Saturday, April 11, 2015

Pragmatic Odoo OpenERP 8 Construction Management


Introduction
The market leader in efficient and cost effective solutions for Business situations – Pragmatic Techsoft has made a mark in the Construction Industry! The Pragmatic Odoo Construction Management is a turn-key solution that suits, across-the-board, Companies involved in Construction and related activities. The solution can be custom configured for Developers, Builders, Contractors, Subcontractors based on need.

Use of cutting edge technology to structure the workflows and management of construction related activities based on established standards and management methodologies are the highlights of Pragmatic Construction Module. Odoo (formerly OpenERP) is fine tuned to accommodate the depths of detailing required in charting BOQs, Estimates and Plans, setting schedules, to the rigorous tracking and control of projects, use of budgets and forecasts are a few points to highlight.

In this write-up we describe the generic workflow of the Pragmatic Odoo Construction Management vertical with references to the standards and process that is included within our module.
Major Points Covered
• BOQ Generation
• WBS Online Estimation
• Project-based costing
• Project Task/ Job progress tracking
• Online project configuration
• Inventory control and material management
• Resource scheduling
• Contractor and subcontractor management
• Service and dispatch management
• Budget management and cash flow projections


 Pragmatic Construction – Approaches
Define the Project and Proceed
 Project Templates
Here we can utilize the powerful Template which we had designed based on the Standard measures and Common Arrangement of Work Sections
 BOQ Generation
A bill of quantities (BOQ) is a document used in tendering in the construction industry in which materials, parts, and labor (and their costs) are itemized. Using Pragmatic Construction module, the BoQ document can easily be prepared by the cost consultant/ quantity surveyor; to provide project specific measured quantities of the items of work identified by the drawings and specifications.

 Priced bill of quantities
The contractor tenders against the bill of quantities, stating their price for each item. This priced bill of quantities constitutes the tenderer's offer.

 Method of Measurement:
The construction module is based on the approaches that are most commonly practiced in accordance with the Standard Method of Measurement SMM7/ New Rules of Measurement (NRM) which is configurable.

 BOQ Standard measures based on Common Arrangement of Work Sections (CAWS)
The Pragmatic Construction module provides a list of BoQ items based on international standards and can still be customized as per the requirement of the project.

A - Preliminaries and general conditions.
B - Complete buildings, structures and units.
C - Existing site, buildings and services.
D - Groundwork.
E - In situ concrete and large precast concrete.
F - Masonry.
G - Structural carcassing, metal and timber.
H - Cladding and covering.
J - Waterproofing.
K - Linings, sheathing and dry partitioning.
L - Windows, doors and stairs.
M - Surface finishes.
N - Furniture and equipment.
P - Building fabric sundries.
Q - Paving, planting, fencing and site furniture.
R - Disposal systems.
S - Piped supply systems.
T - Mechanical heating, cooling and refrigeration systems.
U - Ventilation and air conditioning systems.
V - Electrical systems.
W - Communications, security, safety and protection systems.
X - Transport systems.
Y - General engineering services.
Z - Building fabric reference specification.


Pragmatic Construction module gives the users flexibility of use while defining BoQ. Bills of quantities can be prepared elementally or in works packages, by a process of 'taking off' which involves identifying elements of construction works that can be measured and priced.

 Construction Project Tasks based on the WBS – Packages
What is Construction work packaging
Packaging is normally associated with splitting a large project into a series of work packages suitable for obtaining tenders and placing orders with the subcontracting and goods supply chain thereby transferring risk for delivering some elements of the works to others.

Typical breakdown of packages (excluding preliminaries) on an office development

• Demolition and site clearance.
• Piling.
• Substructure and underground drainage.
• Superstructure.
• Cladding system.
• Roof and balcony finishes.
• Floor and staircase screeds.
• Mechanical installations and plumbing.
• Electrical installation.
• Raised access floors.
• Suspended ceilings.
• Metalwork and balustrades.
• Brick and blockwork.
• Prefabricated toilets.
• Internal partitions.
• Joinery and ironmongery.
• External works.
• Decoration.
• Testing and commissioning.
• General building work including plastering.


WBS and Estimation
The construction manager and accountant should review the plans and make detailed estimates for labor, materials and construction overhead. Optionally time estimates can also be made in some detail, because cost is a function of time. Projects that fall behind schedule invariably go over budget.

Traditional financial accounting is historical -- it tells you what has happened. In construction, in order to control costs, procedures must be in place that also forecast future costs.


Sample: 4 Level WBS


Level 1: is the highest level (ACME) where the project (house) will be summarized

Level 2: is identified at the project level: House. It corresponds to Level 1. In this case, the code is 1.1.

Level 3: Divide the work into the major elements needed to build a house. We divide Level 3 into six elements: concrete, framing, plumbing, electrical, interior and roofing. These are both major deliverables and milestones for managing the project. They also enable the project by task.

Each codes at level 3 is unique to the project and starts with the WBS code from the level above (1à1.1à1.1.1).

Level 4: of the WBS will enable us to manage the project as desired. All of our resources and contractors fit into elements at level 4, and so do all specific departments.


Now we arrive at the complete Construction work package
The WBS dictionary is a narrative documentation of the effort needed to accomplish all work defined in the WBS. The WBS dictionary is developed for the lowest level element in the WBS only

WBS Dictionary describes each component of the WBS e.g. •Milestone
•Deliverables
•Activities
•Scope
•Resources
•Quality
•Cost
•Dates (Optional/ Need based)


Now that the Project is defined and set to roll, Pragmatic Construction module captures all the relevant operations at real time.

