Qualian tech - Openbravo India

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 The company or vendor retains ownership of the materials until they are withdrawn from the consignment stores.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?

Openbravo 2.50: REST Webservices

2010-04-19T11:44:00.002+05:30

Source:http://mtopenbravo.blogspot.com/2009/02/openbravo-250-rest-webservices.html

maandag 2 maart 2009

In this post I will talk about new very exciting functionality in Openbravo 2.50: full REST web services support for all tables in the Openbravo datamodel (including the tables added by modules).

I will first start with a general overview and then some examples of web service calls which you can try directly in your browser. The post is concluded with a short description on how to add your own REST-like web services and a number of interesting links on REST.

Openbravo REST provides a CRUD-like interface so that external applications can retrieve, update, create and delete business objects through standard HTTP requests.

Some benefits of using a REST approach:

favors identifying and addressing resources which fits to the data-centric nature of the provided apis (a resource corresponds to a business object)
has actions (POST, PUT, DELETE, GET) which correspond to standard CRUD actions
allows linking to specific business objects or to sets of business objects. This is a very powerfull feature of a REST approach and it allows for easy navigation between business objects.
is simple to develop and use, and very lightweight from an architectural point of view

The Openbravo REST webservice operates on Business Objects in Openbravo. Before continuing let's first explain what a Business Object is (in Openbravo). A business object can be a simple entity (==table) such as a currency which just has basic primitive fields. On the other hand it can also be a structure of entities, for example an order header with its order line.

Openbravo REST web services provide the following functionality:

retrieve a single business object or a list of business objects using a standard HTTP GET request
querying, filtering, paging and sorting of lists of business objects, again through standard HTTP requests
update of an existing business object or multiple business objects through XML and a HTTP POST or PUT operation
creation of new business objects through a POST/PUT operation
export and import of data: xml files which contain a mix of different types of business objects and a mix of new and existing business object
delete operation using either a url pointing to a specific business object which needs to be removed or a XML document which contains business objects (as full xml or as partial xml) which need to be removed.

This functionality can be used for standard integration scenario's, but it can also be used to develop another UI on top of Openbravo using an alternative UI-technology (e.g. Flex).

The Openbravo REST web services use the same access/authorizations as the standard Openbravo application. Before calling a web service the caller must log in. The login functionality is provided by the Openbravo REST framework. All REST actions are then executed in the context of a client/organization and current role of the user.

Now let's go to some examples. When you have Openbravo running then you can try these out directly in your browser by entering the urls in your browser's address bar. Note that the examples assume that Openbravo runs locally on port 8080, it maybe necessary to replace the localhost:8080 part with your own server name/port. The examples assume that the web service user has access to the Country and Currency tables.

Query for all Countries:

http://localhost:8080/openbravo/ws/dal/Country

Get a specific Country (in this case Spain):

http://localhost:8080/openbravo/ws/dal/Country/106

Note that the xml returned contains both the Country and its children (Regions), i.e. a business object structure.

An ordered example, query for all countries and return them ordered by ibanCode and regionName:

http://localhost:8080/openbravo/ws/dal/Country?orderBy=iBANCode,regionName

The same example with paging, returns 10 Countries starting from the 19th:

http://localhost:8080/openbravo/ws/dal/Country?orderBy=iBANCode,regionName&firstResult=19&maxResult=10

Do some filtering, only return countries which have a Currency with id 102 and a iBANLength of minimum 23:

http://localhost:8080/openbravo/ws/dal/Country?where=currency='102' and iBANLength>=23

(the where parameter can contain a Hibernate Query Language where clause)

After trying some examples, the next question is which web services are provided by Openbravo, i.e. what url's are valid, what are the entity names and XML property names, what is valid xml? To answer this question Openbravo REST has a special web service which can be called. This web service generates a XML Schema of the available business objects and their elements (including the tables added by custom/external modules). You can try it yourselve on your local running Openbravo instance:
http://localhost:8080/openbravo/ws/dal/schema

These first examples only retrieved data. The REST web services also have update/create/delete functions. To support web service testing, Firefox has a nice add-on: Poster. This add-on allows you to POST/PUT XML to a URL. For these examples I again assume that you have Openbravo running locally. I will be creating a new currency, updating its precision and then deleting the currency.

Here is an example of xml which can be used to create a new Currency:

true OBD € Openbravo Dollars 2 4 4 true

You can easily create this xml by retrieving a Currency through a url (for example, the euro) and then removing the XML parts related to id, client/organization and audit info.

Click on the Poster icon (right-bottom in Firefox) and set the options as displayed in the image below.

Note that the xml (displayed above) is entered in the Content field, the Action is set to POST and the User Auth. fields contain the login and password. The user must have permissions to create a Currency. The standard Openbravo demo user has these capabilities.

Then click on the first GO button, you should be seeing the following result:

This xml gives a success message but more importantly it also gives the id back of the newly created object. This allows software, making REST calls, to use this id in further processing. In our case we can use this id to check if the currency was indeed created (note replace the id in the url with the id you received back):
http://localhost:8080/openbravo/ws/dal/Currency/FF8081811FA6E26B011FA6EA2E9C0002

Now as a next step let's update a field of the new Currency, in this case the precision is changed. The image below shows how this is done. The xml only has the field which needs to be updated and the id of the Currency is present as an xml attribute (to try-this-at-home, replace the id value with the one created in your case).

And to clean up let's delete the new currency. This is done with a DELETE action, the url of the action needs to point to the business object which needs to be deleted (in this case the Currency created above).

The above actions can be performed for all of the 425+ tables in Openbravo. More importantly REST webservices automatically work out-of-the-box also for new tables added by modules.

The delete action concludes the quick overview of the capabilities of Openbravo REST Webservices. The overview hopefully showed how easy it is to use REST webservices. Software talking to REST webservices need basic xml processing capabilities but that's the only real prerequisite.

The Openbravo REST framework can be extended with new Webservices. See here for more information. Openbravo REST takes care of security and exception handling. Web services can be added (installed/uninstalled) as part of a module.

For more information:

REST Webservice Technical Design
REST test cases can be found in the openbravo development project in the src-test folder and then in the org.openbravo.test.webservice package

Here are some other interesting (non-Openbravo) links:

Fielding's Dissertation (Mr. Fielding is the first one to explicitly define the REST concept)
Wikipedia on REST
How to create a REST protocol
Building Web Services the REST way

Some links related to REST versus SOAP, there is a fair amount of articles on the web on this topic:

Geplaatst door Martin Taal op 00:56

Compiere Vs Openbravo -An Analysis using Google Trends

2010-04-02T11:52:00.006+05:30

Compiere

http://www.google.com/trends?q=compiere&ctab=0

Tested on May 24-2010 for Compiere and got following response from
GOOGLE Trends,

Your terms - compiere - do not have enough search volume to show graphs.

Openbravo

http://www.google.com/trends?q=openbravo&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all&sort=0

50 Places Linux is Running That You Might Not Expect

2010-03-26T11:54:00.002+05:30

It was not long ago when Microsoft Windows had a tight stranglehold on the operating system market. Walk into a Circuit City or Staples, it seemed, and virtually any computer you took home would be running the most current flavor of Windows. Ditto for computers ordered direct from a manufacturer. In the last decade, though, the operating system market has begun to change. Slightly more than 5% of all computers now run Mac, according to NetMarketShare.com. Linux is hovering just beneath 1% of the overall market share in operating systems. And although that might sound like a small number, Linux is far more than just a fringe OS. In fact, it's running in quite a few more places than you probably suspect. Below are fifty places Linux is running today in place of Windows or Mac. For easy reading, they are divided amongst government, home, business, and educational usage.

Business Users of Linux

Businesses, as well as governments, have slowly begun to realize the various benefits that Linux and open source software can provide. In fact, given that costs are more important to the decision making of businesses than governments, they arguably have an even greater incentive to check it out. Below are several businesses that have made the switch or begun making the switch from Windows to Linux.

Novell

Longtime software and services company Novell announced in 2006 that it was undergoing a company-wide migration from Windows to Linux on employee desktop computers. As of April of that year, roughly half of Novell's 5,000+ work force had migrated to Linux, with that figure expected to climb to 80% by November. It was a bold and sweeping change for such a large, established company, and it took over a year for the migration to take effect following its announcement in 2006.

Google

Believe it or not, the gigantic, ever-growing cluster of servers that power Google's search and other apps runs Linux. Of course, in typical fashion, Google was not content to simply run an out of the box version on its own hardware. Intsead, the search giant had its engineers cook up a customized version of Ubuntu referred to within the company as "Goobuntu." Linux is also frequently used internally on desktop machines, beyond its use on Google servers.

IBM

In addition to doing development work on Linux itself, IBM is known to use it internally on desktops and servers. IBM also ran a TV ad campaign in 2006 called "IBM Supports Linux 100%." One of the commercials can be seen here. In the last decade, perhaps no larger company than IBM has contributed more to the success of Linux, both financially and developmentally.

Panasonic

Electronics giant Panasonic is another household name company to use Linux in powering some of its operations. Like several other firms on this list, Panasonic used Linux only after Windows NT proved woefully inadequate for what the company needed - voicemail systems, in this case. Rather than paying NT's expensive license fees, Panasonic's in-house developers created their own system incorporating Linux-based voicemail technology. Ultimately, the system they created was so successful that it grew to replace the Windows system completely, which has since been long discontinued.

Virgin America

Virgin America, a low-cost U.S. airline run by entrepreneurial big-shot Richard Branson, uses Linux to power its in-flight entertainment according to CrunchGear. The entertainment system (called RED) is powered by Red Hat and Fedora specifically, and was reportedly chosen because it is "very stable and agile." After four years of development, RED hit the airways as a rousing success.

Cisco

Cisco Systems, the computer networking and routing giant, switched to Linux after vowing to use Microsoft's Active Directory solution for its servers." Indeed, the deal was so celebrated that Cisco management dubbed them to be an "all Microsoft" company according to AAX.net. In an imfamous turn of events, however, Cisco's own IT staff could not get its network printign to work properly using Windows NT and were thus forced to switch to Linux, which has yet to cause similar problems to our knowledge.

ConocoPhillips

Never let it be said that Linux is a fringe operating system for inconsequential gizmos and gadgets. No stronger proof to the contrary exists that ConocoPhillips, which proudly uses Linux to power a massive (and massively important) cluster of servers aimed at exploring the earth for new sources of untapped oil. C-Net's News.com reported in depth on the machine, which, largely due to using Linux, reportedly "costs a tenth of the average price of a conventional supercomputer." Alan Huffman, then manager of Conoco's seismic imaging technology center, claimed that the machine was capable of performing 500 billion calculations in a second.

Omaha Steaks

Omaha Steaks, a popular catolog-oriented steak retailer, switched to open-source Linux in 2001, according to JavaWorld.com. While they had previously been running internally with IBM AS/400 computers, they now operate a cluster of Linux serves in-house that both runs its corporate website and is connected to the AS/400 system. JavaWorld explains in-depth how migrating to Linux at the server level helped Omaha Steaks expand the wildly popular gift aspect of its business by integrating consumer information and lowering costs. Advertisements for this mail order company can be found in the back of most up-scale home oriented magazines. They were running their internal systems on an IBM AS/400 and outsourced their Web site, but they wanted to tie the on-line ordering directly into the AS/400. A cluster of Linux servers now runs the Web site and connects to the AS/400.

Amazon

Online book and electronics retail behemoth Amazon.com is said to "use Linux in nearly every corner of its business", according to ZD Net. After Amazon "began to use Linux in 2000 for basic tasks", Linux began speading through the company "notably the company's database" system. A separate ZD Net post in 2001 referenced a document Amazon filed with the Securies & Exchange Commission stating that switching to Linux had saved the company $17 million. By 2004, it was reported that Amazon "had nine worldwide distribution centers with a total of 4.2 million square feet" and that essentially "everything that happens in them is driven by Linux.

Peugeot

European car maker Peugeot announced in 2007 that it was set to deploy up to 20,000 copies of Novell Desktop Linux and 2,500 copies of SuSe Linux Enterprise Server. eWeek reported that "unlike recent Novell Linux deals that were released with a great deal of fanfare, such as Novells recent sale, via Microsoft, to Wal-Mart, this deal appears to have been made solely on the Linux desktops own merits." IT represenatives from Peugot remarked that they were pleased to discover how well supported and user-friendly Linux was upon checking it out.

Wikipedia

Popular online encyclopedia Wikipedia is another staunch supporter of Linux, having switched to Ubunto in 2008 after a lengthy tenure using Red Hat and Fedora prior to that. Ars Technicaexplains that "Wikimedia's move to Ubuntu is part of an effort to simplify administration of the organization's 400 servers" and that the switch "could help increase the distribution's visibility in the Linux server market and demonstrate its viability in large-scale deployments." It was no small gig for Ubuntu, which now powers the servers that spit out up to 10 billion page views a month on Wikipedia.

New York Stock Exchange

The New York Stock Exchange is another perhaps unexpected business user of Linux. A ComputerWorld.com report on how London's stock exchange was also "abandoning the failed Windows platform", it was stated that New York's exchange already used Linux to power its trading platform and furthermore that it "seems to be doing quite nicely." InformationWeek revealed in 2008 that it was Red Hat Enterprise Linux, specifically, that the NYSE ran on its trading platform.

Burlington Coat Factory

Burlington Coat Factory, a retailer with 280 individual stores across 42 states, run Linux in their distribution centers and "a few new stores", according to AAXNet.com. A full-fledged roll-out to all existing stores is underway, and 1,250 Dell computers with Linux pre-installed were evidently purchased "to support the effort" at transitioning fully from Microsoft Windows to Linux.

Raymour and Flannigan

NetworkComputing.com describes Raymour and Flannigan's transition to Linux as "a major transformation" for the Syracuse-based furniture retailer, who switched all its servers to Linux back in 2002. According to company management, "it was easier to put Linux, rather than another operating system, on the older 486-based machines" that were available early on at Raymour and Flannigan. While Linux requires some manual configuration, NetworkComputing says, the benefits have largely outweighed the costs.

Tommy Hilfiger

LinuxJournal.com wrote that fashion magnate Tommy Hilfiger "chose eOneGroup and Linux for its new e-business infrastructure" way back in 2001. Company representatives were quoted as saying that "we saved significantly on the time and expense of deploying this total infrastructure", as opposed to if another operating system provider had been chosen.

Toyota Motor Sales

AAX.Net reported years ago on a "30 dealer pilot roll-out" of a system using Linux to connect car dealerships to Toyota's factories. The system was a "web based system from the ground up, and will be handling 30 different functions including parts ordering, warranties, sales transactions and repairs." As the 30 dealer pilot was successful, Toyota promptly announced plans to roll out the Linux-based system to 1,200 other dealerships.

Travelocity

Travelocity (funny gnome guy and all) is yet another Internet business powered by Linux servers. According to NetworkWorld, Travelocity management cited their desire "to improve our flexibility and really decrease our time to market" as the chief reasons for choosing Linux over other alternatives. Management at Travelocity also admits to being "big fans of open source, from total cost of ownership and from the sharing/collaboration [creation processes], using tools developed by other people and having [easy access] to other people who have experience with them."

Home & Scientific Uses of Linux

Finally, Linux has also found homes in various home and scientific capacities. From video game systems to science labs, Linux is playing an even bigger role in consumer technology. Below are several noteworthy examples.

Sony Playstation 3

While Linux is not pre-installed on the PS3, it was designed to allow easy installation of it and Gamespot revealed in 2006 that "Terra Soft Solutions is now making Yellow Dog Linux 5.0 available for download for the PS3." Installing it requires a keyboard, USB cord and mouse, and for the user to "partition the PS3's drive into two partitions so that the GameOS and Linux can run on dual partitions."

Netbooks

Miniature laptops called Netbooks have become extremely popular in recent years, and often ship with minimalist distributions like Xandros or Linpus that are optimized to run efficiently using the limited resources Netbooks must use due to space and cost constraints.While Netbooks are still frequently sold with Microsoft Windows installed, they are shipped with Linux more than perhaps any other mass-market laptop around.

Some Dell Models

In recent years (particularly 2007-2008) distributions of Linux like Ubuntu have placed a higher than ever priority on user friendliness in efforts to capture some of the Windows market. Consequently, Dell and other mass-market PC manufacturers have taken to pre-loading Ubuntu and other distributions on their computers.

CERN

Cern uses Scientific Linux on a massive scale for mission-critical applications. FreeSoftwareMagazine, for instance, notes that Linux is powering the $10 billion Large Hadron Collider, a machine designed to do important subatomic research. CERN, it should also be noted, is where Tim Berners-Lee invented the hypertext link while working there in the 80's as an independent contractor. CERN also runs Linux on its 20,000 internal servers.

