top of page
carpcrisexaser

Openmfg ERP Suite for Mac: A Powerful and Flexible Business Management System



OpenMFG offers the only Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system on the market today with a fully open source architecture. While the server runs on the PostgreSQL open source database (on the Linux, Mac OS X, or Windows operating system), the graphical client software is also fully multiplatform, thanks to the open source Qt framework for C++. The OpenMFG ERP Suite includes a rich array of functionality for manufacturing and distribution companies, including full native financials, inventory management, purchasing and sales, scheduling and planning, logistics, and its own native graphical report writer and rendering engine.


OpenMFG, LLC develops next-generation enterprise applications powered by open source software. OpenMFG products give companies visibility into costs, supply chains, processes, inventory and financial operations with a lower cost of ownership than competing products, and are sold to end-user customers through a network of value added partners throughout North America. For more information, please visit the company Web site at www.openmfg.com.




Openmfg Offers New Erp Suite For Mac




We recently caught up with the six-year-old company formerly known as OpenMFG, which has renamed itself xTuple to indicate its status as more than a single-product company. While the commercial open source OpenMFG ERP suite remains the...


OpenMFG is looking to get more visible with its ERP suite built using open source components. The company operates under what it calls a 'proprietary GPL' wherein users and partners extend the source code, and OpenMFG writes it back into the core...


It offers SEMs real-time visibility across the entire supply chain process, from ordering raw materials to manufacturing to shipping, he added. All of these functions are supported by integrated financial applications to handle accounts receivable, accounts payable and the general ledger. Both the OpenMFG client and the OpenMFG server run on Mac OS X, Windows, Linux and several commercial Unix platforms, such as Sun Solaris, HP-UX and IBM AIX.


OpenMFG sells through certified channel partners and its own direct sales operation, pricing its software according to an affordable annual site license model. The company also offers its own industrial engineering services in conjunction with the installation of its software, although it typically partners in this area with consultants in its channel program. There are no additional license fees for component software costs, and the customer is totally free from vendor lock-in.


