This is a presentation held at eLiberatica 2007. http://www.eliberatica.ro/2007/ One of the biggest events of its kind in Eastern Europe, eLiberatica brings community leaders from around the world to discuss about the hottest topics in FLOSS movement, demonstrating the advantages of adopting, using and developing Open Source and Free Software solutions. The eLiberatica organizational committee together with our speakers and guests, have graciously allowed media representatives and all attendees to photograph, videotape and otherwise record their sessions, on the condition that the photos, videos and recordings are licensed under the Creative Commons Share-Alike 3.0 License.

1. Open Source ERP
Open Source ERP
Projects and opportunities for Romania
Author: Thomas Koch Date: 19.5.07
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2. Open Source ERP
Thomas Koch
q Graduated Music and Physics
q Worked for a small ERP customizer (Windows only)
q No IT expert, hobby Programmer since 1990
q Expert for Romania:
r Youth & Social work since 1998
r Studied 3 semesters in Cluj
r Married with a Romanian
r Translated our ERP Suite
http://www.koch.ro
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3. Open Source ERP
Structure
1. Spotlights on ERP projects (small companies up to 100 employees)
2. Romanians and Open Source
3. What I gonna do
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4. Open Source ERP
Post Microsoft
q M$ is definitly dead.
r Most current ERP software works only on Windows
r Clients switching to Linux thinks also about new ERP
r A client voting for Linux may want an OS ERP too.
q There's no good open source Groupware or ERP yet
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5. Open Source ERP
Criteria for our next ERP
q 100% Open Source
r License: GPL / BSD / ...
r Open Documentation
r No entrance fee (partnership program...)
q Unit Tests:
r Scalability
r Reliability
r Interoperability
q Code / Doc. Quality
r Don't look on the features!
q Browser-access
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6. Open Source ERP
Exploring Open Source
q Compiere (Java)
q ERP5 (ZOPE on Python)
q OfBiz (Java)
q Openbravo (Java)
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7. Open Source ERP
Compiere
q Started 2000 by an Oracle consultant
q Oracle only, Postgres may work
q $6M Venture funding 2006
q Java
q Still restricted access to doc.
q Mostly used and developed in USA
q No community, but Compiere Inc.
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8. Open Source ERP
ERP5
q Started 2002 as a contract work
q Complicate, very few documentation, "hackish"
q Developed by Nexedi and Nuxeo (fr), Nuxeo switched to Java
q ERP5 doesn't run on Zope3
q Unit Testing only since September 06
but: worthwhile to study the concepts!
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9. Open Source ERP
ERP5 Concepts
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/ERP5_Handbook
5 abstract classes:
q Resource: e.g. a skill of an individual, a currency, a raw material, a product
q Node: a node is a place which can receive amounts of resources and send amounts of
resources
q Movements: of an amount of resource between two nodes at a given time and for a given
duration
q Path: defines a way for a node to access a resource
q Item: describes a physical instance of a resource.
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10. Open Source ERP
OfBiz
Only two showstoppers:
q No Unit Testing at all
q Java
good points:
q Large amount of docus, even screencasts
q Large community
q 100% open
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11. Open Source ERP
Openbravo
q started as 5M$ investment 01/2006
q One company, spain
q MPL Licence, not GPL compatible
q spanish only manual
q Forked from Compiere 2.4
q No/spanish code documentation
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12. Open Source ERP
Openbravo II
From the forum: "We are familiar with Doxygen and JavaDoc. We considered producing a
JavaDoc documentation a few months back but we think that it adds little value to our
developers."
=> source code is a mess.
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13. Open Source ERP
Romanians and Open Source
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14. Open Source ERP
Outsourcing companies
q Show your talent with OS contributions!
q Sell solutions directly to end users!
q Specialize: Software is your tool as a consultant, not your product.
q Stay up to date! Most innovation happens in OS today.
q You're free to show your sympathy for Linux without loosing your client base!
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15. Open Source ERP
Decentralize
q B, CJ, TM, BV are expansive
q Learn distributed working from OS:
r Revision Control
r Communication
r Issue tracking
r Documentation
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16. Open Source ERP
Individuals
q Show your talent with OS contributions!
q Job offers are posted on the projects lists!
q Make your diploma thesis an open source contribution!
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17. Open Source ERP
Romanian mentality
Please, don't be offended!
No rule without exception.
Exceptia confirma regula.
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18. Open Source ERP
Sa moare capra vecinului
Romanians don't
q cooperate, because they don't
q trust. So they've not learned to build
q associations and to cooperate as
q democrats.
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19. Open Source ERP
Give freedom to students!
q Many Open Source people are students
q If Romanian Students can't participate in open source projects, there won't be a chance for
OS in Romania.
q Romanian Students are under hard pressure
q No democratic participation in schools
q Not encouraged to learn independent
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20. Open Source ERP
Free Software?
Romanians are not used to pay for software licenses.
=> Selling services instead of licenses should be the right thing for Romania.
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21. Open Source ERP
Look out for women
There are women in maths and physics in Romania!
Get them in IT and in Open Source before they're locked out!
On irc.rlug.ro: 199x "pula" from April, 27th till May, 16th
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22. Open Source ERP
What I gonna do
q Many service companies in Germany ask for
r Groupware
r Project Management
r Accounting for projects
No suitable OS project so far.
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23. Open Source ERP
eZ Components
q Highest quality standard ever met in PHP or even free software development!
q PHP5EnterpriseEdition
q developed by eZ Systems
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24. Open Source ERP
eZ Components Highlights
q Authentication
q Database
q Graph
q Mail
q PersistentObject
q SignalSlot
q Template
q Translation
q Workflow
Next Release: WebServices (SOAP/REST)
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25. Open Source ERP
Details: PHP5
q Is not PHP4 anymore!
q All Object Orientation Features like Java
q Combined with PHP's flexibility
q All dev-tools available (Test, Debug, Manage)
q Large Userbase
q Easy to learn even for accountants!
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26. Open Source ERP
Leave traditional thinking
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27. Open Source ERP
No traditional solutions
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28. Open Source ERP
Think open
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