ERP or Enterprise Resource Planning : Basics and Softwares

Enterprise Resource Planning or ERP is the entrepreneurial task in nature within an existing company resources for re-allotment of capital, equipment or personnel in together termed as Resources as efficiently as possible as a part of long term operational process and thus in short, Enterprise Resource Planning or ERP is to optimize the management of business processes. Usually, an ERP system is a complex software application to support an entire enterprise resource planning.
Now, from this article, actually you can collaborate our previously published three articles – ERP Software as a Service, Criteria for ERP SaaS Applications and Demystifying Contracts for ERP in the Cloud.

Various ERP or Enterprise Resource Planning systems differ mainly in specialist orientation (target sector), the scalability to different sizes of business (number of required users or location of the company location), the functionality and technologies (databases, programming languages ?, layered architectures, supported operating systems etcetera).

It was observed that the trend was more and more towards the providers and to rely on Web-based products before PRISM leaks, which increased the concern of security and privacy of Data among the mass. Here, the system interface is displayed in a browser window for example. This provides to do among the other things. Thus, suppliers and customers can be directly involved in the business processes, for example, to place orders, to schedule deliveries etcetera. These options represent a significant time saving and therefore is cost saving.

A large company can have an ERP solution that also can represent their corporate structures, possibly subsidiaries by direct connect and requires a variety of complex business functions. In addition, complex, highly integrated system is adaptable to many industries with universal ERP systems and industry-specific ERP systems exists with reduced complexity and functionality.

ERP or Enterprise Resource Planning : Basics

ERP or Enterprise Resource Planning systems should largely map all the business processes. A continuous integration and a move away from point solutions lead to a holistic ERP system in which the resources can be managed across the enterprise. ERP systems also improve the flow of communication within the company and to the purposes of e-collaboration in business becomes more efficient.

The typical functional areas of ERP software are :

1. Materials Management (procurement, storage, disposition )
2. Production
3. Financial and accounting
4. Controlling
5. Human Resources
6. Research and development
7. Sales and marketing
8. Master data management
9. Product data management
10. Document Management

The size of the company often determines the requirements for the functional areas listed above as well as the available volume of investment for hardware , licenses and implementation . So-called SMEs require, for example, often no integrated control and accounting modules. Additionally different industries sometimes vary widely differing requirements for an ERP system. Thus, most major vendors offer industry based solutions, whose sub-packages are tailored to the specific industries.

ERP or Enterprise Resource Planning : Free Softwares

There are also free software for ERP or Enterprise Resource Planning. Free ERP software can be installed and used by companies themselves. However, there are also systems integrators, who specializes in ERP programs and provide free services charged on the basis of this software. The advantages of a free system is the ability to adapt to needs, the program itself is expected to be free from malwares and spywares, on the other hand – the investment can be significantly reduced.

Depending on the license extensions, adaptations and solutions for recurring tasks from the corporate environment can flow back into the system. Free ERP systems are technically quite competitive. By the general availability of the source code of free ERP systems, at least theoretically they offer more security in future.

Here is a list of our known Free ERP or Enterprise Resource Planning Softwares, most are under GNU GPL License or compatible with GNU GPL :

1. Adempiere (Java, GNU GPL 2.0)
2. Apache OFBiz (Java, Apache License 2.0)
3. OpenERP (Java plus PG SQL, GNU GPL 3.0)
4. Tryton (same software to be precise, under GNU GPL 3.0)
5. ERP5 (Python, GNU GPL 3.0)
6. Compiere (Community Edition, GNU GPL)
7. Fedena (Ruby on Rails, Apache License 2.0)
8. Frontaccounting (PHP MySQL, GNU GPL 3.0)
9. GNU Enterprise (Obviously under GNU GPL 3.0)
10. HeliumV (Java, LGPL or AGPL – not clear)
11. KwaMoja (PHP MySQL, GNU GPL 3.0)
12. JFire (Java, LGPL)