SAP Business One vs. Tableau Desktop

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
SAP Business One
Score 7.7 out of 10
N/A
SAP Business One is an integrated enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution for small and medium-sized businesses, The product encompasses functionality around sales, customer relationships, inventory, operations, financials and human resources.
$99
per month
Tableau Desktop
Score 8.2 out of 10
N/A
Tableau Desktop is a data visualization product from Tableau. It connects to a variety of data sources for combining disparate data sources without coding. It provides tools for discovering patterns and insights, data calculations, forecasts, and statistical summaries and visual storytelling.
$70
per month
Pricing
SAP Business OneTableau Desktop
Editions & Modules
Limited
$99.00
per month
Starter
$110.00
per month
Pro
$132.00
per month
Tableau Creator
$70.00
Per User / Per Month
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
SAP Business OneTableau Desktop
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoYes
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsAll pricing plans are billed annually.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
SAP Business OneTableau Desktop
Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
SAP Business OneTableau Desktop
Payroll Management
Comparison of Payroll Management features of Product A and Product B
SAP Business One
10.0
10 Ratings
33% above category average
Tableau Desktop
-
Ratings
Pay calculation10.09 Ratings00 Ratings
Benefit plan administration10.07 Ratings00 Ratings
Direct deposit files10.08 Ratings00 Ratings
Customization
Comparison of Customization features of Product A and Product B
SAP Business One
9.2
37 Ratings
20% above category average
Tableau Desktop
-
Ratings
API for custom integration9.535 Ratings00 Ratings
Plug-ins9.035 Ratings00 Ratings
Security
Comparison of Security features of Product A and Product B
SAP Business One
8.8
41 Ratings
8% above category average
Tableau Desktop
-
Ratings
Single sign-on capability8.533 Ratings00 Ratings
Role-based user permissions9.041 Ratings00 Ratings
Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
SAP Business One
7.2
42 Ratings
0% below category average
Tableau Desktop
-
Ratings
Dashboards5.537 Ratings00 Ratings
Standard reports7.742 Ratings00 Ratings
Custom reports8.338 Ratings00 Ratings
General Ledger and Configurable Accounting
Comparison of General Ledger and Configurable Accounting features of Product A and Product B
SAP Business One
5.7
43 Ratings
30% below category average
Tableau Desktop
-
Ratings
Accounts payable9.343 Ratings00 Ratings
Accounts receivable9.342 Ratings00 Ratings
Global Financial Support7.527 Ratings00 Ratings
Primary and Secondary Ledgers8.728 Ratings00 Ratings
Journals and Reconciliations8.735 Ratings00 Ratings
Configurable Accounting9.033 Ratings00 Ratings
Standardized Processes8.738 Ratings00 Ratings
Inventory Management
Comparison of Inventory Management features of Product A and Product B
SAP Business One
8.2
42 Ratings
4% above category average
Tableau Desktop
-
Ratings
Inventory tracking8.742 Ratings00 Ratings
Automatic reordering7.029 Ratings00 Ratings
Location management9.039 Ratings00 Ratings
Order Management
Comparison of Order Management features of Product A and Product B
SAP Business One
5.9
40 Ratings
28% below category average
Tableau Desktop
-
Ratings
Pricing7.739 Ratings00 Ratings
Order entry8.440 Ratings00 Ratings
Credit card processing2.023 Ratings00 Ratings
Cost of goods sold7.539 Ratings00 Ratings
Order Orchestration8.531 Ratings00 Ratings
Subledger and Financial Process
Comparison of Subledger and Financial Process features of Product A and Product B
SAP Business One
6.9
36 Ratings
8% below category average
Tableau Desktop
-
Ratings
Billing Management8.531 Ratings00 Ratings
Cash and Asset Management9.028 Ratings00 Ratings
Travel & Expense Management6.022 Ratings00 Ratings
Budgetary Control & Encumbrance Accounting8.527 Ratings00 Ratings
Period Close9.533 Ratings00 Ratings
Project Financial Management
Comparison of Project Financial Management features of Product A and Product B
SAP Business One
7.0
19 Ratings
8% below category average
