This page is a work in progress to define and build the an OFBiz End User Guide.

Proposed Table of Contents

• About this Guide
• Introduction
• Standard or Common Business Processes (Order to Cash, Procure to Payment, Demand to Replenish, Returns - Supplier and Customer, Period Closing - Monthend/Yearend, Fixed Assets, Account Reconciliation, Inventory Reconciliation - stocktake, Work Plan to Cash - service oriented, Reporting, CRM - Quote to Order?, Banking - Statement Reconciliation)
  • Name each process
  • Add a diagram for each process (
  • Small text about what it is and where it is supported in OFBiz
• Basic Installation (Do we talk about installing a demo version or not? / What about Hans's app to create company, first customer, supplier and product??????)
• OFBiz Modules / Applications
• • Data Setup (This I think should be seed data - what is the minimum anyone needs. What are the seed data tables / entities and what do they contain.)
  • Accounting Manager 
    • Refer to processes / possible key data - maybe use some seed data table reference???
    • Could we add link the Use Cases here and then show how to accomplish use case within OFBiz?
    • Could do an example End to End Accounting Process (this could be quite detailed so will need to split up into various pages)
  • Sales Order Management
  • Manufacturing and MRP
  • CRM - Sales Force Automation (SFA)
  • Marketing Management
  • Project Management (Is that Services too?)
  • E-Commerce
  • Facility, Warehousing and Inventory Management
  • Human Resources Management
• Appendices
  • Glossary
  • FAQs

About this Guide

This guide is aimed is end user oriented with a focus on getting you familiar with OFBiz and how it works from a user perspective.

Introduction

Apache OFBiz is a suite of enterprise applications built on a common architecture using common data, logic and process components. This means it can be used as an ERP, CRM, E-Business/E-Commerce, SCM, MRP, MMS/EAM, POS or just as a framework to build applications.

You may have already heard of OFBiz because of its e-commerce and order management applications and many companies around the world are using OFBiz as a key tool for managing their business. Apache OFBIz includes tools for Customer Relationship Management, Manufacturing and Material Requirements Planning, Inventory Management, Supply Chain Management, Asset Maintenance Management, Human Resources, Content Management, Project Management and Point of Sale. In fact OFBiz includes a set of core functions that any business can pick up an use.

Key Business Processes

In any organisation there are a range of business processes. These are the steps and tasks that are performed within a business to make it function. Apache OFBiz has been created with a focus on this so being able to understand your own processes will help in becoming familiar with how OFBiz works.

See the list below for a common list of business processes

• Quotation to Order - This process manages the cycle of tasks involved in the quotation process and starts with the requests a quotation all the way through to the creation of the order. (NOTE: This can be both customer or supplier based)
• Lead to Customer ? - This process involves the cycle of tasks involved in attracting new customers
• Order to Cash - This process manages the cycle of the tasks involved the sales process and starts with the creation of a customer order all the way through to delivery and payment of the invoice.
• Procure to Pay - This process manages the cycle of tasks involved in the procurement process and starts with the creation of the supplier order all the way through to the reception of the goods and the payment of the supplier invoice
• Returns Management - This process manages the cycle of tasks involved in the return of goods and starts with the request for return all the way through to replacement or credit. (NOTE: This can be both customer or supplier based)
• Inventory Management - This process manages the cycle of tasks involved in tracking inventory and the movement of goods within their storage locations, and also includes management of the stock value and physical inventory
• Manufacturing and MRP - This process manages the cycle of tasks involved in the making of products and ensuring that the material necessary for production is forecast to be available at the right time
• Project and Services Management - This process manages the cycle of tasks involved in the delivery of projects or services
• Payables and Receivables Management - This process manages the cycle of tasks involved in the collection of money from customers and also the payment of money to suppliers
• Bank Statement Reconciliation - This process manages the cycle of tasks involved in the entering and reconciliation of bank statements with the transactions (accounts receivable and accounts payable) and the balances within the General Ledger
• Acquisition to Disposal - This process manages the cycle of tasks involved in managing an asset and starts with its purchase all the way through to its disposal
• Asset Maintenance - This process manages the cycle of tasks involved in maintaining an asset and includes how to plan maintenance for assets or equipment
• Request to Resolution - This process manages the cycle of tasks involved in customer or user support and starts with the creation of a help desk ticket all the way through to ticket resolution
• Hire to Retire - This process manages the cycle of tasks involved in employee and human resources, and starts with the recruitment of staff all the way through to the retirement
• Financial Reconciliation and Period Closing - This process manages the cycle of tasks involved in daily accounting activities all the way through to the closing of an accounting period.
• Budget Management - This process manages the cycle of tasks involved in managing budgets and starts with the creation of a budget all the way through to the reporting of actuals
• Budget Analysis - This process manages the cycle of the tasks involved in reviewing and analysing budget expenditure
• Reporting - This process manages the cycle of tasks involved in both internal and external reporting

