4.1 Introduction

This part of the book will run the reader through the LedgerSMB using an example startup company run by Jack: Example Inc, which starts its life as a computer parts store for the business to business market.

Jack just completed incorporation of Example and is ready to start doing business. Before starting his operation Jack was looking for tooling to run his operation efficiently. To that extent he’ll be running LedgerSMB using the domain he acquired for his business: http://example.com/.

The other chapters in this part of the book show you what steps Jack has to go through to get LedgerSMB up and running for Example, as well as the steps he has to take to keep LedgerSMB in good health.

Due to its success Example will grow, posing new challenges to LedgerSMB and we’ll show you how Jack can change the configuration to adapt to his growing business’s needs.

Jack chooses to use a hosted LedgerSMB, so he doesn’t need to concern himself with the technical details of getting the application up and running. Instead he can start by setting up the company database immediately.

In Chapter 5 starting at page 5 and Chapter 6 starting at page 6 Jack goes through the steps of setting up a basic company. The chapters after that may not apply to every business. Chapter 7 starting at page 7, Chapter 8 starting at page 8 and Chapter 9 starting at page 9 apply to businesses dealing with physical goods: buying, selling and shipping. Chapter 33 starting at page 33 discusses how to handle invoicing from LedgerSMB. Chapter 11 starting at page 11, Chapter 12 starting at page 12 and Chapter 13 starting at page 13 discuss how to manage accounts receivable and payable including arrears monitoring.

Not all chapters may be relevant to the reader, e.g. when he or she is starting up or running a services company in which case the chapter “Building up stock” doesn’t apply. Chapters can be skipped based on relevance both to the type of business and its growth phase.

@@@ more chapters??