Chapter 2. The Initial Compiere Setup

Understanding the initial set-up process for an instance of Compiere is essential, because it forms the platform for the future use of the system.

In this chapter, we will illustrate the following:

Introducing Compiere terminology and providing a set-up overview
Creating an initial tenant
Setting up the initial accounting elements (chart of accounts) and the accounting schema, which will form the basis for future document accounting
Loading organizations and the applicable warehouses
How to set up the document numbering sequences
Highlight how to set up different unit of measure conversions
How to create users and roles in the system

Compiere Terminology

For purposes of the initial installation it is important to note the following terminology meanings:

Terminology	Meaning
Tenant	A Tenant or client refers to the main instance name. You are not limited in the number of tenants, but you cannot share data between tenants. An example would be a GardenWorld Group...

Compiere Terminology

For purposes of the initial installation it is important to note the following terminology meanings:

Terminology	Meaning
Tenant	A Tenant or client refers to the main instance name. You are not limited in the number of tenants, but you cannot share data between tenants. An example would be a GardenWorld Group instance.
Organization	Organization refers to the legal entities, Cost or Profit Centers, Departments, Divisions, or Top level Summary Organizations that may be applicable. You can share data between organizations. An example would be a head office and multiple stores.
Business Partners	This refers to customers, vendors, or employees with which the organization transacts.
Products	Products are stocked or non-stocked inventory items, expense items, or service items that you purchase and sell or track.
Accounting Schema	These are the default accounts that define the default accounting posting rules per Tenant or Organization. These include, for example...

Compiere setup overview

The instructions for the file installation process are detailed in the installation guides that can be obtained from http://www.compiere.com/support/installation.php.

After installing the database, Java run time, and Compiere, the Compiere environment setup can be started by running the program RUN_setup. This can be found under your main installation directory, as c:\Compiere2\RUN_setup.bat (Windows) or /home/Compiere2/RUN_setup.sh (Linux):

Should you experience problems with the above, the following common faults and solutions may be identified:

Fault	Description	Resolution
Java Home	The system cannot find the fully qualified Java JDK path.	Check your Java installation and ensure that it is listed in your System Environment Variables. Make sure there is a `JAVA_HOME` entry pointing to the correct path.
Compiere Home	The system is not finding the Compiere instance path.	Check your System Environment Variables. Make sure there is a `COMPIERE_HOME` entry with...

The Compiere menu and windows

The Compiere menu launches the transactional aspects of the system and we will describe the different components as follows:

The Compiere menu

Depending on your login credentials and role access, you will be presented with the main menu in Compiere. This menu lists your roles and actions that you may perform.

The Swing Menu (Community and Standard Editions) is illustrated as follows:

The Web User Interface (Professional and Enterprise Editions) is as follows:

1. Toolbar and Menu Shortcuts: These provide available predefined shortcuts, commands, and preferences.
2. Menu Tab: These are available context menus or functions, such as performance dashboards, menu, workflow activities
3. Shortcuts and Favorites: Shortcuts are quick launch options, and are added to the shortcut area by right-clicking on the select menu item.
4. Menu items access your work areas, including windows, process, reports, views, and Dashboards.
5. Menu Search: This is where the user can search...

Initial set-up process

The following basic steps apply to setting up a Compiere instance:

Define the initial Chart of Accounts (account elements) template for the tenant.
- Create the tenant instance to hold your Compiere data.
- Define your calendar year and periods.
- Populate and define the data structures of the following:
  - Organizations, Warehouses, Bank, Cash Books, and Unit of measures.
  - Accounting schema, account elements, currencies, and charges.
  - Accounting set-ups of Business Partner Groups, Product Categories, Tax, Projects, Works Orders, bank accounts, cash books, and warehouses.
  - Document types, Document Sequences, Payment Terms, and Sales Regions
  - Define system users and access roles.

Defining the account elements (Chart of Accounts) import

Prior to setting up a new tenant, the account elements (Chart of Accounts) must be defined as per the import template provided. The standard account elements template can be found in the C:\Compiere2\data\import directory. The template used as the default...

Understanding Unit of Measures (UOM) and conversions

While the system is initially populated with various unit of measures that are pre-defined it is quite critical to understand that unit of measures must be explicitly defined for your instance. Unit of measures can be grouped together to define a set of related UOMs, i.e. Each-6Pack-Box-Pallet. This is done through the UOM Group menu item.

In the following example we are going to set up two additional unit of measures—namely litres and gallons, in order to illustrate the conversion between the two, for a sample product we shall call Diesel. In order to do this:

Select the Unit of Measure window:
Create a UOM with a UOM code and Symbol of 'L' and a Name of Litre.
Create a UOM with a UOM code and Symbol of 'gal' and a Name of Gallon.
Create a product in the Product window named Diesel, with a unit of measure of 'litre'.
Return to edit the UOM Liter. On the Conversion tab, create a conversion from Litre to Gallon with a multiply rate of 0.264172...

Document sequences

Particular Document Types in Compiere have specific Document Sequences, which are created during initial tenant setup. You may wish to change or create new (advised) document sequences prior to any system documents being processed, in order to control these sequences for audit purposes. This is done as follows:

1. Select the Document Sequence window.
2. Find and select the applicable Document Sequence that you wish to change. For example, let's select the AR Invoice document type.
3. Select and change the document sequence by editing the Prefix field, and add the words INV to the document sequence number.
4. From version 3.6 of Compiere, a handy Gapless flag is provided which, if selected, allows for internal IDs to be in numerical sequence in all instances. If this field is not selected, then IDs may have sequence gaps.

Creating a user

During the initial phases of a Compiere installation, you will need to create user access roles and the user detail. Users may not necessarily have a User Role assigned to them. Such users are referred to as Contacts. If this field users have roles assigned to them they will be able to log in to the system and perform tasks that are allowed, as per their Role access level.

Users are created through the User menu item, which opens to the following window:

The basic steps in creating a user are as follows:

1. Assign the user a login name. This must be unique.
2. Link to a Business Partner. Where users are employees of the company, it is suggested that you create a Business Partner with the same name, but defined as an Employee.
3. Assign the user a password.
4. Enter more informational details regarding the user, such as email address, phone, fax, and any other detail that may be required.
5. Assign a role to the user:

Set up roles

Setting up roles requires some planning in the system, as you would want to avoid too many inconsistent roles to manage. It is recommended that these closely match the organization's job description to a functional level. In normal circumstances, similar users with similar job functions will have access to the same roles in the system. Within role access management, you can define the following (see Role window below):

Org Access tab: Roles may be used to manage the role's organizational access (Role window), or a user can be individually assigned in terms of their organizational access (User Window).
User Assignment tab: You may define which Users have access to the Role.
Window access: You may define, per window, what read and write access this role defines.
Process access: Processes are items like reports or specific processes such as creating orders or invoices. This is done at the transactional level.
Form access: There exist certain custom windows that are referred...

Summary

Creating the Compiere Tenant is just the starting point, as this requires many other set-up steps that must be clarified before transaction processing can start. Such aspects include language packs, account charges, taxation, Business Partner Groups, and Product Categories.

During the initial installation process of Compiere you will have created a default database. This database contains the Compiere demo Tenant, data namely the Garden World Demo Company. We will be using this Tenant's data, and extending it for illustration purposes during subsequent chapters.

In this chapter you have learned:

Compiere terminology and setup
How to set up an initial tenant in the system, load the Organization Tree, and define Warehouses
How to load and set up account elements and the accounting schema
How to change unit of measures and document sequences
How to set up a basic user and role

In the next chapter, we will illustrate Customer Relationship Management through the document transactions of the Sales...