Call for contributions: automated tests

Hello,

We plan to write a bunch of automated tests. These tests will be used as acceptation tests for the release of the next version of OpenERP. As every OpenERP user has different scenario according to their own business needs, we decided to make a call for contributions: Please help us to write scenario of tests.

You can describe your own use of OpenERP here:

• http://piratepad.net/openerp-tests

We will manage the implementation of all these automated tests in OpenERP. This will ensure that your own usage of OpenERP is maintained and tested in the long term. The 5th of march, a developper team will be deicated to this job.

OpenERP v5.2, new UI proposition

Hello,

Here is a preview of the new UI for the next version of OpenERP. We still have some details to do, but it looks promising.

OpenERP raises 3 million euros.

OpenERP announces today that it raised 3 million euros. The investors are Sofinnova Partners, represented by Olivier Sichel, and the Iliad's managers, Xavier Niel and Olivier Rosenfeld. The funds raised will allow OpenERP to achieve its ambition to be one of the leading application business suite vendors worldwide.

OpenERP'strategy is based on a unique ecosystem which combines the resources of the community, of its partner’s network and of the editor. The community contributes to the ongoing enrichment of the OpenERP solution. The partners tailor the solution to customers needs and provide the customer support. The editor guarantees the quality and the long term sustainability of the software.

In the past few years, OpenERP has experienced extremely fast growth, but only self funded and with limited financial resources. This fund raising represents a crucial milestone for OpenERP's development since it will allows OpenERP to focus its resources less on project management and more on its core business as a software editor.

In particular, OpenERP will be in a position to invest in the following areas:
* Investing in the development of the OpenERP's software
* Recruiting an training a worldwide network of partners
* Developing new services such as maintenance and SaaS

We are particularly proud to have found such quality investors, with a really good understanding of the stakes, constraints and objectives relating to open source software. Indeed, as investors are highly selective, it was really equally important for OpenERP to find investors that share our Open Source vision.

As of this fund raising, the company Tiny SPRL, previously the editor of OpenERP, has been renamed "OpenERP sa". In this coming year, the company will also open new offices in the United States.

About OpenERP

The OpenERP project, founded in 2005 by Fabien Pinckaers has already been extremely successful thanks a community comprised of more than 300 members and a network of integrators established in 26 countries. OpenERP software is comprised of more than 500 modules and counts more than 1000 installations a day, what makes it one of the most frequently installed management software in the world.


About Sofinnova Partners

Sofinnova Partners is an independant venture capital firm based in Paris. For over 35 years, the firm has backed nearly 500 companies at different stages of development – pure creations, spin-offs, as well as turnaround situations – and worked alongside Europe's key entrepreneurs in the technology, life sciences and cleantech sectors. With more than €1 billion of funds under management, Sofinnova Partners' experienced team and hands-on approach in nurturing and supporting porfolio companies through to exit have created market leaders and multiplied revenues, from ladmark historical investments including Genentech and Biogen to more recent successes such as Actelion, Vistaprint, CoreValve and Fovea. With a global mindset, the firm has offices in Paris, Shanghai, China and a sister organization in San Francisco, California. Please visit www.sofinnova.fr for more information on Sofinnova's team and portfolio.

Media contact :
Aline De Bock
+32 81 81 37 00
adb@openerp.com

Open Job: "Sales Director Europe"

OpenERP is looking for a new Sales Director Europe.

The OpenERP Sales Director Europe will have full responsibility for the development and performance of Open ERP sales team in Europe. Staffs and directs a sales team and provides leadership towards the achievement of maximum growth in line with company’s plan.

Job is based in the Namur Area (Belgium)

Exceed sales targets

• Define the sales strategy for each line of business (Partnership, Training, Maintenance)
• Define the partners strategy for each European market (profile, number of partners..)
• Develop and coordinate sales selling cycle and methodology.
• Produce an accurate forecast and pipeline through selected tools and processes;
• Oversees all hiring and training of personnel involved in Sales
• Establishes performance goals for all sales department employees, and monitors performance
• Implement sales strategy from leads to orders.

Skills

• Minimum of 10 years professional experience in sales, 5+ years experience in staff management and executing enterprise software sales;
• Strong understanding of indirect channel partners and system integrators in Europe.
• Mastery of the written English language, excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Proven leadership ability to influence, develop, and empower employees to achieve objectives with a team approach.
• Able to work in “start up” fast paced environment.
• approachable, honest and fun team player

Contact jobs AT openerp.com if you are interested.

Useability Improvements, search views

All screens and menus have been reviewed in OpenERP to improve the general useability. Here is a screencast that shows improvements made on the lists view (trunk version). You can get a wider version of this video on youtube.



A small explanation of the changes:

• Every object have only one menu (instead of Draft Tasks, My Tasks, ...). But you can switch easily from one context to another one.
  
• When you enter the list, by default, it is filtered according to the user: (In this example: my current tasks = my tasks in draft or open state)
• You can change filters by fill in forms or clicking on buttons. Instead of field=value, buttons are more business oriented (example: Sales To Invoice = sale order, with state='in progress' and invoiced=False). Buttons applies the filter directly
• many2one fields can be rendered as selection box to ease the search
  
• Buttons are now available in lists. You can clickly close tasks, delegate them, ...
  
• Advanced search criteria can be folded in groups of elements (example: group by...)
• Every list view can be multi-level grouped. Example, we group tasks by projects. All float and integer fields are computed accordingly (example: remaining hours by project)
  
• If you drag&drop a task from one group to another one, fields are updated automatically.
• Some button filters may change the columns displayed. Example, click on pending tasks and you will see the column 'Delegated To' column. Or, click on Getting Things Done buttons and columns are reduced to the minimum you want to see in this environment.
• The lists can easily switch, according to the context between editable lists/non editable lists. When you click on Inbox, the list becomes editable.
• You can add custom filters by clicking on [+]
• Sort orders are now computed on the server side (for long lists)
  
• You can save your search filters as a filter or as a shortcut.

We are implementing the same features in the web client too.