Open Source ERP Guru

Neogia is one of several open source ERP solution built on top of Apache Open For Business framework (Ofbiz). The Apache open source project provides a set of services required to operate a business – create customer records,products and sales orders, for example. The Apache project does not provide a complete solution but rather the building blocks for a real ERP application. I feel that applications built on top of OFbiz have a good chance to be successful. Apache open source projects provide commercial-grade, robust solutions that power the almost infinite growth of the Internet. Applications such as the Apache web server, Tomcat and Lucene are all top-notch applications, offering quality,ease of use and ROI that few commercial products can compete with. I hope that OFBiz will evolve to become as important to the business community as other Apache projects are to the Internet. 

To get the Neogia installation started, I visited their website. The website is a little overloaded with graphics, but navigation is easy. I immediately noticed the French origins of the project, meaning that like many other open source projects, development and probably early adoption is done mainly in Europe.

The “Download” link is easily traced. I click it, expecting to find links to installation documentation. Instead , I see 5 lines of installation instructions : download, unarchive, run your ERP. I can feel that something is missing. How can it be so simple to install an ERP solution?? Than I notice that I was not required to install any database software.The installation archive file contains the application server,a database engine (Derby) and the actual java code.

I followed the instructions in the Download pageand vouala, the fastest ever ERP installation was completed successfully.

As recommended by the OFBiz project, the provided Derby database is good for sandboxes and demos, not for production purposes. The reason is, you need your database to do more that just store data records – you need it to manage multiple concurrent users, provide high availability and fault tolerance options, and allow you to keep your data secure. You can use any open source (and non open source) database that supports JDBC – Mysql and PostgreSQL will be your usual suspects.