[prev in list] [next in list] [prev in thread] [next in thread] 

List:       kde-devel
Subject:    Re: New project proposal -- customer and pay tracker for small businesses
From:       Cornelius Schumacher <schumacher () kde ! org>
Date:       2001-09-29 20:46:22
[Download RAW message or body]

On Saturday 29 September 2001 19:46, Amelie Zapf wrote:
>
> Somehow I'm missing a program that can keep track of running a small
> service-oriented business. That means:

This sounds like an interesting project, but it also sounds like a lot 
of work ;-)

> - storing information about customers, people that you're customer
> of, related businesses and the like, along with what samples/material
> they received from you, what they charge, other info
> (MySQL-Interface?)

This should probably be linked to the KDE addressbook is some way.

> - keeping track of the pay that's coming in and going out,
> automatically doing invoices, overdue notes, receipts... (maybe with
> LaTeX as backend?)

I suppose that's the most complex part of your project. It has to 
incorporate the business logic and maybe also interfaces to online 
banking or similar stuff.

> - write business letters using the database

Is KWord able to take data from the KDE address book?

> - ability to create a business balance or tax return for any given
> period of time; of course, that has to be done with internationalized
> plugins updated each year :-(

It will be no fun to maintain such a thing.

> - keeping track of business dates, with an export/import possibility
> w/ KOrganizer

Why not use KOrganizer directly? It can be used as component or it can 
be extended with special functionality by plugins. What kind of 
fucntionality do you have in mind, which is currently not available in 
KOrganizer?

> - to make a long story short, do everything related to your business
> in one place.

A considerable part of the functionality required for such a program 
can probably be implemented with a set of scripts using the already 
existing applications and their various interfaces, perhaps with the 
addition of some simple qtdesigner-generated gui apps (e.g. for the 
database access). To put all this in a more or less monolithical 
application might be not flexible enough to meet the needs of a larger 
group of different users, and I don't think a project of this 
complexity can succeed, if it only has a small number of potential 
users.

> And that's why I write to this list for assistance. Anybody to help
> me out? Please drop me a line.

I'm mainly interested in the Organizer and Addressbook interaction. If 
there is happening something in this area I might be able to contribute 
some code :-)

-- 
Cornelius Schumacher <schumacher@kde.org>

 
>> Visit http://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-devel#unsub to unsubscribe <<

[prev in list] [next in list] [prev in thread] [next in thread]