The ERPNext Newsletter ? January 2021
This month we bring you many upcoming feature updates like migrators, a shipping integration, configurable accounting dimensions, material transfer changes, Twilio call integration, some enhancements in expense claim and patient history, and also more powerful SLAs. We have blogs on sales, e-Invoicing, and a video on configurations.
ERPNext updates
Many product features in store this month, let’s see what they are.
- A nicer Tally and Quickbooks migrator is being made which will make it easier for new customers to switch over to ERPNext. You’ll be able to import tally and QuickBooks files with all your accounting information in some clicks. Errors during imports will also be handled well.
- There’s a new shipment doctype which enables shipping integrations. When shipping, In one delivery note, there can be multiple shipments and parcels, the shipment doctype will allow you to record and track these details. After creating a shipment, you’ll be able to fetch shipping rates for your parcel based on the details you entered. What’s more? You can also print a Shipping Label directly from ERPNext!
- In accounting, there are configurable accounting dimensions. Accounting dimensions are good, they allow you to narrow down your accounting data and see it for specific areas. But you know what’ll make them great? Even more control. With the new configuration options, you’ll be able to select which accounts the dimension will be applied to. Further, you can also choose a primary dimension like a cost center and allow or restrict that to the current accounting dimension.
- In work orders, excess material return allows reverting the items that were unused for a work order. The “Backflush Raw Materials Based On” is removed and the quantity consumed in a work order will be the quantity you transfer. If you skip material transfer, the quantity will be set based on the BOM.
- In telephony features, we have the Twilio integration where users will be able to add their phone number to the system. Once added, the calls can be logged and recorded into the system. You’ll also be able to set greeting, busy, and unavailable messages for agents.
- There are enhancements in Expense Claim (HR) which make it a lot more usable and Patient History in Healthcare.
- Finally, service level agreements (SLAs) are great that’s why we’ll be extending it to all other doctypes too!
Blogs
Here’s a roundup of the blogs this month:
- A sales order is the document that makes a lead a customer. Do you know all about it? And more importantly, do you know how to deal with some last-minute challenges and better your chances of locking one? Learn all about What is a sales order and how to maximize your chances of locking one?
- No distributor or warehouse manager likes to see idle inventory that doesn’t sell. New products can also sit idle when enough units don’t sell in the market. What if there’s one solution to both problems that doesn’t cost a lot? That’s done with Product bundling in inventory management. Sell old and new products that are sitting idle.
- From January 2021, many B2B businesses in India have to comply with e-Invoicing under GST. ERPNext now has this feature live in the beta release. Learn more about e-Invoicing and how it’s done in ERPNext with An overview of the new E-Invoicing in GST (for India). What you should know.
- We also have another V13 beta release, beta 6. The major features in this release include e-Invoicing for India, multi-currency payroll, changes to the immutable ledger, call logging, quality inspection changes, and more. Read more in the blog ERPNext Version 13 beta 6 and Frappe Framework version 13 beta 9 released.
Videos
- With so many settings, defaults, configurations, and settings, it’s easy to get lost or not even realize which setting to change to make that annoying decimal go away or simplify actions with default values. If you find yourself thinking like this often, check out Configuring ERPNext - Domain Settings, Global Defaults & Print Settings.
- Also, here’s an individual review of ERPNext.
What’s up at Frappe
We have a few more team members—two consultants, an engineer, and also a compliance officer. One of them is from Mumbai, two from northern India, and one from southern India. A little more diversity in our growing team.
First principles?
When building or working with something like a project or a business problem, there are two ways to approach it—do what is proven to work and things go smooth or do it with first principles i.e., figure out everything from scratch with your own experiments. Doing what already works is a sure win but also comes with the pros and cons of the proven system. On the other hand, you can figure out a better way with first principles but it’s very time-consuming, chaotic, and even complicated, depending on the problem.
But which one is better? Rushabh talks about it in his blog The Muddling Road to Success.
Personally, I think the answer depends on where you’re applying this to. First principles work great for abstract work, this newsletter itself is an example. Originally, I came up with a corporate-esque formal newsletter with bullet updates and a few lines. But Rushabh said there’s a better way, why should business newsletters be boring? So I tried and here we are.
However, I think first principles work terribly for business problems. Many management moguls have figured out efficient solutions to industry problems over decades. Trying to think from scratch for business problems with complex connections and dependencies is just too much of a time waste for a running business. Proven practical solutions seem to work for thousands of companies. At Frappe, only the future will show what works better.
Open source and FOSS United
Wanna know how FOSS united started and some thoughts on open ource in India? Kailash From Zerodha dn Rushabh from Frappe talk about in this article - How Zerodha, ERPNext collaborated to build FOSS United Foundation to push for open-source projects.
Speaking of open source, check out FOSS and Business | The State of FOSS in India where Rushabh is a part of the panel.
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Happy New Year!
Prasad from Frappe.