I think the reference to "no IT staff" may have come from here: http://www.infoverto.com/2010/03/now-you-can-run-your-erp-without-it.html
An interview with Ruth. However, I think she qualifies as her own IT staff member. On Mon, Oct 18, 2010 at 9:09 AM, David E Jones <[email protected]> wrote: > > On Oct 18, 2010, at 9:43 AM, CallMeAndy wrote: > >> >> I am sure I read somewhere that OfBiz was a solution that would reove the >> neccesity of IT staff. >> >> That statement is a joke. > > Yes, that does sound like a joke. Do you recall who the comedian is? > > I suppose in general unless you stick with simple hardware and software that > has good end-user support options (like AppleCare for example) then it is > very difficult even without something like OFBiz to "reove the neccesity of > IT staff". If you want to do that, QuickBooks might be better for you. I > suppose that's true of many things, ie keep it simple or learn to do it > yourself or get help... even true of things like spelling. > > In many rants such as this the standard response is that there seems to be a > misunderstanding about what OFBiz is. The things to keep in mind are that > Apache OFBiz is a community (not corporate) driven open source project with > an emphasis on being easy to customize and applicable to a wide range of > business processes. What this means is that the OOTB screens (with a few > exceptions) are not streamlined for any specific type or size of organization. > > In the case of your particular feedback, I think different response might be > more helpful to you (inline below)... > >> I am fortunate as a Business evaluator that I have a master's in Business >> Information Technology and touched on J2EE applications during that study, >> but It was a while back. I am also sure a lot of business users would >> evaluate this for themselves without having to rely on IT sorting it all out >> for them. >> >> My experience on XP so far has almost already turned me away from the >> product, and I have barely even scratched the surface. I want this to work >> for me; on the face of it it looked like a good product using the open >> source model. >> >> But after I dont know how many hours I finally got to be able to login. >> >> The most basic information that less-technical evaluators need seems >> difficult to find. >> >> First off: >> A simple thing like the difference between JDK and SDK both specified as >> requirements in different locations and "J2SE SDK" does that even exist >> anymore, not obviously on the oracle site, took a while before I could >> decide what was needed. I plumped for Java EE SDK in the end. That wasted >> time as an aborted install due to needing JRE. Of course the OfBiz community >> is not responsible for the naming confusion at Sun ( I could never be sure >> that version 1.5 was actualy version 5 of Java2 - or am I still confused) >> and furthered by Oracle but you need business evaluators to have as smooth a >> ride with this as possible. >> >> Ok I got Java running. Luckily I new how to use the commandline. Not that it >> was made clear that that is what I should have been doing to run the ant >> script. >> >> Som searching probably 30 mins or so. Nothing >> >> Then lets try Startofbiz.bat. Nothing appears to happen apart from the >> verbose server output. No interface in which to login. Hum maybe ofbiz is in >> the browser? >> >> No nothing obvious there: ofbiz.jar double click - nothing. >> >> Loads more googling. an hour or so. >> >> Oh hang on its a server application so maybe localhost >> >> http://localhost nope >> http://localhost/ofbiz nope >> http://127.0.0.1 nope >> http://127.0.0.1/ofbiz nope >> >> Loads more googling. an hour or so or maybe more. >> >> Ah just remembered portaddres in the browser sometimes required. >> >> http://localhost:8080/ofbiz/ ....hooray >> >> oh actually nothing here of any use at all. >> >> Next day now - loads more searching still dont know how to bloody get into >> the application. >> >> http://localhost:8080/accounting - finally I saw from a web address example >> at hotwax - not even on the ofbiz site. >> >> and so close to having thrown this out, just at the limit of my tolerance, >> and now there are localisation issues. >> >> How to set up the main company? A party! in the UK to me this would seem >> oblique. Of course I realise its a generic term that covers any kind of >> organisation, department, or individual but I am already up-tight and I am >> wasting more time looking for another interface. >> >> So running through setting up a company and hey I have input a company name >> and the address, and already set the preference for the company profile >> currency as GBP and the other demo departments inherit from company - what? >> its still inheriting dollars! The accounting preferences are different from >> the company currency and you cant change the default currency of the main >> company, without some clunky workaround. >> >> ...more searching here we go again and getting to the end of the day - it >> doesnt bode well and is costing me an arm and a leg for a product that might >> not be of value to me!! > > The main thing I'd say is that it sounds like some documentation might be > helpful to you. I don't know how you went about trying to find docs, but here > is the logical path I'd recommend: > > 1. start with the project's home page: http://ofbiz.apache.org > 2. reading through the page there are two links that seem applicable to this: > "Apache OFBiz Getting Started" in the main column, and "Main Documentation > Page" in the right column > 3. those pages have various links on them and while they are meant for > different audiences and purposes, they both point to some docs that might be > helpful to you, namely the "Demo and Test Setup Guide", the "Technical > Production Setup Guide" and the "Business Setup Guide" > 4. in addition to those docs there are many others with information that > might be helpful as you get into trying out different parts of the project's > functionality, or as you try to configure the software for different > purposes, or even as you get into customizing the software > 5. there are also some links scattered about to resources available on other > sites, and especially for understanding the business side of OFBiz some of > those are very helpful (such as the books from Ruth Hoffman at myofbiz.com, > and for general concepts the Data Model Resource books) > > Did you happen to find and read any of those documents? If not, I'd recommend > starting there. > > As an after thought, yes I agree, it is a total waste of time to try to > evaluate something of the size and complexity of OFBiz without the help of > some documentation. > > -David > > >
