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<p style="margin: 1.2em 0px ! important;">On 08/29/2016 01:28 AM,
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:ssackett@adaxa.com">ssackett@adaxa.com</a> wrote:</p>
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<p></p>
<blockquote
cite="mid:acf88ac9-0ce1-75a6-14ea-573ffb4a7aa8@adaxa.com"
type="cite">
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<font size="-1">For example, the open-source ERP I deal with
will let you do the following with a relatively small amount
of configuration and no code changes:<br>
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<p style="margin: 1.2em 0px ! important;">[snip]</p>
<p style="margin: 1.2em 0px ! important;">Steven,</p>
<p style="margin: 1.2em 0px ! important;">Thanks for chiming in.
Your list is good core functionality, to be sure. One major
requirement we have of the system that wasn’t listed is that it
be proactive about helping the filer submit a good reimbursement
request—one an accountant can review and (hopefully) accept
quickly. A primary goal of the project is to reduce the time
both sides spend organizing the necessary data, and mailing back
and forth to get missing documentation and so on. We want it to
be possible to configure the system with information about
reimbursement policies, and notify filers <em>before</em> they
submit a reimbursement request that can’t be accepted, and
suggest ways they might fix it. If you know of systems that make
that possible, I’m definitely interested to hear about them.</p>
<p style="margin: 1.2em 0px ! important;">Having a form that comes
directly from the accounting system is great for integration,
but could pose challenges for smoothing over the process for
filers. An interface that uses terminology from accounting like
“purchase order,” “cost center,” and so on may be opaque to
filers, who often aren’t native English speakers. If they end up
e-mailing for help as a result, that could thwart the goal
above.</p>
<p style="margin: 1.2em 0px ! important;">Meanwhile, one benefit
to having a Reimbursement system that’s separate from the
accounting system is that it’s possible for many different
organizations to start using and benefiting from it, even while
they’re all using different accounting systems themselves.
Several organizations have already expressed interest. If we can
help them start using it soon, it would be great to start
getting their feedback and generating more interest, both for
the Reimbursement system specifically and the Non-Profit
Accounting Project generally.</p>
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<p></p>
<blockquote
cite="mid:acf88ac9-0ce1-75a6-14ea-573ffb4a7aa8@adaxa.com"
type="cite"><font size="-1">I have not stated which open
source ERP this is because the point I wish to make is that
there are probably a number of existing open source ERPs
which will do all this stuff (and more) but which were
dismissed </font><font size="-1"><font size="-1"> during
the early reviews </font>as unsuitable, or too
big/complex, or (validly) as not quite real open source. Of
course, as soon as you get into real-world situations a lot
of complexity that has already been addressed by ERP's that
have been under development for many years will come back to
haunt the developers of the new project. <br>
<br>
In nearly every system selection process I have been
involved with in 12 years of running an open source ERP
business there has been a detailed user requirements
document and an attempt to compare these specific
requirements with candidate system's capabilities.</font></blockquote>
<p></p>
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<p style="margin: 1.2em 0px ! important;"></p>
<p style="margin: 1.2em 0px ! important;">This sounds sensible to
me. It doesn’t cover the whole Non-Profit Accounting Project,
but I’ve put together an initial <a
href="http://npoacct.sfconservancy.org/Reimbursements/Requirements/">Requirements
document for the Reimbursement system</a> on our project wiki.
This is only my first pass, so I might have overlooked
something, but I’m eager to hear the list’s feedback. Are there
requirements you know about, or commonly see, that we should
consider? Are there systems that you know meet these
requirements?</p>
<p style="margin: 1.2em 0px ! important;">The page is organized by
“first release” requirements—functionality that Conservancy
needs from the system in order for it to help us save time
today—and requirements that can come later, that would save
additional time or make the system more user friendly but aren’t
strictly necessary for the first release. If there are systems
that meet many of the requirements, including some later
requirements but maybe not every single first release
requirement, I’d be especially interested in hearing about
those—we could look at extending it to meet our needs.
Conversely, if there’s a system that meets all the initial
requirements, but the architecture isn’t suitable to fulfilling
some of the later requirements, that’s admittedly a little less
compelling from my perspective.</p>
<p style="margin: 1.2em 0px ! important;">Thanks,</p>
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<div class="moz-signature markdown-here-signature">-- <br>
Brett Smith</div>
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