Open Source ERP Systems
Submitted by
Arun Kumar S (1385711)
Karthik Ganapathy (1399716)
On 10/30/2013
Open Source ERP
We would be addressing the following questions regarding Open Source ERP.
Is Open Source the answer for ERP Solutions? What are the reasons for companies to adopt Open source ERP systems? What is the status of Open Source Systems Today? What are leading Open Source ERP systems and what do they offer?
Introduction – Open Source ERP Systems
We all aware of what an ERP is and the various roles it plays in an organization. ERP is nothing but business management software tailored to meet specific needs, size and technical capabilities of an organization and integrates all facets of an operation and fits business processes. Open source ERP is an ERP software system whose source code is made publicly available. The open source model allows companies to access the ERP system's code and customize it using their own IT department instead of paying extra for vendor customization services and licensing, as in typically the case with closed source programs. So the customer not only gets the software from the vendor but also the developed code to play with it. Open source ERP can be particularly attractive for small to mid-sized businesses that want to upgrade or customize their ERP systems without paying large licensing and support fees.
Open-source solutions can be divided into two types; community open-source software and commercial open-source software (Riehle, 2007). These two types differ in the matter of who decides on the future direction of the software. In the community open-source software a community of volunteers together decided where the software is heading and what developments should be accepted to the software. Despite the fact that this type of open-source software can be used for free it has costs related to the usage in relation to learning, implementation and support. In the