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Hi Everyone,

A common question about ADempiere, iDempiere, Openbravo Compiere and Open Source ERP in general is:

"Can I support multiple companies in the same instance or database?"

The answer is yes. In fact, almost all my implementations have multiple organizations or set of books inside the same instance or database. I am a pretty big fan of how ADempiere and the others manage multiple companies and financial report consolidation. This feature is heavily used in wholesale distribution and light manufacturing with multiple locations.

If you are new to ADempiere, and you are evaluating its multi-company abilities, here is my recommended learning path. Please note that I refer to Organization and Org interchangeably. They mean the same thing.

If you need help navigating ADempiere, view this video first. Here is the same video for Openbravo.

  1. Start with testadempiere.com username:SuperUser password:System
  2. Log in using the GardenWorld Admin role and Gardenworld Client. This role gives you access to ADempiere’s GardenWorld test company. Do not worry about what Organization or Warehouse is present. These are just defaults. The GardenWorld Admin role gives you access to all Orgs and Warehouses.
  3. Open with the “Accounting Schema” window ==> “Account Schema Element” tab. Notice that ‘Organization’ is listed as one of the account segments. This tab is where you specify what account segments post to the general ledger.
  4. Navigate to a completed “Material Receipt” or “Customer Shipment” and click on the “Post” button at the bottom of the window. This button will open the Posting Viewer dialog. Notice that Organization is one of the columns in the table. Every transactional posting gets tagged with the Organization from the document. You should observe that the Organization in the posting matches the Organization of the document.
  5. Open the “Financial Report” window. Open the Income Statement record. Click on the “Create Report” button. In the options dialog, choose the Organization of your Material Receipt. Running this report for a specific Org will only show you financial data for that organization.
  6. There are actually two types or Orgs: (a) transactional and (b) summary. Documents can only post to Transactional Orgs. Financial Reports can be run against both. If a Summary Org contains 2 transactional Orgs, running the Financial Report against the Summary Org will give you a consolidated view into both Transactional Orgs.

When I speak with accountants, their first comment is “this is too good to be true. Does it stand to the test of time?” The answer is yes. This structure has proven to be very competent and accurate. It just works!

If you would like a custom demonstration of what this concept means to your company, let me know. I am happy to help you learn.

Please note that Openbravo is a fork or copy from Compiere. ADempiere, Compiere, Openbravo, and iDempiere (also copies of Compiere) have the abilities mentioned in the above video. The biggest difference is that ADempiere and iDempiere are pure open source. There are no features held behind a commercial or paid license.

Here are other discussion topic related to this blog:

About Chuck Boecking: I am an ERP educator. I believe that open source ERP have achieved mainstream capabilities, and as a result, more companies can create greater efficiency across their organization. I started using the iDempiere code base in 2003. Back then, it was called Compiere. In 2006, I started my first multi-million dollar installation. Since then, ADempiere has helped me create great success with distribution and manufacturing companies all over the world. My vision of success is to find companies that can best use open source ERP to help them achieve a single, global instance that drives a discontinuous increase in profitability. I believe that organizations win when they own their technology.

If you have questions, comments or concerns, let me know. I definitely want your feedback.

You can contact me by phone using 512.850.6068.

My email is chuck@chuboe.com.

You can complete the form on this page.

Thank you for taking the time. I look forward to speaking with you.

Regards,
Chuck Boecking
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/chuck-boecking/10/970/17b

 

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