The Refresh Orlando Heirs

ERP(Enterprise Resource Planning) software has traditionally been
used by large corporates to integrate and automate diverse departments across the enterprise. For a long time, smaller companies purchased individual accounting and payroll packages and then migrated to expensive ERP solutions as they grew. They did not have much options as ERP solutions were costlier and required magnitude and many employees to justify their use.

Now, with many Open Source software coming out, it is possible for SMEs to go in for ERPs at an earlier stage. There are several in the market including Compiere, ERP5 and Fisterra. Companies have to carefully study individual requirements and test out these softwares to determine suitability.

In this article, I would like to review CK-ERP, an Open Source ERP/CRM system, ideally suited for use by SMEs. It has a total of 17 modules including accounting ledger, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivables, Purchase Order, Sales Order, Quotation, Point of Sale, Human Resource, Payroll and contact management. It operates as modules running atop phpGroupWare. This makes it possible for the software to be easily installed on Internet if employees are in various locations or on the Intranet for more secure transactions.

Here is a overview of its excellent features.

Customer Billing process

Any company with more than 10 recurring customers should seriously
consider using an ERP(such as ck-ERP) to keep track of payments, work
orders and related accounting. ck-erp has ck-Quote (a Quotation module),
ck-so(Sales order module) and ck-ar (Accounts Receivable module) to
keep

• Sales reps can key in Work Quotations for customers. The CK-Quote
  module allows for easily configurable Quotation templates which can
  be printed or emailed to customers.

• Sales reps can easily convert the Quotations to Sales Orders when
  work commences. A Sales order serves as a formal record of a work
  order and the terms and condition under which the work is executed
  sent to a customer. This direct conversion from Quotation to Sales
  Order eliminates a lot of extra work typing out docs. However, it
  is possible also to manually enter Sales Orders.
• At the time of billing, Sales Orders can again be converted to Invoices.
  It is possible to create Invoices with or without Tax. Here again,
  print and email friendly Official invoices can be generated. It is
  also possible to Bulk-Dispatch several invoices at the same time.
• Want to check out how promptly a customer pays? Simply check the Billing
  history which says when a customer was invoiced and how quickly he
  has paid you. You can also check Billing histories of each Sales order.
• Once a customer has been invoiced, it is a easy matter to record payment
  receipts. A single invoice can have several payments. For instance
  if a customer is invoiced for $1000, he can pay in parts. It is an
  easy matter to enter part payments against any invoice. You can also
  check out the pending payments - invoice wise, customer wise and even
  company wise. An aging report shows you how much dues you have to
  get.
• All invoice and payments get automatically integrated with the General
  Ledger, making accounting very easy. It is possible to view related
  Journal/Ledger entries for each invoice

You can easily enter customer records and configure various types
of tax. The accounts receivables include Accounts Receivable Aging
reports, Customer Invoice Aging reports and Detailed list of Tax collected.

If you are a Manufacturing company with thousands of customers, you
can consider middle agents like Distributors or C&F agencies as customers
and keep track of their payments using the same software.

The system is multi-currency and multi-user, allowing each module
multiple access levels.

Inventory and Purchase process

Many companies, especially trading and manufacturing companies are
generally swamped with purchase inventory and vendor information.
Keeping track of vendor payments and paying bills in time before credit
collection agencies call is a major source of tension. Here is what
you can do with ck-erp’s purchase modules - ck-po(Purchase Order module),
ck-ap(Accounts Payable module) and ck-inv(Inventory module) . Lets
see how a purchase process works.

• Enter purchase orders to keep track of the service contracts and products
  you have purchased.
• The moment you receive the purchased products or service, you can
  add it to your inventory using ck-inventory module. Marking goods
  receipt, automatically updates the inventory. You can view your Inventory
  Balance and In/Out History for each product that you have in the Inventory.
  This feature is very useful for Traders and manufacturers. The inventory
  is integrated with the General Ledger, so that increases in the inventory
  also updates the Asset value of your company.
• When you receive an invoice from the vendor, you can convert the Purchase
  Order into a Vendor Invoice. Maintaining vendor invoices on the system,
  reduces your dependency on the email or paper invoices your vendors
  keep sending you. You can easily manage vendor payments and due dates
  with this system.
• When you make payments, Record full or part payments made against
  Vendor invoices.
• You can view at any time, reports on unpaid invoices and aging reports
  on the total amounts due per vendor or per purchase order. The ERP
  gives you an amazing degree of clarity on outgoing dues.
• You can maintain Vendor database and configure various kinds of taxes.
• The Inventory lets you maintain product names and numbers, Bin/Location
  information, photos, reorder levels, unit and weight information,
  and 3 different price informations.
• Inventory adjustments, Assembly information and Alternate Part/Service
  information are some other features of ck-inventory.

