The ERPNext Newsletter 📰 April 2021

Hey there,

Hope you’re glad to see that Version 13 is finally out. We’ll talk more about that in the coming sections. The ERPNext repo crossed 8,000 stars as open-source love continues to grow. And for the first time, we’re officially sharing a product roadmap for ERPNext.

In blogs, a developer shares their experience about UX and bank reconciliation and our legal officer writes about attribution and intellectual property.

As the second wave of the pandemic is rising, there’s fear and lockdown in different parts of the country. However, at Frappe, there are reasons to smile a bit this month brought on by raises and a new lifestyle allowance.

ERPNext Updates

Let’s see the product updates for this month:

• Your countless queries were answered in the first week of April when Nabin and team ironed out things to roll out ERPNext V13 and Frappe Framework V13. At first glance, the new design is the most striking enhancement. That is not to say that it isn’t feature packed. From two new modules to new features for forecasting and faster ledger calculations, there’s more in the new version. I could talk more about it here but then I’d rather let the landing page show you.

• ERPNext’s open-source code hosted on Github crossed 8,000 stars ⭐. One of the newer employees made the last star as the count was 7,999 and shared that it was quite satisfying. Here’s the GitHub repository.

  

• While you’ll see a blog on V13 in the next section, a newer feature that was added recently is Item value reposting. In backdated stock transactions, the final value of items was off sometimes, this is now fixed. The reposting is now handled via background jobs. There’s also a new document called ‘Repost Item Valuation’.

• For the longest time, new ERPNext features were added on the go catering to user requirements and some features from internal discussions. There was no product roadmap as such, officially at least. That changes with Umair’s community post on ERPNext Roadmap for April 2021. \ He looks forward to being more involved in product roadmaps.

Blogs

And now here are some blogs:

• Along with design, user experience was also in focus among the changes V13 brings. Bank reconciliation was one such tool that lacked a good experience. That is until now. The developer, Hasnain made changes and talks about everything from UX, to statements, to reports, to the coding approaches he took in Redesigning Bank Reconciliation.
• ERPNext and Frappe have been open source for the longest time. While the code remains open source and free it doesn’t mean anyone can do anything with it. Yes, I’m talking about people who blatantly steal something because it’s open source. Be a good user won’t you? Read more about it as our legal officer, Ankita explains Attribution of Frappe's Intellectual Property.
• In V13, you’ve seen the landing page and heard all about the design, dark mode, etc. Although the showstopper, that’s not all for Version 13. The ERPNext side is feature packed and let’s take a look at the major features in ERPNext version 13.0 and Frappe Framework version 13.0 release.

What’s up at Frappe

Some bits on appraisals and how Frappe did a twist on it, an allowance for lifestyle, new members, and about FOSS meetup.

Appraisal time 🥳

March-April is time for raises in India. You’re usually left to your supervisor’s and company policy mercy. Things were different at Frappe of course. Like a public chaotic appraisal discussion last time, this time too had a twist but successfully avoided the chaos and agitation that came with it. Here’s the post that answers What if you could choose your own raise? 2021 appraisal at Frappe.

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Lifestyle allowance

Back in July 2020, I had brought up a topic for discussion—getting office chairs for everyone with the idea that it’ll boost productivity. As opposed to home furniture, ergonomic office chairs greatly impact posture and by extension, productivity. Some liked the idea but most scoffed. I found myself rooting for this alone. Needless to say, I stopped talking about it since I didn’t want to be known as that ‘chair guy’. I bought one the same week since I felt rigid joints and knew that this was unhealthy.

But recently, thanks to some others who understand the importance of workspace ergonomics this was a discussion again. This time too there were nonbelievers with their dull arguments like ‘the company pays us enough anyway’. Well, that’s subjective and not even the point here. When like minded people rooted for it, the scales eventually tipped. As one of the developers, Ganga, said—home office setup is an expense due to office unavailability and companies would have paid for rent and amenities anyway. A good point.

Some back and forth later, Rushabh proposed an overall budget per person per year for lifestyle allowances like gym, bicycle, running shoes, office chairs, tables, and other things along these lines. A nice touch.

New members

Last month at Frappe, we welcomed six new team members—one designer, three in quality, one in consulting, and one in the partner team.

In case you’re interested, here’s how you become an ERPNext partner.

FOSS United

FOSS United hosts meetups where many FOSS enthusiasts talk about various topics. This month’s meetup has topics like Sonic Pi, uniting FOSS and infosec, self hosting apps for personal use, and more. Check out the FOSS Meetup for April 2021.

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Cheers,

Prasad from Frappe.

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