Internet Archive

Anyone who has ever used the Wayback Machine to peer at the past of a website has unwittingly been served information by a throng of x86 servers running Linux -- hundreds of them, in fact.

ASV Roboat

LinuxProMagazine.com reports that the ASV Roboat, a research craft designed to glean data about "the Pacific whale population in cooperation with the marine biology department of the Oregon State University", is apparently powered by Linux software. It is a considerable test of Linux's technological capabilities, as the craft is charged with "researching large geographic areas over long periods of time at low cost." The ASV Roboat can be seen in the video posted above.

IBM iDataPlex in Canada

Canada's largest supercomputer, the IBM iDataPlex (housed at the University of Toronto) is also powered by Linux. According to the Canadian Globe and Mail, the massive machine cost "$50-million to put together, and its brain takes up as much room as a warehouse full of refrigerators." Its tasks are many and demanding, including running "more than 300 trillion calculations a second, simulating the Earth's climate 100 years into the future in four days and helping researchers study cosmic background radiation."

Government Users of Linux

Governments at all levels (national, state, federal and international) have opted to deploy Linux across their computer systems for a host of reasons. Some are purely technological, with the governments in question preferring the open-source benefits of the OS. Others are financial, as Linux is typically far less expensive than buying a license for Windows. Still others are political, as organizations like the World Trade Organization have actively pressured governments to shun Microsoft products. In any case, here are some of the governing bodies that now run Linux on their computers.

U.S. Department of Defense

According to Linux.com, the United States Department of Defense is the "single biggest install base for Red Hat Linux" in the world. Nor was it an unconscious choice, as Brigadier General Nick Justice, the Deputy Program Officer for the Army's Program Executive Office proclaims "open source software is part of the integrated network fabric which connects and enables our command and control system to work effectively, as people's lives depend on it." Justice went on to state that "when we rolled into Baghdad, we did it using open source", and that he was indeed Red Hat's "biggest customer."

U.S. Navy Submarine Fleet

FreeSoftwareMagazine.com reveals that "the US Navy nuclear submarine fleet is using GNU/Linux" as well.

The City of Munich, Germany

The city of Munich, Germany has "chosen to migrate its 14,000 desktops to a free Linux distribution, rather than a commercial version of the open source operating system" according to a 2005 ZD Net report. The distribution Munich chose was Debian, and is said to have "considered several alternatives before choosing Debian", settling on it ultimately because of price and the degree to which it could be customized to meet Munich's municipal computing needs. The German Foreign Office, as well as the city of Vienna, also opted to make the switch to Debian in 2005.

Spain

LWN.net maintains that Spain has long been the strongest supporter and user of Linux from a national government standpoint. Linux has spread rapidly throughout Spain since 2002, when the government of Extremadura actually created its own cutomized Linux distribution (called LinEx) based on Debian, using GNOME as its "default desktop environment." Since then, the government "gave away the product CDs at every opportunity -- in government offices, magazines and even daily newspapers" as part of a determined and ongoing effort to get LinEx out to everybody." By handing out the software for free and continuing to publicize its availability, Linux spread from Extremadura throughout the rest of Spain and remains widely used today.

Federal Aviation Administration

Few government users of Linux appear to be happier with their choice to switch than the United States Federal Aviation Administration. According to Wikipedia, the FAA announced in 2006 that it "had completed a migration to Red Hat Enterprise Linux in one third of the scheduled time and saved 15 million dollars" in the process of doing so. Score it another big-time government client for the Red Hat distribution of Linux.

French Parliament

French Parliament opted in November 2006 to dump Windows in favor of Ubuntu Linux, according to ZD Net The move was part of a comprehensive shake-up in the software run on Parliament computers, resulting ultimately in "1,154 French parliamentary workstations running on Linux, with OpenOffice.org productivity software, the Firefox Web browser and an open-source e-mail client." Despite the training costs, Parliament officials named cost savings and technological superiority of open-source software for parliamentary purposes as reasons for the switch.

State-Owned Industrial and Commercial Bank of China

According to a 2005 InformationWeek report, the state-owned Industrial and Commercial Bank of China "decided to roll out Linux in all of its 20,000 retail branches." As the largest bank in all of China, the institution committed to buying "an unrestricted user license" as part of a full-blown integration of Linux "throughout its entire banking operations network" culminating in 2008. At the time, InformationWeek stated that this represented the largest deployment of Linux to date in the Chinese financial sector. Essentially, Linux became "the basis for its web server and a new terminal platform" at the bank.

Pakistani Schools & Colleges

In 2002, the government of Pakistan launched a Technology Resource Mobilization Unit to promote the spread of open-source software (including Linux) throughout that country. The unit (comprised of academics, businesspeople and government officials) has largely succeeded in educating computer users throughout Pakistan about what free software has to offer. As a result, Pakistan is using Linux in many of its public schools and colleges and plans to ultimately run it on all of its government computer systems. In countries like Pakistan, where little money is available for government investment in technology, Linux and other open source software is appealing from a cost perspective.

Cuba

Cuba, never a fan of capitalism or corporate enterprise, took the step of developing its own Linux distribution (called "Nova") to replace Microsoft Windows in February 2009. According to Carribean Net News, the switch to Linux was motivated not by technology or cost issues, but instead constituted "the latest front of the communist island's battle against what it views as U.S. hegemony." Nova was introduced during a conference held in the name of "technological sovereignty" and was touted as essential to Cuba's "desire to replace the Microsoft software running most of the island's computers." Evidently, Cuban officials feared that U.S. security agencies could access Microsoft software code and in the process discover secrets belonging to the Cuban government. Whether or not Cuba's switch to Linux has any practical effect on relations between the two countries is debateable, but they have been using Nova ever since.

Macedonia's Ministry of Education and Science

Ubuntu.com reported in November 2007 that every student in Macedonia would use computer workstations powered by Ubuntu Linux, as part of that country's "A Computer For Every Child" program. In total, more than 180,000 workstations were covered by the project, described as "one of the largest known thin client and desktop Linux deployments ever undertaken." Indeed, Macedonia's Minister for the Information Society dubbed it "the largest and most important education project undertaken in the 15-year history of the Republic of Macedonia." Under the agreement, 160,000 of the 180,000 workstations were to be virtual PC terminals, while the other 20,000 were to be stand-alone PCs, all of which accomodated one student each and ran the Ubuntu Linux OS.

U.S. Postal Service

The U.S. Postal Service is a textbook example of a once-avowed Windows loyalist switching to Linux for purely technical reasons. While the Postal Service ran Windows NT on its servers until the bitter end, they then switched to using over 900 Linux clusters spead throughout the country for use in sorting the nation's bulk mail. They use technology from Pacific Northwest Software, who proudly explains in-depth the work it has done in switching the Postal Service to a Linux-based infrastructure. Those interested are encouraged to check it out here.

U.S. Federal Courts

AAX.net explains that the U.S. Federal Courts rely on Linux for all manner of administrative tasks, including "case management, case tracking, finance and accounting, probation and pretrial services." Linux has been used by the courts since November of 2003, when PEC Solutions assisted in orchestrating a "migration of the Federal Judiciary to a Linux-based system."

Government of Mexico City

Wired.com reported in 2001 that the government of Mexico City had concluded that "they can no longer justify the ever rising cost of Microsoft Windows when the cost of Linux software is very low." In an interview with Wired, the city's technical coordinator, José Barberán, "announced plans to switch city computers to the Linux operating system and to use the money it saves to fund social welfare programs." At the end of the day, when faced with pressure to increase social spending, "cutting costs by moving to open-source software was a logical choice for the mayor."

Garden Grove, California

Perhaps the earliest governmental adopter of Linux on our list is Garden Grove, California, which made the switch all the way back in 1995, according to Linux Journal. Evidently, the city was in a cash crunch when it opted to give Linux a try, and found that it saved so much money that they later decided to roll out Linux across the city, including on some desktop systems.

Largo, Florida

A 2003 Linux.com article entitled "Largo Loves Linux More Than Ever" explains how the Floridian city came to rely so heavily on Linux software. After having such great success running city computers on Linux, Largo's municipal government soon thereafter was "talking about Linux-based terminals in all the city's police cars." To their credit, Linux.com remarked that Largo's system administrators (who are responsible for managing the city's Linux machines) were "the least harassed, least worried, calmest sysadmins we have ever met." Perhaps there is a correlation?

Czech Post

Perhaps taking a cue from the U.S. Postal Service, the Czech Republic's own post office successfully migrated to Linux in 2005, according to Europa.The chosen distribution of Linux (SuSe) now runs on "4,000 servers at 3,400 post offices across the country, as well as at 12,000 client terminals used by 20,000 employees." Once more, cost was a driving force behind a large state institution switching from Windows or other providers to free, open-source Linux.

Educational Users of Linux

Educational institutions, like businesses and government, have increasingly decided to roll out Linux on servers and desktop computers for their open-source and cost benefits. These institutions range from public schools (elementary, middle and high school) to colleges and post-graduate schools. Below are several of the most prominent educational establishments to have switched from Microsoft Windows to Linux.

Russian Schools

In 2007, the nation of Russia announced that all its schools would begin running Linux software. A BBC report on the matter stated that Russia's "schools formerly tended to run illegal copies of Microsoft operating systems", but that since Russia joined the WTO, that is no longer accepted practice. Therefore, rather than buy licenses for all the software it had been pirating, it opted to go with the free Linux operating system. While admitting that most teachers and students had no experience with Linux, Russia's education officials nevertheless felt that the transition would go well and that the software would suit the purposes of schools.

German Universities

ComputerWeekly.com reported in August 2007 that "around 560,000 German students plus thousands of staff at 33 German universities will now be supported by Linux systems from Novell." SuSe Linux Enterprise Desktop was the specific distribution chosen, evidently for the "more flexible IT architecture" that it provides "when compared to other proprietary software."

The Phillipines

The switch to Linux is said to be "forging an education revolution" in the Phillipines, according to ComputerWorld. As they explain, "after a successful deployment of 13,000 Fedora Linux systems from a government grant, plans are underway to roll out another 10,000 based on Ubuntu" in that country. Apparently, Linux reached popularity because of its lower installation and maintenance costs in the Phillippines in the wake of 1997's Asian financial crisis.

Georgia

Former Soviet state Georgia began "began running all its school computers and LTSP thin clients on Linux, mainly using Kubuntu, Ubuntu and stripped Fedora-based distros" back in 2004, according to Wikipedia. Add Georgia to the growing list of less-wealthy countries that opted to use Linux for cost reasons versus pay expensive licensing fees for Microsoft Windows.

The Indian State of Tamil Nadu

LinuxWatch.com told the story of how "after being put off by Microsoft's bundling tactics for academic users", the Indian state of Tamil Nadu decided instead to "distribute 100,000 Linux laptops to students there." The laptops were to be sold to students for $800, a "considerable markdown compared to retail value." While the government proposed to license Windows at $12 per copy, Microsoft stood firm at $57 per copy, prompting Tamil Nadu to go with Linux instead.

Switzerland Schools

Wikipedia also reports that Switzerland converted 9,000 of its computers to using Linux and OpenOffice.org's suite of office productivity tools in its Geneva district in September, 2008. As has been seen by the licensing fees other software companies charge, there is often a compelling financial incentive to use Linux instead.

Bolzano, Italy

The town of Balzano in Italy (with a student population of 16,000) reportedly switched to using a customized distribution of Linux across all its schools in 2005.

Kerela, India

Rediff.com reported in September 2006 that from now on, in Kerela, India, "nearly 1.5 million students in the 2,650 government and government-aided high schools in the state will no longer use the Windows platform for computer education. Instead, they have switched over to the free GNU/Linux software." Rather, they would now begin running Linux operating systems and accomplishing all word processing and spreadsheet tasks via OpenOffice.org software. An education official was quoted as saying ""we have decided that we will use only free software for computer education in Kerala schools" on the eve of a 56,000 teacher Linux training program.

One Laptop Per Child

The much-publicized One Laptop Per Child program was built around the OLPC XO-1, which, according to Wikipedia "is an inexpensive laptop running Linux, which will be distributed to millions of children as part of the One Laptop Per Child project, especially in developing countries." Here, again, the low cost of Linux was a major factor in its inclusion.

Indiana Schools

CRN.com revealed in August 2006 that "more than 20,000 Indiana students are now Linux-enabled under a state grant program to roll out low-cost, easy-to-manage workstations." The state's Affordable Classroom Computers for Every Secondary Student program rapidly grew from "24 high schools to 80 high schools" after it became clear that software costs per computer ($100 prior to the migration) could be cut down to $5 using Linux and other open-source software. Districts get to choose which distribution of Linux their schools will run and have considerable control over the implementation.

Source:
http://www.focus.com/fyi/information-technology/50-places-linux-running-you-might-not-expect/

Launch of the Functional Graduate Certification for Openbravo ERP 2.50!!

2010-03-18T10:10:00.001+05:30

Launch of the Functional Graduate Certification for Openbravo ERP 2.50!!

Thursday, March 11, 2010

by Renate Nieuwkoop
Senior Education Specialist at Global Partner Services
After a successful launch of Foundation Certification programme last year, we are now happy to announce the first Graduate Exam. The Functional Graduate Certification has been made widely available starting February 26, 2010.

Since the launch of the Foundation exams, many partners have become certified and can now progress to the next level to become certified at a Graduate level.

Certification is essential to end customers, partners and us at Openbravo for several reasons:

Assures customers of your knowledge, skill and credentials
Shows tangible evidence of your ability
Adds to your credibility in the Openbravo ecosystem
Allows Openbravo to set a brand standard and monitor the quality of our partners

Whereas the Functional Foundation knowledge can be mastered through participation in the Basic Functional Training, the Graduate exam is going beyond that and is based on knowledge that can only be gained through practical use and implementation of the Openbravo ERP application. The objective of the Graduate exam is to demonstrate the ability to configure and use the application in a real life scenario.

For more information about the Functional Graduate Certification, please click here. For any questions, do not hesitate to contact us directly at training@openbravo.com

Source:http://globalpartnerservices.blogspot.com/2010/03/launch-of-functional-graduate.html

Openbravo Implementation Partner in India

2010-01-02T09:31:00.009+05:30

info@qualiantech.com
Introduction About Qualian Technologies Pvt. Ltd.

•Headquartered in Chennai, India
• Involved in Outsourced Development Activities for US customers
• Involved in Enterprise solutions implementation for Small and Medium Enterprises in India
• Early Partner and Active Practitioner of Openbravo in India
• Developing Industry specific ERP solution based on Openbravo for the Textile Industries in India • Developing additional modules like HRM & Payroll for Openbravo to fulfill the current and future customer requirements

http://www.slideshare.net/Openbravo/09-qualian

The Technology Awards recognized outstanding projects lead by companies or organizations build on top of Openbravo technology.
http://worldconference.openbravo.com/2009/age nda.php#awards

Nominated - Openbravo Best implementation of year 2008 :

Qualian Technologies. Implementation of Openbravo ERP in Vaishnovi Infrastructure Private Limited, India. Implemented for the customer with one production facility and 23 branch locations spread across India, with more than 100 users in a company has more than 1000 employees. Customer deals with international suppliers & local suppliers. Handled special financial instruments like LCs (Letter of Credit). Developed a custom CRM application to handle the sales visits of Sales person and capture the details about in and around of a customer.

Openbravo Customer Stories: How the Community is Benefiting

Openbravo World conference

Senthil in Openbravo world conference.

http://worldconference.openbravo.com/2009/agenda.php#obsshtcib

Qualian Technologies (case Vaishnovi Infrastructure): Senthil Palanisamy
This session provides a case study that manifests how Openbravo ERP was customized and modules added, to ensure the right fit for a the customer´s needs. The partner helped Vaishnovi Infrastructure, based in India, to overcome the challenge of gaining control over a complexity of operations, from managing critical resources, to providing a timely service to the customer.

http://s3browse.com/getObject/obwc.files/Qualian.pdf

Qualian Technologies. Case Vaishnovi Infrastructure. Senthil Palanisamy

Implementing Openbravo ERP on a construction equipment company in India.

