anderson's blog

 

Syndicate content
anderson's picture

xTuple Fixed Asset Maintenance (Planned and Preventative Maintenance)

Posted Tue, 08/30/2011 - 01:59 by anderson

I am pleased to announce the first release of the Asset Maintenance package is now available on the xChange bringing Planned and Unplanned maintenance functionality to the xTuple ERP solutions (http://www.xtuple.com/node/2284).  This package is based on a Design Specification posted in January (http://www.xtuple.org/node/3809).

The Maintenance package is designed to allow organizations to plan maintenance of assets into the future and to schedule the preventative maintenance of assets to reduce or eliminate costly breakdowns.  The unthinkable always happens so Unplanned Maintenance is also covered in this package. Read more »

anderson's picture

Fixed Asset packages Updated

Posted Thu, 08/25/2011 - 02:59 by anderson

The Fixed Asset packages have been updated to version 1.0.2.  The update resolves some minor bugs, prepares the packages for the forthcoming Maintenance package and introduces a new Desktop.

The Desktop is designed to give easy access to the Fixed Asset functionality especially when all the packages are being used.  In addition the User Guide has been upgraded.

You will need to upgrade through the relevant versions to get to version 1.0.2.  This means upgrading from 1.0.1Beta -> 1.0.1RC -> and finally 1.0.2.  The relevant packages are available on the xChange.

For purchasers of Fixed Asset Depreciation package, the upgrade is free of charge.  You will need to upgrade the Fixed Asset basic package to 1.0.2 before upgrading the Depreciation package.

We are very close to publishing the first release of the Fixed Asset Maintenance package.  The Maintenance package will require Fixed Asset 1.0.2 as a pre-requisite. Read more »

anderson's picture

Fixed Assets Packages Now Updated!

Posted Thu, 03/31/2011 - 16:41 by anderson

Recently the Fixed Asset and Fixed Asset Depreciation packages have been updated.  The latest releases contain minor bug-fixes and several improvements based on continuous improvement and feedback from users. 

In particular the Depreciation package has a number of new features requested by customers. Read more »

anderson's picture

Asset Maintenance Specification posted

Posted Tue, 01/18/2011 - 18:42 by anderson

I have just posted a specification for extending the Fixed Assets functionality to include Maintenance.  This was my original goal when I started the discussion around Fixed Assets last year and I have now started formulating a design and specification.  I welcome all commments and contributions.  The specification can be found at Asset Maintenance.

The specification goes into more detail and provides some example screenshots to help visualize what the end design might be like.  Read more »

anderson's picture

Fixed Asset Management

Posted Wed, 12/08/2010 - 13:59 by anderson

Earlier this year there was a strong discussion on the inclusion of Fixed Asset management into the xTuple product (forum discussion here).  Many people contributed ideas and support.  This interest lead to the development of a Specification which in turn generated more ideas and interest.  The original intention of the discussion was to determine what additional functionality was needed by the xTuple community.  Well after many months, the first release of xTuple Fixed Asset Management is here.  I am proud to announce the release of the Fixed Asset extension package for xTuple. Read more »

anderson's picture

Automatically uploading Exchange Rates from a Web Service with Pentaho Data Integration

Posted Thu, 07/22/2010 - 18:56 by anderson

The Pentaho Data Integration tool is an extremely powerful open source tool for moving data from application to application.  I use it for automating data transfer between various applications and databases.  Why do things manually when you can automate smiley

One of my current projects involved a requirement to upload exchange rates into xTuple's PostBooks application.   This is a mundane task that required someone to remember to do this on a regular basis and a prime candidate for automation.  As we are using the Pentaho suite of tools for data warehousing, reporting, and application integration, automating the exchange rate upload into PostBooks was easy. 

This has proved a very useful solution and so I am offering it back to the community. Read more »

anderson's picture

Setting Up Pentaho Business Intelligence with xTuple ERP

Posted Wed, 12/09/2009 - 20:59 by anderson

I want to talk briefly about my experiences integrating and using Pentaho Business Intelligence tools over an xTuple ERP system. This was relatively easy to set up and is now providing comprehensive reports from xTuple and other systems. I know xTuple has its own report writing solution, which is very good, however Pentaho gives us the ability to allow end-users to author their own reports and provides a Metadata model that converts technical database terms (tablenames, field names) into business terms that your organisation can understand. Furthermore, Pentaho allows you to access and report on xTuple and non-xTuple data presented in a consolidated reporting portal. Read more »