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Overview

This section describes the steps that need to be performed first to configure Etendo. Etendo installations require at least a Client and an Organization. Client and Organization are the two key concepts within the General Setup.

In other words, it is not possible to issue an invoice or to post a journal entry to the ledger in Etendo, if there is no Client and Organization properly created and configured.

The first steps to follow to configure Etendo are:

  • The Installation of the Localization Packs if available for the country.

Etendo can be localized for any country thanks to a key Etendo feature which is Modularity.

A Localization Pack can include at least:

-the complete translation for the official language(s) in the country. The language is automatically available once the localization Pack has been successfully installed, therefore it can be selected as described at profile.

-the chart of accounts that defines the accounting structure if any to comply with the approved local practice and laws. The Chart of Accounts is available for selection just while running either the Initial Client Setup or the Initial Organization Setup.

-and the setup of the taxes which comply with the in-country tax authorities requirements. The setup of the taxes is also available for selection while running either the Initial Client Setup or the Initial Organization Setup, and even in the "Enterprise Module Management" window.

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The localization pack as well as any other modules or packs can be installed in the application path General Setup / Application /Module Management which is accessible while logging as Etendo/Etendo and changing the Role to "System Administrator".

This can be considered the first basic step while setting Etendo instances as it is required to install first the localization packs if any, in order to apply the accounting reference data or Chart of Accounts while creating either the "Client" or the "Organization" later on.

  • The Initial Client Setup:

A Client in Etendo is the top-most level of configuration and data within Etendo.

Above means that certain configurations such as users, customers, vendors and other master data can be managed in a client and therefore be available across all the organizations within the client.

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Each client can host at least one or even more than one organization that can be used to model your enterprise.

The Initial Client setup is the process which creates a Client in Etendo. A Client cannot be created manually.

This process besides creating a Client allows selecting the reference data included in the module/s or pack/s already installed. All that data, if applied to the Client, will be shared by all the organizations which belong to the Client.

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There is a "System Client" which is automatically created by Etendo as part of the Etendo installation process. This client handles application data such as tables, columns and fields and it also manages some data which can be shared across all the Clients such as currencies, countries and regions and units of measure.

  • the Initial Organization setup:

An Organization is the second level of configuration and data.

Organizations can be structured in a hierarchical way within a Client providing multiple options while modeling your enterprise.

There are different types of Organizations which can either be independent legal entities or not. Legal entities can either require accounting or not and Not Legal Entities can either allow transactional data or not.

The Initial Organization setup is the process which creates Organizations in Etendo.

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An Organization can be created once the Client it belongs to has been created.

An Organization cannot be created manually.

Same way, this process besides creating an Organization allows selecting the reference data included in the module/s or pack/s already installed.

This time the data, if applied to the Organization, will be available just for the Organization being created.

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There is an Organization named (*) which is automatically created at the same time that the "System Client" is created. Every organization created later on will hierarchically be located below it.

  • The Users and Roles setup:

Etendo security can be split into "Functional" and "Data" security. "Functional" security manage the access rights to Etendo entities such as Windows and Processes by properly setting up users and roles:

A User is an entity which can log into Etendo whenever it has a password and at least one role assigned. Each person accessing Etendo should have a different user assigned properly configured.

A Role is the connection between users and access rights to Organizations, Windows, Processes and Forms in Etendo. Access rights are first configured at role level, roles are then assigned to the user/s.

Etendo creates two users by default, the "System" user and the "Etendo" user:

  • the "System" user is the owner of Etendo application data. It is not possible to log into Etendo as "System" user.
  • the "Etendo " user is a "super" user which has access to any Etendo Client.

The password assigned to this user is "Etendo ", however it can be changed if needed in the user window.

This user is assigned to the "System Administrator Role", a role with no access restrictions. Data security is an advance setting as it manages the access rights to subsets of data within Etendo entities such as Windows and Processes, by properly setting up the Data Access Level at table level and the role:

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Data Access level defines the client and/or the organization each record is going to be visible from.

Every table in Etendo has a "Data Access Level" column.

User Access Level allows limiting the records which will be accessible in entities such as Windows, Processes, Forms, Widget Classes and Views for a role, or even limit the access to a given entity.

Basic Setup Diagram

The diagram below shows the Etendo "basic" General Setup flow for a legal entity with accounting. This flow is one part of the overall Business setup flow.

In the example above, the "Accounting" data can not be shared across all the organization/s of the client because it was not applied at client level but to the Organization being created.

This setup would fit in the case of a Client which has one or more independent legal entities with accounting underneath, same as the sample client shipped with Etendo by default (F&B sample client).

There is a close relationship between the general setup which allows the creation and configuration of an enterprise, and the accounting configuration area because to set a "Legal with Accounting" Organization as ready, it requires below accounting items to be properly created and configured first:

  1. a Fiscal Calendar

  2. and an organization's General Ledger configuration which includes a dimension that is the Account Tree or "Chart of Accounts".

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The Fiscal Calendar, once manually created, can be available to all the organizations within the client if it is created for the (* (asterisk)) organization.

A defaulted General Ledger configuration and the Chart of Accounts can be automatically created if an "Accounting" reference data such as a "Localization Pack" containing a Chart of Accounts module is installed and applied to the Organization. Moreover, in case there is no Localization Pack for your country, Etendo delivers a Generic Chart of Accounts module which, if installed and applied, creates a sample Chart of Accounts and a defaulted General Ledger configuration which can be later on customized to meet the needs of your organization.