Key ideas:

Customer has 1.000 employees, 1 billion Indian ruppies turn over. Challenges: 100 desktops, independent systems for inventory and accounting, migration from a previous system. Need for new requirements not supported by their legacy system: centralized stock managed, BOM, sales commissions, etc.
The implementation has been very successful. Users and managers are happy because the new level of flexibility and functionality gained

http://jordimash.blogspot.com/2009/04/openbravo-world-conference-community.html

Openbravo in "10 Coolest Open-Source Products Of 2009"

2009-12-28T19:24:00.002+05:30

OpenBravo ERP
ERP has been slow to develop on the open source side, but Openbravo ERP is coming on strong. Users can view production information, inventory, customer information, order tracking, and workflow information through a Web browser, greatly simplifying what can be a complex tool. Of course, open source solutions like OpenBravo ERP also save money, which is especially true in the traditionally expensive realm of ERP. Customers choose and pay for only the services they want, and easy customization adds to the cost savings.
Openbravo has made impressive strides in version 2.5 with the introduction of modularity and dashboarding capabilities, says Ron Bongo, CEO of Corra Technology, a of Montclair, N.J.-based Linux solution provider. OpenBravo's modularity gives customers, partners and community members the ability to extend Openbravo to meet specific needs," he said.

Openbravo : Award

2009-12-28T19:15:00.003+05:30

Our team strives for innovation, quality and cost-effectiveness. Along the way, Openbravo has won several awards that encourage us to continue working in this way.

InfoWorld Bossie Awards 2009

Openbravo ERP was honored for the second time as the Best of Open Source Enterprise Software in IDG's 2009 InfoWorld Best of Open Source Software (Bossie) Awards.

Infoworld said, "Openbravo impresses with a well-developed POS (point-of-sale) solution, procurement and warehouse management tools, financial and accounting features, and production logistics for shop floor oversight. Further, Openbravo's plug-in architecture offers the same sort of extensive modularity found in SugarCRM and traditional commercial applications from the likes of SAP and Oracle. That means your developers can extend system functionality without worrying about stepping on core functionality. And the entire Openbravo system is supported by a healthy set of alerts, role-based user provisioning and access control, and a good Web-based UI." - Infoworld

IBM EMEA Innovative Solutions 2009 award

IBM recognized Openbravo with the IBM EMEA Innovative Solutions 2009 award in the data management category. The award was presented at the Information On Demand (IOD) show, which took place in Berlin June 3-5th, 2009.

Capital Magazine Award 2008

The Spanish business magazine Capital has awarded Openbravo as a winner of the Innovation Category for the Navarra area.

LinuxWorld.com Product Excellence Award 2008

LinuxWorld.com and IDG World Expo has selected Openbravo ERP as a winner of the LinuxWorld.com Product Excellence Awards 2008 in the "Best Integration Solution" category. The awards distinguish product and service innovations.

"We saw a wide variety of products submitted for the Product Excellence Awards at this year's LinuxWorld Conference & Expo, which demonstrates the high level of system administration productivity happening throughout the industry," said Don Marti, site editor, LinuxWorld.com, and Product Excellence Judge.

Open Source Business Awards 2008

The Open Source Business Foundation has selected Openbravo as a second winner of the European Open Source Business Award, an award given to entrepreneurs with innovative ideas, promising business plans and conceptual brilliance.

InfoWorld Bossie Awards 2007

Infoworld has selected Openbravo as a winner of the InfoWorld Bossie Awards 2007 that recognizes the Best of Open Source Software for business, from small offices to large enterprises. Openbravo has been awarded as a "Best of open source applications".

"Open source software has established itself as a cornerstone of modern business computing, and the open source community is arguably the greatest driver of innovation in software today. The InfoWorld Test Center's central mission has always been to identify the most promising and cost-effective solutions available to IT organizations. Increasingly, those solutions come from the open source camp. The time has come to formally acknowledge this fact, and to give credit to the developers and community that made it happen" - InfoWorld.

LinuxWorld.com Product Excellence Award 2007

LinuxWorld.com and IDG World Expo has selected Openbravo as a winner of the LinuxWorld.com Product Excellence Awards 2007 in the "Best Integration Solution" category. The awards distinguish product and service innovations.

"We're so thrilled to have the opportunity to recognize these companies that are making strides in innovating and improving existing products in the Linux and open source community", Don Marti, Site Editor and Product Excellence Awards Judge.

Red Herring 100 Europe Award 2007

Red Herring has selected Openbravo as a winner of Red Herring 100 Europe 2007, an award given to the top 100 private technology companies based in the EMEA region (Europe, Middle East and Africa) each year.

"...Our list shows that great companies are being created in Europe." Joel Dreyfuss - Red Herring Editor-in-Chief.

Technology Based Innovative Enterprise Award 2006

Openbravo received an EIBT award in recognition for its role as a Technology Based Innovative Enterprise. This award was presented by ANCES, the Spanish Business Innovation Centres National Association.

Grants

Over the past two years, Openbravo has developed an open source enterprise resource planning system (ERP) designed specifically for small and medium sized business (SMEs). We would like to emphasize the following aspects of the project: The architecture facilitates efficient development, its functionalities are adaptable to all types of companies configurations and its web based interface facilitates access and ease of use through a user-friendly application.

The project has been financed by the Technological Research Promotion Program (PROFIT), part of the Tourism and Commerce Ministry of Spain.

Source:http://www.openbravo.com/about-us/awards/

Openbravo Product : Relationship with Compiere

2009-12-19T12:46:00.003+05:30

What is our relationship with Compiere?

Openbravo delivers a fully integrated, web-based ERP system built upon the methodology and principles of Open Source. This means both that the source code is openly available and that in our development process we continually look for available technologies, enabling a rapid introduction of new ideas and the evolution of existing components.

Openbravo is based on a number of other Open Source projects, such as Apache, Dojo, and notably Compiere. Specifically, Openbravo's application dictionary was originated on a 2002 version of Compiere's. The application dictionary defines the structure of each module and screen and therefore the two applications have similar appearances.

Three important distinctions are: Openbravo's native web-based architecture, its use of MVC architecture in the actual development environment, and a significant increase in the number of available functionalities, such as manufacturing, MRP, etc...

Our current code base is almost entirely comprised of original, Openbravo-developed code that is continually evolving. By our estimates, less than 10% of this code can be attributed to Compiere. Any code that has not been developed by Openbravo is properly identified in the source files.

How do we recognize Compiere's contribution to Openbravo?

From a user's perspective, Compiere ERP's licenses for releases 2.4.4 and 2.5.0 explicitly prohibits us from using Compiere's logo and trademarks in our application. However, in the About section we list the different open source projects that have been used to build Openbravo, including Compiere.

From a developer's perspective, all of Compiere ERP's original and modified code is duly identified in the copyright notice that accompanies each file.

What is our opinion about Compiere?

Although we have always been very fond of native web-based architectures (as opposed to Compiere's client-server architecture), from our early beginnings we recognized the fantastic job created by Jorg Janke and Compiere in the form of its application dictionary. Although we have had to significantly adapt it in order to make it work with our own engine (codenamed WAD), we can not underscore enough the value of Compiere's seminal work.

Is Openbravo compatible with Compiere's dictionary?

We initiated our development with releases 2.4.4 and 2.5.0 of Compiere's dictionary and had to modify the structure significantly in order to adapt it to our own engine. Over the years we have increased the functionalities available with our own developments. Consequently, Compiere's current dictionary would not work with Openbravo without significant modifications.

Source:http://www.openbravo.com/product/others/relationship-compiere/

Analysis Using Google Trends(Dated - 02-April-2010):
http://thirumalaik.blogspot.com/2010/04/compiere-vs-openbravo-analysis-using.html

Openbravo in the News:Openbravo hopes to win bids against potential SAP and SAGE clients

2009-12-19T12:43:00.006+05:30

Expansion, one of the most important business and economic publication in Spain, published an article about Openbravo in its “enterprise management” section praising Openbravo for driving significant growth in the world of open source software.

Read full article (In Spanish)

http://www.openbravo.com/about-us/press-room/ob-press/openbravo-hopes-win-bids-against-potential-sap-sage-clients.php

ERP solutions for the Construction Industry

2009-12-16T18:59:00.006+05:30

“This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.” --- Winston S. Churchill.

With the real estate markets shivering in the cold due to economic downturn you may think this is not the right time to talk about ERP solutions for construction industry as most companies will not be even entertain the though of investing in new technology during this trying times. Not to mention when the times were good they were busy constructing and at these bad times they are short of funds to go for top notch ERP solutions in the market. But do construction companies really need the expensive most sort after ERP in the market? Does best ERP necessarily mean best for them? (We will come back to this little later) Paradoxically this may be the best time for construction firms to go in for IT solutions for the simple fact that companies now have time to take stock of the situation, sort out the in efficient past and bring in efficient processes leading to reduced cost, time management and better accountability thereby improving overall quality. This will get them to be ready for the next cycle of good and bad tides.

Let us look into the problems facing construction industry and understand it and later we will see how tailored ERP solutions can go a long way in transforming the construction workers to a force to reckon with.

Problems facing construction industry is not new but probably thousands of years old probably ever since they started building the pyramids. What is so different now are the tools and techniques that can be utilized to get the best usage of its resources and materials and equipments.Construction is a complex array of interdependent activities that some would say is at best organized chaos. The very nature of construction introduces challenges typically not encountered in other industries. For example, construction differs widely from other industries more so as

• Each project is unique
• Often involves remote sites with various access problems
• The process is not as predictable
• Difficulty in applying automation
• There is high potential for encountering unforeseen conditions
• Costs can vary according to conditions
• Difficult to manage and supply utilities and other resources.
• Technical innovations are adopted slower.
• Success is dependent upon the quality of its people.
• Very custom-oriented
• Product can be of mind-boggling size, cost, and complexity
• The work is not performed in controlled conditions, therefore highly impacted by weather and other environmental conditions

All this poses a unique set of challenges as illustrated below.

As seen in the figure it is a herculean task to co-ordinate and integrate all these challenges into one solution. Let’s look into some of the major problems in construction companies who do not have or have partial IT infrastructure.

1. No electronic tracking of tasks. The project manager needs to produce manual daily production report.
2. Budget and controls done using legacy spreadsheets and this is most time consuming task and the employee is overloaded.
3. Each project has its own independent method of encoding.
4. Off-Site locations are not as organized as desired.
5. Material and Equipment usage are hard to track; there is very little writing on site.
6. The project managers do status reports but lack critical information such as
    a. Inventory information
    b. Budgetary information

7. Due to disorganization there is little time for follow up.
8. There is no process for
•    Payment follow ups.
•    Reminders of important issues like raising invoices.
•    Beneficial weekly status report.
•    Petty cash request and reporting
•    Evaluating the performance of the project manager.
9. Ineffective system to incorporate fixed assets into the company books.
10. No clear process to accurately track inventory at multiple sites.
11. Invoices are not raised frequently enough thus contributing to a cash flow problem.

All these issues make the construction projects highly complex and cumbersome to track and control. If we have to successfully manage these complex projects its all the more important the work progress and the resources utilized are measurable. The success of a project will be judged by meeting the criteria of cost, time, safety, resource allocation, and quality as defined during the planning and budgeting of the project.

The purpose of the ERP will be to measure the progress continually at every step of the project so as to achieve goals and objectives through the planned usage of resources that meet the project’s quality, cost, time, scope, and safety requirements. Through the ERP the Project Manager must be in a position to control, deflect, or mitigate the effects of any occurrence or situation that could affect project success.

Tailored ERP solution can lead to

1.   Maximum utilization of company resources
2.   Attain maximum productivity
3.   Effective communication between all departments
4.   Ability to track and analyze each task and operation

What these construction companies could typically expect from a tailor made ERP solution is

1. Effective Processes

• That show the progress, the amount of raised invoices, cash-flow, and inventory by projects.

• Track project budgets. To track at an individual project level and at a summary level.

2. To be able record major project tasks over the duration of the project.

3. Accountability at each level of project progress

4. A system with the least amount of human intervention this is not limited to:

a. Tracking the project progress

b. Tracking the production and utilization of resources

c. To send alerts for delay or problems halting the project progress.

5. Each Project phase must be divided into segments for the aiding accountability at every stage. (More on this later in finance)

6. Dashboards and metrics to monitor each level of project progress.

7. Alerts to indicate and to remind the project manager if the project is not on schedule

8. Maintain log on project issues for record keeping and resolution.

9. To have a built in work flow so that it is easy for the user to know what is to be

done next for each task required.

Another corner stone of tailored ERP solution will be the measuring the financials of the project. Any typical construction project is planned and budgeted. Using the ERP it will be possible to compare the planned vs actual value analysis and reporting. To illustrate with an example. Let us assume a hypothetical construction project where the planned project budget is Plan A. This plan will be the bench mark which needs to be followed to attain operational efficiency and completing the project on time within budget. Any deviation from plan A can be tracked through ERP reporting. For instance on delay of any of the tasks will be reported by the respective project managers in the ERP system. The Plan A will be compared with the changed plan as per the changes that had been made and its variance generated in the system. Tasks inter dependencies will be reflected in the system based on the input. For instance Task number 3 cannot start without completion of Task 1 or 45 % of Task 2 etc,. So system will compare generate reports on the start and end dates of each task and compared with the actual work that has been completed. If any task is out of schedule time, the system will generate alarm to remind for its respective teams as well as higher management.

Similarly the system also tracks the planned budget and actual utilization of resources as per budget. This will represent a practical approach to measuring the progress of a project against the plans and this approach is based on variance analysis. This reporting will have numerous advantages as described below.

As shown in the figure above, a project manager may have a budget of $500k to spend on his or her project for the Phase I. At the management meeting, the project manager reports that he or she has spent $490k, or just under the budget. At first glance this appears to be good news as the project is under budget. However, the missing piece of this information is whether the project is on time, or has completed the forecasted work for that phase I.
This is where the ERP can make a difference. The system will measure three dimensions of data to associate project expenditures with project progress. These dimensions provide a complete status, including:

•    Planned value of the work that has been scheduled
•    The actual value of the work that has been accomplished
•    The actual costs incurred in accomplishing the work that has been scheduled

As this reporting takes into account the budgeted value of the work planned, as well as the actual value of the work that has been completed, in addition to the costs incurred. If the project is behind schedule, for instance, it may also be over budget even though only $490k of the budgeted $500k has been spent. This may be the case if individual tasks cost more than has been budgeted. In other words, the project may still be over budget because the $490k that has been spent has not achieved the work that the money was budgeted for.

By calculating the cost of the work actually performed, the expected cost of the work that was performed, and the actual value of the work performed, project managers, will have the means of linking schedule and cost performance. This will tell the full story of project progress as measured against project budgets in turn monitored and controlled by the top management. This gives a complete method of measuring and controlling project performance, as well as a means of predicting future performance based on progress to date, making it well worth of the ERP implementation.

Now is that it is clear that implementation of ERP solution can have huge benefits for the construction industry. How do the companies make sure they choose the right ERP vendor?

The major problem many construction companies face after choosing the best ERP solution in the market is it is not flexible enough to meet their needs. No two companies are the same and by forcing them to utilize software which is not engineered for their environment there is a high potential for loss of profit and failure of the ERP solution. Companies need to maintain their competitive edge and to due so they are lead to believe a best practices application will lead them in the right direction. Possibly after a few hundred of thousands of dollars in changes they will have the ability to innovate and outsmart their competition. However, there are better choices which do not cause the software companies to loose their valuable time and money hassling with the pre-packaged software.

Now sigh a breath of relief because there are ERP vendors who understand each company needs and have been pioneering the art of tailored ERP solutions. They offer light weight, flexible, affordable and easily installable solutions. These are tailored software solutions according to each industry needs. Tailored solutions are made for the requirements of each organization without the lengthy development periods and difficulty of upgrading. These solutions are agile software solutions for they are highly configurable and offer all of the advantages of a custom software solution along with the best characteristics of a canned software solution. These tailored solutions will have the most success for your organisation, additionally, they will have the capability of growing and changing as your organization continues to do so in an affordable budget compared to pre-packaged expensive ERP solutions.

The author is the Director of Qualian Technologies Pvt Ltd, a leading software consultancy firm providing tailored ERP solutions for construction industries in India and Middle East. He can be contacted at manavalan@qualiantech.com for further queries and comments.

Choosing the right ERP vendor

2009-12-15T17:38:00.003+05:30

Searching for the correct Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) can be a difficult and time consuming task. Not to mention your headaches associated with trying to find a vendor who can complete the task in a fashion that is both flexible, allows for easy installation and is affordable.

Looking at the basics of an ERP solution. There are no fixed rules (except the ones implied by the large “box” software companies) that say you must have specific modules within your solution. Most companies searching are looking for a solution that will help them organize and streamline their daily procedures. Generally, companies will utilize applications such as project management, scheduling, order entry/processing, preventative maintenance (PM), human resources (HR), customer relations management (CRM) and accounting. Which ever applications are implemented into an ERP solution, they should have the capability of working together to help your business maintain the structure they are looking for.

As per latest poll taken by cio.com core ERP modules were used chiefly for

Accounting and financial applications (96%)
Procurement, order processing and supplier management (78%)
Inventory management (64%) and
HR management and payroll functions (55%).