Tableau Desktop
-
Ratings
Budgeting and Forecasting7.017 Ratings00 Ratings
Project Costing7.016 Ratings00 Ratings
Cost Capture7.016 Ratings00 Ratings
Capital Project Management7.011 Ratings00 Ratings
Customer Contract Compliance7.014 Ratings00 Ratings
Project Revenue Recognition6.116 Ratings00 Ratings
Project Execution Management
Comparison of Project Execution Management features of Product A and Product B
SAP Business One
7.9
16 Ratings
13% above category average
Tableau Desktop
-
Ratings
Project Planning and Scheduling8.015 Ratings00 Ratings
Task Insight for Project Managers7.012 Ratings00 Ratings
Project Mobile Functionality1.011 Ratings00 Ratings
Definable Resource Pools5.09 Ratings00 Ratings
Grants Management
Comparison of Grants Management features of Product A and Product B
SAP Business One
7.7
15 Ratings
4% above category average
Tableau Desktop
-
Ratings
Award Lifecycle Management7.09 Ratings00 Ratings
Procurement
Comparison of Procurement features of Product A and Product B
SAP Business One
8.1
17 Ratings
16% above category average
Tableau Desktop
-
Ratings
Bids Analyzed and Compared8.011 Ratings00 Ratings
Contract Authoring7.511 Ratings00 Ratings
Contract Repository8.69 Ratings00 Ratings
Requisitions-to-Purchase Orders Integrated8.213 Ratings00 Ratings
Supplier Management7.012 Ratings00 Ratings
Risk Management
Comparison of Risk Management features of Product A and Product B
SAP Business One
7.7
9 Ratings
16% above category average
Tableau Desktop
-
Ratings
Risk Repository7.07 Ratings00 Ratings
Control Management8.08 Ratings00 Ratings
Control Efficiency Assessments8.07 Ratings00 Ratings
Issue Detection8.08 Ratings00 Ratings
Remediation and Certification7.76 Ratings00 Ratings
Logistics
Comparison of Logistics features of Product A and Product B
SAP Business One
6.5
22 Ratings
3% below category average
Tableau Desktop
-
Ratings
Transportation Planning and Optimization7.015 Ratings00 Ratings
Transportation Execution Management6.513 Ratings00 Ratings
Trade and Customs Management6.512 Ratings00 Ratings
Fulfillment Management5.517 Ratings00 Ratings
Warehouse Workforce Management2.114 Ratings00 Ratings
Manufacturing
Comparison of Manufacturing features of Product A and Product B
SAP Business One
6.1
20 Ratings
20% below category average
Tableau Desktop
-
Ratings
Production Process Design2.018 Ratings00 Ratings
Production Management8.218 Ratings00 Ratings
Configuration Management2.014 Ratings00 Ratings
Work Execution4.016 Ratings00 Ratings
Manufacturing Costs5.016 Ratings00 Ratings
Supply Chain
Comparison of Supply Chain features of Product A and Product B
SAP Business One
7.2
25 Ratings
1% above category average
Tableau Desktop
-
Ratings
Forecasting7.023 Ratings00 Ratings
Inventory Planning7.725 Ratings00 Ratings
Performance Monitoring7.019 Ratings00 Ratings
Product Lifecycle Management
Comparison of Product Lifecycle Management features of Product A and Product B
SAP Business One
8.9
16 Ratings
22% above category average
Tableau Desktop
-
Ratings
Proposal Management5.013 Ratings00 Ratings
Product Master Data Management7.514 Ratings00 Ratings
BI Standard Reporting
Comparison of BI Standard Reporting features of Product A and Product B
SAP Business One
-
Ratings
Tableau Desktop
8.3
167 Ratings
2% above category average
Pixel Perfect reports00 Ratings8.5139 Ratings
Customizable dashboards00 Ratings8.7166 Ratings
Report Formatting Templates00 Ratings7.8145 Ratings
Ad-hoc Reporting
Comparison of Ad-hoc Reporting features of Product A and Product B
SAP Business One
-
Ratings
Tableau Desktop
9.0
164 Ratings
11% above category average
Drill-down analysis00 Ratings9.0159 Ratings
Formatting capabilities00 Ratings9.3162 Ratings
Integration with R or other statistical packages00 Ratings8.3122 Ratings
Report sharing and collaboration00 Ratings9.5157 Ratings
Report Output and Scheduling
Comparison of Report Output and Scheduling features of Product A and Product B
SAP Business One
-
Ratings
Tableau Desktop
8.4
158 Ratings
1% above category average
Publish to Web00 Ratings8.3149 Ratings
Publish to PDF00 Ratings7.8149 Ratings
Report Versioning00 Ratings8.4116 Ratings
Report Delivery Scheduling00 Ratings9.3123 Ratings
Delivery to Remote Servers00 Ratings8.173 Ratings