Accounts

The accounts section has practically everything one would want.

The core General Ledger module has the basic Double Entry accounting
system with Ledger and Journal. The interesting aspect of the General
Ledger is that it is the base for the Accounts Receivable, Accounts
Payable, Inventory, Bank and the Payroll modules. The entries from
all these modules ultimately reflect in the General Ledger.

The accounting system has multi-currency support. The admin can set
Standard Remarks for the invoice, purchase orders, Quotations and
so on. The admin can even setup Multiple Ledgers for various divisions.

A Bank Reconciliation module allows you to reconcile bank statements
with ledger entries.

On the flip side of the Accounts module is the fact that it does not
have the yearly Opening and Closing balances. This makes it difficult
to reconcile yearly accounts. A major flaw, which one can hope will
be corrected in the near future.

Point of Sale(POS)

If you are a supermarket with multiple cashier desks and high cash
transactions, you could use this module. Again the Point of Sale module
is integrated with the General Ledger.

The ck-pos module lets cashiers enter Cash Sales, with or without
tax. A good feature of the POS system is that it allows Credit Sales
as well. Useful when customers insist on Purchase on Credit, for example
in high value goods. Any Credit Sales entered by the cashiers have
to be approved by Manager.

The Manager interface to the POS, ck-pos-m allows a manager to remotely
control all the cashier operations from his office.

• Cashboxes can be setup for each POS counter and each shift. The manager
  can setup staff to work at each counter.
• The Manager can for instance view Shift End cash balance per Counter
  per shift. . The Manager can for instance view the Shift End cash
  balance at Counter 2 at the end of yesterday’s morning shift.
• Managers can setup special price plans
• Managers can add Reduction Charges such as special student discounts,
  senior citizen discount or Add-On Charge such as Sunday Surcharges
  or service charges.
• Managers can configure various payment options for non-cash options
  such as Cash Coupons, Exchange Coupon, Cheques and Credit cards.
• Taxes such as VAT, GST, PST can be setup.
• Sales reports

Human Resource Management

HR management software of some sort is required if you have more than
10 employees, and better still if payroll is integrated with the General
Ledger. CK-ERP has excellent HR management features.

• Manage employee database including name, staff grades and roles, photo,
  address, email, phone and emergency contacts. A good feature in the
  HR software is that you are not limited by the number of phone fields.
  You can enter unlimited records per employee.
• Employees have their own Staff Self Service , something like a “My
  Account”, which lets them Apply for Leave, enter Time sheet and
  attendance details and even request for Expense reimbursement. As
  soon as someone applies for leave or for expense reimbursement, their
  supervisor gets an email notification for approval.
• Timesheet and attendance management. Timesheet can be linked to achievements.
  For example if you are a PC assembling unit, employees can record
  the number of PCs they have assembled per day or per hour. Sales staff
  can enter the sales targets they have achieved.
• Multiple department support
• Record Performance Evaluations per employee
• Expense reimbursement management
• Leave application and leave management.
• Payroll management. Automatic/manual payslips via email. Bank statement
  for payroll.

CRM and Contact Management

CK-ERP’s latest addition is the CRM package.

• CK-CRM offers Helpdesk management and Sales contact management(for
  pre-sales) in a neat package all integrated with the central Customer
  database. Sales reps can track the sales calls and the sales contacts
  made. Customer relation executives can check the help calls and the
  helpdesk contacts made with each customer.
• The HelpDesk system is especially beautiful. Customer relation executives
  can view the entire Call case History Log per HelpDesk call, record
  the customer’s state of mind(furious, angry, pleased, excited), media(email,
  phone call, meeting) and the status of contact(research, resolution,
  followup, closed) Monitoring officers can be set for each ticket.
  Priorities(high, neutral low) and case categories(complaint, suggestion,
  bug report) can be setup for each call .
• The CRM is integrated with Quotation, Sales Order and the Invoice
  modules as well. This makes it very powerful. Customer Relation executives
  and Sales reps can check for instance the credit rating of the customer,
  the number of times he has been Quoted, billing histories and payment
  made.

• Customer Contracts can be recorded
• Credit Limits can be set per customer

CK-CRM also includes a Contact module for organisational contacts
and individual contacts.

Aliases? I thought this is about IntelliCAD. And this
isn’t the secret service or so. I know. But aliases
have to do with IntelliCAD.

If you want to start a command, then you can click on a
button in one of the toolbars. But you can also type a
key in the keyboard.

Suppose you want to start the Line command. You can
click on the Line button in the Draw 2D toolbar. But
you can also press the L key.

Press the L key and press the right mouse button. Or
the Enter key. And the Line command is started. You can
now draw a line or lines.

The L key. That’s called an alias. It’s an alias for
the Line command. There are many aliases in IntelliCAD.
You can have a look at them.