As per what areas of their business ERP worked best, respondents overwhelmingly cited

Financial (70%)
Procurement, order processing, supplier management (42%)
Inventory management (33%) and
HR management or payroll (26%).

As the poll clearly states one size does not fit all. Each company and industry in general will have different business models and their core modules will differ. It will be difficult to find an ERP solution that will be made specifically for your needs. Most solutions which are available are available in the market is “pre-packaged”. These are offered by top ERP solution providers as a more standardized package which leads businesses to believe the strictly structured software will allow their business to improve their bottom line as well as productivity. While the software package may warrant some value to your organization it will not work very well for each specific business with out requiring significant changes to the software. For example in the manufacturing industry or construction industries for instance this model will not work because manufactures require agility within their software solutions.

This is a great scheme many large software companies propose to companies who are seeking a new software application. This Best Practices has an overall goal of selling the most software possible without making modifications to the software application. The major problem many companies then begin to face is that the software is not flexible enough to meet their needs. No two companies are the same and by forcing them to utilize software which is not engineered for their environment there is a high potential for loss of profit and failure of the software application. Companies need to maintain their competitive edge and to due so they are lead to believe a best practices application will lead them in the right direction. Possibly after a few hundred of thousands of dollars in changes they will have the ability to innovate and outsmart their competition. However, there are better choices which do not cause the software companies to loose their valuable time and money hassling with the pre-packaged software.

Another model some companies offer are custom solutions which are great because they are designed for the company but are very difficult to upgrade, sometimes they are completely impossible to upgrade. This is discouraging considering the amount of money companies will spend to purchase a solution of this size and not have the capability of changing it as their company changes.

Now sigh a breath of relief because in Qualian Technologies Pvt Ltd we understand each company needs and have been the pioneers in the art of tailored ERP solutions. That is why we offer light weight, flexible, affordable and easily installable solutions. These are tailored software solutions according to your needs. Tailored solutions are made for the requirements of your organization without the lengthy development periods and difficulty of upgrading. These solutions are agile software solutions for they are highly configurable and offer all of the advantages of a custom software solution along with the best characteristics of a canned software solution. Qualian’s tailored solutions will have the most success for your organisation, additionally, they will have the capability of growing and changing as your organization continues to do so.

Our Industry Vertical ERP Solutions include

Construction Industry
Machinery and Equipment
Educational Institutions
Health Care
Retail Consumer Products
Mining
Oil and Gas Industry
Textile Mills
Whole Sale Distribution

Openbravo ERP documentation walkthrough

2009-12-14T22:44:00.000+05:30

You watched the introductory video and the customer success stories, you overviewed the product features, the solutions and the services around, you tried the demos… and you liked it! What is the next step? What else can Openbravo do for you?
Openbravo Wiki is the documentation repository around Openbravo ERP: hundreds of articles covering topics such as the installation, the localization and the development of this product. Don’t get lost among this vast number of free resources: these are the key articles that you can not miss.

The Functional Documentation will help you to better understand the functional footprint of Openbravo ERP: Procurement, Manufacturing and Sales flows, Financial concepts and Platform related topics such as Modularity or Alerts are some of the topics covered.
The Openbravo ERP demo is nice, but you want to have the absolute control over Openbravo ERP installed into your local machine. The Installation Guide details the steps to install Openbravo ERP by yourself, depending on your expertise: Virtual Appliance and Ubuntu installation for beginners and Custom installation for experts (including the installation of the Openbravo ERP environment stack made of the Sun JDK, Apache Ant, Oracle or PostgreSQL databases and Apache Tomcat).
Once you installed Openbravo ERP, you would like to know how to use it. The User Manual will tell you the meaning of every single window, tab and field within Openbravo ERP.
Now that you have an understanding of your Openbravo ERP installation from an end-user perspective, let’s configure it following the steps of the Configuration Manual: model your enterprise, setup accounting, taxes, roles and users, import your legacy data, etc…
Your Openbravo ERP installation is now nicely configured and running smoothly, but you want to get more: let’s develop it! The Developer’s Guide, presented some time ago by Martin Taal, will provide you with theory and examples to take advantage of the Openbravo open source platform. No more excuses not to develop Openbravo ERP extensions and localizations!
Doubts and questions? Resolve them contacting other Openbravo ERP users in the Openbravo Communication Channels: free mailing lists, forums and IRC channels open 24/7 to the Openbravo Community.
Now that you are an Openbravo ERP expert, would you like to contribute to this open source project and help growing its Community? Take a look at the Contributor’s Guide to discover how you can help other Openbravo ERP users.

Seven must read articles have been presented but there are many others: find them using the built in Mediawiki search engine, the Google Custom search engine or external tools such as Ubiquity, presented by Iván Perdomo some days back.
The topic that you were looking for is incomplete, out of date or does not even exist? Openbravo ERP documentation is evolving and growing daily: you are welcome to provide your feedback, opinions and requests for improvement.
Enjoy Openbravo ERP documentation on-line or download it all with ScrapBook as explained by Galder Romo: c’mon, it’s free!

Source:http://planet.openbravo.com/

Getting started with Openbravo

2009-12-04T12:42:00.000+05:30

[hide]

Introduction

This document provides a list of resources for people evaluating or getting started with Openbravo ERP.

NOTICE: We are in the process of updating this page please go to the forum "Getting Started" page - your opinions please for more information.

About Openbravo

What Openbravo ERP can do

What is an ERP?

Modules at Openbravo ERP

Evaluating Openbravo ERP

In order to optimize the time you invest in discovering Openbravo, we recommend that you follow the following approach.

Start with the on-line demo. This is a very easy way to get your hands on the product and start exploring its capabilities. You can follow our step by step tutorials to experience some of the main business flows.
Install a Community Appliance. Since the on-line demo is a shared demo environment, there are some limitations on what you can do with it. In particular, we cannot give you system administrator privileges and we are refreshing the system on a daily basis. If you want to evaluate Openbravo's flexibility and experiment with different configurations, or if you want to have a persistent data set to complete your evaluation, you need your own system. The easiest way to get one, is to install a Community Appliance which is intended to allow you to get a full Openbravo ERP server for evaluation purposes with minimal installation hassles.
Once you have completed your evaluation, you are ready to start your implementation project, either with the Community Edition or with the Professional Subscription.

Starting a new project

Choosing between Community edition and Professional Subscription

Understanding Openbravo Releases

Community and Developer's edition

Forums and FAQ's

As many open source project, Openbravo ERP has its own Forge where our Community collaborates around the project. There you can access the project forums and review on going projects to extend the ERP functionality through modules, integrate it with external solutions, or to deliver services around it.

For Frequently Asked Questions, visit Openbravo FAQ. This repository of questions is updated every day with Openbravo forum posts.

Full installation guide

Openbravo installation has two different flavors.

Openbravo ERP virtual appliances

Openbravo ERP virtual appliances are a quick and easy manner of setting up Openbravo ERP for testing or development purposes since environment stack is already included and configured.

Openbravo ERP virtual appliances

Openbravo ERP custom installation

Openbravo ERP custom installation is the mean to install Openbravo ERP in a production environment. This way of installation, requires a previous installation and configuration of the whole environment stack.

Openbravo environment installation: Database, Sun JDK, Apache Tomcat and Apache Ant
Openbravo ERP custom installation

Openbravo ERP upgraders

Openbravo ERP can be upgrade from several versions to newer ones using a graphical assistant.

Functional documentation

In the link below you can find the functional documentation of Openbravo ERP. The purpose of this documentation is to describe, from a logical stand point, what business processes and what functions are supported in the product and how they are implemented. This documentation gives you a very good idea of what can be achieved with the product; it is NOT, however, a detailed step by step implementation guide or a user guide

Functional documentation

Configuration manual

In the link below you can find a document that explains how to set up the ERP in order to succeed working with Openbravo ERP. This is a step by step manual and very useful. Still in progress

Configuration manual

Developing with Openbravo

The Openbravo development environment includes a mix of tools and methodologies that make Openbravo developers' life easier.

Openbravo Developers Guide: a detailed guide on setting up your development environment, understanding the system architecture and how to build new features.

All development articles

How to contribute to Openbravo

There are many ways to make Openbravo ERP a better product.

Contribute to Openbravo

QA process. Acceptance testing

Openbravo QA team makes sure that all the releases have a minimum quality.

Whenever a a release is launched, an acceptance process is executed.

Openbravo acceptance tests

Retrieved from "http://wiki.openbravo.com/wiki/Getting_started_with_Openbravo"
This page was last modified 11:51, 24 August 2009. Content is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 Spain License.

Category: General Information ERP

Source:http://wiki.openbravo.com/wiki/Getting_started_with_Openbravo

RM updates: upgrade automation, documentation, appliance security

2009-12-04T12:30:00.000+05:30

RM updates: upgrade automation, documentation, appliance security

by Juan Pablo Aroztegi

Following with our round of updates, here’s the latest news from the Release Management Team:

Continuous Integration: there is a new job that tests upgrading from the last stable MP to the latest daily OBX file. This has been done using the command line. A graphical test is in progress.
Live builds: the main page has been refactored and it now includes detailed build information as well as the runtime Tomcat log.
Appliance security updates: previous versions of the appliance are vulnerable to a man-in-the-middle attack during TLS session renegotiation. This vulnerability has been addressed in this update. Check the full changelog at the newly created appliance release notes.
Documentation: check the new document explaining our stack configuration in the appliances.
Issue Tracker: we are working on upgrading to version 1.2.0, which includes new interesting features. Many things have changed in this version so this process will take longer than a regular update. A new testing server will be announced soon.
Download area: the SourceForge download area has been updated to include only the latest 3 releases. The older ones have been moved to the 09-openbravo-old-releases directory.

For a complete list of the on-going stories we’ve been working on, check the Sprint 28 page of our Scrum spreadsheet.
Tagged: Continuous Integration, Issue Tracker, Security, testing

posted in Continuous Integration, Issue Tracker, Openbravo, Security, testing

Source:http://planet.openbravo.com/

Openbravo ERP 2.50MP9 available Release date: December 1st, 2009

2009-12-04T12:27:00.000+05:30

Openbravo ERP 2.50MP9 available

Check out what's new, the fixed issues and frequently asked questions about the latest release of Openbravo ERP. As always, you are encouraged to tell us what you think, by raising an issue in issues.openbravo.com or discussing it in the Open discussion forum.

Fixed issues

11567: columns using reference Number are mapped to Float instead of BigDecimal. As a result there has been the following critical API change.
11099: Show user in session tab.
11239: The images on a field filled by a user can not be seen by other user with other role with access to the window.
10991: Export language does not work properly when core is not indevelopment.
11055: export.database and update.database could be 1min faster always.
Several fixes to improve support on modularity and build process:
- 11319: Not possible for 2 different modules to add windows with same name.
- 11228: The ad_menu is not correctly managed with modularity.
- 10792: Initial client setup not working using two datasets.
- 11014: Module dependencies must be taken into account while installing several dependent modules.
- 11029: Templates shouldn't allow *data package* to avoid database objects.
- 11096: create.database should stop if database could not be created.
- 11127: If the rebuild process fails when installing a module, the next rebuild deletes the content from ad_module.
- 11238: If generated entities do not correspond with the content of the application dictionary, export.database doesn't work.
11260: The accounting process through Background and DB tables did not work properly in same scenarios (depending on the structure of accounting schemas).
10621: The general ledger journal report cut the gl_entries in HTML format.
10752: System gets blocked while installing modules.
10574: The conversion rate table has to save the rates with more decimals.

Check the complete list of fixed issues.

API changes

There has been a critical change in Openbravo 2.50 public API. The DAL implementation of columns referenced as Number in the Application Dictionary are mapped now to BigDecimal instead of Float. Getters and setters for those columns are no longer using the Float data type but BigDecimal. See a more detailed explanation in this forum post.
Check the complete API changes.

Download Details

MP module		Appliance			Source code tarball	Mercurial
OBX file	QEMU-Parallels	VirtualBox	VMware	Xen	Download	Clone (tag: 2.50MP9)

These are Community deliverables. The Professional Subscription can be downloaded from the Partner Restricted Area.

Installation, updates and upgrades

To install or evaluate this Openbravo ERP release, follow the installation guide.
To update an existing Openbravo ERP from an earlier release of 2.50 follow the update instructions.
To upgrade your existing system from 2.3x or 2.40 to the latest version of 2.50 follow the upgrade here

Special thanks

Finally, we give our thanks to the Openbravo Community which continues to support us with their valuable time and knowledge. We also thank all Openbravo users for making Openbravo ERP a huge success.

Retrieved from "http://wiki.openbravo.com/wiki/ERP/2.50/Release_Notes/2.50MP9"
This page was last modified 08:26, 3 December 2009. Content is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 Spain License.

Category: Release Notes ERP

Source:

http://wiki.openbravo.com/wiki/ERP/2.50/Release_Notes/2.50MP9

Volume / Sound Problems in Fedora 11

2009-10-27T14:48:00.000+05:30

Source:http://satyajitranjeev.wordpress.com/2009/05/10/volume-in-fedora-11/

If you seem to be having trouble using the new volume control in Fedora 11, as in you cannot hear anything. In my case with headphones plugged in sound was perfect but the speaker seemed to fail. Looking at the release notes I got the answer. Use this command to increase volume:

$ alsamixer -c0

This should give you a screen like the one below:

Now all i had to do was increase the Speaker and the PCM-2 volume to maximum. The channels might vary for you depending on your sound card. If you want to increase microphone volume use

$ alsamixer -c0 -Vcapture

Openbravo HRM Module

2009-10-02T05:44:00.000+05:30

Description
This module provides human capital management capability to Openbravo ERP.

Source file : https://code.openbravo.com/erp/mods/org.openbravo.hcm.common/

If you want a localized Openbravo HR and Payroll Module for India?
Please mail us to info@qualiantech.com.

ERP services at Qualian

2009-09-19T10:20:00.004+05:30

ERP Services At Openbravo Qualian

Qualian provides a centralized framework for all data and processes of an organization. Qualian specializes in catering to small and medium sized organizations worldwide. Every aspect of the ERP system is well integrated to suit the client’s needs. From planning to inventory control, manufacturing, sales, marketing, finance, customer service and human resources every module is well integrated and maintained. The customized Openbravo ERP software solutions at Qualian are an imperative part of the company’s services. The Qualian ERP solution purges the requirement of installation of complex and several modules across the entire company unlike the existing available solutions in the market.

The client’s ideas are given the highest priority when an Openbravo ERP software solution is developed at Qualian. Every minutest of details are taken in to consideration when the experts at Openbravo Qualian perform. The ERP software solutions at Qualian integrate every business activity of an organization in order to improve the efficiency of operation.

Qualian has become market expert in ERP implementation in just 2 years.

Openbravo - Learn about the product

2009-09-13T15:37:00.001+05:30

Openbravo ERP

Openbravo's professional web-based open source ERP solution provides a unique mix of high-impact benefits:

Comprehensive

Broad, streamlined functionality

Rich Functional Footprint: Integrated Accounting, Sales & CRM, Procurement, Inventory, Production, and Project & Service Management
Integrated ecosystem of add-ons: Benefit from Openbravo and 3rd-party modules and industry verticals for a best fit implementation
Scale with Ease: Grow seamlessly from single-instance to multiple tenants, organizations, localizations, warehouses

Innovative

True web-based open architecture

Easy to Use Web Application: Simple and secure browser access to all functionality, with web services for easy interoperability with other applications
Simple to Extend and Upgrade: Codeless & model-driven, allowing non-programmers to easily add new functionality adapted to unique needs
Flexible Deployment: On premise or on the cloud, single or multi-tenant, on Windows or Linux, there are options for every need

Cost-Effective

High value at predictable low cost

Minimal Upfront Investment: Subscription model allows “pay as you go” customer control, and avoids capital expense
Transparent Pricing: Easy to understand, no hidden fees, no haggling over price
Quick Start, High Return: Go live quickly with a standard, best-practices implementation, incrementally extend and grow the solution over time

Smart Solutions, Real Results

Companies all over the world are achieving real results, successfully facing challenges just like yours. Spend 5 minutes learning how Openbravo helped them.

I want to learn more about Openbravo ERP: Functionality, Key Features, Technology
I want to learn about other companies using Openbravo

Openbravo wins prestigious 2009 BOSSIE award

2009-09-06T17:22:00.002+05:30

Again, Openbravo has won an InforWorld's BOSSIE award to the Best of Open Source Enterprise Software. This is the second time Openbravo is presented with this award, one of the most renowned in the open source industry.

