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Supply Chain by Using OpenSource ERP. Supply Chain Software. Supply chain management software is implemented by companies to deliver the benefits of the supply chain strategies they had adopted.
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Supply Chain Software • Supply chain management software is implemented by companies to deliver the benefits of the supply chain strategies they had adopted. • Open Source Software adoption in large companies is considered to be a relatively recent movement. • Open Source Software is gaining terrain in large organizations, some see it as just another development alternative; others see in it a strategic competitive advantage.
OpenSource ERP • Open source is still a small subset of the ERP market, yet its promise of low cost and added flexibility means it merits investigation, especially for entry-level ERP deployments. • Open source ERP has not gained much market traction, as of yet but just as with open source business intelligence or open source CRM, open source ERP promises a software alternative that is less expensive and more flexible than applications sold by giants like Oracle and SAP.
Advantages of Open Source ERP • Open source software has gained a significant foothold in the business work and it is natural that open source ERP and customer relationship management (CRM) solutions are the next evolutionary step in the process. The open source ERP and CRM solutions can be purchased by a company and used as is. • Open source ERP solutions offer companies freely available source code base as a starting point for their implementation from which they can adapt the code to suit their particular needs.
Advantages of Open Source ERP • The software companies offering open source ERP solutions have developed products that can be used straight out of the box with limited configuration and data entry. • A company can then use the product without customization in an evaluation mode before deciding on what, if any, changes are to be made. • As there is no upfront licensing fees there is no major risk for the company reviewing an open source ERP solution.
Advantages of Open Source ERP • Customization of an open source ERP is simpler than with a traditional ERP solution as the company already has the source code. • As consultants and programmers for the major ERP solutions such as SAP can exceed one hundred dollars an hour, the programming for an open source solution would be considerably less.
Advantages of Open Source ERP • Operating an open source ERP solution does give a company the option of continuing to update the existing code when changes to their business processes occur or with changes to the company, such as mergers and acquisitions. • With an open source ERP implementation there is no software provider to force upgrades when they want to discontinue support of a certain release.
Disadvantages of Open Source ERP • Disadvantages to operating an open source ERP system which include support, updates, maintenance, and risk.
Disadvantages of Open Source ERP • Support - Open source ERP is mostly free to download but the support of the software is not. If a company has an in-house technology department then the development and support of the system may not require any outside companies. However for smaller companies without limited technology experience they may have to rely on the provider of the open source software or other technology companies to develop and support the product. This reliance on external sources for support of an enterprise system may be extremely expensive.
Disadvantages of Open Source ERP • Updates – With many open source ERP solutions the code is constantly under going development by the software provider and they may supply numerous updates and patches to fix problems or enhance functionality. These updates may require additional testing on the part of a company to ensure that the update or patch does not cause any issues with the installed solution. If a company has limited resources to perform regression testing then this may require hiring a technology company to perform this.
Disadvantages of Open Source ERP • Maintenance – If a company has modified the source code of an open source ERP then the changes may make trouble shooting and general support difficult, so much so that support may be difficult to obtain. If significant changes are made by an in-house technology department then the system may only be supportable by that organization. Major outages and system crashes may not be
Disadvantages of Open Source ERP • Risk – there are many risks to operating an open source ERP solution that have been mentioned above, such as support, maintenance, and updates, but there are other risk issues such as the viability of the software provider, the possibility that the open source software may be changed to a closed source in the future, and legal issues that may arise around the open source ERP.
Open Source ERP • The open source ERP solution can give some companies the opportunity to own and operate an ERP system with limited capital outlay. However, when a company purchases support for their system and development work to incorporate unique business processes, the cost increases accordingly. There are disadvantages to open source ERP that should be considered including the ability to obtain support for the software and the possibility that a company may be on their own in the case of a major system failure which could bring operations to a grinding halt for a period of time.
