The ERPNext Newsletter 📰 February 2021

The V13 production release is coming soon and its last beta release saw new quality enhancements among other features. Frappe is also getting a makeover in its products and branding after a good interval.

These days, social distancing also brings mental distancing and video calls do only so much. So the Frappe team had a small meetup at the office.

Coming to blogs, when engaging with a prospect do you send sales followup emails? Also, see best practices for responding to RFPs.

ERPNext Updates

Let’s see the product updates brought to you this month:

• A lot of you are curious about the v13 launch, can’t tell you a date but let’s say soon. Okay, not the kind of soon you see at the end of trailers and wait for months but let’s say ‘in the coming few weeks’ soon!

• New permission type “Select” grants permission to select documents but not read them. Previously, for selecting another document as input, you needed to grant the “Read” permission to employees. But what if you wanted them to only select said documents but not allow them to see what’s inside? The new “Select” permission feature solves this problem. If this permission is applied from the Role Permissions Manager, employees will be able to select other documents but not read them.

• In quality inspection, now you’ll have options for Value Based and Numeric Quality Inspections. Numeric Quality Checks are the ones that require number-based readings and acceptance criteria. For example, checking if a reading is in a certain range, less than, or greater than given numeric values. Value based quality checks include things like checking if the color is Blue or not, size is large, does the value belong to characteristics from a given set, etc.

Blogs

Let’s see some pieces from the ERPNext blog this month:

• After first contact with a prospect, it matters a lot how you pursue your further interactions. Sending sales followup emails are a key factor in keeping the conversation alive and warming up leads. Learn How to write sales follow up emails like a pro. Get responses not excuses. (includes templates and examples).

• Responding to requests for proposals is tedious work but shouldn’t be hastened with under preparation. Bidding, structuring the document well, adding logos, sending a quotation, are only some parts. Read about RFPs and responding to them. How to prepare, what to consider, and 5 best practices for solid quotation/proposal responses.

• In the ERPNext Version 13 beta 11 and Frappe Framework version 13 beta 10 release post, you’ll see highlights of new features like putaway, batch wise item pricing, new quality inspection options, and more.

Here are some Frappe blogs, they’re not quite product specific but also interesting to read:

• “Five years is a good time to give the design and branding a refresh”...is the thought that set Rushabh on an expedition to find a designer/team to give Frappe a refresh, in products, and everything else. Finding good creatives is never easy, especially true when the definition of beauty is subjective and tastes differ in the smallest details. Read all about the branding and design in the blog Frappe Redesign 2020

• With open source software, ‘While we keep talking about “free as in freedom”, the “free as in beer” is the bigger attractor for most people’. But commercial open source projects are different, they’re not fully open source, there is a problem, the problem with commercial open source.

• The current situation has changed how employees interact. Shifting from an office to home only environment brings different perspectives in people. Learn about our experience in Amidst uncertain times at Frappe.

What’s up at Frappe

Some bits on leadership, meeting in real life after a long time, and a FOSS virtual meetup.

Frappe Leadership Council

Is an attempt to do things differently. As a growing company that doesn’t believe in hierarchy, some formed the frappe leadership council. A bunch of employees, some elected and some volunteered to discuss and take decisions on day-to-day and operation activities. There are senior members and even some young ones, a novel opportunity for learning within the team.

Some of us met at the office

If you live in a fast paced city, you’d notice that social distancing is not all that widely seen nowadays. Which is true for Mumbai but remote work was always an option at Frappe. So, with months of remote work and only virtual meets, many of Frappe Mumbai residents met up at the office, we also played some football. Given that you spend most of your waking hours in work, meeting your colleagues is a good idea.

It was nice to see some familiar faces and refreshing to see many new ones.

FOSS meetup

FOSS United hosted a meetup where many FOSS enthusiasts talked about various topics from self hosting to creative coding and even mess management. Check out the FOSS meetup here.

Last month at Frappe, we welcomed four new team members—one consultant, one HR, one in content, and one developer.

Think a friend/colleague would like this newsletter? Go ahead and share it.

Cheers,
Prasad from Frappe.
erpnext.com.