From Tech Solutions Documentation

Contents 1 What is Dolibarr 2 Dolibarr Features 3 Getting Started 3.1 Company/Foundation 3.2 Modules 3.3 Display 3.4 Other (Boxes, Alerts, Security, Limits and accuracy, Emails, Dictionary...) 3.5 Users 3.6 Mass imports 3.7 Backups/Restores 4 Modules 4.1 Third Parties 4.2 Contacts 4.3 Products 4.4 Services 4.5 Banks and Cash 4.6 Commercial Proposals 4.7 Customers Orders 4.8 Customers Invoices 4.9 Suppliers Orders

What is Dolibarr

Dolibarr ERP/CRM is a software built by modules addition (you enable only features you need), to manage small or medium companies, freelancers or foundations. We can say Dolibarr is an ERP or CRM (or both depending on activated modules).

It's an OpenSource project base on a WAMP, MAMP or LAMP server (Apache, Mysql, PHP for all Operating Systems). Dolibarr differs from other ERP or CRM softwares (like OpenAguila, OpenBravo, OpenERP, Neogia, Compiere, etc) because everything was made to be more simple:

• Simple to install
• Simple to use
• Simple to develop

Dolibarr Features

This is a summary of main Dolibarr features...

• Products and services catalog
• Stock management
• Bank accounts management
• Customers, Suppliers or Prospects directory
• Contacts directory
• Commercial actions management
• Orders management with PDF generator
• Commercial proposals management with PDF generator
• Contracts management
• Invoices management with PDF generator
• Payments management
• Standing orders management
• Shipping management
• Support NPR VAT (for french DOM-TOM)
• Foundations members management
• Bookmarks management
• Emailing
• Can reports Dolibarr events inside Webcalendar
• Reporting
• Data export tools
• LDAP connectivity
• Donations management

These are termed as modules within the Dolibarr application.

Miscellaneous

• Multi-user, with several permissions levels for each feature.
• Several menu managers (can be used by internal users, as a back-office, with a particular menu, or by external users, as a front-office, with another menu and permissions).
• Very user friendly and easy to use.
• Several skins.
• Code is highly customizable (a lot of use of modules).
• Works with Mysql 3.1 or higher, experimental support for PostgreSql.
• Works with PHP 4.3 or higher.

 

Getting Started

For using Dolibarr for your company, you must setup Dolibarr parameters to match your needs.Following is a list of modules to be setup:

Company/Foundation

The first mandatory step is to define your company/foundation. For this, from home page, go on area "Setup" and edit informations for company or foundation you want to manage. Don't forget to define your country because some other options depends on it (VAT).

Modules

Activation of modules is the second mandatory step. Modules you will enable depend on usage you want to do of Dolibarr. In most cases, you want use all modules, so you have to enable one by one each module you plan to use. For example, to manage a company, you might enable module: Third party, Invoices and Products, but probably a lot of more modules. If you are not sure of the meaning of a module, you can enable it one by one and see what new menu appears in Dolibarr (also after enabling a module, check that you grant to yourself permissions on new features that was enabled). You can enable or disable a module when you want. Once module has been activated, some of them need a particular setup (click on icon that appears on the right of line if a module need its own setup).

Display

On this page, you can define force language of application and the look and feel of screens. In a first use, you can keep everything with default values.

Other (Boxes, Alerts, Security, Limits and accuracy, Emails, Dictionary...)

Other entries in Setup menu are advanced options. You can forget them if you want.

Users

The last step is to create users and assign permissions. Almost all the modules activated even earlier, are not accessible if you do not give permission. To do this, you can go to the menu Home -> Users & Groups to define users and their permissions. Pay attention to check and reset the user permissions when you turn to new modules. The list of permissions available are related to the current enabled modules (see above), it is recommended to configure this after activating the modules you want. For certain actions, if you do not have the rights to an action, not Dolibarr you will not. You might miss something useful and / or important. To give rights to a user or yourself if you are an administrator, go to Home -> Users & Groups, select the data from the desired user, then click on the User Permission tab.

Mass imports

Following a new installation of Dolibarr, the bases are empty. Sometimes you want to start with data imported from another system. There are several possible methods. The following chapters present some information for this.

• Using OpenOffice

You can use OpenOffice which is able to inject the contents of a table in the database such as Mysql Dolibarr. Here is a tutorial on this method: Import data with OpenOffice

• Import third parties and contacts

We must distinguish the third party from the physical contact. In the third party we will have all entities subject to billing (both companies, as private people or association). Third parties are required. The physical contacts are optional. Contacts are just a directory of physical persons related to a third party. In the case of a third party that is a company, there may be several physical contacts. In the case of an individual, physical contact will be unique and identical to the third party (or even physical contact will not be filled). The import of the third party is to insert rows in the table Table llx_societe. Ensure that the mandatory fields are filled.

