ERP - Enterprise Resource Planning & Accounting

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Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is an integrated system used to manage internal and external resources including tangible assets, financial resources, materials, and human resources. It is a software architecture whose purpose is to facilitate the flow of information between all business functions inside the boundaries of the organization and manage the connections to outside stakeholders.

ERP Applications are the transactional back office systems that make all large businesses operate.  They have a vast array of functionality and are the engine room of the business system.  Data from the ERP system are processed by BI tools to process data in to information and enrich information from which to glean knowledge.

ERP vendors have designed their systems around standard business processes, based upon best business practices. Different vendors have different types of processes but they are all of a standard, modular nature. Firms that want to implement ERP systems are consequently forced to adapt their organizations to standardized processes as opposed to adapting the ERP package to the existing processes. At Akuna we believe that competitive advantage can be attributed to unique business processes. We support the notion that an ERP system should be moulded to fit the processes of a firm, and not the other way around.

ADempiere ERP is an open source ERP package with a strong community supporting and developing it.  It includes ERP, SCM, CRM, Financial Performance Analysis, Integrated POS and Web Store, Material Requirements Planning for Manufacturing. It uses a Data Dictionary to hold data structures, validation rules and screen layout which can be controlled from within the application itself. In practice, this means that customisation of the application can be done without new coding. A workflow engine is utilized to provide Business Process Management. These features allow for the rapid customization of the application to a business needs. ADempiere can scale very well to any size of business, catering for Multi-Organization, Multi-Currency, Multiple Accounting schema, Tax, & Language.

Compiere ERP (pronounced KOM-pyeh-reh, "to accomplish, complete, fulfill" in Italian) is an open source ERP  and CRM business solution for the Small and Medium sized Enterprise (SME) in distribution, retail, service and manufacturing which shares a lot of its origins with ADempiere. Compiere is distributed by Compiere, Inc. Compiere modules are: Quote to Cash, Requisition-to-Pay, Customer relationship management, Partner Relations Management, Supply Chain Management, Performance Analysis, Warehouse, Double-entry Book-keeping, Work-flow-Management and Web Store. Since the sale of Compiere to Consona we feel that this product is discontinued as an open source product.
Openbravo is an open source ERP business solution for small and medium sized companies that was originally based on the Compiere ERP. Openbravo features a web-based interface, where the user can view the entire status of a company, including production information, inventory, customer information, order tracking, and workflow information. It is possible to synchronize this information with other applications through the Java-based Openbravo API. Openbravo can also create and export reports and data to several formats, such as PDF and Microsoft Excel.
OfBiz

OfBiz (Open For Business) is an open source enterprise automation software project. Application areas include ERP, CRM, E-Business / E-Commerce, SCM, MRP, CMMS/EAM, etc. Apache OFBiz is an extremely functional ERP suite that can be customised to meet even the most challenging business needs. OFBiz can be deployed as a complete suite or in a modular fashion. Delivering flexibility without the huge deployment and maintenance costs of traditional enterprise automation systems. Being open source under the Apache 2.0 license and driven by a community Apache OFBiz offers both flexibility by design and by access to code, and a solution where you're not alone but rather can work with many others to get things done. Read more about Apache OfBiz

Opentaps ERP is a full-featured ERP suite which incorporates several open source projects, including Apache Geronimo, Tomcat, and OFBiz for the data model and transaction framework; Pentaho and JasperReports for business intelligence; Funambol for mobile device and Outlook integration. These applications are tightly integrated with the native Opentaps applications which provide user-driven applications for CRM, accounting and finance, warehouse and manufacturing, and purchasing and supply chain management.

OpenERP (formerly named Tiny ERP) is an ERP/CRM system, claimed to be the most popular, complete and feature rich ERP and CRM system. Among the features are management accounting, financial accounting, inventory management, sales and purchase management, tasks automation, Human Resource Management, marketing campaigns, help desk, and point of sale. OpenERP is known to be very complete and extremely modular, with 500+ available modules. It is based on a strong MVC architecture, with a distributed server, flexible workflows, an object database, a dynamic GUI, an XML-RPC interface, and customizable reporting system with convinient OpenOffice.org integration.
xTuple xTuple comes in three versions, postbooks (open source), standard and manufacturing.  xTuple is a traditional style accounting application and will be familiar to users of SageLine 50 or Quickbooks.