Survey says...

[Nathan Gray-7]

The survey has been completed, and had better response this year than last.

Fully half of the responders were CEOs, and the median company size
was 7.5.  projectERP was designed by a medium sized company, so
different people could be assigned different tasks.  Maybe it's a
little clunky for smaller businesses with less people?  Maybe there
are some ways to do more automatically for you?

Because it's all anonymous, I can't grill the responders directly for
follow-up, so I'll do it here.

Regarding the top 5 answers for "If you could choose, where would you
focus the efforts of the pERP development team?":

#1.  Automate the generation of Purchase Orders from min/max settings (50%)
This is in SVN, and will be included in the next release.  Enter your
min / max for a location under Inventory -> Locations, then turn on
automatic POs under Admin -> AP.  It worked for the testing I gave it,
but at this point I wouldn't trust it to send POs directly to my
suppliers...  Try it out, and double check what it wants to order
before you send them off.

Also there is an alternate method of PO generation from Brad Andersen,
purchasing manager at Blue Falls Mfg. based on a forecast usage.  This
method will take into account supplier lead times and ship times, and
try to order inventory far enough in advance that it will arrive when
you forecast you need it.  Enter the forecast under Admin ->
Inventory, then turn on automatic POs under Admin -> AP.

Both methods should take into account _total_ need by location, and
generate at most 1 PO per supplier per top level inventory location.

#1.  Point of Sale (50%)
I don't even know where to start with this.
Do you need just a fast way to do Sales Order -> Invoice -> Receipt ->
Shipment -> Print paperwork because there's a customer in front of
you, or a full till type POS?
Barcode scanners, scales, everything you see at your local StuffMart?
POS is such a big thing on its own, especially when you need to talk
to hardware, I'm interested in any recommended OSS Point of Sale
systems that could work with projectERP.  This may have to be more
"Play nice together" than integration.

#1.  Better integration with ProjectManager (50%)
Such as?  I don't really use ProjectManager, so all I can think of is
1 click invoicing of an entire project, similar to how you can invoice
a sales order or shipment.
What else?

#4.  Support for returns (incoming and outgoing) (40%)
Returns (RMAs and their handling) can be found under the Warranty
application in SVN.  Warranty will be included in the next release.

#4.  Some examples so I can see how pERP is supposed to work (40%)
Working examples are hard to create and keep up to date, unless
someone wants to open their company books to the world.  (Anyone?)
The trouble is that everything quickly slides into overdue, making an
unrealistic example.
Would some videos that introduce the concepts and flow help with this?
 Any other ideas?

Full summary:
http://perp.sourceforge.net/survey_2009.html.

Nathan Gray

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[constant]

Hi Nathan,

I did the survey, and would like to offer my thoughts.

The first #1: That's a really good feature for the administrative duties impaired like myself. ;-)

The second #1: As I see it, the first type of POS you describe with, "you need just a fast way to do Sales Order -> Invoice -> Receipt -> Shipment -> Print paperwork because there's a customer in front of you", would describe the requirement for a lot businesses up to 50 employees and/or a few hundred inventory items.  With calendar and project management, any business that has appointments to perform a service and may sell some product.  The POS will be attractive to any that do transactions at fixed points, like a cash register.

The third #1: I've found the integration with PM to be adequate, especially when Timesheet is used.

The first #4: Good work again.

The second #4: What would be really cool would be to eventually have all procedures with an associated video of the concept.  I considered the possibility of different people being able to do different bits.

I am prepared to get it going by saying that I would be willing to do video of the AR section including admin and preferences for AR.  It would be in the form of screen capture video with my voice over.

Collaboration on details like customer and supplier names, inventory items, stock quantities, and sales and ordering levels, will give the many parts the appearance of being one.

Regards
John

Nathan Gray-7 wrote:

The survey has been completed, and had better response this year than last.

Fully half of the responders were CEOs, and the median company size
was 7.5.  projectERP was designed by a medium sized company, so
different people could be assigned different tasks.  Maybe it's a
little clunky for smaller businesses with less people?  Maybe there
are some ways to do more automatically for you?

Because it's all anonymous, I can't grill the responders directly for
follow-up, so I'll do it here.

