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Follow UsBANGALORE, INDIA: ERP has become essential for the success of any business today. The good thing about ERP software is that over the years, it has become affordable for organizations of all sizes, and not just large ones.
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Run 'RUN_Adempiere.' A login window will pop up; here click on red area in front of 'Server'. Then change application host to IP address of the machine and click on 'Test Application Server.' |
ERP has evolved from being a solution for a handful of industries (manufacturing, banks, etc) to something that can be deployed for any industry. Some examples are poultry, flour mill, exports, consultancy, etc. ERP vendors have been quick in incorporating needs of new industries into their solutions.
If you are planning to implement ERP for your organization, then chances are that you're stuck in deciding which commercial ERP solutions to choose.
You may not have even thought about the various Open Source ERP solutions that are available. Many Open Source ERP solutions today provide similar levels of functionality and features as offered by their commercial counterparts.
Plus, of course, the source code is also available for those who're willing to dabble with it and further tune it to their requirements.
The biggest issue you'll face with them is of course, support. But if you're willing to take the leap, and try things yourself, then we'll take you through two popular Open Source ERP offerings.
There could be one more case for considering an Open Source ERP solution. Suppose, you were planning to implement an ERP solution, but due to the current economic slowdown have postponed its implementation, then you might as well try your hands on some of the Open Source solutions available.
ADempiere
The good thing about this Open Source ERP solution is that it comes with a lot of support information to help you deploy it. Before implementing, you can get a feel of this product in two ways.
The first option is that you can log on to its online simulator at http://www. testadempiere. com/webui/ with 'SuperUser' as user name and 'System' as password. Here you can get acquainted with the interface of ADempiere ERP solution.
The other way is to get the ADempiere virtual appliance, and run it on a virtualiation platform like VMware player to get a taste of it. Here also, you'll get a pre-installed, ready-to-run ERP appliance up and running in a few minutes.
Implementation
In this section we will implement ADempiere on Windows. We used a simple machine running Win XP Professional.
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Run file 'RUN_Setup.bat' which bring up 'Adempiere Server Setup' window. Make appropriate changes like Database Type from oracleXE to PostgreSQL, database name from XE to adempiere, Database Password to adempiere and System Password. |
To start with we will need the latest version of ADempiere. A pre-requisite of this solution is that the system should have Sun Java 1.6.0_10 JDK. First install SDK on your system. For this one needs to set the environment variables. Right click on 'My Computer' icon on your desktop and go to the 'Advanced' tab. Here click on 'Environment Variables.' Add two new environment variables with the following settings:
Variable Name: JAVA_HOME
Variable Value: C:\Program File\Java\jdk1.6.0_10
Variable Name: JRE_HOME
Variable Value: C:\Program File\Java\jre6
Next step is to set the path variable as:
C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.6.0_10\bin; C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\bin\client;C:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\8.2\bin
One also needs a database. We installed Postgresql in this implementation. Oracle 10g/11g/XE is also supported by ADempiere. The following settings need to be changed while installing postgresql. Change from 'C' to your local language and instead of SQL-ANSI select UTF8. Make sure Postgresql is installed as a service. The programming language should be chosen by checking the box in front of PL/pgsql and PL/Java. Now that the database has been installed, we need to add database 'adempiere.' At start up, click on 'PostgreSQL>pgAdmin III'. Connect to postgresql. At the bottom you will find 'postgres'. Right click on Login Roles and create a new user "adempiere" with password "adempiere". Check superuser rights plus all boxes below superuser rights.
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Connect to PostgreSQL. At the bottom you will find 'postgres'. Right click on Login Roles and create a new user "adempiere" with password "adempiere". After setting user rights, right click database on top and add 'adempiere'. |
Now right click database on top and add 'adempiere' both as name and owner with encoding as 'UTF8'. In the 'Adempiere' folder (at C:\Adempiere) run file 'RUN_Setup.bat.' This will bring up 'Adempiere Server Setup' window. Make appropriate changes like database type from oracleXE to postgresql, Database Name from xe to adempiere, Database Password to adempiere and System Password. Also change the database server to local host. Click on 'Test' button at bottom to check setting; if settings are correct it will show check mark in front of settings.
Click on 'Save' button to save settings. Move to 'c:\Adempiere\utils' folder and run 'RUN_Server2.bat'. Now while server is running, go to 'c:\Adempiere' and run 'RUN_Adempiere'. A login window will pop up, click on red area in front of 'Server'.
On the next window that pops up, change the application host to the IP address of the machine and click on 'Test Application Server'. A green tick means that it is working properly. Now click on 'Test Database' (again look for a green tick). Login using 'System' as both username and password. Click on Ok and we are done.
Open ERP
OpenERP is an Open Source enterprise management software. Earlier it was known as TinyERP, which covered most of the enterprises needs and processes like accounting, HR, sales CRM, inventory etc.
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After you have selected a specific profile for your setup, you can configure it as the template of your enterprise. This will be reflected in all report pages. |
Like Adempiere, TinyERP or Open ERP as now it is known as, is also an open source ERP solution which is available as a single file installation that includes all the requisite plug-ins or databases needed by the software. From the Open ERP site, www.openerp.com, download the stable release of TinyERP.
As of now, the present stable release is version 4.2.3.4, so you can opt for all-in-one installer by name 'tinyerp-allinone-setup-4.2.3.4.exe' (for Windows). Once you run the installation, it will automatically install PostgreSQL Server 8.2 for database and also the GTK plugins for rendering the graphical interface of the ERP software.
After the installation, when you start the tinyERP server and then its client, you have to make one thing sure that the service for PostgreSQL is started and is running through the Windows Service monitor. When the tiny ERP client starts for the first time, it prompts to create a new database. From File > Databases > New Database, we can create a new database. Name it as 'pcqdemo'.
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When Tiny ERP has been configured, you can select from manufacturing, accounting or even for a service oriented company profile. |
After the database has been created, you can login to the ERP server and upon authentication you are asked to create a profile of your system. The profile can be of a finance, manufacturing or the software industry.
Once configured, it automates and helps you control all business activities. All business processes like sales that trigger manufacturing orders, accounting entries being updated by stock operations, etc can be integrated through this software.