Purchase Order System for Linux?

trav3l3r asks: "Does anyone out there have any experience with Purchase Order software for Linux? Web based would be preferred. I am trying to set up a P.O. system for a small business (5 employees) in the area and trying to keep cost down for them. I have done the pre-requisite search on Google and Freshmeat and found very little. Any advice would be appreciated."

Comments

DotProject

[dj_cel]

I don't know how much this would help, but I am customizing this software (dotProject) for use as an order acquisition tool (webbased). I found it on http://www.opensourcecms.com/ They have some other stuff on there as well. Good luck.

Re:DotProject

[caseydk]

I'm a contributor to dotproject and this request has been made before. It has been ranked lower priority since it normally is something that doesn't directly fall in line with project management.

Compiere

[jilles]

http://www.compiere.org/ Compiere might offer some things you could use.

Re:Compiere

[passthecrackpipe]

Compiere rocks. period. It'll do loads more then just be a Purchase order system, and is really effective

Re:Compiere

[Red Pointy Tail]

Compiere at the moment requires an Oracle database, so unless you want to shell out truckloads of $$$, you might want to take a look at Fyracle as covered by /. earlier for a way to make it work with the open-sourced Firebird SQL database.

I'm also looking for something similar and...

[AresTheImpaler]

I found this. Altough it maybe over kill for what you are looking.

Re:I'm also looking for something similar and...

[Anonymous Coward]

I second the motion for SQL-Ledger. However, it has taken me a long time to learn how to do the simplest things. They have a manual but it costs $150 for the pdf file ! Part of my problem is that I don't know enough about bookkeeping and accounting in general. Does anyone have a good reference that is a HOWTO on bookkeeping with SQL-Ledger ? It can be oriented towards an individual contractor, a small company, whatever, I just need to get started.

OfBiz

[mandreiana]

The Open For Business Project(OfBiz) is an open source enterprise automation software project licensed under the MIT Open Source License. By open source enterprise automation we mean: Open Source ERP, Open Source CRM, Open Source E-Business / E-Commerce, Open Source SCM, Open Source MRP, Open Source CMMS/EAM, and so on.

Re:OfBiz

[adolf]

Jesus fuck.

There's enough meaningless officious buzzwords there to kill a whole team of horses.

What does it DO?

Re:OfBiz

[0racle]

Nothing. It just makes it sound like you know what your doing.

Re:OfBiz

[llefler]

What does it DO?

We'd tell you, but then we'd have to kill you.

Obviously are you are not in the 'business', so you don't know the secret handshake.

ERP - Enterprise Resource Planning
CRM - Customer Relationship Management
MRP - Manufacturing Resource Planning
SCM - Supply Chain Management

E-Commerce is vague. It could be EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) But it looks more like it's just a web store. BFD. Covers B2C, but certainly doesn't my definition for B2B. No mention of EDIFACT or x.12? Maybe in 5 years if ebXML takes off.

CMMS/EAM - Computer Maintenance Management System/Enterprice Asset Mangement

Google will tell you what all the acronyms are. But, despite having all of this in their 'product description', I see no link between that and their features list that explains HOW they meet the criteria for them.

A PHB can see all the acronyms that an IT department might be looking for, but it will be a time consuming process finding out if the system actually supports any of it.

Of course, now I'm going to have to bookmark it as a reference and investigate the component projects they are using. Thank you, I'm supposed to be on vacation until tomorrow.....

Oh, and while OfBiz is MIT licensed. They are aggregating other open source projects that carry their own licenses.

Re:OfBiz

[redmond]

We'd tell you, but then we'd have to kill you.

Ah yes, one of the favorite quotes from my childhood. Although it was usually followed by screaming from my sister and a stearn warning from my mother about threatening to kill someone.

Re:OfBiz

[1lus10n]

Christ just reading that many acroynms gives me a migrane ....

Re:OfBiz

[BenjyD]

OK, I'm doing PhD research in (basically) Manufacturing Planning and that website has me confused.

It looks like some sort of all-in-one supply chain management system using a (very vague) constraint-based solver to generate production orders and delivery schedules direct from customer orders.

So you add put in all the information about your resources (staff, production lines etc), costs (raw materials, wages etc). Then customers order products from the website and the system automatically spits out what you should do with your resources and how to get the products to the customer.

Why can no one just explain what they do in plain english any more? If it is what I think it is, it's actually quite similar to some research going on in my department and is quite a powerful tool.

Re:OfBiz

[llefler]

OK, I'm doing PhD research in (basically) Manufacturing Planning and that website has me confused.

They seem to be confused as well. The open source projects they list are Java and Apache related. The closest thing I saw to actually doing work are the reporting packages. I'm not sure why they feel the need to complicate things with two reporting systems. (Datavision, JasperReports)

As far as manufacturing, there is no mention of forecasting, materials management, bills of materials, or KANBAN. There is also no barcode and conformance labelling. And I think with a new system being built, there should also be some consideration for document control for ISO and communication capabilities for vendor managed inventory.

