Software Company Model

[Scott Spillmann]

Hi All,

Has anyone modeled a software company and would like to share how your
business model fits in to OFBiz's data model?  I am doing a conversion
from an old MS Access database and am looking for some pointers.  A few
key facts:

*) We have sales reps that have certain customers
*) Sales reps get discounts
*) We have existing physical units in the field
*) We will begin selling software versions of the existing units this year.

I understand how parties and their relationships work, but asset
tracking is eluding me currently.  We would like to model selling a
physical product unit that has a serial number and some other
configuration options, track RMA's for that unit, and provide
maintenance agreements for that unit and other products (like software)
that we sell them.  No ecommerce for now.  We have an order manager that
will enter the orders, so we'll be writing custom screens for this.

Can this model be done with Products and variants, or do I need to do
some extending of base entities?

Thanks

--
Scott Spillmann
Software Engineer
Factor500, Inc.

[Adrian Crum-3]

All of those capabilities exist in the OFBiz data model.

By the way, it might help to look beyond the data model and see the
whole picture.

-Adrian

On 2/16/2012 5:36 PM, Scott Spillmann wrote:

> Hi All,
>
> Has anyone modeled a software company and would like to share how your
> business model fits in to OFBiz's data model?  I am doing a conversion
> from an old MS Access database and am looking for some pointers.  A
> few key facts:
>
> *) We have sales reps that have certain customers
> *) Sales reps get discounts
> *) We have existing physical units in the field
> *) We will begin selling software versions of the existing units this
> year.
>
> I understand how parties and their relationships work, but asset
> tracking is eluding me currently.  We would like to model selling a
> physical product unit that has a serial number and some other
> configuration options, track RMA's for that unit, and provide
> maintenance agreements for that unit and other products (like
> software) that we sell them.  No ecommerce for now.  We have an order
> manager that will enter the orders, so we'll be writing custom screens
> for this.
>
> Can this model be done with Products and variants, or do I need to do
> some extending of base entities?
>
> Thanks
>

[Sakthivel Vellingiri]

Scott -

Usecases that you outlined are supported OOTB in ofbiz including
- Order Managment of serialized products <including variants>
- Returns Management
- Inventory Management
- Catalog management

-Regards


On 2/16/12, Scott Spillmann <[hidden email]> wrote:

> Hi All,
>
> Has anyone modeled a software company and would like to share how your
> business model fits in to OFBiz's data model?  I am doing a conversion
> from an old MS Access database and am looking for some pointers.  A few
> key facts:
>
> *) We have sales reps that have certain customers
> *) Sales reps get discounts
> *) We have existing physical units in the field
> *) We will begin selling software versions of the existing units this year.
>
> I understand how parties and their relationships work, but asset
> tracking is eluding me currently.  We would like to model selling a
> physical product unit that has a serial number and some other
> configuration options, track RMA's for that unit, and provide
> maintenance agreements for that unit and other products (like software)
> that we sell them.  No ecommerce for now.  We have an order manager that
> will enter the orders, so we'll be writing custom screens for this.
>
> Can this model be done with Products and variants, or do I need to do
> some extending of base entities?
>
> Thanks
>
> --
> Scott Spillmann
> Software Engineer
> Factor500, Inc.
>
>
>

--
Sent from my mobile device

[Scott Spillmann]

Thanks for the response, but I'm not sure quite what you mean by 'beyond
the data model'.  I have read tutorials online, bought several books and
have been studying this system for nearly a month now.  We're
customizing OfBiz from the ground up using a data-centric approach
because this is a conversion from MS Access.  So, the first thing to do
is understand how our old data fits the new model.  I know it fits, just
not sure how.

Scott Spillmann
Software Engineer
Factor500, Inc.
[hidden email]
(919) 354 - 1366


On 02/16/2012 06:14 PM, Adrian Crum wrote:

> All of those capabilities exist in the OFBiz data model.
>
> By the way, it might help to look beyond the data model and see the
> whole picture.
>
> -Adrian
>
> On 2/16/2012 5:36 PM, Scott Spillmann wrote:
>> Hi All,
>>
>> Has anyone modeled a software company and would like to share how
>> your business model fits in to OFBiz's data model?  I am doing a
>> conversion from an old MS Access database and am looking for some
>> pointers.  A few key facts:
>>
>> *) We have sales reps that have certain customers
>> *) Sales reps get discounts
>> *) We have existing physical units in the field
>> *) We will begin selling software versions of the existing units this
>> year.
>>
>> I understand how parties and their relationships work, but asset
>> tracking is eluding me currently.  We would like to model selling a
>> physical product unit that has a serial number and some other
>> configuration options, track RMA's for that unit, and provide
>> maintenance agreements for that unit and other products (like
>> software) that we sell them.  No ecommerce for now.  We have an order
>> manager that will enter the orders, so we'll be writing custom
>> screens for this.
>>
>> Can this model be done with Products and variants, or do I need to do
>> some extending of base entities?
>>
>> Thanks
>>

[Adrian Crum-3]

I meant to look beyond the data model and view OFBiz as a platform for
business solutions. If the platform accommodates the business needs,
then the data model is a non-issue. Converting an Access database to
OFBiz is reduced to a simple data mapping exercise.