All of the above processes are supported in Apache OFBiz and each flow will be explained in more details and linked to the OFBiz area where it can be run.

General Navigation and Usability

Add details about changing language

Changing Themes

General Navigation

OFBiz Main Application Areas

Apache OFBiz divided into different application areas. Each of these areas are represented on the Applications menu.

The current application list is as follows:

• Accounting
• AP (Accounts Payable)
• AR (Accounts Receivable)
• Catalog
• Content
• Facility
• HR
• Manufacturing
• Marketing
• Order
• Party
• SFA
• WorkEffort

Installing Apache OFBiz

If you are wanting to evaluate OFBiz then the easiest solution is to download and run it on your local machine then please use the following link;

How to install OFBiz with the Demo Data

You can also install OFBiz without the demo data so that it is ready for you to create or import your own data. If you want to install OFBiz without the demo data then please use the following link.

How to Install OFBiz without the Demo Data

General Setup

Parties

In OFBiz there is the concept of a party. A party can be an individual person or it can be a group (e.g. an organisation). The party manager application allows you to create both individuals and groups. A party is also associated with a role, e.g. SUPPLIER, CUSTOMER or EMPLOYEE. The roles are used to help OFBiz manage how the party will interact with the OFBiz applications. A party can have multiple roles.

Parties are also associated with a security group and this generally controls which applications they have access to and can use. This means that anyone or any group that has access to OFBiz will need to have a party record created.

Parties can be created automatically (e.g. via the e-commerce store when a customer registers) or manually. A customer registering via the ecommerce store is automatically given the role of CUSTOMER. When you create a new party manually in the Party Manager application you will see that there are some options to directly create a party and assign a role automatically. If you use the

• Create New Party Group
• Create New Person

then you will have to add the roles manually to them.

Accounting

In order to run OFBiz you must have a basic accounting setup in place. This is because you are generally running a business that will generate accounting transactions for the processes being performed. Each time money is received or paid, this generates an accounting transaction and each time you manufacture a product this also generates accounting transactions.

Once setup OFBiz will generate and automatically post all the necessary accounting transactions.

To setup Accounting you will need to specify

• Your Basic Accounting Setup (e.g. Financial Year, Main Currency, Order and Invoice Numbering Sequences)
• Your Tax Setup (e.g. Tax Rates and applicability)
• Your Chart of Accounts
• Your rules for generating accounting transactions

Facilities

A facility is a location such as a warehouse, office or shop. OFBiz uses facilities to help manage the location and flow of products. For example if you are selling products to a customer then they need to shipped from somewhere to the customer.. that somewhere is a facility. When you receive products from a supplier, it needs to be received somewhere..that somewhere is a facility.

As part of the initial setup for OFBiz you will need to setup at least one facility which can be your office or product warehouse. (The demo data includes a facility called "Webstorewarehouse")

Products and Webstore

Using OFBiz to Manage Business Processes

Customer Relationship Management

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a tool that is used to organise, track and manage the contact you have with your customers. In OFBiz the 'CRM' application is called 'SFA' (which stands for Sales Force Automation') and it allows you to manage the process of prospective customers and also sales opportunities.

Using the OFBiz SFA application enables you to

• Create Leads (i.e a potential customer)
• Track and Verify Leads
• Convert Leads to Accounts
• Track and Manage Contacts and Accounts
• Track and Manage Sales Opportunities
• Manage any communications (e.g. email etc)
• Co-ordinate and plan any marketing events and meetings
• Manage a common sales team calendar
• Create and manage tasks (e.g. a customer related ticket or case)
  
  
  

Sales Management

Procurement Management

Warehouse Management

Production Management

Financial Management