Planet Open ERP

Julien Thewys: Community Team

noreply@blogger.com (Julien Thewys) — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 06:41:00 +0000

Hello everybody,

My name is Julien Thewys and I have just been working on the new communication process here at Tiny. Olivier Dony and I set up a new team that will focus on the community and its ever evolving challenges. The responsibility of this team is to be the link between Tiny and the community. We are very excited to share with you what has been keeping us busy!

We are defining clearer points of contact for the community. We already agreed on the following ones:

The Quality Team is responsible of merging contributions and managing releases. This team will be ready starting from 8 February; we will let you know how to contact them.
The Community Team is in charge of mediating in the community and enhancing processes. We are talking to you right now! Please join us on the community mailing list.

The overhaul of the communication process is ongoing. We just opened two dedicated Twitter accounts: one for OpenERP, one for OpenObject. Also, our website will experience an appropriate redesign to accommodate the community needs.
We are planning community meetings more frequently. Just to remind you, the next on-site community meeting is held on 23 and 24 March, while the next IRC meeting is planned for the 12th February. The list of topics to be discussed has already been added to the wiki (this list is still open).
Bugs and wishlists have been followed with a particular attention recently: we are addressing more than 85% of them and we are determined to do even better very soon.
We have been concentrating on enhancing the documentation: we are currently tuning the Technical Memo (here is a draft, your suggestions are welcome) and there is an e-learning resource site in preparation.

Of course, we are always open to suggestions. Feel free to let us know what is on your mind and how you envision an even brighter OpenERP community. Many thanks to Raphaël Valyi for his great article in this regard.

Stay tuned, we have lots of cool stuffs for the forthcoming weeks.

Note: We would appreciate if you could help us making a survey about the communication. Can you provide some concise and relevant questions? (for example: what are the preferred channels of communication: mailing list, blog, twitter, irc,...?) Thanks to all!

Fabien Pinckaers: Trunk HR Improvements

noreply@blogger.com (Fabien Pinckaers) — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 09:52:00 +0000

Hello,

We did lots of improvements on HR (as well as others modules) in the trunk, to be released in new versions. The biggest ones:

resources : employees are resources, as well as work centers. We made a generic scheduler in the trunk that computes capacity based plannings using resources.
time scale: these resources have working time (ex: from monday to friday, 9am-6pm), capacities, ... This allows to efficiently compte project's planning (long term and short term) and manufacturing orders based on work centers capacities.
the time scale is integrated with public and employee's holidays.

For the scheduler, we took the algorythm implemented in the open source project: faces.

We did lot's of efforts in internal evaluation of employees, hr surveys and salary grid. The most significant changes in these area is the survey module that allows you to build forms/survey to:

recruit new people
do internal survey (satisfaction, efficiency, ...)
manage the internal interviews plan per employee.

For internal evaluations, we did a plan system, ex: first meeting after 6 months, next every year if everything is ok. You can define goals, review goals, ...

Others small improvements in hr:

Better integration with document management system for jobs hiring processes (database of CV's, ...)
Much more better views, menus
Review of crm.case into better redruitement forms (the object is separated)
Leaves and holidays have been improved a lot. (leaves requests, recuperation days, ...)

Fabien Pinckaers: SUN & OpenERP Partnership

noreply@blogger.com (Fabien Pinckaers) — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 07:25:00 +0000

Ever-shifting conditions, shorter lead times, and heightened global competition are facts of life in today's business climate. To effectively compete, you need to operate more efficiently and reduce TCO. ERP systems can provide significant improvements in operational and administrative costs, on-time delivery, and order accuracy. And running open-source Open ERP on the Sun platform can help you implement and ERP solution cost effectively.

Here is a screenshot of the announce on SUN's homepage:

You can get more information on the OpenERP + Sun Partnership. You can download MySQL branches of OpenERP on launchpad.

Fabien Pinckaers: Community & Partner Meeting, 23-25 March

noreply@blogger.com (Fabien Pinckaers) — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 01:03:00 +0000

Hello,

The 23th and 24th of march, we will organise the annual OpenERP Community Meeting in our offices in Belgium. The proposed planning is:

23th of March

Presentation of the new version and new features: 4h
Lunch
Each contributor will have to opportunity to present his contributions and modules, 20 minuts per module to present: 3h
Q&A, Discussion about the future of OpenERP: 1h
Diner at a typical belgian restaurant

24th of March

The whole day is dedicated to workshops by small groups: useability, accouting expert, services mgt, community organisation, ...
The goal of these workshops is to discuss priorities and write specifications for the next version of OpenERP.

