xTupler #21 | March 2012
Dear Community —
It's been a while since our last newsletter, and there's lots to talk about!
First and foremost, we're happy to announce the general availability of xTuple 3.8.1. Version 3.8.0 has been out for a little while, but we've made a few minor tweaks and simplified the all-in-one installer. For those who may have missed the 3.8.0 release, here are some highlights:
- A major overhaul of CRM under the hood, which allows for much deeper relationships. A CRM account can now be a Customer (or a Prospect), Vendor, Employee, a system User and a Sales Rep. That last one was part of a big development effort around the new Enhanced Commissions package.
- CRM now also allows personal views of all CRM activities; for example, a user can only see his or her own Contacts, Opportunities, Incidents, To Dos, and Projects.
- There's now a Merge CRM Accounts tool - very handy as you have more and more data coming into your system from different sources.
- Lots of small but useful usability enhancements to the core Accounting module.
That Enhanced Commissions module is available as an add-on to any edition of xTuple, but we're very pleased to announce that it's now included - at no extra charge - as part of the Enterprise Edition. What else is in the Enterprise Edition? Everything in the Standard, Manufacturing, and Project Editions (including Project Accounting), as well as Fixed Asset Management, Depreciation and Maintenance (we've added the Maintenance package for 3.8). You also get the core of the xTuple Web Portal - a customer-facing website that provides sales and service interfaces directly into your xTuple ERP system (watch for the new version 1.3 coming in late April). You get xTuple Connect - our acclaimed platform for email, EDI and other third-party application integration. And finally, you get a 50% discount on any tier of our xTuple Network (XTN) service offering, allowing for xTuple-managed upgrades, offsite backup, database and hosting services. Now, who doesn't want that? :)
Check out the various pricing options on our ever-transparent website. If you've been considering one or more of the above commercial features, you'll find it a pretty darn good value. And, as always, you can try out all the features in the desktop application AND the Web Portal by signing up for a Hosted Demo account.
Please let us hear from you (via email or the forums), if there are things you'd like to see in the software, or if we can answer any questions for you about our commercial products and services. And thank you, as always, for your support of xTuple.
Warm regards,
Ned Lilly
President and CEO
Macworld | iWorld 2012 - xTuple featured in Mac OS X Zone
From MacVoicesTV: Another enterprise software company making themselves known in the Mac OS X Zone at Macworld | iWorld 2012 was xTuple. Wally Tonra, vice president of sales, reviews their offerings, which include accounting, customer relationship management, purchasing, billing and more. Interviewer, Chuck Joiner asked ... How can any of that be FREE? xTuple has open source roots which allow you to get started free and add services and capabilities as your business demands change. See Wally's interview on xTuple's Next Business Blog.
Contact Wally at sales@xTuple.com for more information.
Heading to Chicagoland for the mecca of Electrical Distributors
While xTuple began as a manufacturing-oriented ERP system, we have been working for years to incorporate additional functionality for industrial and wholesale distributors. Features such as drop ship purchasing, advanced returns management, multi-warehouse control and sophisticated lot/serial tracking and tracing are all included in the xTuple Standard Edition. The Project Edition, of course, adds the ability to do financial reporting by project (or "job"). And now, we're pleased to announce major new distribution functionality that we will be rolling out later this year.
The first of these new features supports the importing, and maintenance, of third-party OEM product catalogs. xTuple users will be able to manage huge catalogs of products that they *can* sell (but haven't yet) - and when they need to actually sell the item, create a quote or sales order with the item, and bring it into the active item database. These external catalogs can be updated automatically from electronic feeds from the OEM, handled by our xTuple Connect integration product.
Future distribution functionality will include enhancements to pricing schedules, advanced rebate management, special pricing agreements (SPAs), better support for Lot Pricing and much more.
With over $11 billion in combined sales from over 1,100 independently owned electrical distributors, IMARK Group is the largest member-owned, member-governed cooperative in the U.S. electrical industry. IMARK members are market leading companies serving the needs of electrical contractors, industrial and institutional MRO customers, electric utilities and other customer types throughout the country.
Join the FREE Distribution and Inventory Control Functionality webinar on April 4, 2012, or contact xTuple sales today!
Community Survey
- Do you currently take credit cards for customer payments?
- If so, do you process those payments directly in xTuple?
- Which processor/gateway do you use? Are you happy with them?
Email sales@xTuple.com with your responses.
xTupleR Staffer Feature
Jen Hobbs
#graphicdesign
As you may know, xTuple is embarking on new branding to the power of "x" and we welcome Jennifer Lauren Hobbs as Graphic Designer.
Jen has an associate degree in Science, General Studies, from Tidewater Community College and a Bachelor of Fine Arts, Graphic Design/Art History, from Old Dominion University.
She lives in Portsmouth, Va., with her five year old son, Logan, and is a member of AIGA, the professional association for design. When not @xTuple, Jen spends time with family, making her own art and viewing others, music and good times with friends.
You can friend her on Facebook, follow her on Twitter and view some of her designs at JenHobbsDesign.com and more at JenHobbs.carbonmade.com.
xTuple Partner
Sajjad Syed of Excellence Delivered
In today's technological zeitgeist, organizations are increasingly looking for scalable solutions to address their ever changing business needs. Technology today is only as good as the operational efficiency it delivers. At Excellence Delivered (ExD), we promise to do just that. ExD is a professional services company with operations in Asia, Middle East, Australia and United States of America and a xTuple Development Partner.
ExD has recently introduced a state of the art Human Capital Management System (HCMS). HCMS is a complete Human Capital Management Systems that helps organizations to automate its HR activities such as recruitment, employee management, leaves, appraisal, payroll, tax management. The product is integrated with xTuple Financials.
ExD believes that through use of technology, outsourcing of non-core operations and optimization of business processes, our clients can enhance their market competitiveness and profitability. Learn more at http://exdnow.com.
Training 101: What is your Herby*? Everyone has at least one.
All jokes aside, Mike is a convincing xTuple evangelist. One can never underestimate how much it takes to implement a system; there is always an investment of time and resources. The rewards - once it's done - can be staggering, and propel a company into the next stage of growth. In a truly interconnected enterprise, when any one person does something, it has an immediate impact on others in the operation.
Mike warned of a natural inclination of project managers impressed with the 'whiz bang' of the whole process to pile on functionality. "You must balance data collection required with a real business need. Is the juice worth the squeeze?" Read more on Mike's recommendations for piloting your ERP system.
Over lunch with attendees, Danielle Kerner, Business Development Director, and Wally Tonra, VP-Sales, shared the "secret sauce" that is xTuple. And 'Farthest Traveled' prize goes to Moritz Angelsberger who came to Norfolk from xTuple Partner CipherSpace in Switzerland.
More photos on the xTuple ERP Facebook page.
* What's a "Herby"? a pain, according to Mike.