Regarding the top 5 answers for "If you could choose, where would you
focus the efforts of the pERP development team?":

#1.  Automate the generation of Purchase Orders from min/max settings (50%)
This is in SVN, and will be included in the next release.  Enter your
min / max for a location under Inventory -> Locations, then turn on
automatic POs under Admin -> AP.  It worked for the testing I gave it,
but at this point I wouldn't trust it to send POs directly to my
suppliers...  Try it out, and double check what it wants to order
before you send them off.

Also there is an alternate method of PO generation from Brad Andersen,
purchasing manager at Blue Falls Mfg. based on a forecast usage.  This
method will take into account supplier lead times and ship times, and
try to order inventory far enough in advance that it will arrive when
you forecast you need it.  Enter the forecast under Admin ->
Inventory, then turn on automatic POs under Admin -> AP.

Both methods should take into account _total_ need by location, and
generate at most 1 PO per supplier per top level inventory location.

#1.  Point of Sale (50%)
I don't even know where to start with this.
Do you need just a fast way to do Sales Order -> Invoice -> Receipt ->
Shipment -> Print paperwork because there's a customer in front of
you, or a full till type POS?
Barcode scanners, scales, everything you see at your local StuffMart?
POS is such a big thing on its own, especially when you need to talk
to hardware, I'm interested in any recommended OSS Point of Sale
systems that could work with projectERP.  This may have to be more
"Play nice together" than integration.

#1.  Better integration with ProjectManager (50%)
Such as?  I don't really use ProjectManager, so all I can think of is
1 click invoicing of an entire project, similar to how you can invoice
a sales order or shipment.
What else?

#4.  Support for returns (incoming and outgoing) (40%)
Returns (RMAs and their handling) can be found under the Warranty
application in SVN.  Warranty will be included in the next release.

#4.  Some examples so I can see how pERP is supposed to work (40%)
Working examples are hard to create and keep up to date, unless
someone wants to open their company books to the world.  (Anyone?)
The trouble is that everything quickly slides into overdue, making an
unrealistic example.
Would some videos that introduce the concepts and flow help with this?
 Any other ideas?

Full summary:
http://perp.sourceforge.net/survey_2009.html.

Nathan Gray

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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is the only developer event you need to attend this year. Jumpstart your
developing skills, take BlackBerry mobile applications to market and stay
ahead of the curve. Join us from November 9 - 12, 2009. Register now!
http://p.sf.net/sfu/devconference
_______________________________________________
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[constant]

.
Further thought......... If there was a running EGW/pERP available to those able to help, there could be consistent data, which would be a really good look.

Other further thought.......... Video with no sound could have voice over done in any language.  So initially it's just getting the video which on it's own would be of value(I think).

Regards
John


Hi Nathan,

I did the survey, and would like to offer my thoughts.

The first #1: That's a really good feature for the administrative duties impaired like myself. ;-)

The second #1: As I see it, the first type of POS you describe with, "you need just a fast way to do Sales Order -> Invoice -> Receipt -> Shipment -> Print paperwork because there's a customer in front of you", would describe the requirement for a lot businesses up to 50 employees and/or a few hundred inventory items.  With calendar and project management, any business that has appointments to perform a service and may sell some product.  The POS will be attractive to any that do transactions at fixed points, like a cash register.

The third #1: I've found the integration with PM to be adequate, especially when Timesheet is used.

The first #4: Good work again.

The second #4: What would be really cool would be to eventually have all procedures with an associated video of the concept.  I considered the possibility of different people being able to do different bits.

I am prepared to get it going by saying that I would be willing to do video of the AR section including admin and preferences for AR.  It would be in the form of screen capture video with my voice over.

Collaboration on details like customer and supplier names, inventory items, stock quantities, and sales and ordering levels, will give the many parts the appearance of being one.

Regards
John

Nathan Gray-7 wrote:

The survey has been completed, and had better response this year than last.

Fully half of the responders were CEOs, and the median company size
was 7.5.  projectERP was designed by a medium sized company, so
different people could be assigned different tasks.  Maybe it's a
little clunky for smaller businesses with less people?  Maybe there
are some ways to do more automatically for you?

Because it's all anonymous, I can't grill the responders directly for
follow-up, so I'll do it here.

