If you have come across any SYSPRO resource for technical users, you have probably encountered the phrase ‘business object’, and related phrase, ‘service oriented architecture (SOA)’.
While you don’t need to be an expert on business objects, it is worthwhile to have a basic understanding of what they are and what they do, so that you can understand why they make SYSPRO a flexible product.
Business objects are an integration framework. Every ERP system can integrate on many levels to other systems so they all must have some sort of integration framework, regardless of how well or poorly thought out they may be.
What makes business objects so powerful and flexible is how they are set up. A business object gives programmers a set of basic, but powerful processes (basically program commands that do simple tasks), on top of which they can easily build complexity.
For example, instead of having to program a whole set of commands to authorize a purchase order – checking the payment type, verify that the payee is in good standing, and do all of the other things that you need to do in order to authorize a purchase order – SYSPRO provides an Authorize Purchase Order business object. Other parts of the system, such as your legacy systems and custom applications, can then just access that object without having to worry about everything else that happens.
When a new payment type emerges, like some sort of wireless mobile payment system, SYSPRO can update the business object to accept that payment type and the rest of SYSPRO and any custom programming or legacy interfaces just automatically work.
This architecture makes it easy for SYSPRO to enhance and update business objects without requiring massively complex or expensive upgrades whenever a new version of SYSPRO comes out.
We are quite proud of how well SYSPRO works with just basic configuration and maybe you won’t ever need to customize SYSPRO. Now you know why business objects are such a big deal and why all of the talk about SYSPRO’s flexibility is more than just marketing fluff.
Densigraphix Kopi Inc. is an example of a SYSPRO customer that is leveraging the open architecture of our ERP solution to refine and extend their business processes and sharpen their competitive edge.