The jury reasoned:

"Openbravo impresses with a well-developed POS (point-of-sale) solution, procurement and warehouse management tools, financial and accounting features, and production logistics for shop floor oversight. Further, Openbravo's plug-in architecture offers the same sort of extensive modularity found in SugarCRM and traditional commercial applications from the likes of SAP and Oracle. That means your developers can extend system functionality without worrying about stepping on core functionality. And the entire Openbravo system is supported by a healthy set of alerts, role-based user provisioning and access control, and a good Web-based UI."

All of us at Openbravo and our ecosystem are very happy and honored by the award. We have invested a lot of resources and effort in building one of the best products, and providing all the community tools and professional services to ensure Openbravo truly becomes an alternative to proprietary ERPs. We have achieved a lot, but there is still a lot more to be done! Hopefully we can do it together.

Thanks for your support!

Posted by Josep Mitjà at 12:04 AM

Customer Quotes about Openbravo

2009-08-30T11:19:00.001+05:30

Customer Quotes about Openbravo

"Without a doubt, Openbravo's solution met the original necessities of our company as well as the ones that came up during the implementation phase. We were also happy that we were able to adapt the software to the specific needs of our company, relative to our sector and particular operations."

Félix Arrasate, General Manager, Arrasate

"Our employees were ecstatic when they saw their jobs become easier to carry-out. They worked harder and more efficiently!"

Iñaki Amigot, General Manager, Huesker

"Sales increases of 32%, enhanced decision-making processes, and measurable quality improvements can all be attributed to the existence of Openbravo - our new ERP."

Carlos Villanueva, Sales Director, Frilac S.A.

"Openbravo ERP proved to be the right solution for our Research and Development Group, supporting, in a very flexible and efficient way, our needs regarding the delivery of R+D+i projects and accredited ISO170025 services to a high number of clients."

Mariano Ruiz, Regular Professor, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid

"The immediate benefit of Openbravo ERP is the lowering of the transaction costs. Now we can finally scale up our business."

Kimmo Niemistö, CEO, Kehä Caravan Tukku

Openbravo

2009-08-18T12:34:00.001+05:30

Openbravo World Conference

2009-08-18T12:30:00.001+05:30

Openbravo ERP 2.50 Classroom Training in India: Learn to be an Expert!

2009-07-28T16:49:00.000+05:30

July 2009

Openbravo ERP 2.50 Classroom Training in India: Learn to be an Expert!

Dear Thirumalai Kandasami,

We are pleased to announce the dates of the next Openbravo Training Convention, to be held in Hyderabad, India. This is your chance to begin or continue your journey to becoming an expert - to gain all the necessary tools and confidence to propel your skills for working around Openbravo products, which has been gaining momentum in India for some time now.

The Training Courses are designed for all levels of knowledge, allowing you to choose the courses suited to your professional profile (users, business consultants, developers, project managers and system administrators):

Course Title	Course Dates
Basic Functional Training	31 Aug - 4 Sep 2009
Basic Development Training	7 - 11 Sep 2009

For more information and to reserve your seat - just click here!
Simply click on the course title within the webpage to reveal a brief course description.

To find out more and for help in choosing the right course for you, please contact us at customers@openbravo.com

Space for live classroom training sessions is limited, so make sure to reserve your seat today!

We look forward to helping you become an Openbravo ERP expert,

The Openbravo Team

Notes:

Please note that Classroom Training is the best option available to you if your goal is to bring yourself up-to-speed with Openbravo ERP technology as fast as possible. Compared with online training, they are shorter, more intense sessions, delivered by a live training specialist with face-to-face explanations and clarifications. However, for those not able to attend:
- The Basic Functional Training for Openbravo ERP is available in an online format: Click here for more information
- In the same webpage, you will also see the brand new addition of Advanced Development Training in an online format

Openbravo - Screenshots

2009-07-27T23:30:00.000+05:30

Getting Started

Logging In

Users can log in to Openbravo ERP from any web browser worldwide with only a username and password.

Changing User Roles

Users managing multiple clients, organizations, or roles can change their personal settings once inside the application.

General Usability

Application Menu The menu is designed to intuitively follow a typical computer folder structure. Users can also change the order of the menu with a few simple clicks.	Coordinating Information This mode lets users see all related records quickly, with the ability to sort data using one or many filters. Exporting the grid to PDF, Excel ,or CSV is also available.
Editing Mode This mode lets users create, edit, or view information related to a specific record. Using the blue links, users navigate to different application windows with one click in order to view or edit related data.	Searching for Information This search filter lets users look through thousands of records to quickly find the data they are looking for.
Help Menu The help menu is organized as a search index. Clicking on a link, users see a description of the term they would like defined.	Workflows Following a workflow, users complete multistep or complex processes following a predefined and clickable path.
Various exporting possibilities Records may be exported and saved to Excel, CSV and PDF formats.	Business Partner Card This window gives users a snapshot of each employee, customer, or vendor by quickly showing important information such as their purchase history, sales patterns, or just the basic contact information.
Linked Items The linked items icon opens a window allowing users to see all records somehow related to the current record being viewed.	Online Reports Reports and documents based in JasperReports or standard HTML may be viewed online.
PDF Reports Reports and documents based in JasperReports or standard HTML may be viewed and saved in PDF format. Source : openbravo.com

localization for India

2009-07-27T23:20:00.000+05:30

http://forge.openbravo.com/plugins/espforum/view.php?group_id=100&forumid=597808&topicid=4476536

This will be the primary post/thread for coordinating the localization of Openbravo to India.

Jordi Mas at Openbravo - Openbravo world conference

2009-07-27T23:11:00.001+05:30

Source :
http://jordimash.blogspot.com/2009/04/openbravo-world-conference-community.html

Qualian Technologies. Case Vaishnovi Infrastructure. Senthil Palanisamy

Implementing Openbravo ERP on a construction equipment company in India.

Key ideas:

Customer has 1.000 employees, 1 billion Indian ruppies turn over. Challenges: 100 desktops, independent systems for inventory and accounting, migration from a previous system. Need for new requirements not supported by their legacy system: centralized stock managed, BOM, sales commissions, etc.
The implementation has been very successful. Users and managers are happy because the new level of flexibility and functionality gained

Interested in Openbravo Implementation- India

2009-07-25T12:18:00.003+05:30

Are you interested in implementing Openbravo ERP in your company but not sure how to proceed?

Please contact us .We will help you

Registered Office & Offshore Development Center

Qualian Technologies Pvt Ltd,
#2/49, Radhakrishnan Nagar Main Road,
Thiruvanmiyur,
Chennai –600041
Ph: +91 44 43511494
Fax: +91 44 43511494
info@qualiantech.com

Openbravo India - Customer Stories

2009-07-25T10:30:00.002+05:30

Refurbishment of Used Construction Equipment

Industry: Industrial Supplies & Accessories
Country: India	Activity: Distribution, Services

Customer

Vaishnovi Infrastructure refurbishes used construction equipment (such as Excavators, Cranes, Bulldozers, etc.) Its 23 self-contained branches stock, sell and service these items for clients in the mining and construction industry. The company required an ERP to manage its complex operations, in terms of both stock and resources.

Openbravo was chosen due to the young and vibrant Qualian (Openbravo Partner) joining with Vaishnovi Infrastructure to customize Openbravo so that it fit their needs perfectly. What´s more, users can operate the web-based application from anywhere! Management of product pricing has improved and cash collection has increased by 20%. Basic CRM developed for Vaishnovi assists them to easily reach the appropriate customer and their spares sales increased by 10% in the first 3 months!

Source:http://www.openbravo.com/customers/?id=55

Customer - Vaishnovi Infrastructure,Chennai
Openbravo partner - Qualian technologies,Chennai

Openbravo Events : Hello India! 360º Business Tour

2009-07-20T17:52:00.000+05:30

Site:openbravo.com

Following the increasing demand for its solutions in India, Openbravo announces the return of its 360º Business Tour, this time visiting several Indian cities.

The 360º Business Tour is geared towards System Integrators, ISVs and VARs with knowledge of the mid-market ERP sector and who want to take their business to the next level. The aim is to recruit committed partners who are ready to invest a practice around Openbravo solutions in India, a country which has generated a significant amount of customer leads.

During the sessions, attendees will have the opportunity to meet the Channel Business Manager for India and:

Understand the current business climate in the Open Source Business arena and in particular, in the ERP space
Learn how to make business around professional Open Source ERPs
Discover how Openbravo can help boost business
Evaluate the business opportunity in India

These sessions reflect Openbravo's commitment towards its partner program and emphasize its strategic positioning in the Indian market, following continuous demand for Openbravo solutions.

This business tour precedes the live Training courses that will take in September in India.

We look forward to welcoming you (from 9am to 11am local time) at the following locations:

4^th August 2009 – Kolkata
6^th August 2009 – Hyderabad
10^th August 2009 – Gurgaon
13^th August 2009 – Chennai
18^th August 2009 – Mumbai

Logistical details will be provided soon.

If you are interested on attending any of the sessions taking place during the tour, please register now as place is limited.

India makes Openbravo's shortlist of breakthrough markets

2009-07-20T17:51:00.000+05:30

Source:openbravo.com

- Openbravo launches the Hello India! campaign in response to increasing demand for its solutions in the country -

Barcelona, Spain, and India- July 1st, 2009. Openbravo, the leading developer of web-based open source Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Point of Sale (POS) solutions for businesses, announces the launch of Hello India!, a campaign accommodating the growing appeal for open source software in the country. It will include various initiatives, beginning with the 360º Business Tour, followed by Openbravo Training courses among others.

India has been on Openbravo’s radar since the company’s inception. The country has become a solid breeding ground for innovation in the information technology sector, and has developed a keen interest in Openbravo solutions, thanks to community dissemination. That is why India is a logical stepping stone for Openbravo’s next stage of growth and will play host to many upcoming Openbravo initiatives.

To kick-off the Hello India! campaign, Openbravo will be visiting Kolkata, Hyderabad, Gurgaon, Chennai and Mumbai in August as part of its 360º Business Tour, which aims to recruit many new business partners. The free event targets System Integrators, ISVs and VARs with knowledge of the mid-market ERP sector. During the tour’s morning sessions, attendees will discover the growing opportunity existing in the open source landscape, especially with regards to implementing Openbravo’s professional products.

Later in the summer, live Training courses will take place. Through the Basic Functional Training and Basic Development Training courses, partners will receive the foundation required to get started working around Openbravo. More initiatives are planned later in the year to emphasize Openbravo’s strategic positioning in the Indian market.

Cees Poortman, VP of Global Commercial Operations, said “Openbravo has been gaining traction in India for some time now, which has escalated to a point where we need to recruit new partners to satisfy the demand for our solutions. Any serious service company in the space should understand the benefits of partnering with the company behind the most successful open source ERP, especially in a booming market for such solutions. The 360º Business Tour is an opportunity for any company looking to either start, expand or enhance an open source business practice to realize the potential in working around Openbravo”.

Places are limited, so those interested in attending the 360º Business Tour should register today: http://www.openbravo.com/about-us/events/hello-india/

For those who cannot attend and want to discover the advantages of becoming an Openbravo partner, please visit: http://www.openbravo.com/partners/become-partner/.

To find out more details about Openbravo’s Training courses in India, please visit: http://www.openbravo.com/services/training/

How can ERP function more effectively in S.M.E.?

2009-07-20T17:44:00.000+05:30

Source:erpwire.com

The troubles faced by S.M.E.'s with regards to ERP is quiet understandable. However they can be rectified. Even if they are not taken out totally there is always a

scope for making things better and making ERP's more user friendly for Small and Medium Enterprises. The vendor's primary concern should be solving ERP problems in S.M.E.'s. This is emphasized because ERP problems in Small and medium enterprises are many.

Some of the suggestions that can be implemented in S.M.E's are as follows

Structuring need based software programs

The main problem faced by S.M.E.'S when it comes to ERP is that their requirement is limited while the product offered exceeds their specifications in all ways (including the costs).The gap between these two needs to be analyzed by the companies and S.M.E.'s. It is not possible for the vendor to bring down their standards for the sake of the company neither is it feasible for the later to upgrade for the sake of the former (just for the sake of compliance and matching the company's model and that too without any direct monetary benefit ).

A balance should be stricken between the two. The company and the vendor should sit together and analyze the pros and cons of every possibility to match their requirements. Both of them should make compromises as and where possible. These adjustments even though may seem to be smaller will have greater impact when it comes to the structuring of software programs.

Rectifying inherent defects in software programs

Software is not given due importance in many of the small and medium enterprises. Software is looked upon as just another operational tool. This will not have major impact at the immediate outset when it comes to other operations (though the loss will be known at a later point of time). However the case will not be the same with ERP.

The vendors experience great difficulty when it comes to installing ERP in such companies. They find themselves petrified to handle the resultant consequences because the companies might blame the vendor for the failure without realizing that it is due to their own inability/carelessness in maintaining software programs. That is why he must exercise care in solving ERP problems in S.M.E.'s.

The vendor needs to carefully review the software competencies in the company.This study will help him to asses what the company requires more in terms of software .To start with the vendors must initially speak to the in-house IT personnel. They should convey their observations very clearly. This will help them in disseminating the information all over the company and speaking to the decision making body. The senior management may have greater chances of accepting the vendors suggestion when it is supported by IN house IT personnel but with a good faith and in the interests of the company. The vendor should take all possible steps to remove the software deficiencies in the company before thinking of running the ERP application.

Giving Due Attention to ERP

The vendors have an advantage when it comes to working with bigger players. They realize the seriousness of ERP projects not only in terms of the money invested but also in the context of the restructuring and the supposedly redefined functions. This feature is absent in Small and Medium Enterprises.

They refuse to show importance as business process reengineering and change management looks like absurd to them. They underestimate the jargon and think it is too much keeping the size of their firm in mind. The ERP vendor needs to make them realize the importance in order to be successful in the project (for both of them).

Conclusion

Unless the ERP vendor and the company sits together to resolve the conflicts it is not going to be beneficial to either of them. The onus of initiating lies with the vendor when it comes to ERP problems in small and medium enterprises. Since he has the required expertise he needs to take the lead in convincing the company and be sure of Solving ERP problems in S.M.E.'s.

Discussing ERP's intervention in small and Medium Enterprises

2009-07-20T17:43:00.001+05:30

Source:erpwire.com

ERP for small business calls for voluminous investments. The amount was fairly affordable to small business entities. There is no doubt or two say about its benefits.

But the question that kept ringing in the market was can everyone afford it. The answer was a stubborn no initially but not anymore. ERP outsourcing, Open Source ERP's and ERP applications designed for S.M.E.'s (Small and medium Enterprises) have successfully overcome the above said limitations.

Some relevant issues concerning ERP for S.M.E.'s are the following:

Evolution of ERP in S.M.E.'S

Enterprise Resource planning was a term restricted purely to elite class. This scene was witnessed in the IT market for some long time ever since ERP was introduced. The large organizations went ahead with ERP process unmindful of negative consequences, not to forget mentioning the fact that they took every proactive measure to curb the same. Needles to say firms were interested in serving such large players. So the fate of Small and Medium enterprises remained unanswered. ERP for S.M.E's remained a mere dream.

ERP Vendors and Corporate giants

It so happened that the number of larger companies without ERP turned out to be nil. Thanks to the awareness created by vendors and IT researchers. No doubt companies were initially hesitant lot and apprehensive on just hearing the word ERP. However the industry proved them otherwise. Then came a stage where a company could not exist but without ERP. Even if their performance was satisfactory they were not able to gain any competitive advantages.

This explanation of how goliaths adapted to ERP has lot of significance in studying their intervention with S.M.E. These bigger companies were not providing the required business to ERP vendors. Even though there are many big companies the number of vendors was always greater in multiples. This means only the best could strike deals and there was no possibility for mediocre or average vendors (in terms of performance).The best players also found that they had none to serve after a point of time because almost every company in the market successfully established ERP (whether on the first or further attempts).

Stabilization of ERP in S.M.E.S

SO they had to naturally look for greener and fresher pastures. S.M.E.'S was the only answer. The next question was how to provide best services at an affordable cost and still make profit. In this case the vendors had to be worried only about the number of sales they could make and not the quantum of profits because the number of vendors was few and far between when compared with the number of S.M.E.'S choosing to go for ERP. As the saying goes "necessity is the mother of Invention" vendors had to devise cost effective applications to meet the demands of the Small and Medium enterprises. This was the origin of ERP for S.M.E.'S. This benefited them in terms of business .On the other hand the firms enjoyed greater benefits by making use of this application. Hence ERP and S.M.E. was weighed on the same scale.

Conclusion

S.M.E.'s are becoming the popular choice of ERP vendors. There is an increasing awareness of ERP in S.M.E. market. It has practically helped to unravel the myth that ERP is exclusively meant to business empires. ERP and S.M.E have become important part of enterprise studies.