Task – Consumption
The stock is moved to the location of construction (ex Project 1: Location Store) and then from each task the items required are requested for consumption.
Here there are 3 cases that are handled

1.Item available at Project location
2.Item available at Company store/ any other location
3.Item need to be procured.
Case 1: If available at location then the item is issued for consumption against the task and a track of actual Vs. estimate is also maintained.
Case 2: If available at a different location then –Material Indent is raised and an internal move/ intercompany transfer is triggered based on the case.
Case 3: If stock is not available then a Purchase Indent is raised and then it moves through the purchase cycle.
Task linked to OBS
Each task is linked to the OBS and calculates the actual time spend in each Task – thereby giving an exact expense Vs estimate figures and an appropriate actual of works and expenditure.

Monday, March 30, 2015

Pragmatic RMA Module

RMA/RGA – Return Merchandise Authorization/ Return Goods Auth
A return merchandise authorization (RMA), return authorization (RA) or return goods authorization (RGA) is a part of the process of returning a product in order to receive a refund, replacement, or repair during the product's warranty period. The purchaser of the product (customer) must contact the manufacturer (or distributor or retailer) to obtain authorization to return the product. The resulting RMA or RGA number must be displayed on or included in the returned product's packaging; no returns are accepted without this number.

RMA Expedition/ Return to vendor (RTV):
refers to the process where goods are returned to the original vendor as opposed to the seller.

Pragmatic RMA module in Detail
 RMA Screen
Process
1.RMA Reception
2.RMA Expedition
3.RMA Receive
4.RMA Remove

SO→ DO → SI Mandatory
Two options to create an RMA

1.Against Invoice
2.Against Product (which was on any of the invoice – issued till date to the customer.)
 RMA Reception
 Select the invoice and then add the item from the Invoice that needs to be returned
 Once the Component is selected then the actual delivered Qty is populated and the user can select how much is to be considered for RMA

RMA Requirement by Customer – select from
1. Replacement
2. Credit note
3. Refund


 Confirm the RMA
 Once the RMA is confirmed – Receive the Item

 Once the Return item is validated to have been received – the stock journals are updated accordingly.

 Stock inward entry
 Stock Journals
 Make RMA Decision
 Click on the line item for selecting the line level decision for RMA
The decision options available are 1.Replacement
2.Credit Note
3.Refund

1.Is usable
2.Defective Product Is Usable – gets listed in available stock.


If the product is Defective
The options are

The options are
1. Dispose e
2. Supplier
Dispose – The product is moved to scrap location and the journal entry is passed accordingly to reflect loss.

If Supplier is selected – moves to RMA Expedition/ Return to Vendor

RMA Action – Decision Screen
RMA Expedition
Select the Expedition that was created
Click on Process
Automatically an Out transaction is created and the stock journal is also hit.
Warehouse Transfers automatically created
RMA Receive
RMA Remove
Check Availability/ Force Availablity
If available then it would automatically move to Process
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Successfully Transferred

Thursday, February 12, 2015

Odoo OpenERP Rental Management

Rental Management is need of requirement for service organization which deals with the products rented to the customer for specific time and get the returns after the tenure is over. Moreover they need to track their serial nos and recurring invoicing for the rented period so that proper financials can be tracked and achieved.

Pragmatic had developed a module which takes care of this requirement to cater services organizations to rent the stockable product and track its lifecycle including repairs till the time it completes its tenure at the customer location. This Rental Management is implemented in Odoo along with other functionaries integrated i.e. Warehouse, stock, recurring billing etc.

It also facilitates to analyse the equipment or product ROI based on Total Rent Collected for a specific period which is updated based upon the payment received against the invoice raised.

Major feature is ease of operation or creation of rental agreement documented generation through the module itself and quick order creation from Quant object in new Odoo WMS

Features of Pragmatic Rental Management are

1. Rental order creation and confirmation with serial no
2. Delivering the product to the customer with correct serial no
3. Recurring Billing of the Rental through Subscription management through schedulers to generate invoices to customers
4. Closing of the Rent tenure to facilitate the automated incoming shipments to bring back the rented product
5. Replace the existing rented product with alternate or new product
6. Managing the Product/Asset status according to Rented or Ready for rent or New


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Odoo OpenERP Volusion Connector

Volusion is pioneered in e-commerce industry offering the online merchants platform to sell their products

With Odoo we have used Volusion API to pull the data for orders into thirdware database such as MySQL to sync it to sales in Odoo. Volusion offers online sales orders to be processed which will eventually pulled into Odoo for further processing.

Our module works along with middle ware database to pull the records of orders and put up validation on it as WEB orders and checking the incremental upload and download.


 1. Connection with middleware database within Odoo
 2. Mapped the Odoo product code with Volusion and Fiscal positions to handle taxes according to Volusion
 3. Fiscal positions are matched up with Tax1 and Tax2 fields to bring in relevant taxes in Odoo from Volusion
 4. Import Orders from source in Odoo
 5. Odoo will create orders with WEB as sequence and also create Invoice and accepts the payment against the orders placed
 6. Managing the auto import through a cron job is done in Odoo through scheduled action in Settings