Click on Tools in the menu bar and on Customize in the
pull down menu. The Customize dialog box opens. In it
are four tabs.

Click on the Aliases tab. You’ll see two list boxes. In
the listbox at the left are all the aliases. In the
other listbox are the commands.

Click on an alias in the list box at the left. The
command that belongs to the alias will be highlighted
in the list box at the right.

All the aliases are stored in the IntelliCAD program.
But you can change that. Maybe you want to change an
alias.

Click on the New button. The Alias edit box below the
list box at the left will be activated. Here you can
type the name of the new alias.

Next select a command in the list box at the right. And
then lick on the Assign button. The command is now
assigned to the new alias.

You can check what command is activated by using an
alias. Click on the name of an alias in the list box at
the left. The command is highlighted.

In the Customize dialog box you find the New button,
the Delete button, and the Assign button. You know how
you can use the New button and the Assign button.

The Delete button can be used to delete an alias.
Select the alias in the list box at the left. Next
click on the Delete button.

At the bottom of the dialog box are four more buttons.
There you find the Close button, the Import button, the
Export button, and the Rest button.

The Close button is clicked to close the Customize
dialog box. You were doing something with aliases and
now you want to go back to IntelliCAD.

Let’s first talk about the Export button. You have
created your own aliases. And now you want to save them
in a file.

Click on the Export button. The Select Alias File
dialog box opens., In it you can give the alias file a
name and select a folder.

The alias file can be saved in two formats. You can
save it in the ICA format or you can save it in the PGP
format. That’s an AutoCAD format.

This is how these files look. I only give the first
five lines of each file. You can recognize the alias
and the command that’s connected to it.

ICA file

[IntelliCAD Custom Alias File]
nAliases=247
[Alias-0]
Alias=3A
LocalCommand=3DARRAY
GlobalCommand=_3DARRAY

PGP file

; BricsCad Generated PGP file.

3A,*3DARRAY
3DFACE,*FACE
3DLINE,*LINE

Now the Insert command. You have created your own
aliases. And you have saved them in a file. Now you
want to use that file.

Click on the Import button. The Select Alias File
dialog box opens., You can now select your alias file.
It is opened and used.

All the aliases are generated by the IntelliCAD
program. They are not stored in a file. And now you
have created your own aliases.

If you want to go back to the way as generated by
IntelliCAD, then click on the Rest button. The aliases
you created are removed.

Aliases. As you can see. It has nothing to do with the
secret service. It has everything to do with
nIntelliCAD.

It is in fact a feature that is also found in AutoCAD.
Some users prefer to use the keyboard to start a
command. True. It’s quicker.

About the Author

IntelliCAD dealer. I’ve got a shocking report. About AutoCAD. Get it. Send me an e-mail with “Shocking Report” in the subject line. Send your e-mail to:

mailto:cad-solutions@hotmail.com

Before the 1970s the word “hardware” usually meant one of two things: the beautiful chrome handles on your new dresser and the kitchen cabinets, or the hammer, saw, and nails that you purchased at the local hardware store. Then came the computer boom! Hardware took on a new meaning! If all the programming that made a computer work were called software, then the hard box and its components took on the name of hardware.

Hardware became a massive, competitive industry that expanded beyond the largest, most powerful dreams of the 1970s. Made of hundreds of various components that can be added, disconnected or exchanged depending on which features you want, the computer has a versatility that is limited only by ones imagination, budget and, realistically, one’s patience.

The basic components consist of the system unit itself (which contains the so-called brains of the computer, the CPU, plus various items referred to as ‘boards’), the keyboard, mouse, speakers, and of course, the monitor. To these basics one can add printers, scanners, PC cameras, digital cameras, video cameras, and joysticks.

During the mid 1980s several home-type computers became available for the courageous home-computer geek. These used only floppy disks, for the hard disk was still not portable in size. Writing a book could use up to 75 floppy disks and nevertheless was a major improvement over creating or working with a typewriter.

After a few years the amazingly huge 10 MB Hard Disk came out for home use, replacing the need for using floppies except for backups. Since 10 MB didn’t really hold all much data, the world of floppies was still lively.

There was a word whispered about in murmurs in computer circles back then: Gigabyte! It meant something so huge in size that the human mind couldn’t quite grasp it. Then it happened. A 100 MB hard disk evolved into a 1 Gigabyte hard disk. People wondered if it could possibly be reliable. And while they wondered, computer stores started selling 10 Gigabyte hard disks. People blinked and the hard disks were 100 Gigabytes.

