Qualian Technologies - Expertise in ERP/POS/CRM/Android Implementation

Openbravo/Orisha Commerce - Building a Reliable Customer Display

2026-07-15T11:19:11.446+05:30

In retail POS systems, the customer display is a small but important part of the checkout experience. It shows the customer what is being scanned, the item quantity, price, discounts, totals, payment status, and sometimes promotional or screensaver content.

Our requirement looked simple at first:

Open a customer-facing display automatically on the second monitor and keep it updated from WebPOS and SCO.

But once we started implementation, the browser security model made this much more complex than expected.

Requirement

The business requirement was to support a browser-based Customer Display for:

WebPOS checkout
SCO, Self Checkout
Customer-facing second monitor
Automatic opening of the display
No repeated display selection by the cashier
Full-screen or app-mode display
Recovery if the display browser is closed
Recovery if the external monitor is disconnected and reconnected
Support for translated labels
Product image display, including SCO-specific image configuration
HTTPS/WSS support
Low memory usage on store machines

The expected behaviour was that the POS application should control the customer display without disturbing the cashier.

Initial Browser-Based Approach

The first approach was to use browser APIs, mainly the Presentation API.

The Presentation API works well when the user manually selects a display. Once selected, the browser creates a presentation session, and the POS can communicate with the display page.

However, we quickly found important limitations.

Challenges With Presentation API

The browser does not allow a web application to automatically select an external display. This is intentional browser security behaviour.

A website cannot silently decide:

Which monitor to use
When to open a second screen
whether to reopen it after a browser restart
whether to bypass the display picker

The browser requires user interaction and display selection because opening windows on external screens can be abused by malicious websites.

We also reviewed PresentationRequest.reconnect(). It can reconnect to an existing active presentation session if the session is still alive. But it does not reliably handle restart cases.

If Chrome is killed, the machine restarts, or the presentation session is closed, the old session is no longer guaranteed to exist. Saving the presentation session ID is useful only while the browser still has an active session. It is not a permanent device binding.

So the Presentation API was not enough for an autonomous retail customer display.

Window Management API Review

We also reviewed the Window Management API. It can help detect screens and position windows, but it still has browser restrictions.

Limitations include:

User permission is required
browser chrome/title bar cannot be fully controlled like a native app
Popup behaviour differs between browsers
Full kiosk-like behaviour is not guaranteed
Support across all major browsers is not consistent

Since our application needs to support multiple browsers and behave reliably in retail stores, this was not the best primary approach.

Why HWM Was Chosen

The better approach was to move the display-control responsibility to HWM (Hardware Manager).

HWM runs locally on the store machine and is not limited in the same way as browser JavaScript. It can launch a browser process using OS-level commands and pass proper launch arguments.

With this approach:

POS communicates with HWM through WebSocket
HWM opens the customer display browser
HWM chooses the screen using the configuration
HWM can use a dedicated browser profile
HWM can prevent duplicate customer display windows
HWM can reopen the display when it is closed
HWM can monitor display/browser health
POS only sends display data, not display-control commands, directly to the browser

This provides greater control and makes the solution suitable for real-world store operations.

HWM-Based Flow

The final flow is:

WebPOS or SCO starts.
The customer display module connects to HWM using WebSocket.
POS sends a OPEN request to HWM.
HWM launches Chrome or Edge with the configured customer display URL.
The browser opens in app/fullscreen mode on the configured screen.
POS sends order updates to HWM.
HWM forwards display data to the customer display page.
Customer display updates item lines, totals, translations, payment state, and screensaver.
If the display is closed or the monitor is disconnected, the HWM watchdog detects this and attempts to reopen it when possible.

Issues Faced and Fixes

Duplicate display windows

Initially, multiple display windows were opening from different flows. We fixed this by adding duplicate prevention and using a dedicated customer display profile.

Display opened on the wrong screen.

This required OS-specific testing. Screen index and secondary display behaviour differ between Mac and Windows. We added configurable properties such as screen mode and screen index.

Browser closed manually

If the customer display browser was closed, HWM now tracks the process/window and can reopen it.

Monitor unplug/replug

When the display cable was disconnected, the old browser session could remain broken. We added an HWM watchdog and force-reopen behaviour. Browser-side unplug detection is kept only as a secondary signal.

Translations not reflected

Translated labels were correctly sent over the socket but not always rendered. We fixed the display update flow so that received labels are applied properly on the customer display page.

Product images in SCO

SCO uses its own image configuration:

ImageDomain
DefaultProductImage
EM_Decim_Imagename

We implemented the same logic for the second display. If the product has an image name, the display builds the image URL from the configured image domain. If not, it uses the default product image.

Large image payloads

Sending full image data through the socket caused performance and rendering issues. We changed the approach to prefer image URLs where possible, rather than large inline image payloads.

HTTPS/WSS

For HTTPS environments, WebSocket also needs to use WSS with trusted certificates. Invalid local certificates caused browser connection errors, so certificate/keystore setup became part of the deployment checklist.

Benefits of the HWM Approach

The HWM approach gave us the control that browser APIs could not provide.

Main benefits:

No browser display picker required
automatic display launch
better recovery from browser close
better recovery from monitor disconnect
configurable browser path/profile
support for WebPOS and SCO
reduced browser API dependency
works better for store restart scripts and daily operations
suitable for low-resource POS machines

Remaining Considerations

HWM must run in a graphical user session. If it runs in a headless or server-only mode, it cannot reliably open a browser on a physical monitor.

Also, true kiosk behaviour depends on the browser and OS launch options. Chrome app mode/fullscreen gives good results, but full control of the title bar and browser UI is still OS- and browser-dependent.

Conclusion

The main lesson from this implementation is that browser APIs are intentionally restrictive in controlling external display. They are good for user-driven presentation flows, but not ideal for autonomous retail POS customer displays.

For a real store environment, HWM is the better architectural owner for display control. The browser-based POS should focus on business data and UI state. At the same time, HWM should handle local machine responsibilities like launching the display, selecting the monitor, preventing duplicates, and recovering from failures.

This separation made the customer display more reliable, more supportable, and better aligned with retail operations.

Orisha Commerce / Openbravo Retail - Recent Works

2025-11-20T11:27:00.004+05:30

We worked on these modules for different clients worldwide.

Tamara Payment Integration in Webpos https://tamara.co/en-sa

Tamara is a “Buy Now, Pay Later” (BNPL) payment service operating in the Middle East (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain) that allows shoppers to split purchases into multiple payments rather than paying the full amount upfront.

AppleCare+ Integration https://www.apple.com/in/applecare

AppleCare+ is Apple’s extended coverage plan for its hardware devices (iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, etc). It adds to the standard warranty and support.

Klarna Payment Integration https://www.klarna.com/us/

Klarna is a Buy Now, Pay Later service that lets you split or delay payments when shopping online. It offers flexible, interest-free payments and easy management via its app.

VIVA Payment Integration https://www.viva.com/en-eu Viva is a digital payment platform that lets businesses accept online and in-store payments. It supports credit/debit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and local methods through its Smart Checkout system. Merchants can integrate Viva via APIs, plugins, or POS systems for web and mobile apps. This provides real-time transaction tracking analytics and secure payment processing. Viva is widely used across Europe for fast, safe, and flexible payment solutions.

Implementation of Complex Asian Fonts in Invoice PDFs. We integrated support for complex Asian fonts (i.e Khmer) in invoice PDFs. This was achieved using open-source libraries that support Unicode and CID-based font embedding. The implementation ensures accurate rendering and layout of multilingual characters. It allows invoices to display diverse scripts without font distortion or encoding issues. As a result, the PDF invoices are now globally compatible and visually consistent.

Qualian Android POSHardwareManager: The Trusted Hardware Bridge for Orisha Commerce (formerly Openbravo WebPOS)

2025-07-30T17:02:00.001+05:30

🧾 Qualian Android POSHardwareManager: The Trusted Hardware Bridge for Orisha Commerce (formerly Openbravo WebPOS)

Qualian Android POSHardwareManager is a secure, Android-based hardware controller developed by Qualian Technologies. It serves as a lightweight yet powerful bridge between Orisha Commerce WebPOS (previously Openbravo WebPOS) and physical POS peripherals such as printers, barcode scanners, and HTTP endpoints.

Designed for field-ready deployment, it is ideal for retail terminals, mobile billing devices, and warehouse operations requiring direct hardware control from Android.

