UCCB3253 Enterprise Systems

Lab 01: Creation of Databases and Navigation

Instructions:
1. Do all the lab exercises, starting with exercise#1, with OpenERP 7.0.
2. All the exercises are design case studies with specifications.
3. Some of the lab exercises are not fully guided, and you are required to solve the problem
based on the specifications and the hints.

Case #1: Database Creation

1. Click on Manage Databases at the bottom left.

2. The above screen should appear.

3. Click on Password on the left pane. The above screen will appear.

4. Anyone who knows the super-administrator password has complete access to the data on the
server able to read, change and delete any of the data in any of the databases there.
5. After first installation, the password is admin . This is the hard-coded default, and is used if there
is no accessible server configuration file.

6. Exercise: Change the super-administrator from admin to 1234567 .

7. Use the Create in the left pane to create a new database, openerp_ch01 .

8. Start the database creation process with the following specifications, then click on the Create
Database button:

Super admin password : by default it is admin , since it has been changed, now it is
1234567 ,

New database name : openerp_ch01 ,

Load Demonstration data checkbox: checked ,

Default Language : English

Administrator password : admin123 (because it is easiest to remember at this stage,

(US) ,

but obviously completely insecure),

Confirm password : admin123 .

9. At the time of creation database you can see the checkbox that determines whether you load
demonstration data or not. The consequences of checking this box will affect the whole
use of this database as there are sample data loaded in this database.

10. If you see the above screen, log out from the Administrator
11. How do you know if you have successfully created your new database? You are told if the
database creation has been unsuccessful.
12. If you have entered a database name using prohibited characters (or no name, or too short a
name), you will be alerted by the dialog box Bad database name! explaining how to correct the
error.
13. If you have entered the wrong super-administrator password or a name already in use (some
names can be reserved without your knowledge), you will be alerted by the dialog box Error
during database creation!.
14. As a super-administrator, you have rights to perform the following:
Backup databases.
Delete databases.
Restore databases.
15. Exercise: Backup your database, then delete (drop) the database, then restore the database.

Case #2: Addon Modules

1. On the login page, select openerp_ch1 database. Username admin ,Password admin123 .
Then click on Log in .

2. The above screen will appear. Currently, there is not much functionalities (or modules). You need
to install the modules.

3. Demo: Click on Installed Modules. Click on Filter. Uncheck Installed. Check Not Installed.

4. Demo: Click on list view. Click on Unlimited.

5. Demo: Check on the box next to Module Name. Click on More button. Select Module
Immediate Install. It will take a while for all modules to be installed with demonstration data.
Internet has to be connected. Dont install all the charts of accounts.

6. All the modules are installed.

7. Press F5 to reload the page so that the new functionalities are displayed in the top bar.
8. Each time a database is created, the modules are not automatically installed. You have to install
the required ones.
9. Click on Administrator, Preference and change the time zone.

Case #3: Getting Started with OpenERP and Navigation (optional and demo)
List view: unique list with all the records (e.g. all the sales orders).
Form view: view with information about a specific record (e.g. a sales order).
Tooltips: draging the mouse on the fields will display a short help text.
Drill down: OpenERP allows you to open a list/form from a form view in order to select/create another
record.
Search options: On the top right of all views (except the form view) are provided a search field and
several tools (click on the drop-down menu) to configure the search or group the records.
Search field: displays all applied filters and allow to quickly find records in the list by typing and selecting
some criteria. Matched records appear below the field.
Filters: allow to filter the list based on conditions defined on fields. Some filters exist by default but new
ones may be added (use Save current filter).
Group by: groups records in the list according to your needs.
Display: adds a column in the list view.
Custom filters: allow to save the current filter (then available in Filters), to edit an advanced search
based on conditions, and to add the current filter to dashboard (see in Reporting).

Depending on the user you are connected as, the page appears differently. Using the installation
sequence above, certain kanban may be assigned as various users' home pages. They show a summary
of the information required to start the day effectively. A project kanban might contain:

Display numbers of tasks,

Display numbers of issues,

Display numbers of phases,

Show the team members,

Display spend time from assign planned time.

Project Kanban

Creating Shortcuts
Each user has access to many menu items from the menu. But in general, an employee uses only a small
part of the system's functions.
The following sections present an overview of the main functions of OpenERP. Some areas are covered
in more detail in the following chapters of this book and you will find many other functions available in the
optional modules. Functions are presented in the order that they appear on the main menu.