While the capacity of the hard disk increased, the size of the outside hardware began to get smaller and smaller, and before long - there it is, sitting in the palm of your hand! The flexibility of the hardware opens the door to thousands of various software applications: now, instead of using the keyboard to punch in letters, one can just talk to a computer and it will record what was said. Modern e-mail delights people of all ages as they communicate in seconds around the world. And, computers can also read your e-mail back to you in the language of your choice.

The competition between the hardware manufacturers has resulted in prices dropping and dropping, creating a beautiful opportunity for people of all income levels and all ages to now enjoy a computer in their own home.

Paul Babs is the owner of Tendon Ventures which tackles all hardware issues. For more information, go to: www.formhardware.com

Get the feel of a culture that’s amongst the oldest civilizations in the world. China boasts of a repertoire of rich cultural heritage of which the Great Wall, Karez irrigation system and Grand Canal are just some of the engineering marvels executed by the Chinese over 2000 years ago. We also owe the discovery of printing, papermaking and gunpowder to the ingenuity of the Chinese. Calligraphy, pottery, painting and paper cutting are some of the other creative exploits of this country.

China is the most populous nation and the third largest country with an area of 9.6 million sq, kms and connecting with China is quick and convenient with Mr. Long Distance. You can make calls to friends and family in China through Mr. Long Distance at extremely cheap rates compared to other telecom service providers. However, before placing a call to China, consider what the current time is for the recipient of your call. China is thirteen hours ahead of EST in the United States, i.e. eight hours ahead of the GMT.

Simple Steps to Call China through cheap calling plans from Mr. Long Distance:

 Dial the international access code - 011.  Dial China’s country code - 86.  Dial the city code of the place you want to connect with. (e.g.: Beijing city code is 1 and Shanghai city code is 21.)  Dial the remaining digits.

The rapidly booming Chinese economy also creates opportunities for investors. Today more than ever, there are more western investors that are invested in China. More and more United States businesses that do call China on a regular basis are actively seeking for ways to save money on all their long distance calls. Even though phone cards to call China is available in almost everywhere there are grocery stores, people are continuously looking for the so called “best China phone cards”. Well, this is not an easy find. Most phone cards do carry connection fees, weekly maintenance fees, and the ever popular three minutes or more increments. Again the word is “be careful and be informed”.

Prepaid long distance makes calling to China more affordable than ever. What makes prepaid long distance unique is the “No PIN” dialing and the convenience of being able to call from any phone including cell phones without worrying about connection fees and other fees that maybe associated with phone cards. You only pay for “talk time” plus of course clear quality connections.

Ni hao, (pronounced nee how) is the normal greeting for ‘hello’ or ‘good day’ in Chinese. While Mandarin Chinese is the official language, English is catching up with most business people, though it is not widely spoken. So carrying a phrase book to identify key phrases written in Chinese characters would be helpful on a visit to the country. The Chinese respond with their last names first followed by the given name. For instance Wang Cheow is actually Mr. Wang.

So the next time you want to call China without any confusion, use prepaid long distance-and don’t bother about how you call, when you call and how much you talk. With prepaid long distance calling China is as easy and as cheap as it can get.

About the Author

http://www.MrLongdistance.com owner Bernard Pragides has been in the telecommunication business since 1997. Please feel free to contact us if you have any queries on phone cards or international call rates. You may email us at HelpMeSave@MrLongDistance.com

It has been said that only 2% of affiliate marketers ever make any “real” money from their efforts. The rest struggle and flounder as they see most of their efforts fail. Rather like master archers hitting the bull’s-eye each time while the rest struggle to sharpen their arrows, draw the bow and try to figure out what to aim at!

Those who run affiliate programs are often very sincere and well meaning, but lack the expertise at marketing. They may have produced a great product, but that doesn’t make them great marketers.

If you want to make money from affiliate marketing then you need to go to someone who’s meets 4 simple criteria.
1. Has made a success at affiliate marketing.
2. Has the skills to teach their success principles.
3. Teaches principles of success for any program and not just their own.
4. Has committed themselves to seeing you become successful and not just inflating their own bank account.

All this can be summed up as quality support for your benefit. Does such support actually exist? Most courses train you and then leave you to “go and put it into action”. They don’t follow through with you until you are successful. The reason is they have no motivation to do so because it’s not cost effective.

We are about to see a new era in the field of affiliate marketing. Just recently launched is “Affiliate Classroom” who meet the previously mentioned criteria. This is hugely refreshing. At last proper training without hidden agendas! Training for the benefit of the marketer and not the product owner.

I believe we will see a rise in the number of such training programs over the next few years. We may even see affiliate program owners promoting such “classrooms” as part of their own marketing strategy.

About the author:

Ray Burton is an internet marketer specializing in affiliate programs, business opportunities, joint ventures and resources to create your online success. He has paid special attention to online training programs for new marketers. © R.Burton Dec 2004 All rights reserved
http://affiliateclassroom.cyberchoices.info