This community meeting will be followed by the partner meeting, the 25th of march, to discuss business issues.

25th of March: restricted to partners

Development Strategy 2010
Services and products (Odoo, support, maintenance, certification)
Organisation of the partners network
Management of leads
Marketing activities

If you need more information and want to subscribe to one of these events (or both), you can subscribe by sending an email to nma AT openerp.com.

Olivier Dony: Theming your OpenERP desktop client

Mon, 11 Jan 2010 00:08:16 +0000

Discussing the shortcomings of OpenERP Client themes on various platforms with Fabrice, we found out that it was in fact quite simple to switch to a different GTK theme on Windows as well. It works fine with the All-In-One installation of OpenERP, so that’s an easy way of customizing the looks of the OpenERP GTK Client.

GTK is the framework on top of which the OpenERP desktop client is built, and GTK supports themes. The runtime library also ships with a handy theme selector application, to write the appropriate magic in the .gtkrc-2.0 file in your home directory. So with the All-In-One you can just go into wherever you installed OpenERP, then down into “OpenERP AllInOne\Client\GTK\bin\” and start gtkthemeselector.exe.

Of course on Ubuntu you can easily change your GTK theme through System/Preferences/Appearance.

With the GTK runtime on Windows you get only a few themes. The default one is Wimp and is usually labelled “MS-Windows”. What Wimp does is reuse the default Windows look, for maximum coherence. This means that you will get different results on XP, Vista, Seven, as well as if you change to the Windows Classic theme (the latter specifically gives an ugly result with Wimp).

Adding themes on Windows is easy as well, you only need to:

find a suitable GTK theme online, and download the Windows build (the engine needs to be built as a Windows DLL)
add the theme definition in the GTK\share\themes directory (inside OpenERP Client), next to the existing ones
put the engine (named libsomething.dll) in GTK\lib\gtk-2.0\2.10.0\engines, next to the others
start the theme selector to switch to the chosen theme
restart your GTK application, in this case your OpenERP client

You can find a lot of GTK themes for Windows in the Windows GTK theme selector that goes with the GTK Windows Runtime. Grab the zip version as you just want the source of the themes. You’ll find them in the lib and share subdirectories after unzipping.

However, I think Wimp is not a bad theme, and after all if you’re using a specific Windows theme, it may be that you like it. It’s just that it has some shortcomings, wastes space everywhere (other themes too), and does not have alternating row colors in lists.

The space-waste problem is common to many GTK themes and is addressed by Martin Ankerl’s compact themes, improving classical GTK themes such as Clearlooks Compact and Human Compact. This is an area where users of all platforms can benefit! The compact theme reusing the original engines, they’re cross-platform but your need to install the original ones (which are included in the Windows GTK themes archive)

Both Clearlooks and Human themes do have alternating row colors, which is not the case by default in Wimp. To fix it, you can simply patch the existing Wimp definition by editing the GTK\share\themes\MS-Windows\gtk-2.0\gtkrc file in your OpenERP Client (with your favorite code editor, or Wordpad) and change the following line:

GtkTreeView::allow-rules = 1  # Changed to 1 to allow alternating row colors

Looking at other themes is a nice source of inspiration for other tweaks… and there’s always the GTK documentation.

Fabien Pinckaers: Useability improvements in v5.2

noreply@blogger.com (Fabien Pinckaers) — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 07:31:00 +0000

Hello,

We are working to improve useability for the future v5.2 version of OpenERP. You can follow some of our thoughts on this launchpad item:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/openobject-client-web/+bug/501297

We did not started the design yet, but worked on some wireframes, like the one bellow:

You can also follow the discussion about this topic in the forum:

http://www.openobject.com/forum/post48716.html

Fabrice Henrion: Odoo platform update

noreply@blogger.com (fhe (OpenERP)) — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 07:30:00 +0000

The Odoo platform will soon be updated to the latest version of OpenERP 5.0.7. The software developments are actively progressing internally and thanks to the community.

The pricing model has also changed for a clearer one. It now takes into account the amount of user*month and GB*month you use every months which gives you as much flexibility. You will find all the details on our pricing page.

By default, your pricing model will stay the same as previously and if you want to keep it unchanged, you don't have to do anything. On the other hand, if you want to switch to the new pricing model, you can do this in your control center. Once you change to the new pricing model, you will not be able to switch back to the previous one.