🔧 Core Features

✅ Embedded HTTP(S) Web Server

Launches automatically at device boot
Accepts REST-style commands from local or cloud systems
Enables external triggers for actions like printing

✅ Seamless Bluetooth Printing

Connects directly to ESC/POS-compatible thermal printers
Designed for speed, clarity, and compact report formats
Fully tested in mobile and fixed retail environments

✅ Flexible Report Generation

Converts structured XML input into clean, formatted text
Uses efficient SAX-based XML parsing for performance
Supports receipt layout customization via ReportVO files

✅ Built-in Log Viewer & Share Feature

Includes a “Show Logs” menu to view and share logs easily
Automatically handles storage permissions and URI restrictions
Supports logs in both external-files and cache using Android FileProvider

✅ Auto-Start on Boot

Designed for unattended kiosks or mission-critical tablets
Starts essential services like the web server automatically after boot

🔒 Private Access & Customization

🚫 Qualian Android POSHardwareManager is not an open APK.

If you're interested in:

A hands-on demo
A custom integration for your hardware
Extending it for Android-based Orisha Commerce terminals

👉 Please contact: android@qualiantech.com

🎯 Ideal Use Cases

POS tablets running Orisha Commerce
Retail and logistics companies using custom Android terminals
Embedded printers, scanners, and local device communication
Mobile receipt printing for delivery & warehouse management

🔧 Recent Updates

Fixed NullPointerException in XML report generator
Improved Bluetooth print timing and logging
Secure log sharing enabled via FileProvider
Support for both cache and external file storage

📌 Note on Evolution

This solution was originally built for Openbravo WebPOS, which is now known as Orisha Commerce.

Qualian Android POSHardwareManager continues to offer full compatibility and can be tailored to suit modern Orisha Commerce deployments.

Openbravo Live instance - Known issues and solutions

2015-10-13T18:06:00.000+05:30

Account Tree got mixed up

Impact - Wrong value in Balance sheet and P&l structure report
Reason - Manual error(drag and drop), wrong account type, improper "IsSummary" (folder structure)

Solution:

--All accounts,breakdown,header should have SUMMARY LEVEL yes

select c_elementvalue_id,value,name,elementlevel from c_elementvalue where elementlevel<>'S' and issummary='N'

--check any sub account in summary, if so fix it
select c_elementvalue_id,value,name,elementlevel from c_elementvalue where
elementlevel='S' and issummary='Y'

--subaccount as parent, if so fix it
select node_id,parent_id from ad_treenode where ad_tree_id ='PASS-TREEID-HERE' and parent_id in
(select c_elementvalue_id from c_elementvalue where elementlevel='S')

find tree id using following query
select ad_tree_id,name,treetype from ad_tree where name ilike '%element%';

Product type mixed up

Example : Air ticket. User wrongly created this product as product type "Item" instead of "Expense" and placed Purchase Order. Now user identified error and try to update product as "Expense" .

System won't allow because stock proposal is registered .

Solution:

create or replace function fix_producttype(product_id varchar) returns void as $$

begin

update m_storage_pending set qtyreserved=0.00,qtyordered=0.00 where m_product_id= product_id;

update m_storage_detail set qtyonhand=0.00 where m_product_id= product_id;

update m_product set producttype='E',isstocked='N' where m_product_id= product_id;

end;

$$ LANGUAGE plpgsql;

select m_product_id,value,name from m_product where name ilike '%ticket%' and producttype<>'E'

select producttype(m_product_id) from m_product where name ilike '%ticket%' and producttype<>'E'

Openbravo - Finance Management - Payment OUT Approval feature

2015-03-24T11:02:00.002+05:30

Document Rule

Document Rule window is used to define a rule for providing multilevel approvals for each Document Type.

Payment Out Approval

Payment Out Approval window is used to review and approve Payment Out processed in the system. It will list all the Payment Out which is waiting for user’s approval.

Select the document which need to be approved . On selecting the corresponding line it will open a pop-up as below.

Show History

Clicking on Show History link it will display the approval process and comments.

On clicking the Approve button it will check for the next level approval based on the document rule and it will be available for the next role that need to be approved.
If there is no next level approval then the document will be approved.
On clicking the Rework button it will send back the document to the requester with initial status as “Awaiting Payment” .

Openbravo - Payment Out Approval from thirumalaik

Openbravo Platform - Latest features

2015-01-09T10:24:00.000+05:30

Combined Selector+Record creator:

Release : 3.0 PR14Q4

New selector definition that allows to create new records. Record creation is based on a Process Definition window.

http://wiki.openbravo.com/wiki/How_to_implement_Create_New_In_Selectors

Landed Cost

Release : 3.0 PR14Q4

Landed costs implementation supports allocating additional costs to product receipts and related accounting

http://wiki.openbravo.com/wiki/Landed_Cost

Tree Selector

Release : 3.0 PR14Q2

The Tree Selector described in this manual is a variant of the Openbravo Selector. It can only be applied on tables with trees defined.

Both the implementation of the tree selector and its use is similar to the standard selector. The main difference is that instead of using a grid for the form item drop down and the popup, the Tree Selector uses a tree grid:

Drop down tree:

Popup tree:

http://wiki.openbravo.com/wiki/How_to_Create_a_Tree_Selector

Process Group:

Improve the Process Scheduler to be able to schedule and execute a group of processes as a single unit.

Process Group List

Create a Process inside a Process Group with a sequence number

Process Group List contains the list of processes that are part of the group sorted in a certain order.

http://wiki.openbravo.com/wiki/Process_Group

Code : https://code.openbravo.com/erp/mods/org.openbravo.platform.features/summary

Openbravo - metR - Web based construction ERP

2014-07-24T11:42:00.001+05:30

Designed for today’s challenging environment, metR helps Construction businesses operate more efficiently and improve profitability.

metR ERP is specifically designed to optimize the way a construction company operates in order to ensure continued success even as the company changes and grows. Using metR ERP, your organization can combine several functions into a logical, integrated system that facilitates the flow of information across your organization. metR ERP is designed using a centralized database that facilitates the modelling and automation of basic processes across your organization, eliminating the need for disparate systems maintained by
various units of the organization. metR allows you to control and access data in real time,helping you maximize your profits through better budget and schedule management while reducing the risks of duplicating or losing data entries. We streamline the management processes to provide you with the accurate information you need to assume full control of your day-to-day operations.

Key Features

Tender Management
Role based Workflow Approval support
Project Estimation
Contract Management
Project Planning & Budgeting
Project Execution & Monitoring
Progress Billing Management
Construction Payroll
Labour Management
Inventory Management
Procurement Management
Tools & Equipment Management
Breakdown/Preventive Equipment
Maintenance
Accounting
Executive Dashboard, Widgets
Business intelligence / Reports
Document Management / Attachments
Sub-Contractor portal
Vendor portal

metR key Components and their Features

Construction Master Setup

Multilevel Material Categories and Material management. Virtually it supports
unlimited levels.
Multilevel Equipment Categories, Equipment Type, Equipment and Attachment
management.
Tools Categories and Tool management.
Bill of Quantities (BoQ) template management which will be used for project estimation,
planning and budgeting. Each BoQ will have any one or more of the 5 components
below in its definition.

Labour
Material
Equipment
Tools
BoQ

Expense Type Management for effective Petty Cash Management for the Projects.
Holiday Calendar definition for organization’s public and private holidays.
Indirect Cost Category and Indirect Cost Element Management

Openbravo - Human Resource Management - Qualian HRM User Manual

2014-07-21T12:39:00.002+05:30

Contents

1.0 General Setup

1.1 Holiday Calendar
1.2 HR Calendar

2.0 Company Setup

2.1 Company
2.2 Company Holiday Calendar

3.0 Employee Setup

3.1 Designation
3.2 Working Hour
3.3 Department
3.4 Employee Contract

3.5 Employee
3.5.1 Employee Tab
3.5.2 Employee Identity
3.5.3 Qualification
3.5.4 Certifications
3.5.5 Skills
3.5.6 ID Card
3.5.7 Experience
3.5.8 Dependents

3.6 Employment
3.6.1 Employee
3.6.2 Department
3.6.3 Designation
3.6.3 Asset
3.6.5 Memo
3.6.6 Benefits
3.6.7 IT Declaration
3.6.8 Payroll

4.0 Leave Management

4.1 Leave Type
4.2 Designation-Leave Type
4.3 Leave Request
4.4 Approval Delegation
4.5 Leave Request Approval
4.6 Close Leave Year

5.0 Shift Management

5.1 Shift Definition
5.2 Designation - Shift Assignment
5.3 Shift Roster

6.0 Memo Management

6.1 Memo Setup
6.2 Issue Memo

7.0 Benefits Management

7.1 Medical Insurance Upload

8.0 IT Declaration

Openbravo Singapore Localization - GST

2014-07-16T12:32:00.001+05:30

Qualian - Singapore Localization module - User Manual for GST

We have 2 reports related to GST .

