Start Accounting with SQL-Ledger

BANGALORE, INDIA: There's an old perception that Open Source ERP solutions are rather complex and difficult to use. And with good reasons. But SQL-Ledger is different. It is intuitive, easy to use and provides you impressive capabilities so you can do business-class double-entry book keeping.

Last month, we showed how to install and get started with SQL-Ledger. This month we use it for a small business scenario so that its features can be put to test. We had successfully installed SQL-Ledger on Apache server and also configured user roles for PostgreSQL database, used by the software for storing information. We had stopped at the point where the dataset for a company's accounts was created. Now we continue from that step and associate a demo company to the dataset.

Setting up the dataset and the user

After successful login from the Administration screen, you land up on the SQL-Ledger Accounting Administration page. To create or configure the dataset, click on Pg Database Administration button. On the next screen, provide the Host as localhost and the port as 5432, and then click on 'Create Dataset'.

The screen that follows is where we name the dataset and also associate the dataset with a Chart of Accounts. For our demo, we have named the dataset as 'pcqdemo' and chosen the default chart of accounts as the accounting system. A Chart of Account is an accounts template for various businesses and also represents the accounting regulations of various countries, including US, UK, Austria, Australia and Canada.

Getting started

When you log on to SQL-Ledger as a user, you will be presented with an interface that houses two frames. The left frame has the navigation menu, which can expand to further categories and sub-menus. The right pane is the screen for data entry.

For a small business, opening up the accounts balance will require entering the details of customers, vendors/suppliers, goods or services descriptions and taxation details. We started the opening balance for our demo company by entering details customers that our company has, and also of the vendor who supplies products.

The customer details can be entered through AR > Customers > Add Customer from the left navigation pane. The data fields in the 'Add Customer' pane ask for various details of the customer, and even allow us to set the credit threshold limit and also associate a salesperson to a particular customer. Similarly vendor details can be entered through AP > Vendors > Add Vendor from the navigation menu. The data fields are similar to those for customers but here we can delegate an employee to a vendor.

A drop down list appears for a salesperson or an employee association to a particular customer/vendor, which is the list of users who access the dataset. We added a few product details through Goods & Services > Add Part. For entering product details, there is a data field provided that takes the path of the image of the product. Also the fields for Vendor and Customers are automatically populated by a drop-down list having vendor and customer names respectively. Now since we have some demo customers and products, we can start the ledger journal of balance by creating order processing and invoices.

Order processing

Transactions can be in form of a quote, order or an invoice. For our company we create a sales order through Order Entry > Sales Order option from the navigation menu. The data entering process is straightforward, and it's also possible to lookup for parts and services to find the ones required for the order.

The sales order instance is not lost while a user traverses from the sales order screen to a part or to a vendor screen and back. When displaying an order or invoice on screen, several related actions can be performed by clicking on buttons across the bottom of the screen. The actions presented are independent of order status. The fields for customer and salespersons can be filled from the drop-down menu, while product details can be filled by entering the product number, or alternately looking up product details from the Parts screen.

In a similar way, invoices and quotations forms are easy to use and have the auto-fill option for certain fields. The invoices screen also has a field that asks where the invoice records are to be created, and in our case it happens to be AR as it was a credit invoice to a customer. For an invoice to a vendor, the recording ledger will be of AP as it will be a debt invoice.

Reports

SQL-Ledger appears to be bland in comparison to Windows-based applications in this regard as it is just a browser based interface. However, what it lacks in looks and interface limitations, it covers up with functionalities, and one such functionality is that of generating reports. SQL-Ledger provides a 'Reports' option for almost all modules like AR, AP, Cash, Order Entry, Goods & Services, etc. And even for sub-menus like Customers and Vendors, a reporting feature is also provided.

For each category the reporting requirements are different, and SQL-Ledger has demarcated these requirements effectively. All report screens are prefaced by a configuration screen where search-text, report filters and columns to be included in the report are specified, resulting in good flexibility in the data that is presented on the resulting report. The reports that are created for each module can be printed or sent as a PDF, PostScript, or HTML attachment.

But this could become a cumbersome process for some daily reporting tasks, so if there could be an option of saving these configuration settings for reports in SQL-Ledger, it would have been a useful functionality as the user wouldn't need to specify these settings each time when he has to create a report.

SQL-Ledger does not provide a rigid interface for templates for the reports, as these can be edited to change placement of a particular item or to carry a company's logo. HTML templates can be modified through System > HTML Templates, and then by selecting the appropriate template that you choose to edit. When you click on a template, its overview is displayed in the main right screen, which has an Edit button at the bottom. For editing the template, click this edit button and the template's HTML code opens up in an editor view for making changes.

Conclusion

SQL-Ledger provides ease of use, non-cluttered interface, but is not a sophisticated solution to be used by large enterprises. However, it suits the requirements for small businesses very well.