Openbravo India - Qualian technologies

2009-07-20T09:52:00.005+05:30

Qualian technologies - Openbravo partner.

Introduction About Qualian Technologies Pvt. Ltd.

•Headquartered in Chennai, India
• Involved in Outsourced Development Activities for US customers
• Involved in Enterprise solutions implementation for Small and Medium Enterprises in India
• Early Partner and Active Practitioner of Openbravo in India
• Developing Industry specific ERP solution based on Openbravo for the Textile Industries in India • Developing additional modules like HRM & Payroll for Openbravo to fulfill the current and future customer requirements

http://www.slideshare.net/Openbravo/09-qualian

The Technology Awards recognized outstanding projects lead by companies or organizations build on top of Openbravo technology.
http://worldconference.openbravo.com/2009/age nda.php#awards

Nominated - Openbravo Best implementation of year 2008 :

Qualian Technologies. Implementation of Openbravo ERP in Vaishnovi Infrastructure Private Limited, India. Implemented for the customer with one production facility and 23 branch locations spread across India, with more than 100 users in a company has more than 1000 employees. Customer deals with international suppliers & local suppliers. Handled special financial instruments like LCs (Letter of Credit). Developed a custom CRM application to handle the sales visits of Sales person and capture the details about in and around of a customer.

Openbravo Customer Stories: How the Community is Benefiting

Openbravo World conference

Senthil in Openbravo world conference.

http://worldconference.openbravo.com/2009/agenda.php#obsshtcib

http://s3browse.com/getObject/obwc.files/Qualian.pdf

Openbravo India - Qualian

2009-07-18T15:32:00.000+05:30

Qualian Technologies (case Vaishnovi Infrastructure): Senthil Palanisamy
This session provides a case study that manifests how Openbravo ERP was customized and modules added, to ensure the right fit for a the customerÂ´s needs. The partner h elped Vaishnovi Infrastructure, based in India, to overcome the challenge of gaining control over a complexity of operations, from managing critical resources, to providing a timely service to the customer.
Link: http://worldconference.openbravo.com/2009/agenda.php#obsshtcib

Openbravo India

2009-07-18T15:29:00.002+05:30

Qualian Technologies (case Vaishnovi Infrastructure) - Senthil Palanisamy - Presentation Transcript

http://www.slideshare.net/Openbravo/09-qualian

Openbravo World Conference Openbravo Customer Stories: Vaishnovi Infrastructure Barcelona, April 18, 2009 Speaker: Senthil Palanisamy, Qualian Technologies
Agenda Introduction • About Vaishnovi Infrastructure Engineers (Customer) • About Qualian Technologies (Implementer & Openbravo Partner) Challenges Solution Result Further Developments Page 2
Introduction About Vaishnovi Infrastructure Engineers • Headquartered in Chennai, India • Engaged in Refurbishing used construction Equipments – Like Excavators, Cranes, Bulldozers, etc. • Stock, Sell, Service construction Equipments • Involved in International and Domestic Trade • Having 23 branches all over India and one Refurnishing unit • Employs more than 1000 • Turnover is above 1 billion Indian Rupees. • No.1 in this industry • Previously they were using a locally developed System for Accounting and Inventory Page 3
Introduction About Qualian Technologies Pvt. Ltd. • Headquartered in Chennai, India • Involved in Outsourced Development Activities for US customers • Involved in Enterprise solutions implementation for Small and Medium Enterprises in India • Early Partner and Active Practitioner of Openbravo in India • Developing Industry specific ERP solution based on Openbravo for the Textile Industries in India • Developing additional modules like HRM & Payroll for Openbravo to fulfill the current and future customer requirements Page 4
Agenda Introduction Challenges • Shortcomings of Existing System • Need for Additional features to effectively utilize the resources of the company. Solution Result Further Developments Page 5
Challenges Shortcomings of Existing System • Independent Systems for Inventory and Accounting • Client Server Application – Managing about 100 desktop installation was a nightmare • Existing system did not provide Outstanding based on invoices. It gave outstanding based on business partner alone. • No provision for COGS Page 6
Challenges Need for Additional Features • Centralized stock management which will help Vaishnovi to effectively utilize the spares which are residing in different branches. • Every customer needs to be assigned to a Sales Person, who will be responsible for the collection of pending payments. • Cost of Goods Sold calculation for Spares and Machines. • Organization wise Profit & Loss statement • BOM • Sales Commissions • Advanced Tax Setup based on Organizations and region • Support for hierarchical Organizational Structure • CRM Needs Page 7
Agenda Introduction Challenges Solution – Openbravo ERP • Why Openbravo ERP? • Customizations & Additional Developments Result Further Developments Page 8
Solution – Openbravo ERP Why Openbravo? • Web based architecture of Openbravo eliminates the deployment of desktop based client applications and its management • Integrated modules of Openbravo which doesn’t require duplicate data entry. • Sophisticated Finance and Accounting module in which we can get Organization wise P&L Statements • BOM • Sales Commissions available in Openbravo • Tax Setup Features • Tree Structure for Organization Definitions Page 9
Solution – Openbravo ERP Customization & Additional Developments • Sales Commissions have been customized to have additional commissions for Regional Sales Managers and Heads based on the sales of that Region • Product Substitute implementation • COGS has been enhanced to calculate Product wise (for Spares) and Product Instance wise (for Machines) costs. • Additional level of Access Control has been implemented to Cater Vaishnovi’s needs • New feature has been developed to make the payments based on the invoices and to retain the invoice wise outstanding. • Basic Customer Relationship Management module has been developed to track the sales activities of the Organization • Specific feature has been developed to handle the LCs (Letter of Credits) Page 10
Agenda Introduction Challenges Solution – Openbravo ERP Result Further Developments Page 11
Result • Users are happy to use the application from anywhere. • COGS helps the management to price the products appropriately • Invoice wise outstanding & Sales Person’s accountability association has improved Vaishnovi’s Cash collection by 20%. • Basic CRM developed for Vaishnovi helps them to reach the appropriate customer and their spares sales have been increased by 10% in last three months. Page 12
Agenda Introduction Challenges Solution – Openbravo ERP Result Further Developments Page 13
Ongoing Developments • HRM - To be implemented in Vaishnovi • Payroll – To be implemented in Vaishnovi • Texbravo – Industry Specific ERP Solution – An Industry Specific ERP Solution for Textile Vertical – Being developed and implemented in association with two Major Textile Industries in Southern Part of India – Features Custom Workflow Implementation to cater the needs of Textile Processing industries. Page 14
Thank You Page 15

Short Guide to install Oracle 10 on Linux

2009-06-06T20:14:00.000+05:30

Source:http://www.akadia.com/services/ora_linux_install_10g.html

Short Guide to install Oracle 10 on Linux

Martin Zahn, 06.10.2008

Download Files

Overview

This guide is a short description how to install Oracle 10.2.0.x on Linux (32 or 64 Bit). The full Oracle installation guide can be found here: Oracle® Database Installation Guide 10g Release 2 (10.2) for Linux x86.

In this guide we use the following ORACLE_BASE, ORACLE_HOME and ORACLE_SID.

ORACLE_BASE=/export/home/oracle

export ORACLE_HOME=$ORACLE_BASE/product/10.2.0

export ORACLE_SID=GENTIC

Download

Download the following software from the Oracle Download or Metalink Site

10201_database_linux32.zip (Base Software)
10201_companion_linux32.zip (Companion Software)
p6810189_10204_Linux-x86.zip (Patchset)

After downloading check the CKSUM / MD5SUM as described on Oracle's Site.

cksum 10201_database_linux32.zip
md5sum p6810189_10204_Linux-x86.zip

Requirements

Checking Memory and Swap Space

Oracle says that the system must have at least 1GB of physical RAM and 1GB of swap space or twice the size of RAM. And for systems with more than 2 GB of RAM, the swap space can be between one and two times the size of RAM. You might also want to check out sizing swap space.

To check the size of physical memory, execute:

grep MemTotal /proc/meminfo
MemTotal: 515700 kB

To check the size of swap space, execute:

grep SwapTotal /proc/meminfo
SwapTotal: 1004052 kB

You also can add temporary swap space to your system by creating a temporary swap file instead of using a raw device. Here is the procedure:

su - root
cd /root
dd if=/dev/zero of=/root/tmpswp bs=1k count=500000
500000+0 records in
500000+0 records out
chmod 600 tmpswp
mkswap tmpswp
Setting up swapspace version 1, size = 511995 kB
swapon tmpswp
grep SwapTotal /proc/meminfo
SwapTotal: 1504044 kB

Checking /tmp Space

The Oracle Universal Installer requires up to 400 MB of free space in the /tmp directory. If you do not have enough space in the /tmp filesystem, you can temporarily create a tmp directory in another filesystem. Here is how you can do this (/u01 is another filesystem)

su - root
mkdir /u01/tmp
chown root:root /u01/tmp
chmod 1777 /u01/tmp
export TEMP=/u01
export TMPDIR=/u01

When you are done with the Oracle installation, shutdown Oracle and remove the temporary /tmp directory:

su - root
rmdir /u01/tmp
unset TEMP
unset TMPDIR

Checking Kernel Parameters (Values from Oracle Site for 10.2.0.x)

To see all kernel parameters, execute:

su - root
sysctl -a

Verify that the kernel parameters shown in the following table are set to values greater than or equal to the recommended value shown. Do not change the value of any kernel parameter on a system where it is already higher than listed as minimum requirement.

Parameter Value File

semmsl

semmns

semopm

semmni

250

32000

100

128

/proc/sys/kernel/sem

shmall

2097152

/proc/sys/kernel/shmall

shmmax

Half the size of physical memory (in bytes)

/proc/sys/kernel/shmmax

shmmni

4096

/proc/sys/kernel/shmmni

file-max

65536

/proc/sys/fs/file-max

ip_local_port_range

Minimum:1024

Maximum: 65000

/proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_local_port_range

rmem_default

1048576

/proc/sys/net/core/rmem_default

rmem_max

1048576

/proc/sys/net/core/rmem_max

wmem_default

262144

/proc/sys/net/core/wmem_default

wmem_max

262144

/proc/sys/net/core/wmem_max

We added the following lines to the /etc/sysctl.conf file which is used during the boot process:

# Kernel Parameters for Oracle 10.2.0
kernel.shmall = 2097152
kernel.shmmax = 2147483648
kernel.shmmni = 4096
kernel.sem = 250 32000 100 128
fs.file-max = 65536
net.ipv4.ip_local_port_range = 1024 65000
net.core.rmem_default = 1048576
net.core.rmem_max = 1048576
net.core.wmem_default = 262144
net.core.wmem_max = 262144

Adding these lines to the /etc/sysctl.conf file will cause the system to change these kernel parameters after each boot using the /etc/init.d/bootmisc script which is invoked by /etc/inittab. But in order that these new added lines or settings in /etc/sysctl.conf become effective immediately, execute the following command:

Configuring kernel parameters:

su - root
sysctl -p

Parameter	Value	File
semmsl semmns semopm semmni	250 32000 100 128	`/proc/sys/kernel/sem`
shmall	2097152	`/proc/sys/kernel/shmall`
shmmax	Half the size of physical memory (in bytes)	`/proc/sys/kernel/shmmax`
shmmni	4096	`/proc/sys/kernel/shmmni`
file-max	65536	`/proc/sys/fs/file-max`
ip_local_port_range	Minimum:1024 Maximum: 65000	`/proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_local_port_range`
rmem_default	1048576	`/proc/sys/net/core/rmem_default`
rmem_max	1048576	`/proc/sys/net/core/rmem_max`
wmem_default	262144	`/proc/sys/net/core/wmem_default`
wmem_max	262144	`/proc/sys/net/core/wmem_max`

Creating Oracle User Account

To create the oracle account and group(s), execute the following commands:

su - root
groupadd -g 400 dba
useradd -u 400 -g 400 -d /export/home/oracle -s /bin/bash -c "Oracle Owner" oracle

Members of the dba group can administer Oracle databases, for example starting up and shutting down databases. In this guide, we are creating the oracle user account to have this responsibility.

Note on the «oinstall» Group

The oinstall group is often needed for those organizations who have separate groups that maintain the software and the database. In this scenario, the group membership prevents unauthorized access to the database by personnel who maintain the software, and it prevents the database administrators from making changes to the software and the installations inventory directory.

When using oinstall during the install of the software, one must set their default group to the one that will be maintaining the database before creating the database or permission problems will arise.

Oinstall is not needed when the same people will be maintaining the software and the database. In this situation, it will create more work and add an extra layer of complexity to the maintenance of the installation.

Recommendation: if you don't need the oinstall group for added security, just install using the dba group.

Setting Shell Limits for the Oracle User

Most shells like Bash provide control over various resources like the maximum allowable number of open file descriptors or the maximum number of processes available to a user.

To see all shell limits, run:

ulimit -a

Setting Limits for the Oracle User

After you changed and increased /proc/sys/fs/file-max, there is still a per user limit of open file descriptors which is set to 1024 by default:

su - oracle
ulimit -n
1024

To change this, you have to edit the file /etc/security/limits.conf as root and make the following changes or add the following lines, respectively:

# To increase the shell limits for Oracle 10
oracle soft nproc 2047
oracle hard nproc 16384
oracle soft nofile 1024
oracle hard nofile 65536

The «soft limit» in the first line defines the number of file handles or open files that the Oracle user will have after login. If the Oracle user gets error messages about running out of file handles, then the Oracle user can increase the number of file handles like in this example up to 63536 («hard limit») by running the following command:

ulimit -n 63536

Note that we do not recommend to set the «hard limit» for nofile for the oracle user equal to /proc/sys/fs/file-max. If you do that and the user uses up all the file handles, then the system would run out of file handles. This could mean that you won't be able to initiate new remote logins any more since the system won't be able to open any PAM modules which are required for performing a login. That's why we set the hard limit to 63536 and not to 65536.

You also need to make sure that pam_limits is configured in the file /etc/pam.d/system-auth. This is the PAM module that will read the /etc/security/limits.conf file. The entry should read like:

session required pam_limits.so
session required pam_unix.so

Now login to the oracle account again since the changes will become effective for new login sessions only.

su - oracle
ulimit -n
4096

Make Settings Permanent

For the Bourne, Bash, or Korn shell, add the following lines to the $HOME/.bash_profile

if [ $USER = "oracle" ]; then
if [ $SHELL = "/bin/ksh" ]; then
ulimit -p 16384
ulimit -n 63536
else
ulimit -u 16384 -n 63536
fi
fi

Setup Environment

Before installing the Oracle software, set the environment in $HOME/admin/.GENTIC, this file will be sourced each time after login. In the example below, gentic is the SID of the database which we will create.

cd $HOME
. ./.gentic

ls -l
drwxr-xr-x 4 oracle dba 4.0K Sep 26 14:51 admin
lrwxrwxrwx 1 oracle dba 15 Oct 2 10:18 .gentic -> admin/.gentic

cat .gentic

#!/bin/bash

unset TWO_TASK

export ORACLE_SID=GENTIC
export LISTENER_NAME=$ORACLE_SID
export ORACLE_BASE=/export/home/oracle
export ORACLE_HOME=$ORACLE_BASE/product/10.2.0
export ORACLE_DOC=$ORACLE_HOME/doc
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$ORACLE_HOME/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
export TNS_ADMIN=/export/home/oracle/admin/sqlnet

export PATH=$ORACLE_HOME/bin:$PATH
export NLS_LANG=american_america.al32utf8
export ORA_NLS10=$ORACLE_HOME/nls/data
export TEMP=/tmp
export TMPDIR=/tmp
export EDITOR=vi

ulimit -u 16384 -n 63536

Installing Oracle Base, Companion and Patch

This is only a brief description of the installation, the screenshots are not shown, however note the following important issues.

Order of the Installation

Install Base Product (10.2.0.1)
Install Companion Disk to avoid NCOMP error
Install Patch (10.2.0.4)

Do not create a Database using Oracle installer, this is an extra step, install software only.
Create the Oracle Inventory in $ORACLE_BASE/product.
Choose «Oracle Database 10g Products 10.2.0.1.0» option when installing companion

Create Oracle Home Directories

Oracle Installer does not create Oracle Base / Oracle Home directories.

mkdir -p /export/home/oracle/product/10.2.0

Start Installer

As Oracle10g is certified only on some Linux editions you may get the following error when you run Oracle's runInstaller, and installation will stop:

Checking operating system version: must be redhat-2.1,
UnitedLinux-1.0 or redhat-3
Failed <<<<

Solution: Use the option -ignoreSysPrereqs or edit/create the file /etc/redhat-release.

cd
DISPLAY=:0.0
export DISPLAY
./runInstaller

Create Inventory in: /export/home/oracle/product

The location of the Oracle Inventory can always be checked in the file /etc/oraInst.loc

cat /etc/oraInst.loc

inventory_loc=/export/home/oracle/product
inst_group=dba

Oracle Companion Products

Choose «Oracle Database 10g Products 10.2.0.1.0» option, to avoid NCOMP error.