1) GST FORM

2) GST Grouping Details

Let's see how to generate these reports.

We have 3 windows related to GST

1) GST Form Setup

2) GST Form

3) GST Form History

1) Initially configure the GST Form Setup

Navigate to Financial Management >> GST FORM >> GST Form Setup

GST Form Settings – Required for generating GST Form

Standard Tax : Business Partner Tax Category for Standard rate supplies Zero Tax : Business Partner Tax Category for Zero rate supplies

Exempt Tax : Business Partner Tax Category for Exempt rate supplies

Tax Payment Settings – Required for integrating GST form with Openbravo's Tax Payment

Business Partner : Business Partner record for IRAS Currency : Currency of the Client

General Ledger : General Ledger of the Client .

Sales Tax Register : Sales Tax register for recording sales related taxes in Tax Payment. Purchase tax Register : Purchase Tax register for recording sales related taxes in Tax Payment.

Note :

1) Only one record should be available in GST FROM Setup .

2) Business Partners will be considered only if they are associated with any one of the tax selected in the Setup window . (Standard Tax , Zero Tax , Exempt tax )

2) Generate GST Form

Navigate to Financial Management >> GST FORM >> GST Form

Organization : select Organization to which GST Form should generate . (Invoice Organization) From Date : From Date of the GST Form (Invoice Date)

To Date : To Date of the GST Form (Invoice Date)

Click “Pdf Report” button to generate the report .

3) GST Form print will create a record in GST Form history .

GST Grouping Details report will be printed from the GST Form History window .

Navigate to Financial Management >> GST FORM >> GST Form History

Click the print icon to generate Grouping Details Report .

You can see all the invoice,tax details which are used to generate above reports in Tax Payment window.

Download:

Openbravo Challenges - Define Sales price in a volatile market

2014-05-26T10:55:00.000+05:30

Challenge(s):

In Wholesale Fresh and Frozen meat business,market is volatile and product price will fluctuate everyday from -25% to +25% based on supply/demand.
It's difficult or practically impossible for a manager to revise price/price-list every-time based on purchase. Why don't we let system to derive prices automatically? Is it possible?
Sales man should know price limit,sales price,market price to tackle bargain.
System should throw alert if any product sales price is less than product cost and system should notify the same to manager.
In some cases,manager need permission to overwrite sales prices defined by system.
Don't show product if it's not active in sales.(Stock not available,Inactive Brand,etc..)

Solution(s):

Used price-list schema and derived profit margin(list price,unit price)(user configurable) (i.e 2% - 4%)
Mapped pricelist schema with pricelist and applied check boxes "Enforce Price Limit","Price List based on Cost"
Wrote a new scheduler to create product prices based on pricelist schema.
Created a new tab "Warehouse" under pricelist to know about stocked products.
Enabled existing feature "Enforced Price Limit" and updated.
Created an alert and scheduled email to notify manager ( every 5 minutes).
Added check box "Is Manual" to override product price

SCHEDULER RULE:

Remove all not stocked products from pricelist - product price.
Confirmed/added all stocked products from price list - product price.
Use Product cost "COSTING" and update all products price limit,price list and Sales price
If product cost not found(i.e new product,cost not calculated),scheduler will use last purchase price as COST.
Throw an alert if product list price,sales price is zero.
Scheduler will ignore product types "Service","Expense" and "Resource"
Scheduler will ignore products,if "Is Manual" is checked.

Openbravo WebPOS - Customer address management

2014-04-10T14:34:00.003+05:30

Contributed by Qualian Technologies (P) Ltd.

Customer address management and assigning to a ticket

Once customer is selected, system will automatically fetch default address and assigning it to ticket. If customer have multiple address, this can be changed by tapping the customer address button at the top of the ticket (next to customer name) which launches a address picker dialogue where a required address can be selected.

In this modal window, customer address are loaded automatically, which is read only at first. Tapping a address will get assigned to actual ticket. If customer have too many address, we can able to search customer address by name, filling the input text and pressing the magnifying glass button. Choosing New Address, new address can be added. Using the Edit Address, the address can be modified. The Assign to receipt button in New Address, Edit Addresswhich helps us to assign customer and address automatically to receipt after add new or edit address, without returning back to address menu.

To create a new customer address from menu:

Select Customers option in the menu.
Search and select customer which requires new address.
Tap Edit/New Address button in Customer Details popup.
Tap the NEW in the top left corner to add new address.

http://wiki.openbravo.com/wiki/Retail:Web_POS_User_Guide#Customer_address_management_and_assigning_to_a_ticket

Openbravo Retail : WebPOS Credit sales and collection

2013-08-15T13:46:00.003+05:30

Credit sales functionality allows Openbravo WebPOS sales user to complete orders without paying and left it as credit based on customer credit limit/credit used.

To enable it, the POS Terminal Type must be configured.
Also, the Credit Line Limit of the Business Partner must be greater than zero.

If these two conditions are satisfied, a button with label Use Credit will appear in payments section.

Tap the button if the pending amount is wanted to leave as a credit. This process will check against the backend the available credit of the business partner. This quantity would be the difference between Credit Limit and Credit Used. If this amount is greater than the pending quantity of the sales order a confirmation popup will be shown. Pressing "Yes, use credit", the order will be processed. Pressing "Cancel", this action will be canceled.

On the other hand, if the outstanding amount exceeds the available credit, an information popup will be shown giving the information of available credit of the business partner, and it will not allow completing the order.

Source -http://wiki.openbravo.com/wiki/Retail:Web_POS_User_Guide#Credit_Sales

Credit Collection

Once Credit sales is done,customer used balance will be updated and system will ensure,customer is not exceeding his credit limit.Credit sales formula is Credit Value <= Credit Limit - Credit Used.So customer need to pay outstanding amount(credit sales) in time(due date) to reduce credit used value.Currently Openbravo is allowing credit sales via WebPOS but we need to do credit collections via Back Office(limitation in WebPOS). So we faced following issues in implementation,

1.We need more Back Office licenses to do credit collection.

2.Retails user feels difficult to learn,access Back Office UI .End user feels,he need to do some additional work.

3.Time Delay.

4.In Truck sales,sales person is responsible for credit collection.So he need a option to do credit collection via WebPOS and the same need to be reflected in Cash Up process.

To overcome all ,we developed "Credit Collection" functionality in WebPOS. This functionality will allow user to do following operations in WebPOS.

1.Allow payment for credit sales.

2.Able to check receipt wise outstanding amount(credit sales) via separate menu.

3.Allow partial payment and leave remain as credit on existing credit sales receipts.

4.Credit payment amount update in Credit used value.

5.All payment methods are allowed to do payment for credit sales.

6.Allow Over payment(considered as tip and it won't be reflected in Credit Used)

Credit collection pop-up showing all outstanding receipt's(credit sales)

Partial Payment:
Selected Receipt VBS1/0000078 - 169.4 and doing a payment of 160 and leave remain 9.4 as credit.

After payment of 160,Outstanding amount updated as 9.4 for Receipt VBS1/0000078.

Over-Payment:
Allow user to pay 10 Euro against 9.4 Euro and considered remain 0.6 Euro as TIP.

Credit collection menu and paid receipt is not showing now.(ensured)

If anyone interested in Openbravo Retail implementation or Openbravo Construction module MetR,please contact me via thirumalai@qualiantech.com

Qualian Technologies Pvt Ltd - Openbravo Certified Partnerhttp://www.qualiantech.com/qualian_openbravoindia_ERP_contact.php

Openbravo Retail : WebPOS Price Limit Validation

2013-08-04T14:37:00.001+05:30

Openbravo for Retail offers a complete functionality for multichannel retailers, from Sales and Customer Relations to Finance and Operations. Its HTML5 web POS can be run on modern tablet devices, helping to improve dramatically the employees productivity and customer buying experience.

However, Openbravo for Retail is not only intended for pure retailers. Are you a distributor who is struggling with your mobilized sales force? Do you have trucks, and lack of complete control over their inventory levels in order to ensure they can fullfill all orders? Do you want to provide your drivers with a powerful tool that helps them to avoid data entry errors, improve your data quality and therefore provide support for a better decision making process?

If you have answered positively to some of these questions, Openbravo for Retail is also a solution for you !.
More Info @ http://planet.openbravo.com/?p=52313

We deployed Openbravo WebPOS in Truck sales for Wholesale & Retail distribution.So truck sales man face bargain and require option to change price. Normally Sales man will reduce price based on number of quantities,Customer relationship.This is fine but company want to ensure,sales man should have a limit for every product and system shouldn't allow any sales beyond that.So we utilized "Price Limit" in pricelist and created a new module "WebPOS Price Limit Validations".