Basic Concepts
Partners & Contacts
To get familiar with the OpenERP user interface, you will start working with information about partners.
Clicking Sales Address Book Customers brings up a list of partners that were automatically loaded
when you created the database with Load Demonstration Data checked.

Search for a Partner

Above the partner list you will see a search form that enables you to quickly filter the partners.
The Customers filter is enabled by default showing partners who are customers. If you have applied no
filter, the Kanban shows every partner in the system. For space reasons, this view shows few partners. If
you want to display other records, you can search for them or show whole kanban using the Show
more...(X remaining) Button at the end.

Standard partner search

In the web version, if you click the name of a partner, the form view corresponding to that partner opens
in Read-Only mode.Once you have a form, you can toggle between the two modes by clicking Save or
Cancel when in Edit mode and Edit when in Read-Only mode.

Partner Form
The partner form contains several tabs, all referring to the current record:

Contract,

Internal Notes,

Sales & Purchases,

Accounting,

History.

The fields in a tab are not all of the same type some (such as Name) contain free text, some (such as
the Language) enable you to select a value from a list of options, others give you a view of another object
(such as Partner Contacts because a partner can have several contacts) or a list of links to another
object (such as Partner Categories). There are checkboxes (such as the Active field in the Sales &
Purchases tab), numeric fields (such as Credit Limit in the Accounting tab) and date fields (such as Date).

The History tab gives a quick overview of partner activities an overview of useful information such as
Leads and Opportunities, Meetings, Phone Calls, Emails and Tasks. Events are generated automatically
by OpenERP from changes in other documents that refer to this partner.
It is possible to add events manually which directly relate to the corresponding form, such as a note
recording a phone call. To add a new event click New in the Phone Calls section. That opens a
new Phone Call pop-up form enabling a phone-call event to be created and added to the current partner.

Possible Partner Actions

To top center of the partner form is a Button named Print containing a list of possible Reports, and button
named More containing Actions and quick Links about the partner displayed in the form.
You can generate PDF documents for the selected object (or, in list view, about one or more selected
objects) using certain buttons in the Print button

Labels : print address labels for the selected partners,

Overdue Payments : print a letter to notify the selected partners of overdue payments,

Certain actions can be started by the following buttons in the Actions section of the More button

Mass Mailing: enables you to send an email to a selection of partners,

Partners are used throughout the OpenERP system in other documents. For example, the menu Sales
Sales Orders brings up all the Sales Orders in list view. Open an order in form view and click the name of
a partner, even when the form is read-only. The Partner form will open.

Products
In OpenERP, product is used to define a raw material, a stockable product, a consumable or a service.
You can work with whole products or with templates that separate the definition of products and variants
(extra module).
For example, if you sell t-shirts in different sizes and colors:

the product template is the T-shirt which contains information common to all sizes and all colors,

the variants are Size:S and Color:Red, which define the parameters for that size and color,

the final product is thus the combination of the two T-shirt in size S and color Red.

The value of this approach, for some sectors, is that you can just define a template in detail and all of its
available variants briefly, rather than every item as an entire product.
Note
Example Product Templates and Variants
A product can be defined as a whole or as a product template and several variants. The variants can be
in one or several dimensions, depending on the installed modules.
For example, if you work in textiles, the variants on the product template for T-shirt are:

Size (S, M, L, XL, XXL),

Colour (white, grey, black, red),

Quality of Cloth (125g/m2, 150g/m2, 160g/m2, 180g/m2),
Collar (V, Round).

This separation of variant types requires the optional module product_variant_multi . Using it
means that you can avoid an explosion in the number of products to manage in the database. If you take
the example above, it is easier to manage a template with 15 variants in four different types than 160
completely different products. This module is available in extra-addons .
The Sales Products menu gives you access to the definition of products and their templates and
variants.

