As the global financial crisis suffocates businesses across industries, ways and means to cut costs are now high on the corporate agenda, whether they are large corporations or SMEs. One of the costs associated with business operations is that of software licenses. And when it comes to automation, there’s no better solution than an enterprise resource planning system, which has traditionally been a high-cost software investment, mostly out of reach for small businesses. With Open Source, this trend will change, as there are a number of free ERPs available that businesses can use to automate and centrally manage their disparate accounting, purchasing, and inventory activities through a single integrated interface. These ERPs mostly have a paid support package in addition to a free version to help those with spending power as well as those who just need the system to get started with in-house expertise. One of these ERPs is PostBooks, available in the form of PostBooks.
This guide walks through the installation process on an Ubuntu 7.04 (and higher) system and a brief introduction to the system. Note that unlike other software systems that are ready to run after download, ERPs require a bit more configuration as these systems are not self-contained. They make use of a database application to maintain all user data and reports etc, while the front-end provides an interface for entering business transactions. ERPs are often web-based, which means they require a web server where the entire application is hosted. For this reason, there could be several files to download: one for the main program, and there could be database scripts to create the necessary tables, etc. However, over time, these installation steps are being simplified.
Installing PostBooks on Windows:
Windows installation is a fairly simple process as the installer comes with the database installation along with sample data. Simply download and install using the single executable file and run it using the admin username and password.
Installing PostBooks on Ubuntu:
Installing Uubntu requires a database and some manual configuration. That is how:
Step 0 – Install PostgreSQL
This is an additional database for PostBooks ERP. Install it using the following command:
sudo apt-get install postgresql-8.1 postgresql-contrib-8.1
Step 1 – Download Post Books
PostBooks offers several types of downloads that can be adapted to different needs. For example, full installers, separate client and database, documents, videos, and even a virtual machine version, which means a ready-to-run image of a complete pre-installed system in Virtual Box and VMWare formats. This guide walks through a common and easy to test installation where everything resides on one system. Advanced users can install the database separately on a different machine to allow access by multiple clients over the network.
Download the following 3 installation files using the wget command:
The tar.bz2 file for Linux
quick start file
init.sql file
Note that the wget command downloads to the existing folder.
Step 2: Unzip the zip file
Use the following command which unpacks the downloaded file and creates a folder with the same name as the file.
tar xvfj PostBooks-2.2.0Beta3-Linux6.tar.bz2
Step 3 – Configure PostgreSQL and configure it for PostBooks
Open the /etc/postgresql/8.1/main/pg_hba.conf file in the Text Editor and see the last section titled # TYPE DATABASE USER CIDR-ADDRESS METHOD. Here, comment out the 3 uncommented lines by putting the hash character in front of them and replace them with the underlined lines as shown below:
Existing section of file:
# DATABASE TYPE USER CIDR ADDRESS METHOD
# “local” is for Unix domain socket connections only
local all all ident same user
# IPv4 local connections:
host all all 127.0.0.1/32 md5
# IPv6 local connections:
host all all ::1/128 md5
Updated section of the file (updates are shown underlined)
# DATABASE TYPE USER CIDR ADDRESS METHOD
# “local” is for Unix domain socket connections only
#local all all ident same user
local all all trust
# IPv4 local connections:
#host all all 127.0.0.1/32 md5
host all all 127.0.0.1/32 trust
# IPv6 local connections:
#host all all ::1/128 md5
host all all ::1/128 trust
And then restart the server using:
sudo /etc/init.d/postgresql-8.1 restart
Now create the PostBooks database
sudo in postgres
psql -U postgres -f init.sql template1
createdb -U mfgadmin mfg
pg_restore -U mfgadmin -d mfg postbooks_quickstart.backup -v
Note that these commands must be run from the same folder where the downloaded files reside.
Step 4: Launch PostBooks
From the folder where PostBooks is unzipped, use the following command to start PostBooks:
./postal books
The username and password are: mfgadmin
Post Books Overview
As is the case with any ERP, PostBook fits into all the major operations of a small to medium production business. It can also serve other businesses, for example in the service or retail sector, as only a subset of modules is required and they remain automatically redundant. The main interface has menus across the top that describe each functional area of the business it serves. This includes Products, Inventory, Purchasing, Manufacturing, CRM, Sales, and Accounting. Start with the System menu to set up the basic organization structure. The Master Information submenu allows the user to define the calendar, currencies, exchange rates, and departments, etc. The second important area to configure is the Configure Modules submenu, where all the details of handling the modules listed above can be set. For example, while managing inventories, a check can be implemented to disallow receipt of the purchase order if the quantity differs from the order quantity, or to display a warning if the difference is in a user-defined range. Similarly, there are a number of configuration items that can define business rules, such as allowing or disallowing sales discounts. The general ledger can be defined in detail through the accounting module configuration by setting the format of the general ledger hierarchy that shows the main segment, profit center, subaccounts and their character lengths, along with the definition of mandatory accounts such as retained earnings accounts, exchange rate difference and discrepancy.
Once the modules are configured for the basic features and parameters, the next task is to define the maser information for each relevant module using its own menu. This details the specific information of the module. For example, in Products, the units of measure, product category, and product class are your master information. For accounts, this includes bank accounts, cost and expense categories, etc. Under each module there are submenus for reports and analysis, which makes this ERP quite comprehensive in nature.
There are also other free ERPs available for Ubuntu, and most of them run on Mac and Windows as well. With extensive documentation, user manuals, and free online demos available, small businesses can spend some time researching available options to save on the cost of purchasing a custom ERP.
Options that can be explored include MyERP5, OpenBravo, Compiere, etc.
Open source ERP has come a long way from being just a concept to a reality used by many companies around the world, with and without paid support. It is ironic that OpenSource solutions have not been fully explored. But if done this way, it promises a lot from the operating system level and growing to the level of specialized applications such as ERP.
Note: All commands must be used as the root user.