  • Impact Report\\n\\nOpenMFG adds CRM as it releases version 2.0 of core product\\n\\nAnalyst: Martin Schneider\\nSector: Enterprise Software \\nDate: 20 Oct 2006\\nEmail This Report: to colleagues / to yourself \\n451 Report Folder: File report View my folder \\n\\nWhile some people thought little innovation was left to be seen in the ERP space, a few technology trends have breathed new life into the sector. Software as a service (SaaS) and open source have given even the smallest businesses access to complex back-office functionality. This is possibly most true in the manufacturing space, which has more complex processes to automate, thus making the bulk of the ERP projects here too expensive for SMBs. \\n\\nOpenMFG, however, has utilized a quasi-open-source model to bring down the total cost of ownership for manufacturing ERP systems. And most recently, the company added a CRM package to the suite, aiming to provide its target market with integrated front- and back-office functionality. \\n\\nImpact assessment\\n\\nThe message \\nOpenMFG has released version 2.0 of its ERP suite. The release includes multicurrency support as well as other product and resource planning upgrades, but the most important addition is a new CRM package that is integrated with the core ERP product. \\nCompetitive landscape \\nThere are other open source ERP vendors out there, like Compiere and Openbravo, but these are not as focused on the manufacturing industries as OpenMFG. Microsoft has made headway with its Dynamics line of applications, and hosted vendors like NetSuite offer a low-risk, lower-cost ERP alternative for the SMB space similar to OpenMFG's. SAP has been making moves to better court smaller businesses as well. \\nThe 451 Assessment \\nWe have been watching OpenMFG since it was just getting off the ground, and expect it to continue to grow in the next year. The company expects to double revenue in 2006 versus 2005, and we feel it could do even better. The complex nature of manufacturing ERP systems and the need for deep customization play well into OpenMFG's model. However, we think the company is playing it a bit too conservative, and may want to ramp up the CRM product and front- and back-office process automation independently from customer-funded products. The competition is only increasing here, and OpenMFG needs to keep building out functionality to remain a viable alternative to proprietary products aimed at smaller firms with less resources. \\n\\nStrategy\\n\\nOpenMFG has built out its open source ERP product under the notion that any new functionality is 'paid for' in some way before the code is added to the core product. This means that either a customer has expressed a need and is willing to pay for the addition, or partners or members of the development community have already built and tested the new code. While this insures that a small, open source hybrid like OpenMFG does not spend resources on functionality that is not 100% in demand, it does make for some issues. For example, since the company has just put together a first-generation CRM package (more below), we wonder how long it will take, if only paid projects are prioritized, for the CRM functionality to grow and mature. \\n\\nProducts\\n\\nVersion 2.0 of the OpenMFG product highlights several areas of development. First, the product now includes complete multicurrency support. This addition \u0096 beta tested and brought live with customers in Canada, the UK and India \u0096 lends a hand to the company's international expansion plans. Second, some specific manufacturing-related issues have been addressed. One is a new master product scheduling and forecasting module. This is a top-down operations planning tool that drives MRP, allowing product planners to forecast even further out than current production processes. Another new functionality set is called 'buffer management,' which is a tool that identifies bottlenecks. It works with existing 'buffers' in inventory, labor time and vendor lead times to adjust to these bottlenecks without getting severely off production schedules. \\n\\nApart from the ERP side of things, version 2.0 includes the initial release of CRM functionality in the product. Now this is not a stand-alone CRM suite that handles deep marketing campaign automation, or even offers deep sales force automation capabilities. This is CRM for manufacturers, and it's pretty bare-bones at the moment. The core of the product's functionality is extended contact management. This includes a universal address book, so that a single account can be a customer and also a vendor. Any number of contacts can be associated to a central account. There is also a trouble ticket generation and tracking system that includes a communications log to see which customers had issues, who helped them, and how the issue was resolved and when. And there is a centralized to-do list, so that managers can see who is scheduled to perform what tasks, and plan accordingly. \\n\\nWhile the CRM product is not really groundbreaking functionality, it is an important addition for OpenMFG. As potential customers make buying decisions for an ERP system, it is important that OpenMFG have some sort of CRM backbone, since in the manufacturing world, CRM must be very tightly integrated with the ERP data. In lacking a closed loop between CRM and ERP, OpenMFG must have kept itself out of some deals. But the company still has a long way to go to handle complex CRM tasks. \\n\\nPartners\\n\\nOpenMFG has been building out a decent set of both technology and reseller partners. It has the requisite partnerships with IBM to optimize ERP for those running Linux on xSeries servers. And a partnership with Apple has the OpenMFG product becoming one of the few ERP systems that can run on the Mac OS. \\n\\nHowever, we are more interested in OpenMFG's growing partner network. With about 25 partners, most in the US but also partnerships in the UK, the company is starting to broaden its reach. And with a base price of $1,000 a seat for annual subscriptions, we see a lot of potential for the product to win over SMB manufacturers globally. The internationalization features will of course aid this expansion well. And while OpenMFG does not offer a SaaS version, the company says many partners are hosting the product for customers. \\n\\nCompetition\\n\\nAlthough OpenMFG operates under a hybrid open source model, it says it is not seeing much head-to-head competition from other open source ERP vendors. These include Compiere, which was one of the first open source applications to hit the market, and recent upstart Openbravo. The reason, according to OpenMFG, is because most other ERP vendors in the open