Arun Kumar (PGP05.113)IIM Rohtak

Open Source ERP: Odoo/OpenERP

AbstractIn a company where handful of employees perform various functions like sales, marketing, operations, finance and Human resource etc. and various tasks with in each functions. It becomes very complicated when a company grows in size because of too much information overload. Due to lack of coordination and inefficiency of employees the company has to bear huge loss in terms of revenue and resources. Thus it is important to have enterprise resource systems to overcome the these issues. There are already big guns of ERP in the market like SAP and Oracle which has huge share and there are some open source ERP which are negligible in market but still used by many companies. Mostly small companies use open source ERP as per their needs. This paper will discuss about open source ERP Odoo(Formerly OpenERP) and its functionality, modules and use in the current market.IntroductionWith the advent of technology there is huge increase in the competition among the companies. The company which is lacking in the technology meet its end early. Thus it becomes very important for companies to have cutting edge technology to beat their competitors. With the growing business it is important that keep in mind that there is efficient use of resources and timely delivery of products and services to make your customer satisfied. It is possible only when there is proper information flow along with process flow. Reliable and accurate information gives you competitive advantage over the other. Thus enterprise resource planning is very important for the company. There are already major players in the ERP solutions like SAP, Oracle and Microsoft. But many small companies are not able to use these expensive ERP solution and thereby they use open source ERP which are easily available on internet. There are various open source ERP available like Odoo, Xtuple, Apache OFBiz, ADempiere ERP business suite, ERPNext, Dolibarr, Opentaps, ERP5, LedgerSMB, OpenBravo ERP. These tools have different modules which are used by many functions from sales to marketing, supply chain to operation, finance and Human resources etc.There are many big company along with small companies are using these tools like Danone, canonical, Singer etc. The modules includes sales management, product development, supply chain management, accounting, purchase management etc.Company: DanoneDanone is one of the big food company in the world which have huge business lines like fresh dairy products, Early life Nutrition, Waters and Medical Nutrition. Danone has its presence in France, China, India and many other countries. Currently company has the revenue of 21.14 billion euros. Company already had SAP implementation in their operations but they also adopted OpenERP in many of their modules. The reason being that the company tried SAP modules but outcome is not as per their expectations. The overall result is failure of SAP module in their system. But company already invested a lot in SAP implementation which they thought would work for their needs in green field entities. Then they decided to bring a low cost, easily manageable and flexible solution i.e. Synchronized and integrated OpenERP and SAP platform. It allows them to faster implementation. They called it as Smart ERP.

Odoo(Formerly Open ERP)Oddo/Open ERP is broad suite of business applications regarding all functions in company. It has big portfolio of products where company find various modules like Sales, Manufacturing, Financial Management, Warehouse Management, Project Management and Human Resource Management. It is extensively used by small and mid-size companies and found as one of the most used open source ERP in the world. It can be used in live production directly and rapidly because of its modular structure and ease of use.Odoo/Open ERP is not a single application, it is thousands. It is an ERP on cloud. It has been appreciated by various companies because of its following functionality. Modular: Modularity is its best functionality because company can start with few modules and then increase as per needs. It is also compatible with many other applications and can work as integrated solution. Updated Technology: There is no as such obsolete in case Odoo/OpenERP as it is in continuous improvement technology and updated tools are easily available which are compatible with the latest technology. Lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO): If we want more functionality and technology then we have to compensate with total cost of ERP. A new ERP cost are operating costs, administrative costs, inventory costs and maintenance costs. But in the case Odoo/OpenERP your TCO is reduced. It is available on demand. Its benefits are realised in the form of percentage of completion, reduction in cycle time and total production output. Many companies who see ERP as cost centre changed their mind after watching potential of open source ERP like Odoo/OpenERP Consolidation Strategy: Many companies have several ERP systems which they find very difficult to consolidate. This pose many challenges like lack of standardised processes and lack of consistency in data in the different system. Odoo/OpenERP helps in unify the business processes in company Customizable: In a highly competitive and rapid changing world, companies have to innovate and improve to maintain their pace with the changing business requirements. Thus software and tools have to be flexible and customizable. This is possible with the right tools. No lock-in: It should be easily downloadable, free of cost, ease to test and use.

Relationship with class discussion.In class we have discussed various case like KEDASAP implementation, information system strategy at Neelkanth Drugs, Vinsun Infra Engineering: ERP on Premise or on Cloud. We have seen the issues regarding an ERP on premise and advantages of ERP on cloud. ERP on premise is very expensive and there are chances of obsceneness of products with the changing technological environment. We have discussed that deciding the type of ERP to be used is a strategic decision which involve entire leadership as well as employees opinion.These are few points which we found important in context with ERP on premise and ERP on cloud.ERP on premiseERP on cloud

Hardware costHighLow(only systems and internet cost)

Infrastructure cost (separate space etc.)HighNot required

Maintenance costHigh Low

IT staff costHighNot Required

Licence costHighLow

Repair costHighNot Required

Consultant costHighLow

Customizable LowHigh

SecurityHighLow

ScalabilityLowHigh

Accessibility & UsabilitydifficultEasy

Operating costsHighLow

ImplementationSlowRapid

IntegrationdifficultEasy

Disaster RecoveryLowHigh

FlexibilityLowHigh

References:http://opensource.com/resources/top-4-open-source-erp-systemshttp://www.enterpriseappstoday.com/erp/10-open-source-erp-options.htmlhttp://erpuae.blogspot.in/2012/03/danone-goes-openerp-over-sap.htmlhttps://www.facebook.com/notes/odoo/danone-surprises-the-market-deploying-an-open-source-erp-openerp/10150286860328963http://www.sodexis.com/services/what-is-odoo-longwood-orlando-florida.html

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