Consumables
In OpenERP, a consumable is a physical product which is treated like a stockable product, with the
exception that stock management is not taken into account by the system. You could buy it, deliver it or
produce it but OpenERP will always assume that there is enough of it in stock. It never triggers a
procurement exception.
Open a product form to see the information that describes it. The demonstration data show several types
of products, which gives quite a good overview of the options.
Price lists (Sales Configuration Pricelists) determine the purchase and selling prices and
adjustments derived from the use of different currencies. The Default Purchase Pricelist uses the
product's Cost Pricefield for the Purchase price to be calculated. The Public Pricelist uses the
product's Sale Price field to calculate the Sales price in quotations.
Price lists are extremely flexible and enable you to put a complete price management policy in place.
They are composed of simple rules that enable you to build up a rule set for most complex situations:
multiple discounts, selling prices based on purchase prices, price reductions, promotions on product
ranges and so on.
You can find many optional modules to extend product functionality, such as:

membership : for managing the subscriptions of members of a company,

product_electronic : for managing electronic products,

product_extended : for managing production costs,

product_expiry : for agro-food products where items must be retired after a certain period,

product_lot_foundry : for managing forged metal products.

All of the above modules are found in extra-addons , except for the membership and
the product_expiry module.

10

Boost your Sales

OpenERP provides many tools for managing relationships with partners. These are available through
theSales menu.
Tip
CRM & SRM
CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management, a standard term for systems that manage client
and customer relations. SRM stands for Supplier Relationship Management, and is commonly used for
functions that manage your communications with your suppliers.
Through Customer Relationship Management, OpenERP allows you to keep track of:

Leads

Opportunities

Meetings

Phone Calls

Claims

Helpdesk and Support

Fund Raising

OpenERP ensures that each case is handled effectively by the system's users, customers and suppliers.
It can automatically reassign a case, track it for the new owner, send reminders by email and raise other
OpenERP documentation and processes.
All operations are archived, and an email gateway lets you update a case automatically from emails sent
and received. A system of rules enables you to set up actions that can automatically improve your
process quality by ensuring that open cases never escape attention.
As well as those functions, you have got tools to improve the productivity of all staff in their daily work:

an email client plugin for Outlook and Thunderbird enabling you to automatically store your emails
and their attachments in the Knowledge Management (previously Document Management
System) integrated with OpenERP,

interfaces to synchronize your Contacts and Calendars with OpenERP,

sync your meetings on your mobile phone,

build a 360 view on your Customer,

integration with Google applications.

You can implement a continuous improvement policy for all of your services, by using some of the
statistical tools in OpenERP to analyze the different communications with your partners. With these, you
can execute a real improvement policy to manage your service quality.

11

The management of customer relationships is detailed in the second section of this book (see Managing
Customer Relationships).

Manage your Books

The chapters in Manage your Books in this book are dedicated to general and analytic accounting.
Following is a brief overview of the functions to introduce you to this Business Application.
Accounting is totally integrated into all of the company's functions, whether it is general, analytic,
budgetary or auxiliary accounting. OpenERP's accounting function is double-entry and supports multiple
company divisions and multiple companies, as well as multiple currencies and languages.
Accounting that is integrated throughout all of the company's processes greatly simplifies the work of
entering accounting data, because most of the entries are generated automatically while other documents
are being processed. You can avoid entering data twice in OpenERP, which is commonly a source of
errors and delays.
So OpenERP's accounting is not just for financial reporting it is also the anchor-point for many of the
company's management processes. For example, if one of your accountants puts a customer on credit
hold, then that will immediately block any other action related to that company's credit (such as sales or
delivery).
OpenERP also provides integrated analytical accounting, which enables management by business
activity or project and provides very detailed levels of analysis. You can control your operations based on
business management needs, rather than on the charts of accounts that generally meet only statutory
requirements.
OpenERP has added a flexible, easy Invoicing module allowing you to keep track of your documents and
payments, even when you are not an accountant. This will allow smaller businesses to keep track of their
payments without having to implement a complete accounting system.
Keep track of your Cash Moves by using the new OpenERP Cash Box.

Lead & Inspire your People

OpenERP's Human Resources Management Business Application provides functionality such as:

Manage your Employees, Contracts & Staff Performance,

Talent Acquisition,

Keep track of Holidays and Sickness Leaves,

Manage the Evaluation Process,

Keep track of Attendances & Timesheets,

12

Track Expenses.

Most of these functions are provided from optional modules whose name starts with hr_ rather than the
core hr module, but they are all loaded into the main Human Resources menu.
The different issues are handled in detail in the fourth part of this book Effective Management of
Operations, dedicated to internal organization and to the management of a services business.

