First OpenBravo Experiences

What is Openbravo

OpenBravo is an open source ERP software, in the same market as Compiere and TinyERP. This post describes my experiences trying OpenBravo to do Sales Order and Purchase Order Process. First thing I notice is that it is built on the Java Platform, and uses PostgreSQL database. There is a little inconvenience because I never really used PostGreSQL before.

 Creating a new company (Organization)

Openbravo's concept were similar to SAP's multi company capabilities. We could create more than one company (organization in OpenBravo's terms) in the ERP syatem. But creating a new company has some hidden challenges.
 First, the newly created company, if it is incomplete, will be unavailable from some screen. It is a little confusing but it is to be expected on a complex ERP system.
We could create a new company from the General Setup : Enterprise Model : Initial Organization Setup menu.  Filling the blanks and the checkboxes, we could create the company in the information system. Afterwards, there is a 'Set as ready' button in the top right corner of the Organization Tab. Clicking on this would allow us to ensure the company is ready to be used.

First Rule: At least one ancestor must be a legal company
This message is alerted to me when we are trying to set a Generic company to be ready. So we should either change this to a Legal company or assign a parent that is a legal company. I chose the first.

Second Rule: A company or its parent must have calendar
The alert message refers to Fiscal calendar that must be configured before using the company. I created the fiscal calendar and periods using Financial Management: Accounting: Setup menu. After the calendar and periods created, it must be attached to the company by enabling the organization's period control and  then selecting the calendar .

Deleting a organization

When I inadvertently created a broken company (Organization), I tried to delete it. OpenBravo complained that there are links that were referencing this entity, so I refer to 'Linked Items' section in the Organization. In the linked items were some rows of data that referenced the  company. I deleted them all one by one. But still the organization could not be deleted.

Creating a Purchase Order

The scenario I'm trying to do is a purchase order scenario where I'm buying service from one of my vendors.

Creating a Business Partner

From menu Master Data Management: Business Partner I tried to create a business partner. But it failed because the business partner category is blank and there is no choice in the drop down menu for Business Partner Category.

Creating Business Partner Category

From the menu Master Data Management: Business Partner Setup: Business Partner Category, I tried to create a category. At first I use the direct-on-grid insert, but the resulting business partner category isn't associated to my new Organization. So the create form must be used instead.

Creating a Business Partner (part 2)

After the business partner category created, the business partner could be created, referencing the category. 

Creating the purchase order

The purchase order menu is in Procurement Management : Transactions : Purchase Order. In my first trial, the business partner created before is not available in the Business Partner drop down menu. It seems that the Customer checkbox is automatically selected when creating the Business Partner. So I must deselect it and enable the Vendor checkbox. But still the Partner Address and Warehouse marked red because there is no drop down item available for them. They are to be created in the next blog post...