Security Management Issues for Open Source ERP in the NGN Environment

This chapter aims to provide a critical evaluation of security issues and potential solutions related to the use of free and open enterprise resource planning (FOS ERP) systems in highly dynamic and heterogeneous next generation networks (NGN). The authors first present a brief state of the art with respect to technologies, features and applicability of the existing security solutions for ERP systems. Second, they address security issues in FOS ERP systems. Further, they consider research directions concerning NGN infrastructure security, with a particular focus to the importance of building advanced security management systems. Properly defined service level agreement between the customer and the provider represents a starting point for provisioning of secure services with the required quality. The authors also propose policy-based security management architecture, in a wider context of quality of service management system.

Legal Issues with FOS-ERP

Whilst there are numerous benefits for a business from procuring a ERP on the basis of FOS licensing terms, there are a number of legal risks which need to be considered. These legal risks include: (a) assuming all FOS licences are the same; (b) uncertainty as to the enforceability of FOS licences; (c) lack of clarity in relation to the legal characterisation of FOS licences; (d) risk of poor performance; (e) risk of IPR infringement claim; (f) issues arsing from reciprocity; (g) legal challenges to FOS licences; and (h) the issues arising from the missing contractual provisions. The chapter outlines these legal risks and provides recommendations as to how to mange such risks.

Developing Business Model with Open Source Enterprise Resource Planning

Open source approach to software development has been used to develop the so-called ‘horizontal infrastructure’ software such as databases and application servers. However, there is an increasing acceptance of open source approach for developing business applications like enterprise resource planning (ERP) software. Indeed, organizations are building business models around ERP and similar business application developed using open source. In this chapter, the authors analyze the business model of one such open source ERP and explain increasing importance of software licensing and partner networks in FOS-ERP business models.

An Analytical Survey of Free/Open Source ERP Systems and their Potential Marketplace in Brazil

With the growing complexity and dynamics of modern organizations, ERP systems contribute to the management of business processes and allow strategic decisions to be taken more quickly and more safely, through a systemic, integrated view of the corporation. Free/Open Source software has consolidated as an increasingly viable alternative for this kind of systems, through the flexibility provided by its business and development model and the consequent possibility of total cost reduction. The objective of this chapter is to present a comparative survey of the main free/open source ERP systems currently available in the marketplace, their features focused in Brazilian companies and a general overview on its potential market.

An Exploratory Investigation of the Barriers to the Adoption of Open Source ERP by Belgian SMEs

Notwithstanding the increasing interest in open source ERP (OS-ERP) products in the past few years, their adoption by Belgian organizations is still very limited. To gain more insight into this phenomenon, we performed an exploratory investigation of which barriers inhibit the adoption of OS-ERP by Belgian SMEs. Based upon our previous research, we identified two main barriers, namely a lack of functionality and a lack of support. Next, we performed a screening of the Belgian OS-ERP market to investigate the functionality and support offered by various OS-ERP products. This allowed us to determine how the perceptions of organizations compare to the actual market for OS-ERP in Belgium. Our results provide more insight into the barriers to the adoption of OS-ERP by Belgian SMEs and provide various avenues for future research.

Free and Open Source ERP

With the proliferation of commercial Packaged ERP (P-ERP) systems in today’s enterprises, many reasons exist to look for alternatives in the quest for innovation, business development, cost, agility and dependency. P-ERP provides a solid and proven business support, an ecosystem of consultancies and integrators, senior management having gained confidence over the last 20 years, and commercially based support and development. This leaves companies with still more expensive P-ERP costs, still less flexibility, a still harder push to lose possibilities for differentiation, still more homogenised business processes, and absence of flexibility to change suppliers and systems. FOS-ERP offers an answer to most of these questions, but is facing issues in market penetration. In this chapter, barriers of FOS-ERP are reviewed; proposals are made on how to manage barriers. An approach managing co-existence of P-ERP and FOS-ERP is suggested. Concluding, FOS-ERP is seen as a strong option for enterprises in the future, but a clear understanding and distinction must be the offset, barriers needs to be managed, and optimal co-existence will in most cases be the realistic scenario.

Why Select an Open Source ERP over Proprietary ERP?

This chapter introduces the key factors that motivate Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) to select Open Source ERP (OS ERP) over the proprietary ERP. The chapter starts with the related previous research works by stating the basic concepts of OS ERP selection. The goal of this chapter is to empirically identify the most important factors that may motivate the Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) to select this category of enterprise systems. Therefore this chapter proposes a Theoretical Model for Open Source ERP selection by SMEs and later on conducts an empirical study based on that theoretical model. The chapter tries to broaden the discussion around the important selection factors by including the perspective of the suppliers along with the perspective of OS ERP implementer SMEs.

Tailoring FOS-ERP Packages

Free/Open Source software (FOSS) has made Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems more accessible for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) including overseas subsidiaries of large companies. However, the consulting required to configure an ERP to meet the specific needs of an organization remains a major financial and organizational burden for SMEs. Automatic ERP package configuration based on knowledge engineering, machine learning and data mining could be a solution to lessen the burden of the implementation process. This chapter presents two approaches to an automation of selected configuration options of the FOS-ERP package ERP5. These approaches are based on knowledge engineering with decision trees and machine learning with classifiers. The design of the ERP5 Artificial intelligence Toolkit (EAT) aims at the integration of these approaches into ERP5. The chapter also shows how FOS-ERP can boost Information System (IS) research. The investigation of the automation approaches was only possible because the free source code and technical documentation of ERP5 was accessible for TU Dresden researchers.

Open Source as a Strategic Asset

The size of the company, the absence of organizational conflicts, the clearness of objectives on information and communication technology possibilities, the training and knowledge in private and open source possibilities, the belief and motivation towards open source solutions and the trust of the top management on the technical areas have become relevant factors for achieving success in this project.

Key Aspects of Free and Open Source Enterprise Resource Planning Systems

This chapter introduces basic differences between Free/Open Source Enterprise Resources Planning systems (FOS-ERP) and Proprietary ERP (P-ERP), revisiting the previous work of Carvalho (2008). Taking into account that some years has passed and the economic downturn came, it updates key aspects of FOS-ERP under both vendor and adopter perspectives. Like its predecessor, this chapter contributes to broaden the discussion around FOS-ERP, showing that its differences from its proprietary counterpart go beyond the cost factor.