAP Business One

In the diagram above you may have noticed the word “should” being used a couple of times… That’s because not all ERPs fully support Shopify’s pre-order features out of the box. Some may lack support for negative inventory counts or fail to respect Shopify’s “On Hold” order status, requiring workarounds or additional configuration. Read on to see how SAP Business One interacts with Shopify pre-orders and what you might need to adjust.

Syncing Shopify Products

Yes, SAP Business One can sync with Shopify products through various integration solutions. These integrations enable seamless synchronization of product data, inventory levels, orders, and customer information between SAP Business One and your Shopify store. There are three main integration methods: • Native integration (for SAP Business One versions 10.0 and above): Allows direct synchronization of products and categories from SAP Business One to Shopify without middleware. Prerequisites include having the SAP Business Service Layer configured.
• Third-Party Connectors: Several applications facilitate the integration between SAP Business One and Shopify.
• Middleware Solutions (e.g., Stock2Shop): These monitor your SAP Business One database for changes in product information and update your Shopify store accordingly, handling complex scenarios (multiple stores, warehouses, etc.).

Syncing Shopify Orders

Yes, SAP Business One can synchronize with Shopify orders through various integration solutions. These integrations enable seamless data exchange between the two platforms, automating processes such as order management, inventory updates, and customer information synchronization. Once set up, relevant order details flow into SAP Business One and any status or fulfillment updates can be pushed back to Shopify, maintaining accurate order information across both systems.

Handling Negative Inventory

Yes, SAP Business One can track and allow negative inventory levels, which is particularly useful for scenarios like pre-orders or overselling. This functionality enables you to record sales or allocate inventory for items even when their stock level is zero or below. To allow negative inventory, navigate to Administration > System Initialization > General Settings > Inventory Tab and check Allow Negative Inventory. You can apply this setting globally or for specific warehouses.

Resources:

• SAP Negative Inventory Setup

Respecting Shopify’s “On Hold” Status

Integrating SAP Business One with Shopify allows for the synchronization of orders, inventory, and customer information. However, the specific handling of Shopify’s “on hold” status depends on your integration method and configuration. Standard integrations may not automatically map “on hold” to a corresponding SAP Business One status, but you can customize the connector’s field mapping to ensure that “on hold” orders in Shopify display the correct status within SAP Business One.

Pre-Order-Specific Features

Yes, SAP Business One provides features and workflows that can be customized to handle pre-orders effectively. While it does not have a dedicated “pre-order” module, its flexible design and integration capabilities let you manage pre-orders in various ways:
• Record pre-orders as Sales Orders, even if inventory is unavailable.
• Enable Negative Inventory so items can be sold when stock is below zero.
• Factor pre-orders into MRP calculations for timely purchasing or production.
• Use User-Defined Fields (UDFs) or custom fields to track pre-order statuses and expected availability dates.
• Incorporate Deposits or Partial Payments for pre-ordered items.
• Build Custom Workflows to handle the entire pre-order lifecycle, including notifications and fulfillment steps.

Custom Workflows with Order Tags, Line-item Properties or Metafields

Integrating Shopify with SAP Business One can facilitate the use of Shopify’s tags and metafields to create custom workflows. By leveraging third-party connectors or middleware solutions (e.g., Celigo, Workato), you can map Shopify tags/metafields into SAP Business One fields. From there, you can use SAP Business One’s Business Process Management tools to trigger automated processes—such as special handling for pre-orders, VIP customers, or unique promotional scenarios.

Supporting Full vs. Partial Order Fulfilment

Yes, SAP Business One supports workflows for both full and partial order fulfillment. You can divide a sales order into multiple deliveries if certain items are backordered or unavailable, and the system will track each fulfillment separately. With the right integration, those fulfillment updates (partial or complete) sync back to Shopify automatically, keeping customers aware of order status and shipment details.

Summary

SAP Business One support for
Shopify Pre-orders

Pre-order touchpoint	SAP Business One support
Products sync with Shopify	✅ Sync supported via native (for some versions) or third-party connectors
Orders sync with Shopify	✅ Automated two-way synchronization of orders and statuses
Negative inventory support	✅ Negative inventory enabled for pre-orders/backorders
Shopify “On Hold” status recognition	⚠️ Requires custom mapping to reflect Shopify’s “on hold”
Specific pre-order support	✅ No dedicated module, but flexible features can replicate pre-orders
Custom workflows	✅ Can use BPM tools and Shopify tags/metafields via integrators
Partial fulfilment support	✅ Supports multiple deliveries and partial shipments

Strengths & Limitations

✅ Strengths
• Highly customizable, robust MRP
• Negative inventory
• Partial fulfillment

⚠️ Limitations
• No out-of-the-box pre-order support
• No direct “hold” status mapping without customization