How about FDShopsite?

[Proud like a god]

FDShopsite, as used by Fastdiscs.com?

Re:How about FDShopsite?

[Uberdog]

If this is a joke, I don't get it. This project hasn't released any files and haven't committed anything to CVS.

Open Office works for me.

[dan.hunt]

Depends on the level of Purchase Order Control you would like. For many just tracking the document will be enough control. A Open Office Calc template can do this. Include a vlookup for the vendors name and address. Need a P.O.? Click on the template and OOo will create a blank document. Fill in the details and make a PDF, file it in a folder using the purchase order number as the name.

Re:Open Office works for me.

[Anonymous Coward]

Do you actually execute any capitalism this way ? I can see using this method for occasional or weekly invoices for a consultant, but it sounds too slow and crufty to do over and over again all day long.

Re:Open Office works for me.

[llefler]

Do you actually execute any capitalism this way ? I can see using this method for occasional or weekly invoices for a consultant, but it sounds too slow and crufty to do over and over again all day long.

Depends on the 'small business (5 employees)'. What kind of business is it? Do they do a lot of purchases, or just the occasional office supplies. Do they need inventory management too? Vendor communications? What are their processes now?

I don't know if I would PDF the POs unless they have an aversion to paper. Nobody should be looking at them unless the vendor has a problem. Whoever handles purchasing would create the PO (put it in the database), print or transmit to the vendor, when the order is received it would be compared against the database (marked received), and accounts payable would match the packing slip and invoice to the PO database and cut a check.

You could do something simple in Access. I would probably use Firebird and Delphi and build it in an afternoon. (barring a requirement for electronic transmissions to 3rd parties)

Use an ajusted version of WebGUI

[synq]

We use an ajusted version of WebGUI in conjunction with our bookkeeping software Cash on our on-line shop.

It works quite well and we'll probably publish our changes to WebGUI on the dutch website about this beautifull Content Management System and Application Platform later this year.

Oracle

[Elwood P Dowd]

Oracle has a PO system that runs on Linux. Why not use that?

SQL-Ledger

[SwellJoe]

Someone else mentioned it, but I thought it worth a bit more verbiage.

SQL-Ledger is a full accounting system, and includes purchase orders, quotations, RFQs, sales orders, etc. It also handles general double-entry bookkeeping and most everything else you need to keep up with your money, your suppliers, and your customers. It has nice LaTeX templates for checks, POs, quotes, RFQs, invoices, etc. which are easy to modify if you know LaTeX and not horribly difficult if you don't, since there are instructions for editing with LyX.

I first tried it because of two years worth of failed attempts to make GnuCash work reliably (I've been told GnuCash is more stable today than two years ago when I last tried it), and I really needed to get out of the habit of doing no book-keeping until tax-time or until I realized a customer was late with payment. SQL-Ledger was a last resort because I thought I wanted a local GUI app, so I bounced around trying all kinds of things...and finally settled on SQL-Ledger because it didn't crash, lose data, or lack specific features I needed.

It's written in Perl, reasonably easy to modify, and support from the author is cheap. So, while it's not perfect, I don't hesitate to recommend it to folks who want something a little more flexible than QuickBooks (and the fact that it is web-based has been such a huge win for me that I'll never go back to local GUI apps for this purpose).

Anyway, it's not specific to Purchase Orders, but it handles POs very nicely, and I find I use the bits I understand and leave the rest for later (I'm not much of an accountant, but I learn more every day), and it deals well with working in that way.

Re:SQL-Ledger

[Russ Nelson]

I agree. SQL-Ledger is excellent.
-russ

I use it

[Dios]

I use sql-ledger and it works great. Just to run a small business on the side, but its handy to keep up with billing/reports/etc.

I have hosted my sql-ledger system on both windows and on linux. And the fact that it can export pdfs of my bills/etc is great!

Take a look at quasar

[shepd]

Quasar is the linux equivalent of Simply Accounting. For a 5 man business, it would probably be enough. It's not specifically designed to do Purchase Orders, but it's there, buried somewhere.

Re:Take a look at quasar

[eatjello]

What about a 5 woman business? Would Quasar still be enough?

Re:Take a look at quasar

[shepd]

>What about a 5 woman business? Would Quasar still be enough?

I thought I already said that. A 5 man business could consist of only women. The english language does allow for that. In fact, you'll find the same or more sexless definitions for the word in the dictionary than you will find sexed definitions, and common usage still allows for "man" as a very genderless word. I would point to a certain government organization in the UK that uses that word, but you may have heard of them already, anyways.

I don't intend to adjust my usage of the word until the major dictionaries tell me to.

Yes, Carolyn Jacobson must have a poor dictionary indeed; her suggestion that dictionaries have a clear preference towards using the word "man" to mean male is provably incorrect.

