NORFOLK, VA
Firm's New Open Source Accounting/ERP/CRM Product Heralds New, Broader Mission: Practical, Free Business Software that Actually Helps Companies Grow
Some might say there is little about enterprise-class business software that hasn't already been said or done. How about this: an accounting, ERP and CRM package that is designed from the ground up-including its price-with the express purpose of helping businesses grow?
OpenMFG, the company behind the popular, affordable Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) product of the same name, today announced two major moves to expand its leadership role in the burgeoning open source marketplace:
- A new company name xTuple™ that connotes the exponential growth possible for enterprise and SMB (Small-to-Medium Business) users who use practical, well-built open license business software; and
- The unveiling and immediate availability of PostBooks®, a free and fully open source accounting, ERP and CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software package that will redefine productivity, efficiency and ROI for enterprises of virtually any size.
PostBooks® joins xTuple's OpenMFG software and open source OpenRPT report writer products, both of which have large and loyal user communities. PostBooks® debuts as Version 2.2, and will track on the same future upgrade schedule as OpenMFG.
"It has become clear to us that the time was right for a fully open source enterprise-class accounting package to enable users to move beyond low-end proprietary products such as QuickBooks, Peachtree and the like," said Ned Lilly, president and CEO of xTuple. "We believe PostBooks® satisfies a critical business need-a highly-evolved accounting product with significant ERP and CRM functions, fully capable of delivering mission-critical performance at little or no cost."
"There is a crying need for a robust, well-defined open source accounting package that can support the rigors of a wide range of industries-accounting is a vital business application that has been missing from today's portfolio of open source applications," said Bernard Golden, CEO of open source management consulting firm Navica and author of "Succeeding with Open Source". "PostBooks® holds the promise of delivering that vital business application and providing a platform for many plug-in applications."
PostBooks® shares a common code base with OpenMFG, and contains substantially all of the accounting, CRM, and order management functionality of its sister product. The primary difference between the two products lies in the sophisticated advanced manufacturing functionality that has been a primary driver of OpenMFG's rapid growth in the small to midsized manufacturing marketplace. PostBooks® users who wish to upgrade to OpenMFG, which is available under a hybrid commercial source code license, need only run a two-minute upgrade script on their database — available from xTuple or any of its certified value-added reseller partners.
PostBooks® can be downloaded and used at no cost under the OSI-approved Common Public Attribution License (CPAL) from the SourceForge open source product repository, as well as xTuple's own Web sites and other leading open source destinations. The decision to use the CPAL, approved by OSI just days ago, grows from a series of consultations between xTuple and open source community leaders over the past few weeks, and affirms xTuple's strong desire to work within mainstream open source business practices.
Full-Featured Product
The PostBooks® graphical client software is built with the open source Qt framework for C++, and the application business logic resides in the open source PostgreSQL database. As part of xTuple's growing commitment to supporting open source solutions, the company also announced a range of productized support and service offerings around PostgreSQL, including hardware appliances, database replication offerings, and a range of professional services for enterprises seeking to get the most of PostgreSQL.
The PostBooks® application is capable of supporting a wide range of industries and company sizes, from SMBs to large corporations. It includes the following fully-integrated modules:
- Accounting (general ledger, accounts receivable and payable, bank reconciliation, financial reporting);
- Sales (quotes, order entry, sales reporting, shipping);
- CRM (universal address book, incident management, opportunity management, to-do lists, project management);
- Purchasing (purchase orders, receiving, vendor reporting);
- Product Definition (items, infinite-level bills of material);
- Inventory (multiple locations, other advanced warehouse features);
- Light Manufacturing (work orders, shop floor control, strong support for make-to-order);
- xTuple's own OpenRPT open source report writer (also available as a separate open source project on SourceForge).
The product runs equally well on Windows, Linux or Mac, and is totally internationalized with multi-currency, multiple tax structures, and multilingual translation packs maintained by xTuple's global community.
Now Available
PostBooks® is now available for free download at http://sourceforge.net/projects/postbooks. Support services are also available for the PostBooks® package, in blocks of prepaid hours, from xTuple.
About xTuple, the world’s #1 open source ERP
Award-winning xTuple, makers of the world’s leading suite of open source accounting, Corporate Relationship Management (CRM) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), is supply chain management software for growing businesses to control their operations and profitability. xTuple integrates all critical functional areas in one modular system: sales, financials and operations — including customer and supplier management, inventory control, manufacturing and distribution — the powerful tools to Grow Your World®.
As a commercial open source company, xTuple works with a global community of tens of thousands of professional users. xTuple gives customers the ability to tailor solutions with multi-platform support for Windows, Mac, Linux and mobile as well as flexible licensing and pricing options. Connect with the company at www.xTuple.com, and join the innovation conversation with the open source community at www.xTuple.org.