10 Best Open Source ERP Software

With recession hitting hard on the economy, businesses are holding back on ways to minimize IT expenditure. Top notch companies providing ERP software are affected by the ongoing financial crisis in the global market scaling down the IT investment. Implementation of ERP solution involves a hefty budget, long time and conscientious efforts for customization. To rescue the situation, open source ERP software have emerged as feasible alternative. The key reasons for the diversion includes lower cost, flexibility, large group of users and independence from solution providers. Additionally, companies can easily download the open source ERP solutions and customize them to fit the needs of the company. We had already done with the top 10 ERP software. This time we went for extensive research to assort a list of the best open source ERP software.

1. Openbravo

It’s one of the best open source ERP software for SMBs. Openbravo is a web-based program that was based on open source Compiere ERP program. It provides the entire status of a company that includes production information, inventory, customer information, order tracking and workflow information.

Openbravo accompanies wide ranging features that makes it easier to handle for end users. Some of its key features include dimensional reporting, alerts, email, keyboard navigation. It is easily configurable and tailors the existing functionality and business rules, as well as add new functionality without any programming.

The ERP software offers better compatibility and sharing, allowing export of single file or a collection of files to Excel, CSV, or PDF directly from the application. Users can easily create third-party modules or plugins or even browser the directory and choose the shared functionality created by other users to install. It allows high scalability enabling deployment in single server or on a cluster of them, serving up to thousands of users. Any record in the system can be easily audited and traced to user who created it.

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2. Compiere

The ERP software features a set of top notch integrated business functionalities. Compiere is organized uniquely to avoid the duplication of information and the need for synchronization. With an innovative design Compiere allows easy customization of the application. Modules included in the ERP solution include Customer relationship management, Quote to Cash, Requisition-to-Pay, Partner Relations Management, Warehouse, Supply Chain Management, Performance Analysis, Double-entry Book-keeping, Work-flow-Management and Web Store. The

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3. xTuple

The xTuple PostBooks is an integrated ERP, CRM and accounting system, based on the xTuple ERP Suite. The ERP system is built with the open source PostgreSQL database and open source Qt framework for C++.

Modules for ERP xTuple

• Accounting: general ledger, accounts receivable and payable, bank reconciliation, financial reporting
• Sales: quotes, order entry, sales reporting, shipping
• Product Definition: items, infinite-level bills of material (BOM)
• CRM: universal address book, incident management, opportunity management, to-do lists, project management
• OpenRPT: open source report writer
• Inventory: multiple locations, other advanced warehouse features
• Light Manufacturing: work orders, strong support for make to order
• Purchasing: purchase orders, receiving, vendor reporting

PostBooks is a cross platform application that runs equally well on Windows, Linux and Mac. It is fully internationalized with support for multiple tax structures, multi-currency, multilingual translation packs maintained by xTuple’s global community.

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4.  OpenERP

This is a complete open source ERP software, designed to address the enterprise needs and processes. OpenERP integrates accounting, hr, sales, crm, purchase, stock, production, services management, project management, marketing campaign. It offers separate client and server components and XML-RPC interfaces. Open ERP is complete and modular system with 350 modules. The ERP software has a strong MVC architecture with an object database, a dynamic GUI, distributed server, flexible workflows, and customizable reports. The database is PostgreSQL and the server part is written in Python.

The key features of OpenERP include management accounting, financial accounting, inventory management, sales and purchase management, tasks automation, Human Resource Management, marketing campaigns, help desk, and point of sale.

Apart Linux, Windows and Mac interfaces, OpenERP has an web interface eTiny that is also available for the Turbogears web framework. OpenERP is widely  used by customers looking to automate their sales processes effectively.

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5. Apache OFBiz

It is an Open Source Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system that provides a suite of enterprise applications that integrates and automates several business process of an enterprise. The  framework offers a common data model and sophisticated business processes. There is a common architecture for all applications build around data, logic and process components. Apache OFBiz  is built on open source technologies and standards like Java,  Java Enterprise Edition (JEE), XML and SOAP.

Apache OFBiz comes with a wide range of functionalities  that include

• Accounting (agreements, invoicing, vendor management, general ledger)
• Asset Maintenance
• Catalogue and Product Management
• Facility and Warehouse Management
• Manufacturing
• Order Processing
• Inventory Management, automated stock replenishment etc.
• Content Management System (CMS)
• People and Group Management
• Project Management
• Sales Force Automation
• Work Effort Management
• Electronic Point Of Sale (ePOS)
• eCommerce
• Human resources (HR)

OFBiz introduces the concept of screens where each page typically represents a screen.  It’s architecture allows rapid customization of the application to a business needs without any new coding.

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6. JFire

It is a comprehensive and flexible ERP solution for businesses of all size. The system offers enterprise processes with powerful analysis, reporting, and customization options. It has been designed to be highly customizable. JFire is a highly scalable system that can support small companies as well as giant companies with extensive user base, multi-currency & multi-language requirements. JFire is developed with the latest technologies such as J2EE 1.4, JDO 2.0, Eclipse RCP 3.3.

Key modules in JFire include

• Accounting
• Flexible Price Configurations
• Store Management
• Reporting
• Integration with external payment and delivery interfaces
• CRM

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7. ERP5

This is a strong community that offers powerful ERP solution for small businesses. ERP5 is fully packed with features that include customer relationship management (CRM), production management (MRP), supply chain management (SCM), product design management (PDM), accounting, human resources and e-commerce. For the small businesses, ERP5 has an Express edition which integrates ERP, CRM and KM funtionalities.

It offers a web based platform that can be used and configured for users and administrators through a browser. It provides an intuitive and polished user interface that makes an easy to understand ERP system.

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8. Opentaps

It is a complete open source platform. Opentaps features a modern architecture that includes a complete full ERP and CRM solution.  The ERP solution also includes mobile connectivity and built-in business intelligence tools. Key modules in opentaps are Online Store, CRM, Warehouse Application, Financials, Purchasing and Administrative Applications

Although not the best of the lot opentaps serves as one of the best open source ERP software as an alternative to expensive and inflexible commercial ERP solutions. It would perfectly fit the replacement for in-house solutions that are difficult to maintain or extend, or as a starting point to build your unique business model and processes.

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9. ADempiere

It is essentially a business suite that combines ERP, CRM and SCM support for business processes. ADempiere is an open-source ERP software that provides a framework for extending and customizing to meet business needs. Adempiere is developed in J2EE technology, especially using the JBoss application server. It’s database support is restricted to Oracle and PostgreSQL.

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10. WebERP

It is a web based ERP system for small and mid sized Enterprise. The LAMP application has a stable code base and is packed with features suited for distributed businesses in wholesale and distribution. The features sales order, accounts receivable, user defined sales analysis, purchase orders, accounts payable, inventory management, general ledger, manufacturing, multi-language, multi-currency, complex tax system support. It also has multiple inventory locations with serial number and lot tracking facilities as well as full double entry accounting. In addition, it offers sales orders support for assemblies and kit-sets.

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