inoerp/inoERP

The readme doesn't explain the scope or direction, and where to get that information isn't clear.

Poikilos opened this issue · 1 comments

Poikilos commented

Hello,

alternativeto.net has a summary and some reviews on inoERP, but that's the only project description I can find (See "Proposed solution" below). If you speak for yourself, people will have at least some context on how to interpret positive or negative opinions: Maybe you target a different use case, or maybe you have other features planned, or integrate with some easier frontend software or maybe writing plugins or modules is possible--none of the answers are clear, and if they are, where to find the information isn't clear.

People on alternativeto.net say that inoERP is very fully-featured and adaptable like Oracle SAP, but:

  1. They also say that inoERP is difficult to use for the same reason (because it is similar to Oracle SAP).
  2. To what web development philosophy does the project adhere? If there is some sort of "API-first" model (with authentication to provide a public web API) then the program being difficult to use (see 1 above) won't matter as much (See point 3 below)
  3. Is there some web API? The main reason I ask is: I could potentially start using inoERP and contributing to it if there is some easy way to integrate it with other services where features (see point 4 below) may not be in inoERP:
    • Warranty tracking
    • Issue tracking (GitHub/asana/Trello or a self-hosted kanban, or self-hosted issue system like osTicket or any other one)
    • Communication (MS Teams, Slack, etc)
    • eCommerce
      • Can inoERP be used as a cart backend (See point 4 below)?
      • If so, can there be separate bulk pricing for accounts marked as resellers etc?
      • If not, can it interface with any existing cart such as Shopify or a self-hosted one such as osCommerce?
    • Books (tax reporting) such as can be used alone or import into SAGE, QuickBooks Desktop, QuickBooks Online, some other web API (see also point 4)
    • Payroll: Can it be used for payroll directly, or integrate with some existing desktop (QuickBooks Payroll) web-based payroll system (gusto.com or another)?
    • HR features (attach files to employees, hide medical info from all but specifically designated employees, set application status)?
  4. What is the list of features (at least coursely)?
    • Transform work orders into invoices when production is complete?
    • E-mail an invoice to a customer?
    • E-mail a change in warranty progress/status to a customer?
    • Print a packing slip/invoice?
    • Multi-level bill of materials?
    • Pull raw materials from inventory that are necessary for a line (product times quantity) on a work order?
    • Email when raw materials need to be ordered (either on runout, or predictive based on use rates)?
    • Can inoERP be used as the main consumer-facing website?
      • Is there user-access control (UAC) so the website will have more features when a reseller or admin is logged in?
      • Is there a template feature with full control of the layout, such as for making a mobile/responsive site?
        • Can there be a fallback template for the administrative interface?
    • Is there internationalization (of interface language, and money)?
    • Is there a payroll system, or ability to integrate with any other payroll system?
    • Is there an accounting system, or ability to integrate with any other accounting system?
  5. Can people write plugins or modules (If point 4 above is made clear, people will know whether to write one or not--see #71)? Such as:
    • Google Drive (Get/set on a Google sheet, etc)
    • Custom I/O: add more routes to the web API, or add a web api if there is none (See point 3).
  6. What are the technological requirements? alternativeto.net says PHP and MariaDB. Are there any more requirements, and are there alternative DB backends?
  7. What is the backup procedure?

Proposed solutions

  • Putting the answers in the readme is the actual solution here, or any/all these questions may just appear here again asked by someone else. The readme has no content and the website redirects to the repo which shows the readme. Therefore, there seems to be no clear way to get general information about the current features/integrations or future plans for features/integrations.
  • Even if there is no wiki, giving the info that this issue requests in the readme will let people know whether inoERP is good for them and whether they should be able to do something in here or require a plugin (for example, see #71). If you are unable to maintain hosting, consider directing the domain to https://github.com/inoerp/inoERP/wiki and putting the information there. However, still update the readme and link to the wiki; the readme would still serve the purpose of listing features, while the wiki would be for howtos etc.

Related issues

Here is evidence that solving this would cut down on issues (other people asking the same thing(s)):

Thanks,
Poikilos

inoerp commented

Please check the documentation @ http://docs.inoerp.com/

The old read me is still available @ https://github.com/inoerp/inoERP/blob/master/inoerp/README.md
However, the PHP project is not in active development.
We plan to release the Go & Dart version in a few months' time.
All the documents will be updated shortly.