I would recommend a different approach: Ignore your existing data at
first, and use OFBiz to meet the use cases. Once you have OFBiz meeting
business needs, then map the existing data to the use cases.

-Adrian

On 2/16/2012 11:23 PM, Scott Spillmann wrote:

> Thanks for the response, but I'm not sure quite what you mean by
> 'beyond the data model'.  I have read tutorials online, bought several
> books and have been studying this system for nearly a month now.  
> We're customizing OfBiz from the ground up using a data-centric
> approach because this is a conversion from MS Access.  So, the first
> thing to do is understand how our old data fits the new model.  I know
> it fits, just not sure how.
>
> Scott Spillmann
> Software Engineer
> Factor500, Inc.
> [hidden email]
> (919) 354 - 1366
>
>
> On 02/16/2012 06:14 PM, Adrian Crum wrote:
>> All of those capabilities exist in the OFBiz data model.
>>
>> By the way, it might help to look beyond the data model and see the
>> whole picture.
>>
>> -Adrian
>>
>> On 2/16/2012 5:36 PM, Scott Spillmann wrote:
>>> Hi All,
>>>
>>> Has anyone modeled a software company and would like to share how
>>> your business model fits in to OFBiz's data model?  I am doing a
>>> conversion from an old MS Access database and am looking for some
>>> pointers.  A few key facts:
>>>
>>> *) We have sales reps that have certain customers
>>> *) Sales reps get discounts
>>> *) We have existing physical units in the field
>>> *) We will begin selling software versions of the existing units
>>> this year.
>>>
>>> I understand how parties and their relationships work, but asset
>>> tracking is eluding me currently.  We would like to model selling a
>>> physical product unit that has a serial number and some other
>>> configuration options, track RMA's for that unit, and provide
>>> maintenance agreements for that unit and other products (like
>>> software) that we sell them.  No ecommerce for now.  We have an
>>> order manager that will enter the orders, so we'll be writing custom
>>> screens for this.
>>>
>>> Can this model be done with Products and variants, or do I need to
>>> do some extending of base entities?
>>>
>>> Thanks
>>>

[Scott Spillmann]

I'll see how that method works.  Thanks.

Scott Spillmann
Software Engineer
Factor500, Inc.
[hidden email]
(919) 354 - 1366


On 02/16/2012 06:36 PM, Adrian Crum wrote:

> I meant to look beyond the data model and view OFBiz as a platform for
> business solutions. If the platform accommodates the business needs,
> then the data model is a non-issue. Converting an Access database to
> OFBiz is reduced to a simple data mapping exercise.
>
> I would recommend a different approach: Ignore your existing data at
> first, and use OFBiz to meet the use cases. Once you have OFBiz
> meeting business needs, then map the existing data to the use cases.
>
> -Adrian
>
> On 2/16/2012 11:23 PM, Scott Spillmann wrote:
>> Thanks for the response, but I'm not sure quite what you mean by
>> 'beyond the data model'.  I have read tutorials online, bought
>> several books and have been studying this system for nearly a month
>> now.  We're customizing OfBiz from the ground up using a data-centric
>> approach because this is a conversion from MS Access.  So, the first
>> thing to do is understand how our old data fits the new model.  I
>> know it fits, just not sure how.
>>
>> Scott Spillmann
>> Software Engineer
>> Factor500, Inc.
>> [hidden email]
>> (919) 354 - 1366
>>
>>
>> On 02/16/2012 06:14 PM, Adrian Crum wrote:
>>> All of those capabilities exist in the OFBiz data model.
>>>
>>> By the way, it might help to look beyond the data model and see the
>>> whole picture.
>>>
>>> -Adrian
>>>
>>> On 2/16/2012 5:36 PM, Scott Spillmann wrote:
>>>> Hi All,
>>>>
>>>> Has anyone modeled a software company and would like to share how
>>>> your business model fits in to OFBiz's data model?  I am doing a
>>>> conversion from an old MS Access database and am looking for some
>>>> pointers.  A few key facts:
>>>>
>>>> *) We have sales reps that have certain customers
>>>> *) Sales reps get discounts
>>>> *) We have existing physical units in the field
>>>> *) We will begin selling software versions of the existing units
>>>> this year.
>>>>
>>>> I understand how parties and their relationships work, but asset
>>>> tracking is eluding me currently.  We would like to model selling a
>>>> physical product unit that has a serial number and some other
>>>> configuration options, track RMA's for that unit, and provide
>>>> maintenance agreements for that unit and other products (like
>>>> software) that we sell them.  No ecommerce for now.  We have an
>>>> order manager that will enter the orders, so we'll be writing
>>>> custom screens for this.
>>>>
>>>> Can this model be done with Products and variants, or do I need to
>>>> do some extending of base entities?
>>>>
>>>> Thanks
>>>>