Case - 1:
Sales man requires price edit option and the system shouldn't allow any sales,less than product price limit.
i)Add preference "Web POS action Change price" to "Y"
ii)Add preference(new) "Web POS Enforce Price Limit" to "Y"

Case - 2
Sales manager requires price edit option and the system shouldn't restrict sales based on price limit.
i)Add preference "Web POS action Change price" to "Y"
ii)Add preference(new) "Web POS Enforce Price Limit" to "N"

It's possible to set preference based on role,user.
http://wiki.openbravo.com/wiki/Preference

Example(case - 1): 1)Avalanche Transceiver ,selling price is "150.5" & Price Limit is "135.45"

2) Sales man selected "Avalanche Transceiver" for sales.

3) Sales man changed price to "125" and got warning from system with detailed information.

4) Once user clicked okay or closed popup,selling price updated back to last value.

What's Next:

Price Limit validation override for certain products.Allow user to sell some products without any price limit(products going to expiry soon) and remain products with Enforce Price Limit(with Validation).New rule logic is product+role, product+user.

We released this module in Openbravo forge as Free Commercial Module(can only be used by Retail - Professional instances)

http://centralrepository.openbravo.com/heartbeat-server/org.openbravo.forge.ui/sso/ForgeModuleDetail?moduleId=041E19607D5B42A7901E26115948A2E9

If anyone interested in Openbravo retail implementation or Openbravo Construction module MetR,please contact me via thirumalai@qualiantech.com

Qualian Technologies Pvt Ltd - Openbravo Certified Partner
http://www.qualiantech.com/qualian_openbravoindia_ERP_contact.php

Openbravo WebPOS - Android - Mobile Bluetooth printer

2013-07-16T01:36:00.003+05:30

Openbravo for Retail offers a complete functionality for multichannel retailers, from Sales and Customer Relations to Finance and Operations. HTML5 web POS can be run on modern tablet devices, helping to improve dramatically the employees productivity and customer buying experience.

If you have answered positively to some of these questions, Openbravo for Retail is also a solution for you !.

Please read more about simple business scenario in following link, Openbravo for Retail for Wholesalers with mobile sales

Do you need to provide a receipt for the mobile sales transaction? The best option in this scenario would be to use a bluetooth printer.Currently Openbravo is not supporting blue-tooth receipt printer.As I mentioned in my last post,we successfully printed Invoice receipt from Android device via Bluetooth(using our own Android Hardware Manager).

http://www.thirumalaik.blogspot.com/2013/06/openbravo-retail-webpos-varaiable.html

We tested this application in "Samsung Galaxy Tab 2" with "Zebra ez320" blue-tooth printer.We hope this application may support all Android devices and blue-tooth printers(If Android driver's already exists ).

I attached some sample screen-shots below.

Application Homepage

Adding all available Printer's

Listing Printer's:

Printer Information:

Mark Printer as default for seamless printing

Harware Manager running in Background:

Hardware Manager - Test

Openbravo WebPos Ticket

After payment ,Hardware Manager showing print options,

Now,we are testing our application with various Hardware's and we are planning to release this application in Google Play,free of cost :)

Very soon,we will release a video about Android mobile blue-tooth printer from our Retail - Hardware labs section.

If you are interested,please drop me an email ,thirumalai@qualiantech.com. I will provide application apk file(POSHardwareManager.apk) for Testing.

If anyone interested in Openbravo retail implementation,please contact us via http://www.qualiantech.com/qualian_openbravoindia_ERP_contact.php

www.qualiantech.com

Openbravo Retail WebPOS - Variable measure Barcode,Bluetooth Printer

2013-06-25T20:40:00.003+05:30

Variable measure Barcode:

Openbravo WebPOS cannot read a variable EAN code that includes information about Item in different format according to GTIN specification. For example an EAN barcode may or may not include product price,product weight. In either case Openbravo WebPOS should be able to find the correct product and price/weight from Barcode.

Since Openbravo WebPOS doesn't support variable measure barcode,we had to do a customization to support it.In our customers case,we have followed
the following format to support the barcode which contains Product code EAN and price/weight.
1-2(identify price(11)/weight(10)) // 3-7 digits product code EAN // 8-12 digits price or weight // 13 check sum

Barcode Implementation with Product code and Price/Weight:

The below example illustrates,how we were able to achieve the barcode Implementation which includes price of the product/weight of the product.

Product code for Chicken is 05187.

Product Code for Tomato is 02398.

Retail store purchased a bulk quantity of chicken, cleaned and packed into small bags.obviously weight will vary for every bag.So we need to bill based on weight and price need to be fetched from DB.Note:chicken price may vary everyday.We used Electronic Label Printer Scale + Barcode Weighing Scale and pasted barcode label on packet.This label have information of Product Name,packed date,Expiry date,etc.

In Billing counter,system will read this barcode and identify weight/product and fetched price from database.In our example,system red Barcode 1001587002505 and identified product as Chicken,quantity as 2.5 . System fetched price 36.50 from database and updated line net price as '701.25' (2.5*36.50)

In Saudi Arabia,people loved to select fruits and vegetables on their own(need to be weighed). Weighing is a time consuming process in final bill counter,so we placed an separate "Electronic Label Printer Scale , Barcode Weighing Scale" for weighing purpose(to speed up process,one weighing machine for every category). This machine is printing a label bar-code along with product name,weight,price per kg,packed date (information for customer) based on defined format and we pasted it on bag cover.

In Billing counter,system will read this barcode and identify price/product based on it. Based on Barcode 1102398005755,system identified product as Tomato,price as 5.75 and skipped the logic of fetching price from database.

Your customers are the reason your company exists: serving and retaining them is essential - Being Human is Good Business by Kristin Smaby
Very soon,we will release a video about variable measure barcode from our Retail - Hardware labs section.

What's Next?
A challenging task of Printing receipts via Bluetooth receipt printer from an Android tablet.We used printer "Zebra ez320" and successfully printed sample receipt without Hardware manager.Now,we are creating our own Hardware Manager for Android.Will get you soon with positive results.

Saudi Arabia - Retail Localization module
We created a Localization retail module for Saudi Arabia including all receipt's ,GS1 rules and barcode label printing.We removed all tax related information from display and also in Receipt .In addition to that,we printed Arabic product names along with English names in all receipt's.

If anyone interested in Openbravo retail implementation,please contact me via thirumalai@qualiantech.com
http://www.qualiantech.com/qualian_openbravoindia_ERP_contact.php

Qualian Retail RoadMap;
1.Employee Login Authentication via magnetic card reader.
2.Saudi Arabia - Payment gateway Integration
3.Variable measure barcode - User configurable screen
4.GS1 Integration (identifying Vendor and products)
5.Truck Sales - Hardware solution( Tablet/Mobile + Blue tooth printer + Blue tooth bar-code scanner)

Reference;
1.http://wiki.openbravo.com/wiki/POS_-_Reading_variable_measure_barcode

Openbravo for Retail - Openbravo WebPOS

2013-05-26T12:37:00.004+05:30

General Questions

What is Openbravo for Retail?

Openbravo for Retail is the Openbravo’s commercial offering for the Retail industry, providing a complete and modular multichannel retail solution, for supporting both the Channel and Head Office operations. Thanks to its breadth and robust platform, Openbravo for Retail can help any kind of retailer leverage IT to drive better business results:

Brick-and-mortar retailers, seeking a modern retail solution to improve operations and customer experience, while also providing support for opening the web channel. In this case, retailer can decide to adopt the complete solution or just integrate the new generation POS ready to be used with iPad or Android devices and with strong Store Operations management capabilities , with its legacy retail management system, with a single integration point.
E-Commerce retailers, seeking a back office solution to improve their logistic and financial processes
Franchisors, seeking a scalable solution with a clear cost model for their current or new franchisees and owned stores, to increase their network performance and reduce time-to-market when adding and opening new stores
Retailers seeking a solution to support international operations, with multi-language and multi-accounting schema capabilities

What does Openbravo for Retail include?

Openbravo for Retail is a multichannel retail management system, comprehensive and modular, for managing an entire Retail business, from Sales and Customer Relationships to Financials and Operations, across different channels. Based in the powerful Openbravo 3 platform, Openbravo for Retail delivers:

A full web based solution
A best in class productive user interface
A modular solution
A fully interoperable platform

Openbravo for Retail Solution business footprint includes:

Merchandise lifecycle management : items management, pricing, assortments
Supply chain management : procurement, warehouse and dc management, merchandise distribution
Multichannel : support for brick and mortar, e-commerce, wholesale
Enterprise management : financials, human resources, document management, e-learning support, CRM

Get here a detailed document about the solution description. Visit our on-line resources to learn more about our solution:

What is the price for Openbravo for Retail?

