Re: LedgerSMB Readiness

[Jos Geluk <..hidden..>]

> What is the longest successful deployment of LedgerSMB? What trial and
> tribulations did you go through?
I have been running LedgerSMB since early this year. I found the installation 
procedure complicated, but I succeeded without too much hassle. I remember 
setting up accounts was a bit of a mess at first. 

> What are the major bugs keeping me from deploying LedgerSMB?
I have not come across any major bugs so far. There are some annoying rounding 
errors here and there (an invoice sent to the client for â 100,00 may end up 
in the books as â 100,01). Occasionally, I get an error message about 
something being empty, but I know I should log out and back in again to get it 
to work again, which is done in seconds.

> What other software would you put up against LedgerSMB for reliability?
I had been using osFinancials for some years before. The main reason I was 
looking for a replacement for my previous system was that I wanted the system 
to run on a separate server. Before that I was using a dedicated machine. I 
experimented with putting the database on a separate server, but that was a 
failure. However, apart from being web-based, LedgerSMB brought many more 
improvements. The workflow is much more intuitive. The dialogs are clear and 
uncluttered. The reports are always clear about what they present. Correcting 
a mistake is straightforward. These may seem simple demands, but the previous 
system was an outright horror compared to this.

> Why isn't LedgerSMB right for my company?
Using LedgerSMB takes some programming skills to set up and modify, if you 
want to get the most out of it. If your company currently has none at all of 
these, using the system, or getting it to work at all, may get to be 
frustrating.
I'll give an example. Standard documents, in LedgerSMB, come in LaTeX format. 
Just as with my previous system, I built a little database query in 
OpenOffice.org that takes the data from the PostgreSQL database and presents it 
for use in standard invoices and quotations. That didn't cause many problems 
(it was an evening's work) and I preferred to continue using OpenOffice over 
learning LaTeX. I have built other extensions to LedgerSMB that perform CRM-
type actions. But I'm not a skilled programmer.

> Is it worth the risk migrating to LedgerSMB from Peachtree?
The risk from migrating can, and should, be mitigated by running two systems 
in parallel for a while, then comparing the outcomes from time to time. Yes, 
that means twice the amount of work and a bit of self-discipline. But it will 
lead to better understanding and a better decision-making process.

Jos.