This was from my Drafts folder Last edited 10 years ago. Published April '25. I don't use xTuple anymore.

I have been using Simple Invoices to track invoices for James McDonald IT Services. The problem with Simple Invoices isn't that it's a bad program, it's just that you very quickly find yourself at the limits of what you can do with it. Coupled with the fact that with a services business you might want to link time spent entries with invoices and purchased items to track costs then you find that Simple Invoices isn't the answer.

So I'm going to have a look at xTuple. They provide a cloud demo which is a good no fuss try and see trial but if you are a systems admin and want to see the guts of how it's installed (so you can one day run it locally) you probably want to go for the VirtualBox demo.

You install the VM using a very cool product call vagrant. It handles the VM download for you. Once I got it running (by issuing vagrant up ) I then had to run vagrant ssh to allow me to login to the vm and change the root password.

Instructions on getting a VM with xTuple (Postbooks) running locally https://github.com/xtuple/xtuple-vagrant

But that is just the beginning

You also need to understand how to get it running, and to get things configured in sequence you need to follow a tested methodology. That's where the Quick Start Wizard comes in https://www.xtuple.com/xchange/product/quickstart-wizard

xTuple was designed to run manufacturing businesses so much of the modules aren't useful to a services business so you probably should also use the xTuple for Service Businesses https://www.xtuple.com/xchange/xtuple-for-service-businesses

The last two links cost $30 each. But considering implementing an ERP with similar features to xTuple Postbooks can cost north of $100K.