[GNC-dev] [off-topic] Re: Adding module to make GnuCash more valuable

[David Cousens]

Rosi,

I think you really need to consider approaching a commercial software
developer. Software is available with this functionality, maybe not in the
form you propose, but there are commercial solutions out there:
https://www.linbis.com
https://lp.descartes.com/aljex-c-v1
https://www.logitudeworld.com
https://allotrac.com.au
http://smartfreight.com
https://www.magaya.com

It is not that what you propose may not be useful or meet a need in the
market for free software, but that the development team for GnuCash is
largely part time, have other jobs, retired etc. There are many core issues
in GnuCash which need addressing to keep it viable with the functionality it
currently has and barely enough people with the expertise and experience
necessary to do that let alone undertake a major development project on top
of that.
Your comment:
"Tell me if I'm wrong: the biggest problem software or web developers 
meet is the proper definition of the processes they have to implement. 
Projects are assigned by owners and managers, who are focused on 
different things - business flow and not the actual operations flow. "

pretty well explains the need for a systems analysis team to engage with the
FF industry in researching and defining those processes to develop the
appropriate digital solutions, particularly when coping with international
operations where legal jurisdictional problems can be complex. Gnucash might
have individuals with the necessary systems analysis capability but they are
most likely already committed. GnuCash is doable because the core of
accounting is well developed and doesn't change much and has well developed
international standards that most countries are pretty close to even if the
haven't adopted those standards and GnuCash addresses that core requirement.
It doesn't tackle customisation for individual requirements except by
remaining flexible enough that those requirements could be met outside
GnuCash.

The other problem you mention is "interest". If one of the GnuCash
contributors was sufficiently interested, generally because they are
involved in the industry, you might strike it lucky. There is certainly no
harm in canvassing the forum to see if that interest does exist. It may not
necessarily exist.

"accounting software is made to do the _book-keeping_" Accounting software
is designed to do the *financial* bookkeeping i.e. track where they money
goes to and comes from.  It is not designed to track the location of goods,
via  a variety of shipping methods and routes, their departure and arrival
and whether payment has or has not been made and whether their release
should ro should not be authorized. That requires custom purpose made
software with appropriate authorization methodologies incorporated into it.
Gnucash has no methodology for external notification that a payment has been
received which is about the only part of the operations you have described
which falls within the accounting functionality of GnuCash. With a database
backend version one could externally query the GnuCash database to obtain
such verification but that would require a consistent defined methodology
for ensuring tagging the payments recorded into GnuCash with references
which can be tracked to the appropriate B/L. Good luck with getting banks to
necessarily incorporate the additional information you need in their
records.

As others have commented I would think what you describe would be best
implemented as an external program which can communicate the requisite
financial information to GnuCash rather than within GnuCash itself. It is
not the value of what you propose that we disgaree with in saying it is out
of scope, but the capacity to implement what you propose with the existing
available resouces.

David Cousens



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David Cousens
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