Data Discovery and Visualization
Comparison of Data Discovery and Visualization features of Product A and Product B
SAP Business One
-
Ratings
Tableau Desktop
8.5
156 Ratings
7% above category average
Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)00 Ratings9.0154 Ratings
Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization00 Ratings8.4149 Ratings
Predictive Analytics00 Ratings8.4126 Ratings
Pattern Recognition and Data Mining00 Ratings8.02 Ratings
Access Control and Security
Comparison of Access Control and Security features of Product A and Product B
SAP Business One
-
Ratings
Tableau Desktop
8.7
142 Ratings
3% above category average
Multi-User Support (named login)00 Ratings9.0139 Ratings
Role-Based Security Model00 Ratings8.1119 Ratings
Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)00 Ratings8.7129 Ratings
Report-Level Access Control00 Ratings9.03 Ratings
Single Sign-On (SSO)00 Ratings8.777 Ratings
Mobile Capabilities
Comparison of Mobile Capabilities features of Product A and Product B
SAP Business One
-
Ratings
Tableau Desktop
8.1
135 Ratings
3% above category average
Responsive Design for Web Access00 Ratings8.4124 Ratings
Mobile Application00 Ratings7.297 Ratings
Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile00 Ratings8.7117 Ratings
Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding
Comparison of Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding features of Product A and Product B
SAP Business One
-
Ratings
Tableau Desktop
9.2
64 Ratings
16% above category average
REST API00 Ratings9.456 Ratings
Javascript API00 Ratings8.951 Ratings
iFrames00 Ratings9.449 Ratings
Java API00 Ratings9.946 Ratings
Themeable User Interface (UI)00 Ratings8.653 Ratings
Customizable Platform (Open Source)00 Ratings8.946 Ratings
Best Alternatives
SAP Business OneTableau Desktop
Small Businesses
Acumatica
Acumatica
Score 8.7 out of 10
BrightGauge
BrightGauge
Score 8.9 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Infor VISUAL
Infor VISUAL
Score 7.4 out of 10
Reveal
Reveal
Score 10.0 out of 10
Enterprises
SAP Business ByDesign
SAP Business ByDesign
Score 8.5 out of 10
Jaspersoft Community Edition
Jaspersoft Community Edition
Score 9.7 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
SAP Business OneTableau Desktop
Likelihood to Recommend
8.4
(48 ratings)
8.8
(194 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
4.6
(9 ratings)
8.9
(39 ratings)
Usability
10.0
(12 ratings)
8.6
(63 ratings)
Availability
9.0
(3 ratings)
8.0
(10 ratings)
Performance
8.0
(1 ratings)
6.1
(9 ratings)
Support Rating
9.0
(11 ratings)
7.0
(56 ratings)
In-Person Training
7.7
(2 ratings)
9.4
(4 ratings)
Online Training
4.5
(2 ratings)
8.0
(4 ratings)
Implementation Rating
2.8
(24 ratings)
8.0
(34 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
8.1
(2 ratings)
Ease of integration
9.0
(1 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Product Scalability
9.0
(2 ratings)
7.0
(3 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
8.0
(1 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
8.0
(1 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
SAP Business OneTableau Desktop
Likelihood to Recommend
SAP
SAP Business One would be more useful if it contained tools to acommodate the growing need of online sales. A more complete shipping module which handles tracking numbers with the common couriers would be great. A built in warehouse management system would be great designed to be used with barcode scanners
Read full review
Tableau
Tableau Desktop is one the finest tool available in the market with such a wide range of capabilities in its suite that makes it easy to generate insights. Further, if optimally designed, then its reports are fairly simple to understand, yet capable enough to make changes at the required levels. One can create a variety of visualizations as required by the business or the clients. The data pipelines in the backend are very robust. The tableau desktop also provides options to develop the reports in developer mode, which is one of the finest features to embed and execute even the most complex possible logic. It's easier to operate, simple to navigate, and fluent to understand by the users.
