| ERP5: A Next-Generation, Open-Source ERP Architecture
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25 Sep 04 |
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(Source: IEEE Computer Society) When someone says enterprise resource
planning (ERP), most IT professionals think of the expensive, complex, and
difficult-to-implement commercial products that were the rage a few years
ago. Although many large corporations did reap tremendous cost savings from
the implementation of such systems, an average implementation cost counted
in the millions of dollars; this has prevented ERP systems from spreading
to small and medium-sized businesses. After ERP deployment, its
"blackbox" nature prevents from understanding and eventually
improving the business processes it implements, leaving some important
business decisions to the software publisher rather than to the corporate
manager, preventing scientific researchers from getting involved in
management innovation.
This situation provides much of the motivation for our architecture, ERP5,
which offers several advantages for business. All ERP5 tools are open
source, so are free and have openly available source code that a business
can change to suit its processes. ERP5 incorporates, from scratch, advanced
concepts such as object-oriented databases, a content management system,
synchronization, variations, workflows, and a method to model and implement
business processes. ERP5 is also a Web site where researchers can share
innovation on management techniques and their implementation through
software.
In 2001, two companies initiated the ERP5 project: Nexedi, a Zope service
provider in France (Zope is a well-known open-source application server),
and Coramy, a European apparel manufacturer. They aimed to develop a set of
ERP software components for small and medium-sized companies. In addition
to source code, the project also produced educational material and a
clearly defined theoretical model. To fit the needs of smaller companies,
they also designed ERP5 for distribution across distant sites with slow and
unreliable Internet connections.
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