Because there is nowhere else to go to get straight forward, no nonsense information about the Apache OFBiz project. MyOfBiz.com provides vital information to both the end-user and developer alike.

Ruth Hoffman is the sole owner and operator of the MyOFBiz.com website. In addition, with the exception of those pieces of content so indicated, all MyOFBiz.com content is the sole property of Ruth Hoffman. The website and logo are trademarked and many of the documents have ISBN numbers assigned.

MyOFBiz.com runs entirely on the proceeds from the sale of books and other resources available for purchase on the website.

Writing, editing and producing high quality documentation is hard work. I believe author's deserve to be compensated accordingly. That is why 90% of the net proceeds for the sale of each book go directly to the author. The remainder goes towards keeping the lights on and servers running.

From the start it has been my goal to make MyOFBiz.com self funding - without obnoxious advertising or other distractions. MyOFBiz.com is first and foremost a demonstration of what is possible using OFBiz.

If you are just getting started, I recommend the e-commerce book: Getting Started w/Apache OFBiz, E-Commerce Out-Of-The-Box. After reading this book, you will begin to you see how all the pieces fit together and you may want to venture out into other areas of OFBiz.

While there are no prerequisites for any of the books, our recommendation is to learn about OFBiz in this order:

• Download and read the free white papers. (You will need to take a survey first). If you find your interest piqued, move on to purchasing the for-fee content.
• The E-commerce book should be tackled first. [http://www.myofbiz.com/ecommerce/products/PROMOTIONS/p_PUB-0703]
• The Catalog Manager book is useful if you plan to stand-up an ecommerce website. [http://www.myofbiz.com/ecommerce/products/PROMOTIONS/p_PUB-0710]
• The Manufacturing & MRP book will help you if your plans include discrete manufacturing. [http://www.myofbiz.com/ecommerce/products/PROMOTIONS/p_PUB-0789]
• Anyone who desires to set up a basic OFBiz accounting system should read the Accounting 5 Step guide.[http://www.myofbiz.com/ecommerce/products/PROMOTIONS/p_PUB-0796]
• We also offer a 4 day, comprehensive, hands-on developer's introductory course. Contact us for more information.
• Coming soon a digital version of the Student Guide used for the 4 day, comprehensive, hands-on developer's introductory course.

No.

The MyOFBiz.com members' library (MyLibrary) is the vehicle for delivery of all digital products purchased through the MyOFBiz.com Product Store It works as follows:

• You purchase one or more products on the store front.
• When MyOFBiz is notified that you have paid for your purchases, a username and password is automatically generated and an email is sent to you (based on your payment email address). This email will contain instructions on how to login to the MyLibrary website and download your digital goods. Note: Please verify that your payment email address as given to PayPal is a valid email address and that your email server does not block emails from the myofbiz.com domain. We cannot process bounced emails. If your account information email as sent by mail.myofbiz.com is bounced, you will NOT receive your login information.
• When you receive your login information, you may then point your browser to the MyLibrary site, login and retrieve your purchases
• You will have up to 3 months to retrieve your purchases. After that time, access to the MyLibrary website is turned off.

As one intrepid reader remarked: Getting started with open source ERP is not for the faint-of-heart. So, first off, set your expectations. Implementing OFBiz is work. Depending on how much you've worked with open source before, you may find the level of effort acceptable or you may not have the time or patience to tackle such a project.

Should you decide to use OFBiz, download some of the free content and see if you can follow along with the examples. Once you get comfortable with the basics, get a copy of our ecommerce book and Getting Started w/Apache OFBiz, E-Commerce Out-Of-The-Box roll up your sleeves and get started.

If you need more help, please feel free to contact us here at MyOFBiz.com. We provide for-fee mentoring/training designed specifically to get you proficient with OFBiz.