It is sad that an english department of a prominent university cannot afford a quality dictionary. I would have donated one to them at the time, had I known they lacked one. Since now said quality dictionaries are online, I except I needent do so and that such unintentional ignorance should wash itself away in time.

Of course, if you choose to use an alternative word, such as "their" or "they", I shan't correct you. It isn't my place. Besides, common usage of such words makes their once incorrect usage now correct.

the English language

[eatjello]

Actually, I would have said "person" rather than "man" or "woman", but I don't think it's safe to debate pronoun usage with a woman such as yourself, as you seem to have taken my joke very seriously.

P.S. By "woman" I meant woman or man... I assume the purportedly non-sexist English language allows for this?

Re:the English language

[shepd]

>I assume the purportedly non-sexist English language allows for this?

Unfortunately, you've used it incorrectly in that case.

If you'd like to take a look at the dictionary one more time, you'll find no sexless definitions for the word "woman". In fact, the word "woman" could be considered sexist, as some definitions mean it to be a female servant.

>Actually, I would have said "person" rather than "man" or "woman", but I don't think it's safe to debate pronoun usage with a woman such as yourself, as you seem to have taken my joke very seriously.

I take "jokes" like that seriously because I do tire of seeing certain groups corrupt not only our language (I consider it a corruption when a simple shortening of the word "human" can somehow become an insult), but worse yet, corrupt our legal system. IMHO, a man without a hate crime law is like a fish without a bicycle. Interestingly enough, that law is now used to eject certain non-mainstream media from Canada.

Yeah. I'll just go in a corner and chill out now. That's ok. Don't worry about anything.

Re:the English language

[eatjello]

Honestly, I meant no ill will. Don't stay in your corner long. Good academic discussion is hard to come by these days.

Re:the English language

[shepd]

>Honestly, I meant no ill will. Don't stay in your corner long. Good academic discussion is hard to come by these days.

:-) Thanks. /me wipes tear from his eye. I gave up on slashdot for a while after slashdot banned me due to their idiotic anti-troll system. Glad to see not everyone with a brain left.

RT?

[smoon]

We use RT for a lot of things. Not sure what you're trying to accomplish with the P.O. thing, but if it's a workflow (request/approve/deny) then RT can do it.

If you're trying to just print out PO forms then open office or any of the other free spreadsheet programs can do that sort of thing.

Since this seems..

[jvagner]

..to have elicited very little useful feedback in any real sense, I guess your real options are:

adopt an e-commerce app to do it for you (OS Commerce is a pretty good choice, see my URL for it)

use a Windows solution instead

[sarcasm on]
Cool, eh?
[sarcasm off]

What are you trying to do?

[kotj.mf]

Just generate hard copy POs? Then a simple php/mysql web-based template/database is probably all you need.

If you need a full-fledged EDI solution, you're kinda SOL. Be prepared to pay through the nose for some VAN to move your data, unless all of your business partners can deal with you using something like Templar (which runs on Linux). You'll also a translator to generate the EDI 850 purchase orders. My shop uses TLE (it runs on AIX; dunno about Linux.)

So yeah, it can quickly become a rather expensive proposition, and a pain in the ass.

What projects have you looked at?

[agristin]

If you mean Point of Sale (which is what most people mean by POS check it via google if you don't believe me):

Look at wwww.linux-pos.org.

You need some more detail in your question as well.
Barcode? Web based? Cash register?

What Point of Sale features do you need?

if you really mean Purchase Order System, the options are kinda slim in the Open Source world. Compiere maybe your only option.

www.compiere.org

I would guess, that really with 5 people you will spend more time on the Purchase Order System than just having either a dedicated purchaser or good manangement and oversight.

Oh and if you didn't mean open source, then .... you must be new around here.

-A

Simple...

[Lxy]

Send all your money to me. Then you don't have any money to buy things, and you won't need a PO system.

On a serious note...

I just set up a PO system using M$ Excel. Excel has a smaple template that's easily modified into a PO tracking system (it even has some kind of database built in)

It'd take a few days of hacking, but you could probably get the template to work in your favorite Open Source spreadsheet application.

If nothing else, you could easily hack together a PHP/mySQL application.

Looking for EDI?

[zolik]

If you are looking for an EDI solution, then it may not be as hard as you think. Most EDI implementors publish their PO specifications online (although the actual specifications are proprietary). I looked through a number of these, and realized that if you throw away the VAN, then EDI is just a terse data spec. I added a module to my interchange shopping cart to generate EDI PO's to my distributor. I can forward you the script if you wish.
-zOLIK

Re:Looking for EDI?

[rogair]

I am looking for a decent breakdown of the format. I'm tasked with generating an EDI 850 writer and an EDI 855 reader, and the specs I've been given are not sufficient to parse the data files. Do you have a good source of information? Thanks.

Jaya123

[Anonymous Coward]

You might try Jaya123 at http://www.jaya123.com