Regarding the top 5 answers for "If you could choose, where would you
focus the efforts of the pERP development team?":

#1.  Automate the generation of Purchase Orders from min/max settings (50%)
This is in SVN, and will be included in the next release.  Enter your
min / max for a location under Inventory -> Locations, then turn on
automatic POs under Admin -> AP.  It worked for the testing I gave it,
but at this point I wouldn't trust it to send POs directly to my
suppliers...  Try it out, and double check what it wants to order
before you send them off.

Also there is an alternate method of PO generation from Brad Andersen,
purchasing manager at Blue Falls Mfg. based on a forecast usage.  This
method will take into account supplier lead times and ship times, and
try to order inventory far enough in advance that it will arrive when
you forecast you need it.  Enter the forecast under Admin ->
Inventory, then turn on automatic POs under Admin -> AP.

Both methods should take into account _total_ need by location, and
generate at most 1 PO per supplier per top level inventory location.

#1.  Point of Sale (50%)
I don't even know where to start with this.
Do you need just a fast way to do Sales Order -> Invoice -> Receipt ->
Shipment -> Print paperwork because there's a customer in front of
you, or a full till type POS?
Barcode scanners, scales, everything you see at your local StuffMart?
POS is such a big thing on its own, especially when you need to talk
to hardware, I'm interested in any recommended OSS Point of Sale
systems that could work with projectERP.  This may have to be more
"Play nice together" than integration.

#1.  Better integration with ProjectManager (50%)
Such as?  I don't really use ProjectManager, so all I can think of is
1 click invoicing of an entire project, similar to how you can invoice
a sales order or shipment.
What else?

#4.  Support for returns (incoming and outgoing) (40%)
Returns (RMAs and their handling) can be found under the Warranty
application in SVN.  Warranty will be included in the next release.

#4.  Some examples so I can see how pERP is supposed to work (40%)
Working examples are hard to create and keep up to date, unless
someone wants to open their company books to the world.  (Anyone?)
The trouble is that everything quickly slides into overdue, making an
unrealistic example.
Would some videos that introduce the concepts and flow help with this?
 Any other ideas?

Full summary:
http://perp.sourceforge.net/survey_2009.html.

Nathan Gray

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Come build with us! The BlackBerry(R) Developer Conference in SF, CA
is the only developer event you need to attend this year. Jumpstart your
developing skills, take BlackBerry mobile applications to market and stay
ahead of the curve. Join us from November 9 - 12, 2009. Register now!
http://p.sf.net/sfu/devconference
_______________________________________________
Perp-developers mailing list
[e-mail]
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[Nathan Gray-7]

On 11/5/09, constant <john@...> wrote:
>
> .
> Further thought......... If there was a running EGW/pERP available to those
> able to help, there could be consistent data, which would be a really good
> look.

That's the thing.  If we had a running system available, we could use
it for all sorts of things.  It could be copied regularly to
demo.projecterp.org, we could take screenshots for documentation, come
up with training programs based on it, etc.

If you can come up with the data, I can get it available to all.

> Other further thought.......... Video with no sound could have voice over
> done in any language.  So initially it's just getting the video which on
> it's own would be of value(I think).

That might not work, as the text on screen would still be English...

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[constant]

Hi Nathan,

Would it be possible for another sub domain to be setup, maybe doc.egroupware.org?  With controlled access to people helping with documentation so the data stays "clean".

If the available chart of accounts could be installed, I'd be willing to do the admin and preferences for AR, AP, PM, TS, SO, and inventory.  I could also add some data.  My thought is we would only need a few customers, suppliers, and inventory items to be able to create manufactured goods, so's, po's, invoices in and out, projects, timesheets, and eventually some gl reports.

Unfortunately, being a mono linguist, any data I provide will only be English.

Nathan Gray-7 wrote:

On 11/5/09, constant <[e-mail]> wrote:
>
> .
> Further thought......... If there was a running EGW/pERP available to those
> able to help, there could be consistent data, which would be a really good
> look.

That's the thing.  If we had a running system available, we could use
it for all sorts of things.  It could be copied regularly to
demo.projecterp.org, we could take screenshots for documentation, come
up with training programs based on it, etc.

If you can come up with the data, I can get it available to all.

> Other further thought.......... Video with no sound could have voice over
> done in any language.  So initially it's just getting the video which on
> it's own would be of value(I think).

That might not work, as the text on screen would still be English...

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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trial. Simplify your report design, integration and deployment - and focus on
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