Hi, I think this conversation must also be posted on the expert mailing list as it concerns a lot of people ... The position of OpenERP about this is also unclear for us.
Thanks for asking, James. Frédéric CLEMENTI Business Solutions Camptocamp SA Tel : + 41 (0)21 619 1041 http://www.camptocamp.com <[email protected]> 2012/5/31 James Jesudason <[email protected]> > Hi Fabien, > > As you know, Canonical has been implementing OpenERP for our internal > finance system. We started entering finance data at the start of April > and are currently in a period where we are doing double-entry (in > OpenERP and the legacy Navision system), and reconciling the > differences. There have been a number of challenges in this process, > partly operational issues (we have an external provider that manages > and book-keeps Navision), and partly software issues. That process of > double-entry and reconciling the two systems (which has been > challenging!) will continue until at least the end of June. We hope, > by then, that we will have confirmed that OpenERP can be used > successfully and transition to using it as our primary system. > > One of the challenges that we have had with OpenERP is with the > banking framework. The lack of an approved and supported banking > framework module has been a challenge as this is an important part of > the phase 1 functionality that needs to be working in OpenERP. We > commissioned Credativ to build a banking module for HSBCNet as they > had done that work for another company, and they used the > account_banking module as a base framework for their > account_banking_uk_hsbc. I had concerns about that as the framework > did not appear to be well-supported. However, they had the basic > functionality working, and then I had to take over the development in > order complete the work (the integration needed someone with an > HSBCNet account to be able to fully test the work). > > With the release of 6.1 we needed the account_banking module upgraded, > and so I spent a considerable amount of time upgrading the module and > testing the functionality. Whilst the basics of the module do work > well, I have concerns that the module is trying to do too much, which > makes it very difficult to test and keep up-to-date with OpenERP. > > I've been discussing the options for having a leaner, more focused > banking framework within OpenERP that we know will be supported going > forward. Most of these discussions have been with Frédéric at > CampToCamp, and he suggested that I contact you to discuss the > possibility of incorporating an 'official' banking framework within > OpenERP. Initially I was thinking of getting account_banking > certified, but I don't think that is the ideal option as it has become > too complex. > > Instead, what I've been thinking of is a basic framework that is very > similar to the core of the account_banking module. The framework > should allow other companies to write their own 'plugin' modules for > different banking systems. The basic functionality that I feel is > needed is: > * Bank statement import > * Generating payments from payment orders > * (optional) A rule-based invoice-matching system (match a bank > statement line with one or more invoices, to speed up statement > reconciliation) > > I would like to get your thoughts on having an official banking > framework and what would be the best approach to move this forward. > > As an experiment, I started coding a basic module, one that is based > on the plug-in approach that is in account_banking, and it was not too > complicated to get a simple statement import from HSBCNet working. I > was able to 'extract' the core code of account_banking to create a > much leaner module. This includes some original code done by EduSense, > so if this was to be used we may need some agreement from them. > > One of the challenges that I have is that Canonical has some more > immediate needs - we need to ensure that we can use OpenERP for making > payments. The current account_banking does allow us to do that, but > setting up bank accounts correctly in OpenERP is not straightforward > and that can easily lead to payments failing. Also, many of the > payments that we make are international and a number of suppliers need > intermediary banks to be entered to make the payment (as some banks > cannot receive overseas payments). The current banking and payment > structure does not allow for intermediary banks to be specified or > used. > > Whilst I could just focus on meeting our own needs, building a custom > module that will only suit us, I'd prefer to find an approach enables > us to have an official, supported framework that will be a core part > of OpenERP. > > Your feedback on this would be greatly appreciated. > > Thanks > > James >
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