ERP 2.50:Modeling your enterprise

The first stage of configuring Openbravo ERP is to set up the structure of your enterprise in terms of clients and organizations. It is very important that you take the time to accurately model the structure of your enterprise, but there may be more than one way to accomplish the same aim.

Before you begin working in Openbravo ERP consider the following questions:

• Within your enterprise, how many clients are required? If your business comprises subdivisions that function independently of each other, you will need a client for each one.
• Within each client, how many organizations are required?
• What is the relationship between the organizations? Are they all subdivisions of a single client or are some organizations subdivisions of other organizations?
• Of the organizations within the client, are any recognised as separate legal entities?
• Do you plan to use Openbravo ERP's accounting functionality?
• How does each organization conduct its accounts? Do some or all organizations require their own accounts schema or schemas?
• Which organizations need to be able to share information (for example business partners, products or transactions) between one another?

It may be helpful to draw a diagram of the structure of your enterprise before you begin the configuration process.

Contents 1 Parent and child organizations 2 Organization Types 2.1 Organization Type Parameters 2.1.1 Legal entity 2.1.2 Legal Entity with accounting 2.1.3 Transactions allowed 2.1.4 Business Unit 2.1.5 Organization type rules 3 Setting up a client 4 Setting up an organization 4.1 Creating a custom organization type 4.2 Finalizing the organization structure 4.2.1 Viewing the organization tree 4.2.2 Enabling period control 4.2.3 Setting organizations as ready

Parent and child organizations

If you plan to use multiple organizations in a hierarchy, you must specify which organizations are parent organizations (also known as summary organizations), and which are child organizations. Summary organizations must be at the top level of the organizations hierarchy.

To make an organization a summary organization you must create the organization first using the initial organization process, then modify the organization record. You can designate an organization as a child organization during the initial client setup process.

Organization Types

Organization types enable organizations to work together in a coherent way, by controlling how each organization behaves in relation to other organizations. There are four default organization types, which are sufficient for most business scenarios.

• Organization: when you create a client, the system automatically creates the super-organization (called * or organization 0). In most cases, only the super-organization has an organization type of Organization. The Organization type is not a legal entity and transactions are not allowed.
• Legal with accounting: use where an organization exists legally as a corporation, and needs its accounts transactions to be managed by Openbravo ERP.
• Legal without accounting: use where an organization exists legally as a corporation but does not require accounting functionality from Openbravo ERP.
• Generic: an organization which is not a legal entity but where transactions are allowed.

Organization Type Parameters

For most enterprises, the default organization types are enough to enable you to model your organization. However, understanding the underlying settings of organization types will help you decide which organization types you require. Some enterprises may also need to create custom organization types.

In General Setup > Enterprise > Organization Type, there are four options that govern how organizations of each organization type behave.

Legal entity

If an organization type has the Legal Entity option selected, any organization belonging to the organization type is a legally recognized corporation.

Legal Entity with accounting

If an organization type includes the With Accounting option:

• Any organization belonging to the organization type is a legal entity (the With accounting option only becomes available if the Legal Entity option is already selected).
• Any organization belonging to the organization type allows its accounts to be managed by Openbravo ERP. Organizations that do not have accounting enabled are allowed to post financial transactions, if the Transactions Allowed option is selected, but the transactions are not used for financial reporting.
• You can specify whether organizations belonging to that type are allowed to open or close their own accounting periods.

Transactions allowed

If an organization type includes the Transactions Allowed option, organizations belonging to the organization type are allowed to post transactions for accounting purposes. If an organization is of a type where transactions are not allowed, you cannot include that organization on an accounting document, for example an invoice.

Business Unit

If an organization type includes the Business Unit option:

• Organizations belonging to that organization type are discrete sub-organizations of the client but have no legal status.
• You can specify whether organizations belonging to that type are allowed to open or close their own accounting periods.

Organization type rules

When you are selecting organization types for your client's organizations, you must consider the following:

• Is the organization a recognized legal entity?
• Will the organization's accounts be managed by Openbravo ERP?

If your enterprise has more than one organization, you must observe the following rules when setting up the organizational structure:

• Each organization must have an organization type.
• Each organization where transactions are allowed must have one, but only one ancestor (including itself) that is a legal entity.
• If an organization belongs to an organization type where the business unit option is enabled, it must have one, and only one ancestor that is a legal entity.
• Only one organization of a type where the business unit option is enabled can be placed in each branch of the organization tree.
• If a legal entity has accounting enabled, it must have either:
  • Its own account schema and its own financial calendar, or,
  • An ancestor with its own accounts schema and financial calendar.
• If an organization is of an organization type where the Business Unit setting is enabled, it must have an ancestor that is a legal entity.
• If an organization belongs to an organization type where the legal entity or business unit option is selected, you can specify whether that organization is allowed to open or close its own accounting periods.

It is recommended that you enable period controls on all organizations of legal entity with accounting and assign each legal entity organization its own calendar

• Once an organization has been made ready, you cannot change the organization type.
• You cannot use more than one financial calendar within the same branch of the organization tree, so a child organization cannot have a different financial calendar from its parent organization.
• If an organization is the descendant of a legal entity with accounting, when you try to complete an accounting document (for example a sales invoice), Openbravo ERP checks that the accounting period is open. If accounting is not enabled, no check takes place.

Setting up a client

The Initial Client Setup process is an automated process that completes all the tasks required to set up a client. You can create an unlimited number of clients within any Openbravo ERP system.

