Re: Questions about LedgerSMB

["Chris Travers" <..hidden..>]

On 3/7/07, Brett Neumeier <..hidden..> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> My employer is evaluating accounting software packages.  We've set up a
> sample LedgerSMB instance (using the recent 1.2.0 release candidate),
> poked around at it, and looked at the documentation; and now our finance
> guy has some questions.  I thought I would pitch them here, and am
> hopeful that someone will be able to answer one or more ... feel free to
> reply off-list; if I get any useful off-list answers, I'll aggregate
> them together and post them back.
>
> Also -- if there is a better forum for seeking this sort of information,
> please let me know!
>
>      1. What happens when there is a problem with the software?

Well, if there is a bug which is a new or severe issue and is common,
we fix this as quickly as we can.

If it is an older bug in the inherited codebase which is not trivial
to fix, we may defer it while we figure out exactly how best to fix
it.  If this is critical for you and not to everyone else, you can
accelerate the re-engineering of the software or sponsor a bugfix.
>      2. How would you rate customer service?

Well, I think it is great, but then I tend to be a large portion of
the customer service so....
>      3. How easy is it to query data?

I suppose it depends on what you mean.  It isn't hard to query data
from the user interface as long as you don't have custom reporting
requirements.  If you do, you can either add reports (which is not too
difficult), pay someone to add the report, or use other methods.

For example, you could set up OpenOffice.org Base or Microsoft Access
to create custom queries of the data from the PostgreSQL back end.
You could use JasperReports, etc. if you wanted.  Or you could simply
create database views and export to spreadsheets.
>      4. Does having multiple users create issues?

No.  As of 1.2, we will even support Slony-I for replication of the database.
>      5. Can we integrate with tools like F9?
I have no idea.  However, reviewing their web site, it looks like it
should be possible to make this happen via db views, odbc, and the
like,

>      6. Can we create and consolidate multiple companies?

Creating the companies is easy.  Consolidating is less so.  It can be
done, naturally, but to consolidate, you would reqire some expertise
in database systems.
>      7. Can we easily export reports to MS Excel?

I believe there are two ways of doing this.  You could copy/paste the
HTML table into Excel, or you could create a custom view in PostgreSQL
and connect via ODBC.  I generally prefer the latter.  As we continue
our rewrite of the software, this will get far easier.
>      8. Can we create imports from Excel files?

Not at the moment.  As I think about it, it should be possible to add
support for Excel 2003 and 2007 files via XML transforms.  But it is
probably easier to do a CSV import.
>      9. Can we upload a budget and track against it?

Not yet.  This would not be hard to add.  It would take me less than a
day.  Other people could probably do the work as well.
>     10. Can we create custom fields for GL, AR, AP that can be used for
>         search and reporting?

Yes, but these are not supported on GL or for searching yet.  It is
not hard to add, however.  You need it, we can add the search
functionality and/or GL support.  Note, however, that this does
require that you modify the user interface.
>     11. Can we run without inventory? How do we get pass that module?

Use AR/AP transactions and/or use services instead of parts.
>     12. Can we auto generate invoice numbers?

Yes.  This happens by default.  Leave the invoice number blank and one
will be generated for you.
>     13. Can I create AR reports by sales person?

Yes, but it requires a custom view.
>     14. How easy is it to transfer data from old system – QuickBooks?
Customers/vendors/parts can be transferred easily using converters on
the SQL-Ledger site.  (we may need to modify some of these when we get
to 1.3.)  The financial data is harder to move because Quickbooks
makes it harder.

Best Wishes,
Chris Travers