Organization of the book

The first part (’Overview’) is intended for everybody who tries to get an impression of LedgerSMB, with chapters on technology, features, licensing and a bit of project history.

The second part (’Getting started’) leads new users and especially new entrepreneurs step by step through the application. This part also contains additional explanations on good business and accounting process.

The third part (’Configuration’) describes system wide configuration settings such as the LedgerSMB configuration file and those required for dependencies like PostgreSQL. Additionally it describes the company specific settings within the application, such as audit control settings and required special accounts. This part is required material for anybody who wants to set up a LedgerSMB instance.

The fourth part (’Administration’) discusses the different topics regarding application administration such as user management, product definition, taxes and etc. Anybody responsible for maintaining application instances in good health should read this part.

The fifth part discusses work flows; LedgerSMB best practices, so to say. This part is highly advised reading for everybody who is a LedgerSMB user and should be considered required reading for ’business architects’: those in the company who decide about process design and execution.

The sixth part discusses how to customize the application. This part is intended for developers of custom extensions (such as company specific integrations), add-ons and plug-ins.

The last part, the appendices, contain information on various subjects, such as a listing and description of the authorization roles in the application as well as information on migration to or upgrading of LedgerSMB versions.