Several issues on initial setup

ERPNext
1

Hey everyone! I’m just starting to evaluate ERPNext for a new company and so far it’s going really well, I really like the software. I’m blown away how good this software is for being open source and free, at least to evaluate. I have run into a couple issues along the way, probably something I’m doing wrong but can’t figure them out…

  1. When I try to release a Production Order I always get an error “Workstation Workstation not found.”

I don’t have any workstations set up anywhere in operations, and it’s not a required field anywhere. I tried to add “Workstation” to the workstation list, which is empty, and it says it already exists. Also, for whatever reason in the New Production Order menu all the operations in the list show as “pending” but I don’t see anywhere to release them or anything.

  1. When making fields appear or disappear in a menu using “eval:doc” if they’re mandatory, they are still mandatory if they’re not there. Is this intended to be this way?

For example: I’m creating a Project and want to require a Sales Order number for External projects only. I make Sales Order mandatory and use eval:doc.project_type='External" the field appears and disappears perfectly but if I select Internal, I can’t release it because I didn’t enter a Sales Order.

  1. I’m having an issue figuring out where “Gross Margin” of a project comes from. I entered the Estimated Cost and everything I could think of, but it never seems to be anything other than a negative of the Total Costing Amount.

  2. How do I assign Tasks to other users? Every one I create ends up assigned to me.

  3. I think the last “issue” I’ve found is with Time Log, and being able to enter time against a Production Order and Operation vs Project and Task. I see there is a “eval:doc.for_manufacturing” filter on the section break, but I can’t seem to get them to appear, without removing the filter.

These next ones may be more of suggestions for updates/features, but I want to see if anyone has found smooth work-arounds.

  1. Another issue I have is setting Activity Cost. Do I really have to set the cost for every user and ever Activity Type? This could be thousands of entries. Is there a way to set a default cost for an activity and then over ride with an individual user?

  2. We will be doing a lot of service based work, on a project basis, so I want to use projects to track time and completion levels for billing. It seems like it should work really well, but I really wish I could create a Project from a Sales Order and/pr pull a Project from a Sales Order. Also, once the project is complete I’d like to be able to issue a Sales Invoice, without having to do a Delivery Note and “deliver” a Sales Order that has no physical deliverables.

  3. I need to figure out a way to do revision control of parts. I added a custom field “Revision” to Item but it doesn’t actually do anything. I can’t create Item A Rev. 1 and Item A rev. 2, because the part already exists. I could use a variant “Revision” but then I’m extremely limited in what I can do with it and the Item. My ideal would be, if the Item had a revision to append that to the Item Code when saving in the data base. It would be nice also to have active revisions selectable in the Item.

Ok, I think that’s it for now, thanks everyone who made it all the way through my long winded post. I really appreciate any help anyone can offer!

Adam

2

Hi,

Thanks for evaluating ERPNext and for your appreciation. :smile:

I think most of the doubts (points) will get clear by going through ERPNext manuals - Frappe Cloud

We are always there to help, pls feel free to post your query.

Sunil

3

I have been through the manuals and they’re very helpful, but they don’t answer any of the issues/suggestions I posted here.

Thanks,
Adam

4

Addressing the points:

  1. Before making a production order, need to setup workstations i.e you need to give a name to workstations according to nature of work.

Need clarification on “pending status”. In production order section, status flag is - Draft, Not started, In Process, Completed

  1. You are applying mandatory check on sales order against project doc_type which triggers a issue. I think you need to write a custom script to make sales order mandatory for external project “ONLY”

  2. Gross Margin concept will get clear once you will follow a workflow. You may create a sales scenario to clear doubts.

  3. First, need to create multiple users to assign task to others. You will see a "Assign To + " in left sidebar. Click & Just select the users you would like to assign.

  4. Filter option is there to make task convenient for users.

  5. You can set activity cost against activity type.

  6. I use ERPNext extensively and follow same approach way you described. You will get this workflow in ERPNext “out of box”.

  7. Query is not clear. Pls elaborate.

Thanks once again for evaluating ERPNext.

Sunil

5
  1. Why do I need workstations when they’re not mandatory in any step of the process? Where does “Workstation” come from, why does the system say it’s not found, but when I try to create it, it says it already exists? I’m pretty sure this is a bug.

I did confirm that in the “New Production Order” window the Operations are all listed as “Pending” even through they’re saved in the BOM fine. I think this is probably related to the bug above.

  1. Ok, I’ll try that, do you have an example for that one? It should behave like the “Default Warehouse” field in Item, which is based off “Is Stock Item.”

  2. I’ll look into it more, and went through a whole sales process but it does not update.

  3. Ok.

5)I know why the filter is there, I’m saying I haven’t been able to get Production Order or Operation to show up, no matter what I do. I’ll keep trying this one, I’m not totally convinced it’s a bug yet.

  1. How can I do this? Employee is a required field. Can I just remove the required field? If I don’t enter a user, is that how I add a cost to the whole Activity Type?

  2. Yes, I understand that the Projects works the way I’d like, sort of. I’d like to be able to pull project details from a Sales Order. IE, every line on the SO is a task. I also don’t want to have to do a Delivery Order to “ship” a service. This isn’t a bug, just a suggestion how to make it a bit smoother for project based companies.

  3. Parts need a revision. ERPNext has no accommodation to add revisions to parts. This seems like a huge oversight, as I’m sure everyone would find it useful. I’m really not sure if I can move forward without this, as my company will need to be ISO 13485 certified, and that probably can’t happen without being able to track part (item) revisions.

I have screen shots of everything I’m talking about but can’t post them yet.

6

I also found another issue:

In New Production Order, the “Item to Manufacture” pull down doesn’t seem to work, it doesn’t bring up any Items. If I type them in manually it works fine.

And another question/suggestion: When creating an Operation in a BOM, can the Operation Cost be set based on Operation? This is just another thing that’s a pain to set every single time I create an Operation.

Also, I’m using the free hosted version for right now. Frappe and ERPNext are both version 5.0.10

7

To get items in “Item to Manufacture” while making new production order, you need to setup “Allow bill of material” & “Sub-contracted item” (Stock >> Item ) accordingly.

Obviously, operation cost should be set on based on operation only.

I would suggest to upgrade to paid hosted subscription. Frappe server + support is cheaper than any other hosting solution.

Sunil

8

Why would an Item need to be a Sub-Contracted Item to allow me to manufacture it? It should be the exact opposite. Sub-contracted means I don’t manufacture it, someone else does.

I guess I wasn’t clear… I want to globally set the cost of an operation so I don’t have to set it every single time I make a BOM.

If my company moved forward using ERPNext then I would certainly buy the paid version for support but at this point it’s not looking good. There are too many operational issues.

How about answers to any of my other questions? I think Anand Doshi just created a patch to fix the issue I was having with Workstations so I hope that’s taken care of.

9

OK, what I actually wanted was “Allow Production Order” not “Allow BOM” or “Sub-Contracted Item.” That issue is resolved.