Cleanup $ORACLE_HOME/bin

After the installation some non used files in $ORACLE_HOME/bin can be removed.

cd $ORACLE_HOME/bin
rm *O
rm *0

Create the Listener

You can generate the needed files or you can create them manually. Put them in $TNS_ADMIN, but create symbolic links from $ORACLE_HOME/network/admin to these files, because some tools do not consult $TNS_ADMIN environment variable.

Example of LISTNER.ORA

# --------------------------------------------------------------------------
# File: listener.ora
#
# Purpose: Configuration file for Net Listener
#
# Location: $TNS_ADMIN
#
# Certified: Oracle 10.2.0.3 on Oracle Enterprise Linux 5
# --------------------------------------------------------------------------

GENTIC =
(DESCRIPTION_LIST =
(DESCRIPTION =
(ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = DBHOST.EXAMPLE.COM)(PORT = 25000))
(ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = IPC)(KEY = GENTIC.EXAMPLE.COM))
)
)

SID_LIST_GENTIC =
(SID_LIST =
(SID_DESC =
(SID_NAME = GENTIC)
(GLOBAL_DBNAME = GENTIC.EXAMPLE.COM)
(ORACLE_HOME = /export/home/oracle/product/10.2.0)
)
)

LOG_DIRECTORY_GENTIC = /export/home/oracle/admin/sqlnet
TRACE_FILE_GENTIC = gentic.trc

Example of TNSNAMES.ORA

# --------------------------------------------------------------------------
# File: tnsnames.ora
#
# Purpose: Configuration File for all Net Clients
#
# Location: $TNS_ADMIN
#
# Certified: Oracle 10.2.0.3 on Oracle Enterprise Linux 5
# --------------------------------------------------------------------------

GENTIC =
(DESCRIPTION =
(ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = DBHOST.EXAMPLE.COM)(PORT = 25000))
(CONNECT_DATA =
(SERVER = DEDICATED)
(SERVICE_NAME = GENTIC.EXAMPLE.COM)
)
)

Example of SQLNET.ORA

# --------------------------------------------------------------------------
# File: sqlnet.ora
#
# Purpose: Configuration File for all Net Clients
#
# Location: $TNS_ADMIN
#
# Certified: Oracle 10.1.0.3 on RedHat Enterprise 5
# --------------------------------------------------------------------------

NAMES.DIRECTORY_PATH= (TNSNAMES)

Create Symbolic Links

cd $ORACLE_HOME/network/admin

lrwxrwxrwx 1 oracle dba listener.ora -> /export/home/oracle/admin/sqlnet/listener.ora
lrwxrwxrwx 1 oracle dba sqlnet.ora -> /export/home/oracle/admin/sqlnet/sqlnet.ora
lrwxrwxrwx 1 oracle dba tnsnames.ora -> /export/home/oracle/admin/sqlnet/tnsnames.ora

Start and show status of Listener GENTIC

lsnrctl start GENTIC
lsnrctl status GENTIC

Create Database

We recommend to generate the create scripts using Oracle DBCA. These scripts should be verified because they show man important issues - important to know for every DBA. Based on these scripts, we created our own initSID.sql and initSID.ora to create the database. In the subdirectory addons all optional parts of the database can be found and installed using install-addons.bash

Edit initSID.ora and initSID.sql for your needs

Adjust and check the parameters for your environment, for example all PATH must be changed, the value of SGA_TARGET and SGA_MAX_SIZE must be set according your physical memory, etc.

The files can be found in:

$ORACLE_BASE/admin/GENTIC/scripts/initGENTIC.sql
$ORACLE_BASE/admin/GENTIC/pfile/initGENTIC.ora

Enable Remote Administration with SYSDBA Privileges

If you want to manage all of your Oracle databases from one place and not have to log on to each host, you must do it via a network connection. For example to remotely administer RMAN through a network connection, you need such an environment. To enable remote administration you have to two things:

1. Create a password file on each target database.
2. Enable remote logins for password file users.

To create the password file, as the Oracle software owner or as a member of the DBA group:

cd $ORACLE_BASE/admin/GENTIC/pfile
orapwd file=orapwGENTIC password=xxxx entries=5 force=y

After you create a password file, you need to enable remote logins. To do this, set the instance's REMOTE_LOGIN_PASSWORDFILE initialization parameter in INIT.ORA to exclusive, as shown:

remote_login_passwordfile = exclusive

Setting this parameter to exclusive signifies that only one database can use the password file and that users other than SYS can reside in it. You can now use a network connection to connect to your target database as SYSDBA.

sqlplus "sys/xxxx@ as sysdba"

Create Symbolic Links

Create symbolic links from $ORACLE_HOME/dbs as follows:

$ cd $ORACLE_HOME/dbs
lrwxrwxrwx orapwGENTIC -> /export/home/oracle/admin/GENTIC/pfile/orapwGENTIC
lrwxrwxrwx initGENTIC.ora -> /export/home/oracle/admin/GENTIC/pfile/initGENTIC.ora

Create the Database

First start the Instance, just to test your INIT file for correct syntax and system resources.

cd $ORACLE_BASE/admin/GENTIC/scripts
sqlplus /nolog
SQL> connect / as sysdba
SQL> startup nomount
SQL> shutdown immediate

Now you can create the database

SQL> @initGENTIC.sql
SQL> @shutdown immediate
SQL> startup

Check the Logfile: initGENTIC.log

Create additional Products in the Database (optional)

If you do not want all additional products to be installed, uncomment them in install-addons.bash.

cd $ORACLE_BASE/admin/GENTIC/scripts/addons
./install-addons.bash

Create Server Parameter File

Server parameter files let you make persistent changes to individual parameters. When you use a server parameter file, you can specify in an ALTER SYSTEM SET parameter statement that the new parameter value should be persistent. This means that the new value applies not only in the current instance, but also to any instances that are started up subsequently. Traditional client-side parameter files do not let you make persistent changes to parameter values.

cd $ORACLE_HOME/dbs
rm initGENTIC.ora

sqlplus / as sysdba
SQL> create spfile = '/export/home/oracle/admin/GENTIC/pfile/spfileGENTIC.ora'
from pfile = '/export/home/oracle/admin/GENTIC/pfile/initGENTIC.ora';
File created.
SQL> exit;

ln -s /export/home/oracle/admin/GENTIC/pfile/spfileGENTIC.ora spfileGENTIC.ora
sqlplus / as sysdba
SQL> shutdown immediate;
SQL> startup;
SQL> exit;

Automatically Start / Stop the Database and Listener

If you want to start the database automatically on boot-time perform the following steps:

Copy standard oracle scripts dbstart and dbshut to $ORACLE_BASE/admin
Create start/stop script in /etc/init.d
Activate this start/stop script with chkconfig
Edit /etc/oratab to start/stop the desired Databases

Copy standard oracle scripts dbstart and dbshut to $ORACLE_BASE/admin

cd $ORACLE_HOME/bin
cp dbstart dbshut $ORACLE_BASE/admin

Create start/stop script in /etc/init.d as user root.

#!/bin/bash
#
# chkconfig: 12345 99 10
# description: Oracle auto start-stop script
# --------------------------------------------------------------------------
# File:        oracle
#
# Purpose:     Oracle auto start-stop script
#
# Location:    /etc/init.d
#
# Certified:   Oracle 10.2.0.3 on Enterprise Linux 5
# --------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Variables
ORACLE_OWNER=oracle; export ORACLE_OWNER
ORACLE_BASE=/export/home/oracle; export ORACLE_BASE
ORACLE_SCRIPTS_DIR=$ORACLE_BASE/admin; export ORACLE_SCRIPTS_DIR
ORACLE_HOME=$ORACLE_BASE/product/10.2.0; export ORACLE_HOME
# Source function library.
. /etc/rc.d/init.d/functions
# Source networking configuration.
[ -f /etc/sysconfig/network ] && . /etc/sysconfig/network
RETVAL=0
prog="oracle"
start() {
  echo -n $"Starting $prog: "
  if [ ! -f $ORACLE_SCRIPTS_DIR/dbstart ]
  then
       echo "Oracle not started (no dbstart script)"
  else
       # Start RDBMS
       su - $ORACLE_OWNER -c $ORACLE_SCRIPTS_DIR/dbstart
       # Start Enterprise Manager Console
       # su - $ORACLE_OWNER $ORACLE_HOME/bin/emctl start dbconsole
       # Start iSQL*Plus
       # su - $ORACLE_OWNER $ORACLE_HOME/bin/isqlplusctl start
  fi
  RETVAL=$?
  [ $RETVAL -eq 0 ] && touch /var/lock/subsys/oracle
  return $RETVAL
}
stop() {
  echo -n $"Shutting down $prog: "
  if [ ! -f $ORACLE_SCRIPTS_DIR/dbshut ]
  then
       echo "Oracle not stopped (no dbshut script)"
  else
       # Stop iSQL*Plus
       # su - $ORACLE_OWNER $ORACLE_HOME/bin/isqlplusctl stop
       # Stop Enterprise Manager Console
       # su - $ORACLE_OWNER $ORACLE_HOME/bin/emctl stop dbconsole
       # Stop RDBMS
       su - $ORACLE_OWNER -c $ORACLE_SCRIPTS_DIR/dbshut
  fi
  RETVAL=$?
  [ $RETVAL -eq 0 ] && rm -f /var/lock/subsys/oracle
  return $RETVAL
}
# See how we were called.
case "$1" in
 start)
       start
       ;;
 stop)
       stop
       ;;
 *)
       echo $"Usage: $0 {start|stop}"
       exit 1
esac
exit $RETVAL

Activate this start/stop script with chkconfig as root as follows

su - root
chkconfig --add oracle
chkconfig --list oracle

Edit /etc/oratab to start/stop the desired databases

su - root
cat /etc/oratab

# Entries are of the form:
# $ORACLE_SID:$ORACLE_HOME::

GENTIC:/export/home/oracle/product/10.2.0:Y

Activate Enterprise Manager Console

Create the repository for the enterprise manager console as follows:

emca -repos create
emca -config dbcontrol db

Try to connect to the database control as follows:

http://:1158/em

Automatically start and stop the DB-console

emctl start dbconsole
emctl stop dbconsole
emctl status dbconsole

MS Access 2007 - Show Hidden form,Table

2009-05-29T11:38:00.002+05:30

Office button-->Access Options -->Tick Display Navigation -->Navigation Options --> Tick Show hidden Objects

What is the difference between Cc and Bcc?

2009-04-30T15:24:00.001+05:30

What is the difference between Cc and Bcc?

Cc stands for carbon copy which means that whose address appears after the Cc: header would receive a copy of the message. Also, the Cc header would also appear inside the header of the received message.

Bcc stands for blind carbon copy which is similar to that of Cc except that the Email address of the recipients specified in this field do not appear in the received message header and the recipients in the To or Cc fields will not know that a copy sent to these address.

Source:http://email.cityu.edu.hk/faq/ccbcc.htm

web.xml Deployment Descriptor Elements

2009-04-28T21:22:00.001+05:30

Source : http://edocs.bea.com/wls/docs61/webapp/web_xml.html

web.xml Deployment Descriptor Elements

This following sections describe the deployment descriptor elements defined in the web.xml file. The root element for web.xml is . The following elements are defined within the element:

Tnsnames.ora

2009-04-27T13:04:00.001+05:30

Source: http://www.expertsharing.com/2008/06/21/ora-12154-tnscould-not-resolve-service-name/

Increase Swap Memory in Linux

2009-04-20T20:41:00.000+05:30

Source:http://salomie.ro/wiki/index.php/Linux_Free_Command

Linux Free Command
From Wiki
Jump to: navigation, search

The Linux Free Command
[edit]
Getting started

The linux free command allows us to check free/used memory on the system The output below is the result of running free -m on my system (-m means output is in MB):

total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 3856 1121 2735 0 17 180
-/+ buffers/cache: 923 2933
Swap: 2533 1044 1489

[edit]
Output explained

The first line starting with Mem: gives us the following information:

* total - is the total avaialble RAM (== Physical Memory) after subtracting the amount used by the kernel! In my case I have 4GB RAM and the total displays less than this.
* used - is the part of the RAM that currently has information in it that can be of use to the system (remember: unused RAM is useless, try to maximise this value)
* free - is just total-used
* shared - is the amount of memory shared between processes
* buffers and cached - the cached data and buffers for IO

The second line starting with -/+ buffers/cache: tells us how much of the memory in the buffers/cache is used by the applications and how much is free. Keep in mind that in general the cache is filled with disk IO cached data. The cache can be very easily reclaimed by the OS for applications. Let BUFFERS + CACHED from first line be value X.

X subtracted from the USED memory from the first line gives how much RAM is used by applications (USED value on second line)

X added to the FREE memory on the first line gives how much RAM applications can still request from the OS.

While the first line handles the values of currently used RAM, including applications and caches (but excluding kernel), the second line gives info on application related memory: how much is currently in use and how much is there still available for the applications.

Not able to open drives on hard disk by double click

2009-04-15T16:52:00.000+05:30

Source:http://www.troublefixers.com/not-able-to-open-drives-on-hard-disk-by-double-click/
Not able to open drives on hard disk by double click
Posted by abhishek in computer problems, how to fix, virus problems, windows

Tags: autorun.inf, drive-not-opening, drive-not-opening-on-double-click

14

Jan

Trouble:

Sometimes it happens in windows XP that you are not able to open drives on your hard disk. When you double clicking on the drives icons or right click on the drive>>explore in My computer ,the drive does not open.

This problem is generally caused by most of the viruses which infect windows XP system. They block or restrict your access to any of the drives.

But don’t worry this is not a big trouble it can be fixed easily.

Fix:

Normally when a virus infects a windows system which causes a drive opening problem, it automatically creates a file named autorun.inf in the root directory of each drive.

This autorun.inf file is a read only ,hidden and a system file and the folder option is also disabled by the virus. This is deliberately done by the virus in order to protect itself. autorun.inf initiates all the activities that the virus performs when you try to open any drive.

You have to just delete this file and restart your system to correct this problem.

Follow the set of commands below to show and delete the autorun.inf

1. Open Start>>Run and type cmd and press enter. This will open a command prompt window. On this command prompt window type the following steps.

2. type cd\

3. type attrib -r -h -s autorun.inf

4. type del autorun.inf

5. now type d: and press enter for d: drive partition. Now repeat steps 3 and 4. Similarly repeat step 5 for all your hard disk partition.

Restart your system and your trouble will be fixed.

Technorati Tags: virus,drive-not-opening,folder-option-disabled,autorun.inf

Note: For all those who are not able to correct this problem, after following the above procedure can use a tool called Ravmon Virus Killer designed by Muhammad Abdullah, download it from here

Arabic font for PDF from iReport

2009-04-15T12:59:00.000+05:30

Source:http://forge.openbravo.com/plugins/espforum/view.php?group_id=100&forumid=549512&topicid=6993189

RE:arabic font for PDF from iReport 11/04/2009 07:55 PM

this is the solution for the arabic font in reports

go to this web sit and see

http://anamasry.wordpress.com/2008/12/23/exporting-pdf-using-jasperreport-in-arabic/

the method is

1- download the Arial.ttf font

2- put it in the folder of iReport/fonts

3- in iReport hit reload fonts from the options menu

4- choose the arial font for pdf font for the text you want

5- follow the instructions in the above link

6- copy the arial font to Tomcat webapps in context name folder in WEB-INF/CLASSES

7- refresh opebravo

thats all

Drives and folders not open by double click

2009-03-29T21:23:00.002+05:30

Description - When you try to Open a drive it say (select a program from this list to open).If you try to open with IE means it will ope.

Reason - Due to Trojan

Remedies - 1.Open REGEDIT file(In Run type REGEDIT )
2.Find "MOUNTPOINTS2" using Ctrl + F
3.Delete the same(Include sub folders).MOUNTPOINTS2 always a folder.
4.Repeat the process unless all the "MOUNTPOINTS2" are deleted
5.Check now.
6.RESTART

Display Logic

2009-03-25T14:05:00.000+05:30

http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?thread_id=3100835&forum_id=549512
Question-
Hi,

I want to hide a field in screen based on another field, (string) starts with CAN.
Example -- City like 'CAN%'

I don't know what was the syntax for 'like' in display logic?
Help me.