Drive your Projects

OpenERP's project management tools enable you to define tasks and specify requirements for those
tasks, efficient allocation of resources to the requirements, project planning, scheduling and automatic
communication with partners.
All projects are hierarchically structured. You can review all of the projects from the menu Project
Projects. Then select Gantt view to obtain a graphical representation of the project.

Project Planning
You can run projects related to Services or Support, Production or Development it is a universal module
for all enterprise needs.
Project management is described in Drive your Projects.
Driving your Sales
The Sales menu gives you roughly the same functionality as the Purchases menu the ability to create
new orders and to review the existing orders in their various states but there are important differences
in the workflows.
Confirmation of an order triggers the delivery of goods, and invoicing timing is defined by a setting in each
individual order.
Delivery charges can be managed using a grid of tariffs for different carriers.

13

Driving your Purchases

Purchases enables you to track your suppliers' price quotations and convert them into Purchase Orders
as you require. OpenERP has several methods of monitoring invoices and tracking the receipt of ordered
goods.
You can handle partial deliveries in OpenERP, so you can keep track of items that are still to be delivered
on your orders, and you can issue reminders automatically.
OpenERP's replenishment management rules enable the system to generate draft purchase orders
automatically, or you can configure it to run a lean process, driven entirely by current production needs.
You can also manage purchase requisitions to keep track of quotations sent to a multitude of suppliers.

Organise your Warehouse

The various sub-menus under Warehouse together provide operations you need to manage stock. You
can:

define your warehouses and structure them around locations you choose,

manage inventory rotation and stock levels,

execute packing orders generated by the system,

execute deliveries with delivery notes and calculate delivery charges,

manage lots and serial numbers for traceability,

calculate theoretical stock levels and automate stock valuation,

create rules for automatic stock replenishment.

Packing orders and deliveries are usually defined automatically by calculating requirements based on
sales. Stores staff use picking lists generated by OpenERP, produced automatically in order of priority.
Stock management is, like accounting, double-entry. So stocks do not appear and vanish magically within
a warehouse, they just get moved from place to place. And, just like accounting, such a double-entry
system gives you big advantages when you come to audit stock because each missing item has a
counterpart somewhere.
Most stock management software is limited to generating lists of products in warehouses. Because of its
double-entry system, OpenERP automatically manages customer and suppliers stocks as well, which has
many advantages: complete traceability from supplier to customer, management of consigned stock, and
analysis of counterpart stock moves.
Furthermore, just like accounts, stock locations are hierarchical, so you can carry out analyses at various
levels of detail.

14

Get Manufacturing Done

OpenERP's production management capabilities enable companies to plan, automate and track
manufacturing and product assembly. OpenERP supports multi-level bills of materials and lets you
substitute sub-assemblies dynamically, at the time of sales ordering. You can create virtual subassemblies for re-use on several products with phantom bills of materials.
Note
BOMs, Routing, Workcenters
These documents describe the materials that make up a larger assembly. They are commonly called Bills
of Materials or BOMs.
They are linked to routings which list the operations needed to carry out the manufacturing or assembly of
the product.
Each operation is carried out at a workcenter, which can be a machine or a person.
Production orders based on your company's requirements are scheduled automatically by the system, but
you can also run the schedulers manually whenever you want. Orders are worked out by calculating the
requirements from sales, through bills of materials, taking current inventory into account. The production
schedule is also generated from the various lead times defined throughout the system, using the same
route.
The demonstration data contain a list of products and raw materials with various classifications and
ranges. You can test the system using this data.

Share your Knowledge through Efficient Document Management

and Being Mobile
OpenERP integrates a complete document management system that not only carries out the functions of
a standard DMS, but also integrates with all of its system-generated documents such as Invoices and
Quotations. Moreover, it it keeps all of this synchronized. You can define your own directory structure and
tell OpenERP to automatically store documents such as Invoices in the DMS.
OpenERP provides an FTP Interface for the Document Management System. You will not only be able to
access documents from OpenERP, but you can also use a regular file system with the FTP client. FTP is
just a way of getting access to files without needing to use an OpenERP client, to allow you to access
files from anywhere. You can also add documents to be stored in OpenERP directly through the FTP
system in the corresponding OpenERP directory. These documents will automatically be accessible from
the form concerned in OpenERP.
The Knowledge system is also well-integrated with e-mail clients such as Thunderbird and Outlook. It also
allows you to sync your calendars (CalDAV).