source space do not have a product that is truly manufacturing-focused. \\n\\nThe company does say it sees a lot of Microsoft, namely its Dynamics family of products, in competitive deals. While one would think of an open source ERP product as solely a Linux play, the OpenMFG client can run on Windows, even though it only supports a Postgres database. \\n\\nSAP is still very much a competitive concern with its BusinessOne product. But will SAP become more of a threat on a cost basis if it continues to build out its SaaS offerings to include ERP? SAP's recent Praxis Software Solutions buy lends some credence to this possibility. And on the SaaS front, NetSuite is something of a threat, but still selling to much smaller businesses than OpenMFG is targeting for the most part. \\n\\nSWOT analysis\\n\\nStrengths Weaknesses \\nVersion 2.0 of the OpenMFG product now offers integrated CRM along with the core ERP functionality. The CRM is still very basic, and since all additions are customer driven, we wonder how long it will take to catch up to other vendors. \\nOpportunities Threats \\nA growing partner network and internationalization features are opening up OpenMFG's target market. SAP has shown more interest in the midmarket with recent acquisitions, and NetSuite is still the best hosted ERP even if it is less manufacturing-focused. \\n\\nRelated analysis\\n\\n451 Market Insight Service\\n\\nIs Epicor the biggest sleeper of all the global ERP players?\\n\\nThe company has quietly built up a decent portfolio and customer base via acquisition. Now it is looking to migrate its users to a single SOA-driven master ERP suite without losing its strong maintenance stream. (10 Oct 2006)\\n\\nSAP adds search tools and makes mySAP its core ERP platform for next five years\\n\\nThe company has unveiled SAP Enterprise Search, which is designed to search for data both within and outside SAP applications. It also says adding functionality to mySAP ERP will be easier. (12 Sep 2006)\\n\\nWill Openbravo get a standing ovation as an open source ERP player?\\n\\nThe company has grown from a consultancy with its own application set into a full-fledged open source vendor. With funding in place, the next step is to build out a viable partner network to land customers as well as develop the ERP suite. (11 Sep 2006)\\n\\nLawson will keep its main ERP products separate as it invests in HCM and BI\\n\\nWhile some cross-selling play will happen, the S3 and M3 product lines will remain separate for the most part. And its latest M&A move may have Lawson getting more into SaaS than previously expected. (4 Aug 2006)\\n\\nEven with its VC cash infusion, Compiere will stay partner-centric\\n\\nThe company may be hiring more internal staff and relocating to the Bay Area, but it says its ever-growing partner network will still dictate product development and be the key source of revenue. (31 Jul 2006)\\n\\nERP at the corner store? NetSuite's partnership with CompUSA brings SaaS to retail\\n\\nThe new partnership will have the NetSuite product available for purchase by small businesses at select CompUSA retail stores, marking yet another move in the democratization of software via the SaaS model. (29 Jun 2006)\\n\\n2006 preview \u0096 Application software\\n\\nThe continuing rise of open source and evidence of a wholesale shift away from the standard horizontal application suites of old, toward much more modular, interoperable offerings should make 2006 a year to remember. (20 Dec 2005)\\n\\n\\n-\\n-\\n\\n\\n451 TechDealmaker\\n\\nWhat pieces will CDC Software need to buy to finish its application software puzzle?\\n\\nAs the company works to ensure the success of its fledgling software unit in the wake of losing the bid for Onyx Software, it must make some additions. What acquisitions would be the right moves at the right price? (15 Sep 2006)\\n \\n \\nCheers\\n\",\"author\":\"username\":\"former.member\",\"displayName\":\"Former Member\",\"groupIcons\":[],\"suspended\":true,\"isCurrentUser\":false,\"id\":1999282,\"posted\":1170938814000,\"votes\":0,\"isAccepted\":false,\"isLocked\":false,\"userVoted\":\"\",\"relations\":\"canCancelAccept\":false,\"canUnlock\":false,\"canUseDelete\":false,\"canVoteDownOrCancel\":false,\"canLock\":false,\"canAccept\":false,\"type\":\"answer\",\"canVoteUpOrCancel\":false,\"isCurrentUserAuthor\":false,\"attachments\":[]}]"), answerForm: formAction: "/answers/1999243/post.json", textareaName: "body", textareaErrors: "", isAttachmentsEnabled: true, answerEditorialGuideline: title: "Before answering", content: "You should only submit an answer when you are proposing a solution to the poster\'s problem. If you want the poster to clarify the question or provide more information, please leave a comment instead, requesting additional details. When answering, please include specifics, such as step-by-step instructions, context for the solution, and links to useful resources. Also, please make sure that your answer complies with our Rules of Engagement.", links: [ title: "Rules of Engagement", href: " -of-engagement.html", ] , answerMinBodyLength: '10', answerMaxBodyLength: '20000' , currentUser: sapInternalId: '', permissions: canVoteUpOrCancel: false, canVoteDownOrCancel: false, canModerate: false, , isVotedUp: false, isVotedDown: false , alerts: alertModeratorMinLength : "It should be given a proper explanation about why the content is inappropriate.", alertModeratorMinLengthValue : "10", alreadyReportedMessage : "You already have an active moderator alert for this content." , url: profileApiBaseUrl: ' -api.services.sap.com', followUnfollowQuestion: '/sap/nodeSubscription.json', isFollowingQuestion: '/sap/isFollowingNode.json', vote: voteUp: '/commands/0/voteup.json', voteDown: '/commands/0/votedown.json', cancelVote: '/commands/0/cancelvote.json' , rss: answers: '/feed/1999243/answers.rss', answersAndComments: '/feed/1999243/comments-and-answers.rss' , authorizeUploadContext: type: 'answer' , atMention: userSearchServiceUrl: ' ', currentUserName: '', useNewUSSCORS: true, atMentionDelayMs: 100, showMentionInRedactor: true , attachmentSettings: commentMaxAttachments: '2', answerMaxAttachments: '10', commentMaxAttachmentSizeBytes: '1048576', answerMaxAttachmentSizeBytes: '1048576', commentAttachmentsSizeBytesTotal: '2097152', answerAttachmentsSizeBytesTotal: '10485760' , editor: editorClipboardUploadEnabled: true }) })(); Home

  • Community

  • Ask a Question

  • Write a Blog Post

Login / Sign-up Search Questions and Answers 0 Former Member Feb 08, 2007 at 12:38 PM MIS report 546 Views Follow RSS Feed what are the standard MIS Report..... 2ff7e9595c


1 view0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Comments


bottom of page