Answer-

Hi,

Display logic in field tab is used for this purpose. Display logic is a boolean expression that make the field visible when it is evaluated to true. This expression is pseudo javascript (in fact is javascript, but for comparison operators it is used = and ! instead of == and !=). Thus the starts with comparison must be implemented in javascript, for example:

@YourFieldToCompare@.substr(0,3)!'CAN'

This would hide the field in case its value start wiht CAN (note it is case sensitive)

Fedora server- Disable Firewall,Restart

2009-03-13T18:57:00.001+05:30

Stop Firewall
/sbin/chkconfig iptables off
/sbin/service iptables stop

restart server

/sbin/shutdown now -r

List validation based on the user logins

2009-03-11T18:02:00.000+05:30

http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?thread_id=2959693&forum_id=549512

try the following:

AD_Ref_List.Value NOT IN (
case when (@AD_Role_ID@ = 100021)
then ''
else 'Perm'
)

You have to understand how it works:
-your statement was: if role is 100021 then no value is allowed, for other roles only "Perm" is allowed. So I guess your description was wrong: when you login with 100021 the drop-down list is empty, otherwise only 'Perm' is shown
-my statement is: if role is 100021 then no values are excluded, for other roles 'Perm' is excluded (it matches with your original requirements)

cp: omitting directory linux command error

2009-02-17T15:25:00.000+05:30

ok, i've done this so many times, and i just forgot how to overcome this error.

so i am writing this little how to just incase you are also having this problem.

if you are getting this error: cp: omitting directory

this is what you need to do:

cp -r orginal_file new_file

source;
http://www.wallpaperama.com/forums/cp-omitting-directory-linux-command-error-t1580.html

கவியரசு கண்ணதாசன்

2009-02-14T15:37:00.000+05:30

One Hundred Tamils
of the 20th Century

Remembering Kavi Arasu Kannadasan
கவியரசு கண்ணதாசன்
24 - 6 - 1927 to 17-10-1981

http://www.tamilnation.org/hundredtamils/kannadasan.htm

Configuring Fedora Linux Remote Access using SSH

2009-02-12T14:49:00.001+05:30

Source:http://www.techotopia.com/index.php/Configuring_Fedora_Linux_Remote_Access_using_SSH

REFER Source it have Clear Screen Shots

Configuring Fedora Linux Remote Access using SSH
From Techotopia
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Previous Table of Contents Next
Remote Access to the Fedora Linux Desktop Displaying Fedora Linux Applications Remotely (X11 Forwarding)

SSH is a TCP/IP service that provides a secure mechanism for remotely logging into one system over either a local network or the internet into another system. SSH also provides the ability to transfer files between remote systems. When a user logs into a remote system using SSH, they receive a command prompt allowing them to enter commands on the remote system as if they were sitting at the remote system and had opened a terminal session.

In this chapter we will cover the steps necessary to configure a Fedora Linux system to accept SSH connections. This involves installing the SSH server on the local systems and configuring the firewall to allow SSH connections.
Contents
[hide]

* 1 Installing SSH on an Fedora Linux System
* 2 Configuring the Fedora Linux Firewall to Allow SSH Connections
* 3 Using SSH on Fedora Linux
* 4 Copying files using SSH
* 5 Disabling the SSH Server

[edit] Installing SSH on an Fedora Linux System

In order for a system to accept SSH connections the system must first be running the SSH server. By default, Fedora Linux installs the SSH server so it is not usually necessary to install it. To check if it is installed and running use the following command:

/sbin/service sshd status

This will generate output similar to the following if the service is installed and running:

sshd (pid 9488 9486 1850) is running...

If the service is not installed it can be installed as follows:

su -
yum install openssh-server

The installation process with download the SSH server, install it and start the service running in the background. You may now attempt to connect from a remote system (see below for details of how to do this). If you receive a "connection refused" message when you try to connect it you may need to configure the firewall to allow SSH connections to be established to this system.

If the service is installed, but not running, it can be started either from the command-line:

/sbin/service sshd start

or by using the GUI Service Configuration tool accessed via the System->Administration->Services' menu option. Once the tool has loaded, simply scroll down the listy of services until you reach sshd. Check the box so that is starts on system re-boot and then click the Start button.
[edit] Configuring the Fedora Linux Firewall to Allow SSH Connections

If you are using a firewall to protect your system you will need to allow SSH connections before you be able to connect from a remote system. If you are using the basic firewall configuration (see Basic Fedora Linux Firewall Configuration) you can allow SSH connections using the Security Level Configuration tool. This tool is launched from the System->Firewall and SELinux menu option as appears as follows:

Image:fedora_firewall_main.jpg

If the box next to SSH is not already checked, check it and click Apply

If you have configured your firewall using the Firestarter tool you will need to set up an incoming connection policy to allow connections to the SSH service. Configuring Firestarter is covered in detail in Using Firestarter to Configure a Fedora Linux Firewall.
[edit] Using SSH on Fedora Linux

SSH can be used to log into your system from a remote system. It is also possible to test that the SSH server is running and accessible from the local machine. SSH connections are established using the ssh client utility.

To connect from your local machine back to itself use the following command:

ssh -l username ipaddresss

Where username is the name of the user you wish to log in as and ipaddress is the IP address of your system. You can also substitute the hostname of the system in place of the IP address. If you do not know the IP address run the ipconfig command in a terminal window. This will output information similar to:

eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:13:72:0B:14:57
inet addr:192.168.2.21 Bcast:192.168.2.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::213:72ff:fe0b:1457/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:4261067 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:4409081 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:100
RX bytes:2068332349 (1.9 GiB) TX bytes:2408187471 (2.2 GiB)
Base address:0xcce0 Memory:fe3e0000-fe400000

In the above output the IP address is shown as inet addr:, in this case 192.168.2.21.

To connect from a remote system perform the same steps above using either the IP address or host name of the remote host to which you connect. Enter your password when prompted and you will find yourself logged into the remote system.
[edit] Copying files using SSH

The SSH service provides a mechanism for copying files to and from a remote system. Copying is performed using the scp utility. To copy a file to a directory on a remote system, execute the following command:

scp myfile.txt username@192.168.2.21:/home/demo

Where myfile.txt is the name of the file to be uploaded to the remote system, username is the name of user account to be used to log into the remote system, 192.168.2.1 is replaced by the real IP address or hostname of the system and /home/demo represents the directory into which the file should be copied.

The above file could similarly be copied from the remote system to the local system as follows:

scp username@192.168.2.21:/home/demo/myfile.txt .

The above command will copy the remote file to the current directory on the local system.
[edit] Disabling the SSH Server

Having configured the system to run the SSH server we can now look at how to disable it. As we mentions previously the SSH server runs in the background as a service. In order to disable SSH we need to turn off the SSH service. This can be achieved using the Services tool or from the command line. To disable the sshd service from the command line:

su -
/sbin/service sshd stop

To launch the services tool click on the desktop System menu and select Services from the Administration sub-menu. Enter your password when prompted to do so. The Services tool will appear containing a list of all available services. Scroll down to find the sshd entry as shown below:

Image:fedora_linux_services_ssh.jpg

Uncheck the box next to the SSH entry and click on the Stop button. The SSH server is now disabled and will not restart if the system is re-booted. To re-enable the server, repeat the above steps and check the box next to sshd to enable the service on re-boot and press Start to immediately start the service.

error 1355,error 2350,error: -1603

2009-01-22T18:15:00.000+05:30

source:http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/2881085392/m/7401018964?r=5751099964
Posted Sat August 05 2006 19:38
**NOTE- I tried this only on Windows XP, may work on other versions- don't know

Hi all,

First time here on this site. I just finished helping my friend to build a pc specifically to play silent hunter 3. Interesting watching someone spend that much money to play a game, especially since he's big on Apple and thinks all things Microsoft are evil...lol. Anyway, we put it together only to watch him have a royal meltdown when he got the following during install: "error 1355. The cabinet file"Data1.cab" required for this installation is corrupt and cannot be used". Once you get this you get 3 options, retry, cancel and ignore...i think. If you hit one (retry I think) it just keeps failing, hit cancel an it's over, but hit ignore and I believe we got an "internal error 2350" followed by an "error: -1603 fatal error during install". We searched through this entire site and found some very interesting answers which unfortunately never worked. The biggest of these was the thought that a new disk might be flawed or that a DVD ROM may be dirty. None of these were the case with us. I ran a google search on this error and found tons of people having the same problem with intensive programs (memory hogs). You guys are not the only ones out there. It's hard to believe that all these people are getting flawed disks and we knew the DVD ROM wasn't dirty because it was new out of the box. There are so many things to try out there, so if what I suggest don't work, try googling a search for yourselves and see what does work. Don't give up. Some people out there thought it might be a memory problem. Though my friend put in a gig and a half of RAM we wanted to be sure it wasn't the RAM DIMMS. I took the DIMMS out of my pc and installed them in his...no help. Mind you we tried this after 5 hours of trying the various tips I spoke of. So I tried fudging with the settings. BINGO!! Again I tried this only on XP, I can't remember how to do this with other versions. Do the following:

1- click "Start"
2- click "RUN"
3- type "msconfig" in the box and click "OK"
4- select "BOOT.INI" from the top tabs
5- select "advanced options" near the bottom center
6- click on the box to the left of "/MAXMEM="
7- change the number that appears to 512
8- click "OK" then click "apply" then exit that box using the OK buton or the X on top.
9- it will probably as you to restart your computer- do it
10- Try to reinstall the game again..it will probably work, but if not, put in 256 for the number instead.

Here's the catch, if you end up using a number lower than the minimum required for the game to run it will give you a screen saying you have too little memory. Don't worry, make sure the game installs first using the low numbers then change the settings back to normal AFTER THE INSTALL IS COMPLETE, by using the same procedure and removing that X by the "/MAXMEM=". Now you have all your available memory back and can run the game without a hitch. Boy was my friend happy... and I gotta say, it looked like a great game and the graphics were awesome.

He was so relieved that he made me promise to sign up here just to post a possible resolution to this problem so that hopefully some of you will be able to play without huge headaches. I promised him, so there you are guys...good luck

Dark Wolf

How To Fix Windows Cannot Find MSCONFIG Error at RUN Command

2009-01-22T18:12:00.001+05:30

SOURCE::http://www.raymond.cc/blog/archives/2008/01/11/how-to-fix-windows-cannot-find-msconfig-error-at-run-command/

How To Fix Windows Cannot Find MSCONFIG Error at RUN Command
Author: Raymond

11 Jan

Yesterday I got a report from my customer that her computer is being infected by virus. Her description of the problem in her computer was computer is slow, can’t save any documents because her hard drive is nearly full although she doesn’t have much files, and Internet Explorer font is weird.

The first thing that I always do before anything is run MSCONFIG (System Configuration Utility) and check the startup entries there. It’s not the best tool to check for every programs that starts up with Windows, but it’s a basic one which is able to give me a rough idea if the computer is infected by virus or not.

When I go to Start, Run, type MSCONFIG and click OK, I got the error message “Windows cannot find ‘msconfig’. Make sure you typed the name correctly, and then try again. To search for a file, click the Start button, and then click Search.”
Windows cannot find msconfig

Usually virus is the culprit for removing msconfig, regedit and etc from Run command. Anyway, here’s how I manage to bring back MSCONFIG to the Run command.

First of all, we need to make sure that the MSCONFIG file is still in your drive. Surprisingly MSConfig.exe is not located in Windows or System32 directory. Two ways to find where MSConfig.exe is. You can either use Windows search to look for *msconfig* or go to another computer, use Process Explorer to find the path to MSConfig.
where is MSConfig path
As you can see, Process Explorer clearly shows that MSConfig.exe is located in C:\Windows\PCHealth\HelpCtr\Binaries\MSConfig.exe.

Go to C:\Windows\PCHealth\HelpCtr\Binaries\ and check if MSConfig.exe file is there or not. If it’s not there, you can copy it from another computer to the Binaries folder or if you only have Windows XP CD, open a command prompt window, insert your XP CD into the drive and enter the following command: (assuming D is your CD drive and C is where your Windows is installed)

EXPAND -R D:\I386\MSCONFIG.EX_ C:\WINDOWS\PCHEALTH\HELPCTR\BINARIES

That should restore MSConfig.exe to your Windows. IF MSConfig.exe is already there and you still can’t launch MSCONFIG from Run command, then the reference to the path within the registry may be wrong. Check this location in the registry:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\MSCONFIG.EXE

In the right pane, next to Default, it should show:

C:\WINDOWS\PCHealth\HelpCtr\Binaries\MSConfig.exe
MSconfig registry reference path

Once you have both MSConfig.exe file in your computer and the registry path is set correctly, you shouldn’t have problems running msconfig command from Run.

In addition to the fix above, here’s a very good tool that is able to create usable copies of REGEDIT, MSCONFIG and Task Manager which I found from Doug’s website. This small VB 6 utility will create a usable backup copy of Taskmgr.exe, MSConfig.exe and Regedit.EXE in a new folder, called C:\EmergencyUtils. The new copies will be named Copy_of_Taskmgr.exe, Copy_of_MSConfig.exe and Copy_of_Regedit.com.
XP Emergency Utility Copier
These programs are extremely helpful, and usually necessary in helping to rid your computer of a viral infection. Many virus programs will intercept these programs, based on their original file name, and prevent them from running. The alternate copies will not encounter this problem. Simply navigate to the C:\EmergencyUtils folder and double click the file you need to run.

[ Download XP Emergency Utility Copier ]

Removing non-empty directory in LINUX

2009-01-05T11:10:00.001+05:30

Quote:
rm -rf
Quote:
rm -rf /path/to/directory

source:http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-from-scratch-13/removing-non-empty-directory-342317/

Unlock Oracle account

2009-01-05T10:58:00.001+05:30

SQL>sqlplus /nolog

SQL> connect sys/map3 as sysdba
Connected.
--map3 is SID of database

SQL> ALTER USER scott ACCOUNT UNLOCK;

User altered.

--After unlocking account I changed password to prash
SQL> ALTER USER scott IDENTIFIED BY prash;

User altered.

SOURCE:http://forums.oracle.com/forums/thread.jspa?messageID=1578430

Ora-01652 : Unable to extend temp segment by 128 in tablespace

2008-12-30T17:50:00.000+05:30

SOURCE:http://akdora.wordpress.com/2008/01/24/ora-01652-unable-to-extend-temp-segment-by-128-in-tablespace/

Ora-01652 : Unable to extend temp segment by 128 in tablespace

January 24, 2008 at 2:49 pm (Oracle & PL/SQL)

That error occurs when failed to allocate an extent of the required number of blocks for a temporary segment in the tablespace indicated.
So we can this in two ways.

1.
Check the datafiles sizes..
SELECT * FROM DBA_DATA_FILES;

FILE_NAME FILE_ID TABLESPACE_NAME BYTES BLOCKS STATUS
1 D:\ORACLEXE\ORADATA\XE\USERS.DBF 4 USERS 104857600 12800 AVAILABLE
2 D:\ORACLEXE\ORADATA\XE\SYSAUX.DBF 3 SYSAUX 450887680 55040 AVAILABLE
3 D:\ORACLEXE\ORADATA\XE\UNDO.DBF 2 UNDO 94371840 11520 AVAILABLE
4 D:\ORACLEXE\ORADATA\XE\SYSTEM.DBF 1 SYSTEM 629145600 76800 AVAILABLE

Then resize your datafile or add a new datafile to current tablespace
Resizing Datafile :
ALTER DATABASE DATAFILE ‘c:\oracle\oradata\orabase\USERS.DBF’ RESIZE 200M;
Addind Datafile to existing Tablespace:
ALTER TABLESPACE USERS ADD DATAFILE ‘c:\oracle\oradata\orabase\USERS2.DBF’ SIZE 50M;

2.
Change the user’s default tablespace to a bigger one :)
SELECT * FROM Dba_Users;

USERNAME USER_ID ACCOUNT_STATUS DEFAULT_TABLESPACE
1 ASD 36 OPEN SYSTEM
2 SYS 0 OPEN SYSTEM
3 SYSTEM 5 OPEN SYSTEM
4 ANONYMOUS 28 OPEN SYSAUX

ALTER USER asd DEFAULT TABLESPACE users;
SELECT * FROM Dba_Users;

USERNAME USER_ID ACCOUNT_STATUS DEFAULT_TABLESPACE
1 ASD 36 OPEN USERS
2 SYS 0 OPEN SYSTEM
3 SYSTEM 5 OPEN SYSTEM
4 ANONYMOUS 28 OPEN SYSAUX

References :
http://www.psoug.org/reference/tablespaces.html
http://www.psoug.org/reference/datafiles.html