Openbravo for Retail has a highly competitive, clear and simple pricing model, which helps Retailer for having a clear picture about the expected costs through the whole solution lifecycle.
With a simple model based on the number of Backoffice users and POS terminals, a Retailer can start from a minimum yearly price of 1.675,00 € (Zone 1) including one POS terminal, and without needing to pay for initial licenses. From here, retailers can grow by simply adding additional Backoffice users at 500,00€ (Standard edition) or POS terminals at 175,00€ (Standard edition).
Are you interested in having a huge number of terminals? Check our volume discounts starting on 100 terminals, and finally if needed, Unlimited, with an unbeatable yearly price.
Do you want to focus on your business and forget about any hardware problems? Try On Demand, offering the maximum flexibility in terms of invoicing and users provisioning, starting from a mininum monthly price of 136,00€ (with one POS terminal), and including solution hosting.
And because we are really proud about our customers and want to create a long term relationship, from second year and ahead, a loyalty discount of 15% over the total subscription price and on top of the existing discounts will apply (not applicable for OnDemand). More detailed pricing information, with the pricing dependent on where you are browsing from.

What is the Retail Backoffice?

It is an Openbravo instance for supporting backoffice processes, at any retailer organizational level, for example Stores, Warehouses or Distribution Centers or the Central Head Office. Subscription for the Backoffice is based on users (concurrent, named or unlimited depending on the subscription type).

What is a POS Terminal?

A POS Terminal is a device running the Openbravo POS module, connected to the Openbravo Back Office (an Openbravo instance). It could be also possible from this terminal to access to the Back Office. It could be a fixed (PC, laptop) or a mobile (tablet) terminal. A terminal subscription is asigned to a concrete terminal and can’t be shared with another one. It could be possible to move it, and then leaving the first terminal unsubscribed.

Which deployment options are available for Openbravo for Retail?

As a vertical build on top of the Openbravo 3 platform, Openbravo for Retail can be deployed under the same scenarios that the standard Openbravo platform : On Premise, Hosted, in the Cloud or as a service with OnDemand.

Do you recommend a specific deployment option for Openbravo for Retail?

Openbravo On Demand may be particularly attractive to many retailers, who often face these common requirements and challenges:

Highly distributed scenarios, e.g. multiple stores and mobile requirements
Easy to integrate Web POS with existing back office through a single, secure web services based integration point in the cloud
Seasonality aspects, along with the typical retail HR challenges (many part time employees or peak times require ability to cost-effectively scale up or down on demand)
Quick up-and-running for new store openings, due to back office being implemented as a managed cloud service
IT staff reduction or time invested in higher value activities
Big Data influence, being able to access to more powerful servers offering higher analytics capabilities at a lower cost

I run international operations. Can Openbravo for Retail help me?

Yes. Openbravo for Retail provides full international operations support, thanks to its multi-language, multi-currency and multi-schema accounting.

I would like my suppliers to work more closely to my business. Could I give them acces to our system for example for Category Management or VMI scenarios?

Yes. Openbravo for Retail is a full web solution, therefore enabling retailers to implement new collaboration scenarios with your suppliers and partners by giving them access to your system. In this way, you can for example implement procurement strategies like Category Management or Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) with your suppliers, or give more visibility to your customers about the status of their orders, let them modify personal data…

Is there a minimum number of backoffice users or terminals with Openbravo for Retail?

Openbravo for Retail has a different fee based on the subscription type. For each fee and depending on this subscription type, a number of users are included. Additional users can be purchased:

Standard Pricing : Initial fee includes up to 3 concurrent users
Enterprise Pricing : Initial fee includes up to 10 concurrent users
Unlimited Pricing : It includes unlimited concurrent users
OnDemand : Initial fee includes up to 3 named users

More detailed pricing information.

Is there a maximum number of backoffice users or terminals with Openbravo for Retail?

No. Customers can have as many backoffice users and terminals as they want.

Can I install additional modules with Openbravo for Retail?

Yes. Openbravo for Retail uses an Openbravo instance and customers can install there any module they want, including commercial modules.

Can I customize my Openbravo for Retail?

Absolutely, you can. The objective of Openbravo for Retail is to reduce your need of customization, but it does not limit at all your capacity to adapt it to your very specific needs. Any adaptation you can do in Openbravo core can be done, using the same tools and means, in Openbravo for Retail.

Which POS peripherals are supported?

Openbravo POS is designed to support multiple type of peripherals. Learn more about POS peripherals in the Hardware_and_Peripherals_Guide.

Does Openbravo POS support credit card payments?

Yes. Credit card payments are managed in conjunction with a multifunctional payment terminal, which communicates with a payment gateway. Different card types or transactions (like credit, debit, Chip&Pin) can be supported depending on the terminal type and payment processor. An integration with the desired terminals or payment gateway will typically be needed. Openbravo for Retail includes the core components that let integrate easily with any payment gateway (it may depend on the banks used by the retailer). Note that a payment gateway is usually only possible to use for a single country or a limited number of countries. For implementations that integrate an E-Commerce platform integrated with Openbravo for Retail, payments are typically managed directly by the E-Commerce platform payment component.

I have already a Retail system, and I’m seeking for a new system for supporting my Store operations. Can I integrate Openbravo for Retail with my existing system?

Yes. Openbravo for Retail is a modular and fully interoperable retail solution. In case you are only seeking for a system to support your store operations, it is possible you set up your system for that, and integrate it with your current retail system.

I’m an E-Commerce retailer with an existing E-Commerce platform. Can I integrate it with Openbravo for Retail?

Yes. Openbravo for Retail benefits from the powerful interoperabilities of the Openbravo 3 platform. Thanks to its complete web services layer, you can integrate your existing E-Commerce platform with the Openbravo for Retail server. Visit our Exchange to find existing connectors with E-Commerce platforms, such as the following Magento connectors:

When is Openbravo for Retail available?

Now! Visit our website and request a free Trial License.

Source:
http://wiki.openbravo.com/wiki/Retail:Frequently_asked_Questions

Contact us ; thirumalai@qualiantech.com

Openbravo ERP - Consignment Sales Management

2012-10-05T12:36:00.004+05:30

Consignment sales management is a native Openbravo module that allows you to easily manage inventory at customer locations, invoicing your customer only when product is actually sold. In this type of streamlined trading arrangement between partners, you retain ownership of the stock until the final sale, and payment is not made until there is a sale. Unsold stock is returned back to you, without any money changing hands.

Consignment Sales is suitable for new product, used goods and new marketplace sellers. The module fully supports all standard consignment business process flows--directly inside of Openbravo!

A consignment sales process is used when you (the consignor) send goods to a selling agent (the consignee), and retain ownership until the final sale. The business process flow in Consignment Sales consist of four major parts:

Consignment Fill-up
Consignment Issue
Consignment Returns
Consignment Pick-up
Consignment Loss

Consignment Fill-up

Consignment Fill-up covers the replenishment of your stock at the customer site. The two steps up:

Consignment Fill-up Order
The order is a request from your customer (typically through a sales representative of your company), based on the demand of the product in market. This order does not involve any pricing (only quantities), and will not result in invoicing.
Consignment Fill-up Delivery
The delivery records the movement of the goods out of current stock, to the customer site. Even after the goods have been delivered, you will retain the ownership until the goods are sold.

Consignment Issue

Consignment issue records the sale, enabling the customer to sell the product from the stock available in their warehouse. This business transaction is relevant for billing (your customer now owes you money), because the customer has sold the goods.

Consignment Returns

The Consignment returns process enables the customer to return the goods into the consignment stock that were already taken out of it. After consignment Issue, if the end customer finds any defects or any discrepancies, they can return the product to consignment stock. This transaction is relevant for billing since your customer receives a credit for the returned goods.

Consignment Pick-up

If not all of the consignment inventory has been sold, the remaining products may be returned back to your warehouse. The two steps involved in this Consignment Pick-up process are:

Consignment Pick-up Order
Based on products not utilized at the customer location, your Sales representative or some other in-charge person will place a pickup order.
Consignment Pick-up Delivery
Based on a pickup order, the person in charge from your company takes the remaining products from the customer location and stores them in your warehouse.

Screenshots

Please contact me,if you are interested in this module.

thirumalai@qualian.in

Fifth year in Qualian with Openbravo:Travel in the Marines

2012-05-28T11:46:00.000+05:30

I successfully completed my fourth year in Qualian with Openbravo.Now I entered into Fifth year and I'm very happy with my progress.