Finally, here are some major features that will be implemented in the next releases of Odoo:

Ability to use your own domain name
Ability to use the GTK client
Interface with the OpenOffice.org reports plugin
Integration with an ecommerce platform
Integration of other open source web services e.g. for internal communication purposes

We hope you'll enjoy these improvements.

The Odoo Team

Fabrice Henrion: Newsletter – December 2009

noreply@blogger.com (fhe (OpenERP)) — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 07:13:00 +0000

The recent important media coverage of OpenERP has increased its visibility to the general public. The amount of visitors on the website that now reaches 3500 visitors per day is the sign of a larger interest for our application. Moreover, OpenERP is downloaded more than 750 times per day. The efforts invested in what was once a small project a couple of years ago is now paying off and we are very proud of it. The amount of customers increases every day as well and the partners are very excited to implement the application.

In regards with the multiple questions of the users and to give the opportunity to discover OpenERP, we are organizing a demonstration day on December 18 2009. During that day, we will show the functionalities of the software and we will talk about the strategy in place to support its growth. You can subscribe for free by email: nma@openerp.com. The demonstration day will start at 9:30am and will end at 3:00pm.

We will also organize a special day for the official partners of OpenERP in January 2010. The business strategy of 2010 will be addressed and discussion groups will be created around particular topics (commercial approach, maintenance contracts, partnering contracts, new versions,…)

The interest of the public for our application often drives them to apply for trainings. These trainings take place in our offices. They provide a fast way to understand and effectively use the application. The trainings schedule for 2010 is now available:

11 to 15 January 2010: Functional training (fr)
18 to 22 January 2010: Technical training (fr)
8 to 12 February 2010: Functional training (eng)
15 to 19 February 2010: Technical training (eng)

For 2010, we have set high but realistic objectives. In addition to the business development, we intend to increase the size of our team to support our partners even more closely.

A new version will be released with improvements in terms of look and feel and data screening. The CRM module will also benefit of new functions like the management of alerts or the integrated document management.

Among our new partners, we are happy to welcome Thales Belgium (services department) and Business&Decision who will be promoting OpenERP to their customers. We wish them and all our partners a successful year 2010.

Cecile Debois: Open ERP demonstration day

noreply@blogger.com (Cécile (Open ERP)) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:21:00 +0000

OpenERP is the management software the most downloaded in the world!

Thanks to its high functional coverage and high maturity, OpenERP is the most
promising ERP currently available free of charge.

And if you want to see it before you believe, please join us the 18th of december.
We look forward to welcoming you in our offices. That's a great opportunity to meet
OpenERP staff and get a free software presentation.

Agenda :
9.00 - 9.30 Coffee and breakfast
9.30 - 12.00 OpenERP presentation
12.30 - 14.00 Lunch and drink
14.00 - 16.00 Business model and integrator point of view
16.00 - 17.00 Free discussions

When : 18th december 2009
Where : Chaussée de Namur 40 - 1367 Grand-Rosière
How : Book your seat via sales@openerp.com

OpenERP 5.0: Hiding database name on login

noreply@blogger.com (dso (tiny erp)) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 05:13:00 +0000

It’s important to be able to hide database names from login screen for security purpose, the users who are known with Database names can login, for others database name is not accessible.

Now this enhancement is implemented in trunk server and client,

We have an option –list_db on the openobject server to disable the list of Databases,

Run server like:

./openerp-server.py –addons-path=../../../addons/ –list_db=False

If the option has value “False” it will provide a char field instead of having a selection box for the Databases, Or the user can specify database name manually:

If the database does not exist, it will raise and error:

After the first connexion, the DB name is stored on the ~/.openerprc and on the next login, the char field will be filled with the last database name connected.

The selection list is also removed from “Drop Database” and “Backup Database”

To summarize, –list_db=False option on OpenERP server lets us to hide all databases names from client…

Thanks & regards

Tiny ERP (Open ERP) Team

Cecile Debois: Open ERP On the press

noreply@blogger.com (Cécile (Open ERP)) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:26:00 +0000

Hello,

I invite you to check the following video filmed by the flemish television (VTM) on Monday 2nd of october :

Cecile Debois: Open ERP On the press

noreply@blogger.com (Cécile (Open ERP)) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:20:00 +0000

Hello,

I invite you to read the following article issued in the International Herald Tribune the 31st of october.

