The UBPL stories might be helpful for you Chris, but I think they are different from what you are looking for.
The goal of UBPL is to get people collaborating in a more structured way on gathering requirements, and then based on those requirements collaborate on designs, and THEN collaborate on implementation of those designs. It is not an attempt to document what is already in OFBiz, but rather to document common business requirements in the form of processes to help refine and flesh-out OFBiz (ie to drive the future of OFBiz). The reason for this goal is that typically there has been little if any collaboration on requirements and designs in OFBiz. This works to some extent because the OFBiz base applications (those in the components in the ofbiz/applications directory) are meant to be generic and reusable, and that means organized around a data model and NOT around business processes in order to support a wider variety of business processes, and so the artifacts are reusable in custom or derived applications that are designed to support a wide variety of business processes. In other words, you could try to document the business processes supported by OFBiz, but you would never finish because there is no single process or even a small set of processes that OFBiz supports... it really a very large set of processes. Your best bet to find things in OFBiz is to gain an understanding of the data model, and then to use tools like the Artifact Info stuff in web tools to find related artifacts (ie controller requests and views, screens, forms, service definitions, service implementations, and so on. When you do this you'll see a number of process snippets that are modeled as services (like creating an order), or triggers that get other processes going in the form of ECA rules (like creating an invoice for part or all of an order when items from that order are in a packed shipment). I'm actually a little bit surprised that no one else has brought up these points. This has been discussed many many times. Or maybe I've presented it many many times and no one believes me...? -David On Jan 25, 2010, at 8:25 AM, Jeroen van der Wal wrote: > Hi Chris, > > There is already an initiative do document high-level processes: > http://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/OFBREQDES/Universal+Business+Process+Library+Index > > Jeroen van der Wal > Stromboli b.v. > +31 655 874050 > > > On Mon, Jan 25, 2010 at 3:18 PM, Chris Snow > <[email protected]>wrote: > >> Hi Ruth, >> >> I wouldn't even say it's difficult to figure out the existing applications. >> It is very time consuming. Without high level overview documentation, the >> only way to understand the existing apps is to go through each line of code. >> >> I really think there should be a process documentation effort - of which >> I'm willing to give my time... >> >> Cheers, >> >> Chris >> >> >> Ruth Hoffman wrote: >> >>> Hi Chris: >>> I think you are spot on. Once you understand the basics, it is relatively >>> easy to develop data driven web applications with the OFBiz framework. I've >>> been doing just that for several years now. All that "nasty" database stuff >>> is taken care of - leaving me free to develop real world solutions in short >>> order. >>> >>> What is much more difficult is to figure out how to use the existing >>> applications to solve real world problems. I'm still struggling with that. >>> >>> Regards, >>> Ruth >>> ---------------------------------------------------- >>> Find me on the web at http://www.myofbiz.com or Google keyword "myofbiz" >>> [email protected] >>> >>> Chris Snow wrote: >>> >>>> Hi Marc, >>>> >>>> This is one of the reasons I have been pushing for and independent ofbiz >>>> framework. It's is relatively quick to learn how to develop standalone >>>> apps >>>> in ofbiz. I believe with ofbiz, you can develop small applications as >>>> quickly as you can in MS Access - with a lot more benefits when using ofbiz >>>> (multiuser, web enabled, extendable, etc). >>>> >>>> However, in my opinion, it takes years of experience to be able to use >>>> the existing apps (partymgmt, ordermgmt, etc). >>>> >>>> Cheers, >>>> >>>> Chris >>>> >>>> >>>> Marc Morin wrote: >>>> >>>>> It's taken us about 6-12 months to get proficient in ofbiz.... mostly >>>>> because we mostly "resisted" doing things the ofbiz way.... >>>>> >>>>> ----- Original Message ----- >>>>> From: "Adrian Crum" <[email protected]> >>>>> To: [email protected] >>>>> Sent: Friday, January 22, 2010 7:04:01 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern >>>>> Subject: Re: does anyone know ofbiz? >>>>> >>>>> --- On Fri, 1/22/10, Chris Snow <[email protected]> wrote: >>>>> >>>>> >>>>>> Is it possible for one person to have a deep understanding >>>>>> of how ALL of the components in ofbiz work? It is >>>>>> vast. I have found that the only way to tackle the >>>>>> problem is to break in into chucks: the framework, party >>>>>> management, work effort... At the rate I'm going I >>>>>> will have figured it all out in 5 years time. >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>> >>>>> It took me about 6 months to wrap my head around OFBiz. I have been >>>>> using it for 6 years and there are things that I'm still learning about >>>>> it. >>>>> >>>>> -Adrian >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>