15

Measure your Business Performance

To measure your business performance OpenERP, provides two interesting features:

Dashboards

Statistical Reports

On a single page, Dashboards give you an overview of all the information that is important to you. In
OpenERP, each application has its own dashboard which opens by default when you select the specific
application. For example, Administration Dashboard will open when you click the Administration menu.

Dashboards
Unlike most other ERP systems and classic statistic-based systems, OpenERP can provide dashboards
for all system users, and not just managers and accountants.
Each user can have his own dashboard, adapted to his needs, enabling him to manage his own work
effectively. For example, a developer using the Project Dashboard can see information such as a list of
open tasks, tasks delegated to him and an analysis of the progress of the relevant projects.
Dashboards are dynamic, letting you navigate easily around the entire information base. Using the icons
above a graph, for example, you can filter the data or zoom into the graph. You can click any element of
the list to get detailed statistics on the selected element.
Dashboards can be customized to fit the needs of each user and each company.
Note
Creating or Customizing Dashboards
OpenERP contains a Dashboard Editor. Create your own dashboard to fit your specific needs in only a
few clicks. Go to the Administration Customization Reporting Dashboard Definition menu to define
your own dashboard.
The Statistical Analysis is one of the crucial thing for decision making process in any business. OpenERP
provides Statistical Reports for each application. For example, you can access the statistical analysis of
Sales-related information from the menu Sales Reporting Sales Analysis. You can search and group
the data using this Statistical Report.

Track your Process Flows

Many documents have a workflow of their own, and also take part in cross-functional processes. Take a
document that could be expected to have a workflow, such as a Sales Order, and then click the ? button
above its form to see the full process.

16

Process for a Sales Order

You can see where a particular document is in its process, if you have selected a single document, by the
solid bar on one of the process nodes. You also link to documents and menus for each of the stages.
There is a clear distinction between a cross-functional process and the detailed document workflow that is
shown in client from a debug mode.

flow for a Purchase Order

Alongside the document management system, the process visualization features make OpenERP far
better for documentation than similar systems.

Need More?
You have been guided through a brisk, brief overview of many of the main functional areas of OpenERP.
Some of these a large proportion of the core modules are treated in more detail in the following
chapters.

17

You can use the menu Settings Modules Modules to find the remaining modules that have been
loaded into your installation but not yet installed in your database. Some modules have only minor sideeffects to OpenERP (such as google_docs ), some have quite extensive effects (such as the various
charts of accounts), and some make fundamental additions.
But there are now more than hundred modules available. You can install them according to your needs.
A brief description is available for each module, but the most thorough way of understanding their
functionality is to install one and try it. So, pausing only to prepare another test database to try it out on,
just download and install the modules that appear interesting.
Tips & Tricks
Overview of Shortcut Keys

Shortcuts in a relation field

Shortcut Key What does it do?

F1

Add new Field/Line on the fly

F2

Look up information

F3

Zoom on current field

Shortcuts in text entries

Shortcut Key What does it do?

Ctrl+C

Copy selected text

Ctrl+V

Paste selected text

Ctrl+X

Cut selected text

Enter

Auto-complete text field

Shift+Tab

Previous editable widget

Tab

Next editable widget

Filters
The Advanced Search View is a new feature of OpenERP v7 which provides a very user-friendly filtering
mechanism for the end user to easily look up desired records from the list.
The perfect example of an advanced search view is the Statistical Report of OpenERP. Such a report
shows the statistical summary with filtered results to the end user.
Usually an Advanced Search is composed of three elements, the Filter buttons at the top, the Extended
Filters, and the Group by option. These filters are dynamic, so according to filters you apply, extra
columns may be added to the view.
You can also easily combine filters; an arrow will be displayed and you will get a structure according to
the order in which you clicked the Filter buttons.

18

Let's show an example. The statistical report for project tasks is Task Analysis which can be displayed
using the menu Reporting Project Tasks Analysis when you have installed the Project
Managementmodule.

Task Analysis
You can see the Advanced Search View at the top right area.
You can filter the information of a task according to the Group by features.
Click, for instance, the Project in Group by from the filter, and then click Stage to analyse your tasks by
project and then by stages.
This Advanced Search View can also be attached to any Kanban or List View of an object and hence
increase the search facility when a user looks up the record in list view.

Search the Tasks which are `In Progress` with Group by Project and State

19