Thanks to Senthil and company for giving lot of responsibilities.WOW !!!,What a surprise growth in my career along with Openbravo.

ERP is a Ocean and just I learnt to swim,waving boats.Now,The ship is built and I need to travel in the marines :)

My Ship name is MetR,A solution for construction Industry in Openbravo ERP.

Consignment Sales Management

2011-09-12T15:19:00.001+05:30

Qualiantech developed an extension module named Consignment Sales Management for handling Consignment Sales process.

This module is registered in Openbravo forge and Qualian have a plan to release it in Openbravo Exchange,probably by next week.

http://forge.openbravo.com/projects/consignmentsales

Functional Specification Document
Contents

1 Functional Specification: Consignment Sales Management
1.1 Section 1: Overview & Justification
1.1.1 Purpose:
1.2 Section 2: Users & Business process description
1.2.1 User goals
1.2.1.1 Consignment Fill-up
1.2.1.1.1 Consignment Fill-up Order
1.2.1.1.2 Consignment Fill-up Delivery
1.2.1.2 Consignment Issue
1.2.1.3 Consignment Returns
1.2.1.4 Consignment Pick-up
1.2.1.4.1 Consignment Pick-up Order
1.2.1.4.2 Consignment Pick-up Delivery

Functional Specification: Consignment Sales Management
Section 1: Overview & Justification
Purpose:

Consignment sales is a form of business in which, as a service to the customer (Eg. A Retail Store), the company or vendor maintains a stock of their materials at a customer’s location. The company or vendor retains ownership of the materials until they are withdrawn from the consignment stores. The customer is only charged for product once it is reported as used.

Module Name = “Consignment Sales Management”
Module language = English and Spanish translation
Module url = [1]
Module author = Qualian Technologies
Module License=OB Commercial License

Section 2: Users & Business process description
User goals

In trading arrangement, Consignment sales play a vital role in placing any material in the hand of another. Business process flow in Consignment Sales consists of four major parts. They are

Consignment Fill-up
Consignment Issue
Consignment Returns
Consignment Pick-up

Consignment Fill-up

The core functionality of Consignment Fillup explains that the stocks can be replenished at the customer site is not accounted for neither invoicing nor pricing because the goods remain the property of your company. The two steps involved in consignment Fill up are

Consignment Fill-up Order
Consignment Fill-up Delivery

Consignment Fill-up Order

It’s a request from the customer through the sales representative of your company based on the demand of the product in market. So it doesn’t involve any invoicing or pricing of the product.

Consignment Fill-up Delivery

After the company has received a fill up order either from customer or through sales representative, the company shall deliver the goods at the customer site based on current stock. Even after the goods have been delivered, the company will retain the ownership until the goods are sold.

Consignment Issue

Consignment issue involves & explains the significant process of selling the goods. It enables the customer to sell the product from the stock available in their warehouse. This business transaction is relevant for billing from company to customer because the customer has sold the goods.

Consignment Returns

Consignment returns enables the customer to return the goods into the consignment stock that were already taken out of it. After consignment Issue, if customer finds any defects or any discrepancies they can return the product to consignment stock. This transaction is relevant for billing since the customer receives a credit for the returned goods.

Consignment Pick-up

After the products have been sold, the remaining consignment goods have to return back to the warehouse of your company.The two steps involved in consignment Pick-up are

Consignment Pick-up order
Consignment Pick-up delivery

Consignment Pick-up Order

Based on products not utilized at customer location, Sales representative or some other in-charge person will place a pickup order.

Consignment Pick-up Delivery

Based on pickup order,the person in charge from company takes the remaining products from customer location and stored it in the warehouse of the company.

http://forge.openbravo.com/plugins/mwiki/index.php/ConsignmentSales/Functional_Specification_Document

http://forge.openbravo.com/plugins/mwiki/index.php/ConsignmentSales/User_Manual

208 reasons to choose Openbravo

2010-10-13T17:10:00.003+05:30

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Source:
http://paolojuvara.blogspot.com/2010/10/208-reasons-to-choose-openbravo.html

Two key reasons to choose an open source solution over another is the vibrancy of its ecosystem of developers and the amount of contributions that project receives from its community. Projects with more contributors evolve faster deliver more value to its users.

Architecture is a key factor in stimulating contributions and projects with a modular architecture have proven to generate a livelier ecosystem than monolithic ones. This is primarily because modular systems allow decoupled and independent development lowering the barrier to contribution.

Openbravo launched its modular architecture in April 2009, when it introduced release 2.50; in less than 18 months the population of available modules passed the symbolic threshold of 200 units.

Today, Openbravo's ecosystem sports 208 generally available modules with a growth rate of 104% in the first 9 months of the year. More importantly, more than 47% of these modules are developed by third party with no or little support by the core Openbravo development team, proving the efficiency of the ecosystem.

While these are impressive numbers, one has to look at the details to understand the value of these contributions for Openbravo end users:

* 108 modules related to localization in 20 countries; these are not only translations but also accounting rules, tax configurations, tax reports, etc.
* 45 are functional extensions that expand the footprint of Openbravo to support other business processes
* 25 are reports that allow to better leverage the information existing within the ERP
* 7 are tools to simplify the life of System Administrators
* 6 are vertical features or solutions that address needs specific of sectors such as hospitality, apparel, healthcare, or higher education
* 4 are connectors to other applications or services
* 4 are alert rules informing users of anomalies in the data patterns in their business
* 3 are skins

Another interesting dimension of analysis is the usage, measured in terms of downloads, which illustrated by the three charts below.

Finally, a key value of the Openbravo ecosystem is its continuity: it is very easy to port modules from one version to the next. This is illustrated by the chart below showing that 25% of the modules are already compatible with both 2.50 and the newly launched 3.0.

The next time you are evaluating an open source solution, consider its ecosystem as well. In the case of Openbravo, you will find 208 additional reasons to choose it as your ERP.

The Family Grid – part II

2010-07-13T17:04:00.001+05:30

by Rob Goris

Simple, real-time business intelligence by manipulating grids

Reporting is an essential part of everyday business and therefore an essential part of an ERP. Today´s businesses need relevant, up-to-date, accurate and consumable metrics that help them make the right decisions. Traditionally, reports are generated once in a while (month, quarter) and are exported to PDF for printing & annotating or Excel for further manipulation. Reports are used in presentations and meetings to look at past performance, understand the status quo and project future performance. The danger lies in the choice of dimensions and the interpretation of the data. Reports are static and generated as a one-off document with a set of dimensions, normally defined by a ready-made SQL query or via a visual query builder. Openbravo´s Sales Dimensional Reports allow the user to choose a number of filters and dimensions and even the sorting order can be set. This works well if the user knows in advance what metrics she is looking for and what data set she wants to look at. The drawback is that it does not allow analyzing the data in realtime by changing the filters and dimensions and looking at the impact on the results while doing so.

A while ago, in the Family Grid, I have presented a fairly abstract idea for basic business intelligence functionality by combining parent and child data in one grid, joining grids and filtering and aggregating columns. Now, I´d like to show you a more simplified version of this idea.

The Family Grid II scenario (download it here) lets the user view sales orders in one grid and a set of order lines for all of these in the other. Both the sales order grid and the order lines grid can be filtered on any attribute using column filters. Columns containing numerical values can be aggregated (sum, count, average, median). The grids can be joined (inner or outer join) with the click of a button which, for example, lets the user find all sales order that contain a certain product (or all sales that do not contain that certain product). Final result sets can be exported to Excel or PDF and the view (which is in fact a query rather than a report) can be saved for reuse.

It should be noted that this approach does not intend to replace traditional reporting because many SQL queries just cannot be build using the Family Grid. However, I believe that this way of manipulating grids is very powerful and can lead to insights that can be hard to discover using traditional one-way reporting. Playing with a data set in real time using parent and child grids, filters, aggregations and joins with an easy-to-use GUI lets non-expert users unlock the power of data in an ERP without having to invest in hi-end business intelligent software.

Are you as convinced as I am about the business value of this feature? Discuss it here.

By the way, we´re not happy with the name of this functionality. Family Grid does not cover it really. What about RapidGrid, GridSift, PowerGrid, Data Distiller, Metrix, EasyAnswer, RapidAnswer, IntelliGrid, "Openbravo RapidEdge Edition – the fastest way to start a competitive edge", "PerfectGrid - the fast & simple way to your information"?

source:
http://planet.openbravo.com/

Packaging Openbravo 3.0 as a distribution

2010-06-30T12:23:00.004+05:30

by Paolo Juvara

Openbravo 3.0 is going to be a landmark release for the Openbravo ecosystem for many reasons, ranging from improved functionality to a completely revised platform.