Read full review
Pros
SAP
  • SAP Business One is more suitable for small and medium scale enterprises
  • SAP Business One is : analytics, mobile technologies, cloud technologies
  • SAP Business One has exceptional performance in handling business functions such as purchasing and operations and customer relationship management
  • An important key features of SAP Business One is Reporting and Analytics.
Read full review
Tableau
  • An excellent tool for data visualization, it presents information in an appealing visual format—an exceptional platform for storing and analyzing data in any size organization.
  • Through interactive parameters, it enables real-time interaction with the user and is easy to learn and get support from the community.
Read full review
Cons
SAP
  • Following a bench mark process - this seems contradicting to flexibility however we have wished we could follow more of an industry benchmark. Our challenge as a small company has been knowing how to properly use the system. We have discovered that we have set up the system wrong based and are using it improperly which has cause a lot work to correct.
  • Better live reporting options - current we are on prem SQL. Yes SAP is moving to HANA however smaller companies like ourselves are not ready for that. We need to be able to maintain our existing SQL DB. We also have a demand for live BI Reporting. It has been difficult to do this with our current set up.
  • Error handling - have found it very difficult to troubleshoot. Errors are not always clear and answers are hard to find.
Read full review
Tableau
  • Formatting the data to work correctly in graphical presentations can be time consuming
  • Daily data extracts can run slowly depending on how much data is required and the source of the data
  • The desktop version is required for advanced functionality, editing on [the] Tableau server allows only limited features
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
SAP
As I said before, it is a first level tool, well developed, and with very strong development support, although the learning curve, its implementation, the cost-benefit ratio, the price and the user experience is not the most suitable for small and medium-sized companies. It is a company with extensive experience, market positioning, technical support and expanded use
Read full review
Tableau
Our use of Tableau Desktop is still fairly low, and will continue over time. The only real concern is around cost of the licenses, and I have mentioned this to Tableau and fully expect the development of more sensible models for our industry. This will remove any impediment to expansion of our use.
Read full review
Usability
SAP
I would like to give 8 out of 10 rating for SAP Business One because SAP Business One is a good choice for the mostly used business management solutions for the small and medium-sized companies. SAP Business One can help in optimizing the existing business process and enables streamline business processes for the daily activities for all users across the entire organization. The importance realization of SAP Business One implementation is based on the selection of the good reputation partner and its approach for the entire implementation. SAP Business One is a user-friendly and easy to use Enterprise system that the organization can benefit its features and functionalities by utilizing it.
Read full review
Tableau
Tableau Desktop has proven to be a lifesaver in many situations. Once we've completed the initial setup, it's simple to use. It has all of the features we need to quickly and efficiently synthesize our data. Tableau Desktop has advanced capabilities to improve our company's data structure and enable self-service for our employees.
Read full review
Reliability and Availability
SAP
The SAP Business One software is up and running every time
you need it as it was planned. In more than 6 years that we have been
using the product, it has never been unavailable and if it ever was, it was because of a planned maintenance window scheduled in the company.
Read full review
Tableau
When used as a stand-alone tool, Tableau Desktop has unlimited uptime, which is always nice. When used in conjunction with Tableau Server, this tool has as much uptime as your server admins are willing to give it. All in all, I've never had an issue with Tableau's availability.
Read full review
Performance
SAP
SAP Business One performance depends mostly on the speed of your internal servers, should you have the solution on premise as we do. Sometimes the system tends to be a little slower for some users when others are executing really big reports of performing some batch loads, but generally, the performance is acceptable to all the users.
Read full review
Tableau
Tableau Desktop's performance is solid. You can really dig into a large dataset in the form of a spreadsheet, and it exhibits similarly good performance when accessing a moderately sized Oracle database. I noticed that with Tableau Desktop 9.3, the performance using a spreadsheet started to slow around 75K rows by about 60 columns. This was easily remedied by creating an extract and pushing it to Tableau Server, where performance went to lightning fast
Read full review
Support Rating
SAP
I rate my experience with SAP Business One's support team as excellent (10). They are easy to contact and effortless to work with on any issue or concern. I like the support SAP provides for any of their products. SAP has a great backing and I would recommend them to any of my colleagues.