• Name: Must contains the name of the company
• Customer: Must contains 1 if third party is a client, 2 if prospect, 0 otherwise.
• Supplier: Must contains 1 if its a supplier, 0 otherwise

Import of physical contact is to insert rows in the table Table llx_socpeople. Ensure that the mandatory fields are filled.

• Name: Must contains the name of the people
• Firstname: Must contains the first name of the people
• fk_soc: Must contains id of third party in table Table llx_societe.

Backups/Restores

Backups

To prevent a disaster, a mistake, or just for an update in order to return back, it is recommended to make backups of data to Dolibarr.

What safeguard

Dolibarr stores data in 3 places. These 3 places should be saved before each update to ensure that if a problem occurs, the data can be recovered, or simply a regular basis to be able to restore his work in case of problems. Here are the 3 types of data should be saved for restoration without loss.

• The configuration file

Although the configuration files are normally not modified by the process of updating, it is better to deal with any eventuality. The configuration file is called conf.php and are in Dolibarr/htdocs/conf/.Make a copy of this file in a space dedicated to the backup. This backup can not be done if you know your login elsewhere. In case of restoration, the file can be recreated by a virgin.

• The database

The database contains all data that you entered (excluding attachments documents referred to in the next paragraph). His backup would be made in a comprehensive manner. See the following for comment.

• Documents

All documents relating to your forum Dolibarr are kept in the directory specified in your configuration file Dolibarr / htdocs / conf / conf.php. If you left the default, it is Dolibarr / documents. This directory must be saved. In case of an update, although the process of updating occurs normally not on this directory, which is writable by the web server at any time, it could end up affecting a mistake or a bug. To ensure the preservation of official records and recover, make a backup of this directory.

When

The recommended frequency depends on the intensity of your use of Dolibarr and tolerance in terms of lost data that you accept. The higher the frequency, the lower, in case of restoration, you have lost data.

How

• The configuration file

A single copy of the file conf / conf.php in a directory dedicated to saving enough.

• The database

If you use a recent version of Dolibarr, log in as administrator Dolibarr. Then go to Home - Tools and Backup systems. Then select the backup options (take default if possible).

• Documents

A copy of the directory of documents (Dolibarr / default documents) in a backup directory dedicated enough. If you perform the backup of the database via the tool Dolibarr system, the dump file database is also included in this copy.

Restores

Go,as an administrator in the menu:Home / System Tools / Restore.Dolibarr offers a command line to restore the database.Unzipping the file before might be required: For example, a backup named mysqldump_dolibarr_200812021800.sql.bz2 must be uncompressed (bunzip myfile.bz2 under linux, or using 7zip under Windows).

Modules

Third Parties

The module Third Parties allows managing entities customers, prospective customers and/or suppliers. This module is a necessary prerequisite for many other modules that are based on these concepts (commercial invoices, purchase orders, contracts, proposals, etc. ...).

A third party is a company which is a business entity like customer, supplier or prospect (Example: a trade association, a private individual).

The difference between Contacts and Third Parties is that Contact is a natural person or a generic contact to a person (eg CEO or worker of the company, principal salesman of the trade, chairman or treasurer of the association).

Creating a new third party You can either choose New third party and then select the option for supplier, customer or prospect or one more way is to directly choose new supplier, new customer and so on. The design of Dolibarr is such that it allows you to perform the same action in several different ways.

Ok. Let’s create a new supplier. You can create a new customer or a prospect in the same way.

Click on it.

Now we have to choose whether the third party we are adding is a company or a private individual.

Remember Dolibarr treats both the company and the private individual as an entity by itself. If you make a wrong choice here

Then choose the type of the third company, either a company or a private individual.

And Enter the requested information (you do not have to complete all fields). But for you to retrieve the information later on easily, its would be a good practice to whether the company is a customer, supplier or a prospect from the drop-down list. In case this information changes later on, you can even modify it in the Edit Company page. And then click on “Add Third Party”.

Once the new company is created, you can add notes in the different tabs and attach related documents.

If you wish to edit the company, you can click on the tab card or if you are on a different page, you can click on its name and you will be taken to the page where you can select the tab Card.

Click on the "Modify" button (bottom right).

Enter the changes.

Click on "Save."

In case you want to delete a Company, the process is quite similar.

Let’s see how you can do that. Let us select the company which we want to delete by clicking on “List” here in the left sidebar. This shows us the list of suppliers in the system. Say we want to delete xyz supplier. We click on it. Then we click on “Card”. And here on the bottom right corner, we see the “Delete” button. Click on it. Next it will ask you for a confirmation. Before you decide, note that a company removed does not change state, but it disappears completely in from the system. Apart from this you will see a “Validate” button here on the right. Now let me explain you what is this validate button for.

There is a rule here. If a company has receivables like invoices, contracts, orders etc, Dolibarr will not delete the company until the receivable are deleted first.

Note that for Dolibarr a company can have only one condition that is it either exists or does not exist.

Contacts

A Contact can be an individual person or a company. Always create a contact after creating a third party. Even if the company that you are creating is a single contact, create a third party as Private individual as seen in the previous step.

