xTuple's Collective Brainpower Blog

It's finally your turn to run the family business. You've been there full-time since graduating college. You worked hard and earned the job — and now it's yours. The torch has passed to the next generation. You don't want to rock the boat, but with this economy you need to get creative. That's why you're looking to expand globally, and you need business software that will support international...

As large corporations continue to freeze hiring or lay off workers, more and more people are opting to forge their own path as entrepreneurs. Starting a business is not a cakewalk; even the most modest of start-ups require some very basic tools. Typically, one of the first items on the list is a computer with business accounting software to track activities such as customer info, expenses and...

Wanted to announce the publication of our new guide for people who run or work in services businesses. This new book is called "xTuple for Service Businesses" and it's available to be read online for free . Or if you prefer you can also download a printable PDF copy from our app store.

To coincide with this new release, we've also updated our guide for using xTuple in inventory-focused...

There is a cost to owning and maintaining software that goes well beyond the purchase price of the software itself. Of course, there is the cost for purchasing the software. Typically this is a one-time event and depending on the type and brand of the software, the cost can be in the thousands, even hundreds of thousands of dollars. Several factors today are changing all of that including...

Hello — and welcome to your Next Business .

This blog will be a forum for companies that are doing exciting, cutting-edge things to grow and thrive in a quickly changing world. We'll be sharing success stories about what works - and ways that the smart use of technology can help companies of all sizes not just survive in a lousy economy — but prosper .

It's brought to you by my...

It's autumn in the northern half of the world — the kids are back in school, the politicians have returned to whatever it is they do, and businesses are looking to fine-tune their operations before the end of the year activities take over. We can't help you with the first two — but we've definitely got some things lined up that can help you get your business ready for the end-of-year rush.

I am pleased to announce the first release of the Asset Maintenance package is now available on the xChange bringing Planned and Unplanned maintenance functionality to the xTuple ERP solution. This package is based on a Design Specification posted in January.

The Maintenance package is designed to allow organizations to plan maintenance of assets into the future and to schedule the...

The Fixed Asset packages have been updated to version 1.0.2. The update resolves some minor bugs, prepares the packages for the forthcoming Maintenance package and introduces a new Desktop.

The Desktop is designed to give easy access to the Fixed Asset functionality especially when all the packages are being used. In addition the User Guide has been upgraded.

You will need to...

Everybody loves a reward, right? The right reward can make your employees work harder, and drive your company to success. The standard way to reward sales people is to pay them a percentage of the sale, otherwise known as a commission. xTuple software has always allowed you to assign a commission percentage to each sales rep, and to record the commission to be paid to that rep for each invoice...

People often discover xTuple by searching phrases like "QuickBooks Alternative." It's interesting how few choices there are for companies who've outgrown entry level accounting packages like QuickBooks or Peachtree but don't have (or want to spend) $100,000+ on mid-market solutions like Microsoft Dynamics, Sage or Epicor.

CPAs and accountants are also seeking better, more affordable...

If you are a typical stakeholder of a small or medium size business, you probably prefer to invest in assets that contribute directly to the growth and revenue of your business (for example, tools for making your product, machines to expand capacity, people to design and sell your product, etc.). You know that information technology and business software is important, but you avoid spending...

If you or someone you know is a Drupal programmer — and you have an interest in translating xTuple ERP — then we have some news for you. Earlier this summer, xTuple published the source code for its Translation Portal software. This is the same software currently hosting 28 language projects on the xTuple community website. The source code was released as part of the PostBooks® project and is...

Apple's new version of its operating system, OS X Lion , is due to be released to the public in the next couple of weeks. The new user interface features are very nice. Upgrading promises to be simple and inexpensive.

This is good for consumers but trouble for xTuple users. You see, current releases of OpenRPT and of PostBooks® and other editions of xTuple ERP do not work well on Lion...

The paradigm shift Chris Ryan wrote about in his blog post last summer is well under way and proving to be very successful. I'm talking, of course, about the patch release strategy we adopted just about one year ago. Under this "new" paradigm, we've been able to quickly release the most urgent bug fixes to our users so you can have them as soon as possible.

As Chris explained in his...

Once a year, we schedule our two most popular training classes, Implementing and Managing xTuple and Power User Training , in back-to-back weeks in an effort to make our training more accessible for the many people traveling great distances to join us. Once a year, users and partners alike come from all parts of the world to pack in as much xTuple information as possible, all in one trip!...

Here in the U.S., it's summertime. The kids are out of school, and lots of people are already thinking about that vacation coming up. (Don't have one planned yet? How about a visit to Washington DC in August — see the second story down in this newsletter!) But if your business, like most companies, is doing more and more with less and less these days, you might be looking at a short-staff situation this summer with some alarm. Particularly if you'll be doing without I.T. help for some period of time. Well, your friends at xTuple have the answer.

By GetApp

Cost and crowd-sourcing implications aside, I asked Ned Lilly, CEO of xTuple.com, more about the perceived benefits of an ERP solution. He zeroed in on three key advantages of commercial open-source ERP: affordable (because they cost significantly lower than other solutions), flexible (because you have the source code, you can configure and customize the solution to pretty...

The latest version 3.7.0 of xTuple ERP, including the new Project and Enterprise Editions, is now available for download at SourceForge. This is an incremental release, with a handful of significant new features, including improved support for multiple currencies in multi-company financial consolidation, handling of MRP exceptions, deeper usage of the parameter widget and characteristics, and...

Ok, I'll admit it — I'm as guilty as the next person when it comes to not reading directions. Generally, instructions are little more than packing materials which get thrown out with plastic wrap and styrofoam.

Once and a while it actually occurs to me that those directions may provide nuggets of valuable insight as to how to use a product and save me hours of time trying to solve the...

While open source projects are widely acknowledged to have strong technological underpinnings by both proponents and detractors, the latter will point out that the problem with open source software is you have to be a programmer to really get the benefits of open source. That has traditionally meant that 99.9% of the potential user base doesn't really get the biggest benefits. However, as open...