Fabien Pinckaers: v5.2 is approaching

noreply@blogger.com (Fabien Pinckaers) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 13:47:00 +0000

Hello,

The new version (5.2) is still under development under the trunk branch. Lots of new features have already been developed. It's time to propose your improvements for merging into the trunk branch. We plan to freeze the v5.2 in december / january.

This trunk version has lots of small improvements. The biggest changes are summarized here: https://launchpad.net/openobject-addons/+milestone/v5.2

Thanks,

Fabien Pinckaers: Bloomberg talks about OpenERP

noreply@blogger.com (Fabien Pinckaers) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 01:04:00 +0000

Bloomberg, the source of news and information that drives decisions that move billions of dollars every day in the U.S., talks about OpenERP. Click on the following link to get the article.

Cecile Debois: Publicus Solutions Ltd will be providing OpenERP Technical training on the 2nd to 6th November

noreply@blogger.com (Cécile (Open ERP)) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 12:06:00 +0000

Publicus Solutions Ltd will be providing OpenERP Technical training on the 2^nd to 6^th November

Training time: 9am to 5pm

Lunch: Included

Price: £2000

Location: London – Liverpool Street

Places: 6 only

This is only the second official OpenERP technical training ever in the UK so this is a very exciting opportunity.

If you have any questions please email us training @ publicus-solutions.com

Fabien Pinckaers: OpenERP and Electronic Invoicing

noreply@blogger.com (Fabien Pinckaers) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 00:20:00 +0000

Thymbra just released an Electronic Invoice module for the argentina market. Today it has been tailored to work for the argentinian laws, but it should be very similar for other countries. At Thymbra they have been invoicing electronically for a year now. It's solid ! You can find it in the argentinian localization project in launchpad.

Fabien Pinckaers: OpenERP and AGPL

noreply@blogger.com (Fabien Pinckaers) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 15:09:00 +0000

Hello,

As requested by several partners and the community, we plan to change the licence of the next version of OpenERP to the AGPL (GNU Affero General Public Licence). Our goal is to better promote and maintain the free and open source nature of OpenERP. We think this licence will better protect the community to 'evil' SaaS offers that do not want to release their source code to the community.

The GNU General Public License (currently used by OpenERP v5) permits making a modified version and letting the public access it on a server without ever releasing its source code to the public.

The GNU Affero General Public License is designed specifically to ensure that, in such cases, the modified source code becomes available to the community. It requires the operator of a network server to provide the source code of the modified version running there to the users of that server. Therefore, public use of a modified version, on a publicly accessible server, gives the public access to the source code of the modified version.

Both the GPLv3 and AGPL are OSI certified and compatible together. We advice OpenERP contributors to develop their future modules in the AGPL licence. You can get more information on this licence on the FSF website:

http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/agpl-3.0.html

You can contact fp AT openerp.com, for any question about this licence change.

Olivier: Open ERP version 5.0.6

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 09:04:48 +0000

We are proud to announce the release of Open ERP version 5.0.6.

This release fixes a number of issues. The complete changelogs are available on Launchpad:

Sources as well as Windows binaries can be downloaded on the download page of our web site

Olivier: Open ERP version 5.0.5

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 11:38:48 +0000

We are proud to announce the release of Open ERP version 5.0.5.

This release fixes a number of issues. The complete changelogs are available on Launchpad:

Sources as well as Windows binaries can be downloaded on the download page of our web site

Cecile Debois: BHC au Dynamic Day à Mons

noreply@blogger.com (Cécile (Open ERP)) — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 12:23:00 +0000

Ce 17 septembre, BHC sera présent au Dynamic Day, au Lotto Mons Expo.

Le stand de BHC se tiendra dans le "Village" de Hainaut Développement, et nous y présenterons nos différents produits et services.

Cette année, nous mettrons l'accent sur notre nouvelle offre de services ERP, basée sur OpenERP.
L'occasion de découvrir les énormes possibilités de cette solution via différentes démonstrations, de poser vos questions spécifiques, et d'échanger vos idées et projets.

Si vous avez l'opportunité de nous rendre visite, nous vous y invitons
cordialement !

Pour plus d'informations :
http://www.dynamicday.be/emailings/video_promo/
http://www.dynamicday.be

Un avant goût du Dynamic Day :
http://www.dynamicday.be/page.php?dd=mons&page=video
http://www.dynamicday.be/page.php?dd=mons&page=video

N'attendez plus, inscrivez vous :
http://www.onetec.be/KOMPASS2009/KOMPASSFRPARTNEW.asp?EventId=1