Compiere 2004

2003 was a good year for Compiere and 2004 looks even better.=20
Significant implementations will go into production and we will try to
share this with Case Studies and Success Stories later on this year.

Talking about Success Stories: The Open Source environment is not ideal
when it comes to references.  Successful implementations are not too
keen
to come forward as in the past they were inundated with people calling
trying to get free consulting.  With Release 2.5.1, we will implement
a voluntary registration program, giving the community more feedback on
the actual use of Compiere.  As a positive side effect, the Compiere=20
product will have "User Registration" functionality ;-)

Database Independence is important and we are made good progress.  We=20
Converted several PL/SQL procedures to Java and started the
implementation
of an embedded Workflow engine with the capability to manage=20
"long transactions".
This feature is important as this prevented porting Compiere to
PostgreSQL
(only DB/2 and Oracle support 'embedded transactions' correctly).
The workflow engine will be based on the OMG Workflow Facility
and with that the Workflow Management Coalition (WfMC) standards.

Speaking of OMG - Compiere is a OMG Domain Member and we are working
in the OMG Finance Domain Task Force to develop and enhance standards=20
for financial applications (AP, AR, GL, ..). We also participate in the
Business Enterprise Integration Domain Task Force.

Release 2.5.0e is in the final round of testing.  It includes:
	- Payment schedule (split payment terms)
	- Enhanced Invoice Allocation (gain/loss for all combinations,=20
	  tax credits, etc.)
	- Multi-org management enhancements
	- Tax reporting improvements for European VAT
	- Multiple Attachments per record
	- Web Store (requests, commissions, basket,..)
	- Report engine improvements (running totals, ..)
	- Financial Reporting use trees (hierarchies) now everywhere
	- Language Management and Translation Process improvements
	- Improved stability and performance
Please check the release info for details.

With the release of 2.5.0e, the updated User Documentation will be
available.  You can download it from the ComPiere Web Store.

Release 2.5.1 will be released soon. The main difference to 2.5.0e is
that we will move to the latest JBoss release and discontinue Jetty!
The implementation of Tomcat will also address minor stability and=20
performance issues.


Do you want to lower the cost of your implementation?  It is proven
that attending the Intensive Training not only speeds up the
implementation and allows you to take advantage of advanced features
not immediately obvious - but also decreases the total cost.
Trial and error delays are greatly reduced and timelines and budgets are
met.
Take advantage of the early bird discount and sign up for the
Intensive Training (23-27 Feb) by this Friday (23-Jan).
Please book early as we only have a limited number of rooms
reserved - and it is the best (i.e. high) season in Miami !

If you plan to do Compiere extensions, the Advanced Technical
Training (1-2 March) is what you need.  Register by this Friday
to get the early bird benefits for your learning workshop.


Last but not least, we were asked to do two-day Compiere Boot Camps.
A boot camp gives an overview of the product to assist in the process of
evaluation or start of project.
If you are interested, please let us know: [email protected]
In case of sufficient interest, we'll do one in the US and Europe
this year.


Well, we just had less then zero degrees here in Connecticut=20
(-30 Celsius for the metric thinkers) and it is not supposed to be
the last cold spot of this season.  So I am really looking forward
to seeing a lot of you guys in Miami in a few weeks in our
productive workshops!

Cheers,
Jorg


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