Working With Open ERP, Essay Example

OpenERP is currently a popular open source ERP software that is unique and stands out from its competition. The software is characterized by a complete set of modules that have most of critical ERP functions without having the hustle of purchasing licenses for individual modules.

The OpenERP CRM module can be considered as one of the fundamental and core ERP component. This component has three key features, meetings customers and the reconfigure function that allows one to alter their OpenERP features and modules. This function has an email gateway function that is compatible with Mozilla Thunderbird and Microsoft Outlook. This allows for an effective system that manages communication with customers in real-time. This is the essential strength of OpenERP, merging the strength of a vendor to the connectivity of a large community.

The logistics, scheduling and forecasting functions of OpenERP are its core functional that are characteristic of extended ERP systems. However, the project management, customer relationship management (CRM) and human resource management functionalities are characteristic of ERP II systems (Leon, 2008, p. 266).

Furthermore, the software depicts considerable flexibility as it allows for companies to develop their own custom applications tailored for their own needs. This is completed by the variety of modules and the ability to engage external communication between different computer devices. Users find it considerably simple to use the software as users get to select the specific modules that the business needs. Its flexibility and variety is also depicted in that manner in which it covers most of the needs of the modern-day business. These areas include projects, purchasing, inventory, logistics, sales, human resource (HR), billing, production.

Personal Opinion

OpenERP is a robust and efficient ERP software that can be employed by any type of organization to track and enhance different aspects of its operations. This software is highly recommended for small businesses. This stems from the fact that the software allows the business to determine the capacity of the software to sustain the company’s ERP needs. By virtue of being an open source software, small businesses do not have to contend with the financial constraints associated with commercial ERP software.

The software has cloud functionality, which means that companies can simply integrate data from their legacy systems onto the software. This significantly reduces the costs associated with the management and storage of data, while ensuring remote accessibility of the system. Such functions are crucial for the modern-day business that looks to mitigate costs and increase profitability.

There is one significant challenge with OpenERP, the inheritance system. OperERP’s inheritance system employs a custom package system as opposed to Python’s package system. The server configuration file defines Add-on paths by priority and the modules that are embedded within these paths can override and import each other’s code. This creates a very flexible system, but it makes tracing of codes a daunting task.

OpenERP is highly recommended for medium and large sized enterprises. Owing to the complexity of businesses being directly proportional to its size and nature of operations, the OpenERP software can be considerably useful for medium and large-sized enterprises. The software has a wide range of functionality through its modules, specifically built for the more complex large-sized enterprises. Some of the modules available can only be used in a large-sized organization as opposed to small businesses. The most significant advantage of OpenERP for large enterprises is the 360 degree view of the company’s operations and processes.

References

Leon, A. (2008). Enterprise Resource Planning (2nd ed.). New Delhi: McGraw Hill.

Moss, G. R. (2013). Working with OpenERP. Birmingham: Pakt Publishing.