Read full review
Tableau
I have never really used support much, to be honest. I think the support is not as user-friendly to search and use it. I did have an encounter with them once and it required a bit of going back and forth for licensing before reaching a resolution. They did solve my issue though
Read full review
In-Person Training
SAP
The training I get was a consultant level training, so it's basically a 6 weeks training covering every aspect and every module of the system. It covered most common use cases and exercise training so you can get along with the software, as well as examples so there culd be a better understanding.
Read full review
Tableau
It is admittedly hard to train a group of people with disparate levels of ability coming in, but the software is so easy to use that this is not a huge problem; anyone who can follow simple instructions can catch up pretty quickly.
Read full review
Online Training
SAP
Over the past two years SAP has added a great deal of new SAP Business One on-line training for version 9.0 and 9.1. Most of the training is very strong, but some is difficult to understand and follow. Additionally, SAP still has a few holes in their on-line training around Production, Bill-of-Materials, MRP and Service.
Read full review
Tableau
The training for new users are quite good because it covers topic wise training and the best part was that it also had video tutorials which are very helpful
Read full review
Implementation Rating
SAP
These implementations are not easy. Even a standard implementation can be difficult. With a never-been-done-before implementation, the implementation team and the user team need to be thorough with planning, make a decision on key points, and stick to them before any design happens. Our biggest challenge was not from StellarOne, rather it was from the mid-implementation decisions from our internal team. StellarOne did a great job warning us, implementing our decision, and then helping us adjust our SAP to handle the new direction we took.
Read full review
Tableau
Again, training is the key and the company provides a lot of example videos that will help users discover use cases that will greatly assist their creation of original visualizations. As with any new software tool, productivity will decline for a period. In the case of Tableau, the decline period is short and the later gains are well worth it.
Read full review
Alternatives Considered
SAP
SAP provides the most robust solution, with modules available for all department managers and even options for customization according to the company's special needs. We especially used the Crystal reports options to provide reports for each module. Overall, even if it's not the least expensive option, it has the best value for money.
Read full review
Tableau
If we do not have legacy tools which have already been set up, I would switch the visualization method to open source software via PyCharm, Atom, and Visual Studio IDE. These IDEs cannot directly help you to visualize the data but you can use many python packages to do so through these IDEs.
Read full review
Scalability
SAP
For most small businesses, the only way you outgrow SAP Business One is if the nature of your business changes radically. Going from 1 to 50 users is quite easy with SAP B1. Going beyond 50 may require moving to the Hana SAP B1 platform to maintain or improve performance, but the path is there.
Add-ons to SAP B1 can also be added as specific needs are encountered that are not closely met by the standard product. These may be required early in the product life because of the nature of your business, or as you expand the use of SAP B1.
Read full review
Tableau
Tableau Desktop's scaleability is really limited to the scale of your back-end data systems. If you want to pull down an extract and work quickly in-memory, in my application it scaled to a few tens of millions of rows using the in-memory engine. But it's really only limited by your back-end data store if you have or are willing to invest in an optimized SQL store or purpose-built query engine like Veritca or Netezza or something similar.
Read full review
Return on Investment
SAP
  • Employee efficiency has definitely increased with SAP Business One. This is attributed in a lot of ways to information visibility. Our employees are able to gather the data they need, quickly, and effectively.
  • Identifying inconsistencies in pricing has also been accomplished through use of reporting off individual tables. Previously, we weren't able to access our data in such a way as to enable us to write custom reports in-house.
  • We have also benefited greatly from having a single source of all business information. We utilize SAP Business One exclusively in-house. All documentation is attached to specific orders and Business Partners, as well as serialized equipment that has been sold.
Read full review
Tableau
  • Tableau was acquired years ago, and has provided good value with the content created.
  • Ongoing maintenance costs for the platform, both to maintain desktop and server licensing has made the continuing value questionable when compared to other offerings in the marketplace.
  • Users have largely been satisfied with the content, but not with the overall performance. This is due to a combination of factors including the performance of the Tableau engines as well as development deficiencies.
Read full review
ScreenShots