As the first release candidate milestone of Openbravo 3.0 approaches (the target release is July 2010), I would like to take the time to explore one specific area of innovation: the packaging and delivery of the product.

Unlike previous releases, where Openbravo was offered as a monolithic product on top of which users could install extensions, Openbravo 3.0 is going to be delivered as "distribution" of modules. By distribution, I mean a collection of modules - one of which is Core - selected and integrated to achieve the desired functional footprint of the release.

This approach presents several advantages, including a smoother upgrade for 2.50 users and the ability to reuse 2.50 modules in 3.0. The following presentation illustrates the concept.

Evolution to 3.0

View more presentations from pjuvara.

Leveraging the modular architecture of 2.50, we have been providing extension modules on top of Core. Some of those extensions are technology oriented, like the Seam Integration or the new User Interface Selector, while others, like Advanced Payables and Receivables, are functional in nature. In both cases, these are pre-3.0 features that can be deployed as modules on top of 2.50.

We can continue to release such modular components until we have all the building blocks we need for 3.0.

This is an effective way to add new capabilities but for 3.0 we also need to remove some unwanted features from Core, in some cases because it is obsolete functionality and in other cases because it is more appropriate as a module rather than a core feature.

Removing functionality is tricky: if we eliminate the code, in fact, we take the risk of breaking a dependency for an existing module therefore negating the objective of ensuring a smooth upgrade and the durability of modules. To avoid this problem, we will improve the License Manager capabilities of Core: currently the License Manager is the technology that allows us to distinguish between a Community Edition and a Professional Edition; we intend to enhance its capabilities to allow us to securely hide unwanted features and ensuring that they cannot be accidentally re-enabled. While still physically present, the unwanted features will be for all intents and purposes de-activated.

Leveraging this technology, we can deliver Openbravo 3.0 as a "template" that combines all the desired modules, plus a configuration script that defines the default configuration of the system.

We have already followed a similar approach for QuickStart, one of the professional solutions that we developed for our partners in 2.50 and we will apply the same technique for 3.0.

Using our 3.0 distribution as starting template, it is then possible to add further configuration scripts and provide additional specializations. In this respect, this packaging approach provides a nice balance between the base product and its vertical specializations as both solutions share the same development and distribution approach.

There are some obvious benefits to this approach:

Easy upgrade for 2.50 users to 3.0: technically, an upgrade is reduced to the installation of additional modules and a configuration template (of course, there are many non technical aspects involved with an upgrade, but avoiding technical problems already simplifies the challenge)
Guaranteed durability of modules: all of the 2.50 modules will be able to work in 3.0 as well because none of their dependencies is altered.
Opportunity to gather early feedback on 3.0: we do not need to have 100% of the functionality ready to start exposing it to our community. In fact, many of the 3.0 modules have already been independently available for several months and went through their own feedback and stabilization cycle.
Reduced maintenance cost for 2.50: since 2.50 and 3.0 share a common Core, the cost of maintenance will be largely reduced.

I have been using in this post the term "distribution" to describe this approach. This is a term that I liberally borrow from the Linux world, where a distribution, like Ubuntu, Red Hat, or SUSE, etc., is a collection of software packages including the Linux Kernel, a window manager, a desktop environment and other software. This model has proven very successful for Linux and a year ago I discussed how modularity could enable the same approach for Openbravo.
With 3.0 we fully embrace the distribution approach, coming to a full circle and confirming our commitment to build the ecosystem of reference in the open source ERP space.

source: http://planet.openbravo.com/

Consona acquires Compiere – What about the Community?

2010-06-23T09:44:00.001+05:30

Source:planet.openbravo.com
by Paolo Juvara

Last Wednesday the open source ERP community woke up with the news of the Consona acquisition of Compiere, one of the pioneers in open source ERP. The text of the announcement can be found here.

Since the announcement, many observers and commentators started a debate on whether this is a victory for open source or the sad demise of one the pioneers of the open source ERP category. Many also speculated on what might be in the store for the product, with most people interpreting the transaction primarily as a technology acquisition.
A recurring theme among commentators is that Compiere failed to embrace its community.

With such a symbolic event fresh in our mind, it is time to reflect on how Openbravo facilitates the development of its own community.

Last year I had commented on Adam Blum's post on The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Open Source Products. An effective open source product must display "a credible community with a credible effort to involve the community in the development of the product, as described in Adam's seven habits:

Public source viewing
Common license
Public source code checkins
Public bugs
Public forums
Anyone can contribute

Public, complete and modifiable documentation"

How does Openbravo measures against Adam's seven habits?

Openbravo offers public source viewing at http://code.openbravo.com

Openbravo adopts a common license with the Openbravo Public License being a common variation of the popular Mozilla Public License
Openbravo offers public source code checkins available either at http://code.openbravo.com, through the openbravo-commit mailing list, or on the #openbravo IRC channel on freenode.net.

Openbravo offer a public issue tracker at http://issues.openbravo.com where any community member can view or report issues

Openbravo hosts and moderates public forums on the Openbravo Forge mirrored on SourceForge.
Openbravo accepts open contribution through a documented process either in the form of extension modules, core contributions or in many other ways.
Openbravo maintains a public, complete and modifiable documentation available in the wiki.

But it does not stop there:

Openbravo offers a public road map.

Openbravo engages with its community on the direction of the product.

Openbravo offers full visibility of the progress of its development process.

Openbravo engages with its community in the design of upcoming features.

Openbravo supports its community not only through forums but also through the #openbravo IRC channel on freenode.net.

Openbravo engages with its community of developers through the openbravo-developer mailing list.
Openbravo educates its community on its latest version with frequent public webinars.
Openbravo hosts monthly open community meetings (see the log of the May session as an example).
Openbravo goes beyond public source checkins and offers public visibility of the testing of those checkins and how they get integrated into the product through our continuous integration infrastructure.

Openbravo engages its community of users through a collaborative QA process supported by an open test case repository.

Openbravo offers a public collaboration space with the Openbravo Forge.

Openbravo hosts and moderates a wiki that contains more than 3,000 articles, with 1,300 monthly edits, and servers around 35,000 unique monthly visitors.

Last but not least:

Openbravo has formalized its commitment to its community through the Openbravo Manifesto.
Openbravo has adopted a business model that does not divorce its Community Edition users from its Professional Edition solutions but embraces the usage of the Community Edition. There is an easy and smooth transition path for those community users that are ready to enjoy the increased benefits of the Professional Edition. Similarly there is freedom of choice for developers and service providers to distribute their development either as open source or with a commercial license.

Openbravo invests a significant amount of resources to provide the infrastructure, the leadership and the coordination around the community. This is part of our DNA and consistent with one of our core beliefs that openness is a requirement to build successful products, and that leveraging the domain expertise of a global community is the only way to build a product that fits the needs of all SMEs.

The results of these efforts are a community that is lively, growing and productive.

Looking at the public SourceForge statistics - which are public and independent -, for the period of May 2010:

Activity ranking: 2
Forum post: 655 (and this does not include any of the hundreds of discussions in the Openbravo Forge other than the core ones)
Downloads: 23,845 (and this does not include the 2,480 downloads from the Ubuntu repository nor any of the thousands of downloads of extension modules from our own Central Repository)

If we consider other data, we can observe that:

The Openbravo community is large and growing, with 10,426 registered members at the end of May and increasing at a pace of over 300 new members per month.

The Openbravo community is engaged giving us feedback on the product, with anywhere between 20 and 30% of the defect and new feature requests reported in any given month coming from the open community.

The Openbravo community is productive, with 361 public projects registered in the Openbravo Forge at the end of May and managed by our community.

The Openbravo community is effective, having produced as of the end of May 161 modules distributed through the Central Repository to the entire ecosystem of users.

The Openbravo community is still young and we still have a way to go before we can consider it fully mature. However, if you are looking for an open source ERP community that is welcoming, lively, engaging, productive and that does not create ideological or practical barriers between open source and commercial usage of the product, you should give Openbravo a try.

What does Consona's acquisition of Compiere mean?

2010-06-22T10:33:00.000+05:30

Source:

http://openingerpsfuture.blogspot.com/2010/06/what-does-consonas-acquisition-of.html

Friday, 18 June 2010,Posted by Manel Sarasa

What does Consona's acquisition of Compiere mean?

Since the announcement of Consona’s acquisition of Compiere, many people have asked me for my thoughts and comments. What does this deal mean for the open source ERP market, the ERP industry as a whole, and for the Openbravo community? I am keen to answer these questions and share my thoughts.