Then when you create a Contact, you can choose which third party the contact belongs to. It simply implies that, a contact if created without being within any third party exists on its own and will not have access to other features like “Add Order” “Add Proposal” etc within the system. So creating a third party is essential.

You can also create 1 to several contacts within a company (they will then be used as the recipient by mail then proposition or invoice).

Now I click on New Contact and fill in the necessary information. Note that I can select, which Company the contact belongs to from this drop-down list. Once you are done filling the important information, you can click on “Add”. And the contact is entered into the database. To modify a contact You follow a similar process to Modifying a Company. You can click on the name of the contact say form the List button form the left and then click on Modify. Make the changes, and then click on Save.

Products

Dolibarr is used to manage a product and this product can be characterized as an object offered to customers, or an object obtained from suppliers. Products are tangible, unlike Services.

A product generally is identified by rules like:

• A product may be stored in a warehouse (only products appear in the Stock module. Services do not appear there).
• A product can be delivered (only products appear in the Stock module. The services are appearing. These are being achieved or not, but not delivered).
• A product is usually a property. Its value often depreciates over time (a product used is less than the same new product).

Services

Products and services are often confused. But one should note that they respond to different rules. A service is a material that cannot be sold, purchased or offered. A service can be off or sustainable.

Some of the characteristics that identify a service are:

• A service can be punctual (installation of equipment at home) or have duration (as a security product)
• A service can not be stored in a warehouse

Services are not subject to inventory

Banks and Cash

A bank is a bank account (often allows the account to write checks or pay by credit card). A case is the box cake grandmother in which you put the cash or your wallet or cash register for merchants. When you receive a payment by check, there will inevitably be deposited in a bank account (bank account), but upon receipt of cash, you can store notes in a wallet, a cash register (cash account) as to set aside for deposit in the bank. Dolibarr can create as many bank accounts or accounts that need cash. To manage cash, it will take at least one (usually a bank account, unless the business does not run check or credit card and that every effort be made in cash, buying selling), but this is optional. If the cash should not be managed by Dolibarr, the module Bank / Fund may be disabled.

• Creating a new bank account / credit union

Skip to Accounting / Treasury Bank and then button "Create account".

Commercial Proposals

• Create a commercial proposition

The creation of a proposition is made from sheet or prospective client in the Commercial. To create a proposal you must have a contact defined for this client and the module must be activated).

Follow the directions to create a draft proposal, and then confirm when it is ready (as opposed to bills you can modify a proposal validated).

• Closure of a proposal

Close Signed as a proposal when the customer has given its consent. At the close of a commercial society is linked automatically defined as a customer if it was previously classified as a prospect, a "draft" is automatically created.

• Models

Dolibarr can handle several types of proposals, which need to be active in the Configuration module. You can create your own templates you just have to know all the same language php. The proposed models can be found in / includes / modules / propale /

Customers Orders

• Create command

The creation of a command is from the score sheet in the commercial application. The link that is in the action bar of the form. A command is automatically created at the close of a business proposition. This command is created in draft status.

• Closing orders

Once an order has been shipped, it must return to his form to terminate the order. It is then placed in the accounts as "A charge".

• Delete command

To delete an order you must initiate the form thereof. An order cannot be deleted if it is in rough condition. Once validated, it can only be annulled. Deleting a command causes erasure of all data relating thereto. Deleted orders cannot be recovered.

• Modify command

To edit a command you must initiate the form thereof. An order may be modified only if the status of draft.

Customers Invoices

• Create command

The creation of a command is from the score sheet in the commercial application. The link that is in the action bar of the form.A command is automatically created at the close of a business proposition. This command is created in draft status.

• Closing orders

Once an order has been shipped, it must return to his form to terminate the order. It is then placed in the accounts as "A charge".

• Delete command

To delete an order you must initiate the form thereof. An order can not be deleted if it is in rough condition. Once validated, it can only be annulled. Deleting a command causes erasure of all data relating thereto.Deleted orders can not be recovered.

• Modify a command

To edit a command you must initiate the form thereof. An order may be modified only if the status of draft.

Suppliers Orders

• Create an order supplier

The creation of an order supplier is from the card supplier in the third party providers or the application provider tab. Permitting the button is in the action bar of the card supplier.The order is then created in draft status.It must then select the products sold by the supplier on the list. If we want to add a new product, it is necessary to pass through the interface of the products / services, create a product and then use the tab supplier of the product details and to indicate the price and minimum quantity for this provider. The product is available in the list of products from this supplier and can be added to the command line.

• Fencing supplier orders

Once an order has been received, it must return to his form for the closure. (? It is then placed in the accounts as "A charge").

• Deleting a provider command

To delete an order you must initiate the form thereof. An order can not be deleted if it is in rough condition. Once validated, it can only be annulled. Deleting a command causes erasure of all data relating thereto.Deleted orders can not be recovered.

• Change an order supplier

To edit a command you have to open its card. An order may be modified only if the status of draft.