To create the initial client, you must be logged into Openbravo ERP with the System Administration role. Follow these steps:

1. Log into Openbravo ERP as the Openbravo user, under the System Administrator role. The password for the Openbravo user is openbravo.
2. From the menu, select General Setup > Client > Initial Client Setup. The Initial Client Setup window appears.
3. In the Client field, type your client name. The client name is usually the name of your company.
4. In the Client Username specify a user name for the client admin account.
5. Password information
6. If you plan to upload accounting information now, select Include Accounting. If you do not want to set up accounting, or want to set up accounting later, clear the checkbox.
7. If you have chosen to include accounting, browse to the .csv accounting file your require, or specify the accounting modules you want to use.
8. Click OK.

Openbravo ERP now creates the following:

• The client.
• The client admin role. The name of the role always follows the formula client name + admin. So, if your company name is MyCompany, the name of the client admin role would be MyCompanyAdmin.
• The client admin account and the password.

Where this document requires you to log in with a client admin role, you should use the client admin account you have created, unless otherwise stated.

If you have included an accounts file, the system also creates:

• The client's account schema.
• The client's fiscal calendar.

Remember that the data generated by Initial Client Setup process can only be referenced within that Client (eg, references to AD_Sequence_ID will work in certain Client but not in another and so on ...)

Setting up an organization

The Initial Organization Process automatically completes all the steps required to create an organization:

1. Log into Openbravo ERP with the client admin role.
2. From the Application menu, select General Setup > Enterprise > Initial Organization setup.
3. In the Organization box, type the name of the organization you want to create.
4. From the Organization Type list, select the organization type. There are four default organization types:
   • Organization: when you create a client, the system automatically creates the super-organization (called * or organization 0). In most cases, only the super-organization has an organization type of Organization. The Organization type is not a legal entity and transactions are not allowed.
   • Legal with accounting: use where an organization exists legally as a corporation, and needs its accounts transactions to be managed by Openbravo ERP.
   • Legal without accounting: use where an organization exists legally as a corporation but does not require accounting functionality from Openbravo ERP.
   • Generic: an organization which is not a legal entity but where transactions are allowed. Use for all other organizations.
5. In the Organization Username field, the organization user name is provided by default based on the organization name, but you can edit it if required.
6. If the organization is a child organization (i.e. below another organization in a hierarchy), specify the parent organization.
7. To load a particular accounting file, select the Include Accounting checkbox and browse to the appropriate .csv file.
8. From the Currency list, select the working currency of the organization.
9. Click OK.

Creating a custom organization type

For most enterprises, the default organization types are enough to enable you to set up your organization. However, if you require custom organization types, you can create them:

1. Log into Openbravo ERP with the System Administrator role.
2. From the Application menu,select General Setup > Enterprise > Organization Type.
3. Click New.
4. The Client is always System and the organization is always *.
5. To make the organization type visible and available for selection, select the Active checkbox. Clear the checkbox to deactivate the organization type.
6. In the Name field, type the name of the organization type.
7. In the Description field, type a brief description of the organization type if required.
8. If the organization type is for legally recognized organizations, select the Legal Entity checkbox.
9. If you selected Legal Entity, the Legal entity with accounting checkbox also becomes available. Select Legal entity with accounting if organizations belong to this type have their accounts managed by Openbravo ERP.
10. If organizations of this type are business units, select the Business Unit box. You cannot have an organization type that is both a legal entity and a business unit.
11. If organizations of this type are allowed to post transactions, select the Transactions allowed checkbox.
12. Click Save.

Finalizing the organization structure

Once you have set up all the organizations you require, you can view the structure of your enterprise in a graphical format and rearrange the organizations to suit your requirements. When you have established the final structure, you can then finalize it by setting each organization as ready. An organization must be ready in order to perform transactions. Once an organization is ready, you cannot move it around within the tree structure. However, you can add new organizations and move them within the tree structure until they are set to ready.

You cannot use the tree structure to change an organization from summary level to child level.

Viewing the organization tree

To view the organization tree:

1. Log into Openbravo ERP with the client admin role.
2. From the Application menu, select General Setup > Enterprise > Organization.
3. Click the Tree button . The organization tree appears.

   

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4. Click Expand All to display the tree structure.
5. Drag and drop organizations into place.
6. When you are happy with the organization tree, click Close.

Enabling period control

If an organization is a legal entity (either the default legal entity type, or a custom type where the legal entity option is enabled) you can specify whether that organization is allowed to open and close its own accounting periods. If period control is enabled, any user of the organization can potentially open or close a period. If you do not want all personnel in an organization to be able to open or close periods, you can secure the process using roles.

To enable period control:

1. Log into Openbravo ERP with the client admin role.
2. From the Application menu, select General Setup > Enterprise > Organization.
3. In Grid view, select the organization for which you want to enable period control.
4. Select Allow Period Control.
5. Click Save.

Setting organizations as ready

Once an organization is set as ready, you cannot change its position in the hierarchy. To set an organization as ready:

1. Log into Openbravo ERP with the client admin role.
2. From the Application menu, select General Setup > Enterprise > Organization.
3. In Grid view, select the organization you want to set as ready.
4. Click Set as Ready.
5. To set all the organizations beneath your chosen organization as ready at the same time, select the Cascade checkbox. Leave the checkbox unchecked to set only your chosen organization as ready.
6. Click OK.

If an organization is below other organizations in the tree, you cannot set it as ready until all its parent organizations have been set as ready.

As part of the process of making an organization ready, Openbravo ERP validates your organizational structure to make sure that the correct organization types are in the right position in the hierarchy.

Category: Configure your Enterprise