First, my interpretation of the nature of the acquisition. Everything I have read and heard about it reveals that the driving rationale for Consona was to acquire the technology, and not the open source element of Compiere, and so I predict this will mean the end for Compiere's community. Am I happy about that? No, not at all. Besides the disruption that this will bring to many people, I am a firm believer that at this stage the more successful open source ERP companies there are, the better. This is not good news at any level.

My second observation is about the predictability of this end game. Compiere's business model, organization and management style - specifically in product development, sales strategy and channel management – always resembled that of a traditional proprietary vendor, rather than one suited to an open source provider. Open source must never be used merely as a marketing tool - if you don't believe in open source and invest heavily in its development, then you don't create an open source culture within the project team and therefore cannot leverage its many benefits. Open source isn’t something you can just dabble in.

But I would like to sign off with some positive messages for the open source ERP industry. At Openbravo we are as excited and positive as ever. Open source has always been and will always be the very core of our business. This dedication and commitment is what helped us lead this market. Our purpose is to improve the efficiency of businesses around the world by bringing an ERP to every company. And for this reason our ambition has always been to create the leading web-based open source ERP company. We are strong believers that horizontal ERPs are a commodity and should be free; that value is in the services and industry specific solutions; and that openness and a strong community is a requirement for building better software in the 21st century. Success with open source ERP requires a collaborative, organic approach that unleashes synergies between the community and commercial use of the product, without artificial barriers. Rest assured that we will continue making it happen.

Ultimately, this acquisition means one less open source ERP player, reaffirming Openbravo’s leadership in this market and our genuine commitment to it.

Review: For ERP, Is It Time To Applaud Openbravo?

2010-05-26T14:30:00.000+05:30

Source:

http://www.crn.com/software/207200738;jsessionid=E4TPAKMJ3K5XPQE1GHRSKHWATMY32JVN?pgno=1

By Fahmida Y. Rashid, CRN

10:27 AM EDT Tue. Apr. 15, 2008

Think of any proprietary platform, and there is an open-source alternative, whether it's an operating system or a database, or even, yes, an ERP system. Enterprise resource planning software is used for operational planning, including managing orders, inventory, accounting, and logistics. Long dominated by industry giantsOracle (NSDQ: ORCL) and SAP (NYSE:SAP), ERP deployments are generally associated with the large enterprise. Open source ERP systems bring the technology within reach of the small and midsize enterprises, and all the way down to the small business. There are a handful of open source ERP solutions that can be considered business-ready --- thorough documentation, extensive technical and customer support, and a regular release schedule. Openbravo ERP, from Spanish company Openbravo is one. The Test Center deployed the Web-based ERP and discovered a fully functional system that supports procurement and warehouse management, project and service management, production management, and financial management. It also supports BI and CRM. Designed for the SME, Openbravo ERP is flexible, scalable, and affordable.
A big concern about open source has always been about interoperability: would it work with what's already in production? Openbravo ERP eases those concerns somewhat, supporting both proprietary Oracle (10g) and open source PostgreSQL databases. Openbravo ERP is Java-based and requires several Apache products. At this point, Microsoft-centric customers with SQL Server databases, .NET framework, and IIS, won't be feeling the Openbravo love, but they are probably looking at Microsoft Dynamics ERP, anyway. However, Openbravo does run on servers running Microsoft Windows XP, 2000, 2003 Server.
Openbravo is different from other open-source ERP in that its interface is entirely Web-based. The user can view production information, inventory, customer information, order tracking, and workflow information all from a Web browser. This simplifies access, since authorized users don't have to wait for special client software to be installed on their computers. As most Web applications, the interface is intuitive and menu options are easily accessible. Various management options are organized as menus, such as sales, procurement, and production. Clicking on the option opens up all the associated tasks in a drop-down. For example, transactions such as sales and shipment orders are accessible under the Sales Management menu. Each task window is icon-driven, and the icons are pictorially easy to understand. Reports are easy to create and there are several templates, as well as the ability to create customized ones. The reports and data can be exported toMicrosoft (NSDQ: MSFT) Excel or saved as PDF.
Openbravo spent a lot of time designing the architecture the ERP is constructed on. The metadata-driven engine is based on a 2002 version of another open-source ERP project, Compiere. Openbravo improved upon the engine, and consists of only 10 percent of the code base, according to the company's Web site. The entire system is constructed on two development frameworks: the Model-View-Controller and Model-Driven-Development. Under MVC, data is manipulated by controllers, not directly by the user. By referencing a data model dictionary, the application engine can automatically recompile and rebuild whenever the administrator makes a change. And MDD allows models of code for user-created code. These two models simplify integration with other programs.
Deploying Openbravo ERP requires getting all the supporting applications installed and configured first. Test Center used a Debian 4.0r3 Etch server. Openbravo has been tested on other Linux flavors as well, including Red Hat Enterprise Linux, CentOS,Novell (NSDQ: NOVL) SUSE, Canonical's Ubuntu and Fedora. The testing server already had the latest Java and Ant installed; solution providers would have to remember to install them beforehand. Ant is an Apache software tool that automates software builds for Java files (similar to make).
Because it's a Java-based application, Openbravo also requires Tomcat, an Apache Web container that specifically handles Java Servlet and JSP. For the database backend, PostgreSQL was installed on the test server.
Once the individual components are in place, the actual Openbravo ERP installation is script-driven. Openbravo is distributed with all source code developed by Openbravo and few third-party libraries. The script requires information about the database server, such as IP address, username, and port, and about the system, such as the Web URL. Once the script completes, the Openbravo ERP is accessible by pointing the browser to the specified URL.

Deployment is where solution providers can really provide service. Compared to an SAP or Oracle deployment, Openbravo is relatively easy, but it's still not plug-and-play. An ERP implementation typically is handled by, or at least, supported by, system integrators and consultants. This works well with Openbravo's distribution model, which relies on the channel. Openbravo is available in two versions: the Community Edition and Network Edition. Community Edition is available for free from SourceForge.net and intended for developers and non-critical environments. The Network Edition is the production-ready and stable solution, available through certified partners. For this Test Center review, Openbravo Community Edition was installed.
The latest features are available in the Community Edition and there are frequent releases throughout the year, while the Network Edition is updated biannually. For an annual subscription (prices vary depending on number of users or unlimited use), the Network Edition offers automatic upgrades, bug-fixes, unlimited support, and embedded licenses for proprietary software and third-party support.
Montclair, N.J.-based Corra Technology is an open-source solution provider providing system integration, support, and consulting services. CEO Ron Bongo estimated the company has already been contracted to do four or five Openbravo installations in 2008, and the company expects to do at least ten or fifteen this year.
ERP systems have to support big companies with complex business systems and a large user base. Does Openbravo scale? Bongo said a typical Openbravo deployment for Corra Technology is in the $10 million to $100 million range, and scalability has never been a problem. The company's focus on model-driven architecture makes the application stable, scalable, and easy to develop for.
System integrators with software development capabilities can develop applications for Openbravo, especially with the Eclipse IDE. Other applications can synchronize data with Openbravo using the Java-based Openbravo API. Also, Openbravo ERP is released under the Mozilla Public License 1.1, which means the code can be used as a foundation for other proprietary licensed products.
Openbravo also offers Openbravo POS, an application specifically designed for touch screens used in the retail industry. Openbravo POS can work together with Openbravo ERP, or separately in any existing point-of-sale environment.
System integrators can speed up some of the deployment by creating an appliance with the basic components pre-installed. With proper hardware, the appliance can have the ERP system and its dependencies in place, waiting to be configured according to each customer's individual specifications and requirements.
A note about documentation and support: many open source projects often rush to get the product out, which often means documentation, if available, is usually skimpy and often riddled with errors. While a strong community-driven-forum is essential for an open source project, businesses need access to thorough, in-depth, and clearly written documentation. Openbravo shines in this aspect. The installation guide, user manual, and associated reference materials on configuring third-party applications and hardware specifications are superb. Bongo said Openbravo spent a long time getting the software ready, but also in getting the commercial team behind the product for support. "They have all the pieces in place," he said.
Corra Technology is in the enviable position of not having to convince customers to consider open-source deployments since "99 percent" of its customers approach the company asking for open-source solutions. For solution providers still trying to convince their customers, selling open-source ERP doesn't have to be a difficult conversation. According to Bongo, many CIOs are actively considering open-source solutions when considering IT projects. Open source solutions save customers money, especially for ERP. Customers can specify their requirements and have only those services in the ERP system, so that they are not paying for services they aren't interested in. The ease of customization also means customers are no longer locked in to expensive ERP software and supporting systems.
Cost-competitive, a modern architecture, and flexible (and it works!) -- what more do customers need for ERP?