Friday 10 February 2012 at 12:17 pm
Small and Medium Enterprises in Atlanta interested in an open source solution for CRM and ERP can rely on the groundwork laid at MSInc for LAMP based products in the Enterprise Resource Planning and Customer Relationship Managament arenas. MSInc has a rich background developing and implementing LAMP and unix or Linux based Material Requirements Planning, Resource Planning, Customer service and core accounting functions. MSInc built the famous Support Series II application that flourished on Zilog, Arix and SCO Unix based systems in the 1990's. With it's IEEE based Y2K initiative, S2I2 provides to this day a flawless if somewhat legacy in technological terms orented solution covering core areas of ERP such as Customer Relationship Management with core modules like LQDE, Material Planning with IQDT and JQDA / SQDK core accounting foundations.
Despite the robust nature of S2I2 applications, MSInc is now developing in the cloud, using Software as a Service in such applications as FMCSA compliance with their leased WarBil product for dispatched service enterprises. Even plumbers, local movers and retail companies with a delivery fleet can now manage hours of service without dependance on a finicky spreadsheet and a full time harried DOT complance clerk ever hoping their complex excel formula not fail them.
WarBil is a LAMP application, that is it is based on Linux, Apache, MySql and PHP/Perl. It is implemented on the cloud model and provides a limited scope of fuinctions compared to the more robust S2I2 application. WarBil is a part of the mix in modern SME application environments which also house accounting environments like QuickBooks, Peachtree Accounting or MAS 200/500. With this product in hand at MSInc we have then sought out alternatives to closed technologies and found three interesting alternatives to the formerly named solutions. At MSInc we have begun evalutating Compiere, OpenBravo and last but not least, perhaps our favorite, XTuple.
Pronounced with a long 'U', XTuple is a solution out of the Southeastern United States, which we at MSInc find attractive in itself. Like Rehat, this application comes in the free as in open (not free as in beer) open source model. While we see the depth and complexity of these applications to be sufficient that client modifications should be considered carefully. Our investigations are partly centering on the seperations of the format, template, gui and business logic layers. One common requirements in modifications are the additions of fields to the database and the addition of business logic to provide extra funtionality.
Information on LAMP ERP is available from MSInc.
Friday 14 October 2011 at 09:19 am
First of all, we need to make sure we have a clear understanding of cloud computing as opposed to what most of us have known as computing. Setting medium and large scale business environments aside for the moment, what we know as computing has been the purchase and installation of an application for our Windows or Mac computer. Whether installed from floppy disk, CD or DVD, the application and its data reside on a hard drive in your home or small business. The most fundamental example would be word processing, where to write a letter, and in a fashion superior to the typewriter, we would purchase a computer, printer and word processing software. We compose a letter, print it, put it into an envelope and affix a stamp. Let me assert that the cloud version of this activity is sending and e-mail.
But the cloud is more than word processing, just as the applications we bought for our PC or Mac consisted of a richer variety than just something to improve on the typewriter. We learned of spreadsheets, contact managers, stock portfolio tracking, and a long list of niche applications. When the internet began to take form, two services, AOL and Compuserve offered users not just bulletin boards to communicate, but applications began to develop where we could track our stocks without installing a specific application on our computer or even storing the data on a hard drive in our small office. Nowadays we use a computer at home, at the office, perhaps an ultraportable computer for flying and even our cell phone to access, update and utilize applications on the cloud.
The cloud may still store a small bit of data on your hard drive, as in cookies for instance. Rather than retyping your login name every time you visit a web-site, sometimes the webpages are programmed to 'default' to the user name you have used before. In fact the cloud is complex and relies on layers of computing deeper than just your computer and the other end of your network connection. First there are rooms full of computer equipment cooled by huge air conditioning systems. On those rooms full of computers are their own breed of operating systems, mostly based on Unix but some based on the Windows Server operating system. Finally, the modern equivalents of AOL and Compuserve, now thousands of companies, provide applications for home computer users, small businesses, medium and even large corporations.
Going back to the e-mail example, their is not a large corporation that is not using e-mail heavily for communication, and the operation of such a system cannot be done without sending information back and forth through the public computer systems that make up the internet. In the last five years almost no business manages their day to day bamking without using their banks 'cloud' application for checking balances, checks, deposits and initiating transfers from clearing accouts to interest bearing accounts for longer term storage of liquid capital. For example, even Apple Computer, with in excess of ten billion dollars in cash, relies on applications in the cloud to manage banking needs, it would be a waste of millions of dollars in un-captured interest returns if they delayed even a few hours the proper accounting of liquid capital assets in the form of cash reserves.
So the cloud, for big businesses and the home computer user, has become a part of day to day life. We all can create Yahoo acounts to manage our stock portfolio, whether real or imagined positions, and the cloud stores and updates the value of such positions.
Tuesday 26 July 2011 at 05:59 am
MAPICS, Inc. (Nasdaq: MAPX), a global provider of enterprise applications for manufacturers, allows users to implement MAPICS ERP on the Linux operating system with IBM eServer iSeries computers. MAPICS ERP for iSeries and Linux for iSeries provides greater stability, reliability, scalability, performance and economy. MAPICS ERP for iSeries' uses Java-based interfaces for rich fat-client Desktops in the local area network as well as thin-client Internet and wireless access. Mapics claims to help manufacturers to collaborate better over the Internet, "improve customer service, deliver products faster and make better business decisions".
"MAPICS recognizes the manufacturers' need for flexible, open, real-time collaboration to streamline operations, and the Linux operating solution gives them a competitive edge," said John P. Carter, Jr., senior vice president and general manager, North American Operations, MAPICS. "The Linux operating system, which will leverage manufacturers' existing technology investment, is an extremely stable, open operating system that provides a heterogeneous, integrated, reliable server operating system across a manufacturer's eServer technology platforms."
Linux provides not only the sturdiest foundation in server software but boasts the highest transactions per second in many benchmarks. IBM has a long history of solid hardware products and a dedicated service force to maintain IT centers.
"Linux, represents an exciting new technology that is rapidly gaining market acceptance. It is a simple and economic way to implement next generation e-business applications," said Per Larsen, vice president of eServer solutions at IBM. "By being one of the first ERP application vendors to support Linux deployment for its solutions, MAPICS is ahead of the curve in helping manufacturers move toward e-business."
Headquartered in Alpharetta, Georgia, world wide provider of ERP applications MAPICS is the oldest ERP provider, with roots in the MRP days of the '60s and '70s. Scientifically strong, MAPICS has helped manufacturers compete with improved and more timely procurement, often called JIT, better information for strategic decisions, enhanced production planning tools and interfaces between departments and through-out the supply chain. MAPICS' comes in two enterprise resource planning (ERP) foundations. (need more info)
Customers include Honda Motor Co. Ltd and the Bayer Corporation. More information is at www.mapics.com.
MAPICS is a trademark of MAPICS, Inc. The IBM e-business logo, eServer, and iSeries, are registered trademarks or trademarks of IBM Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. The IBM eServer brand consists of the established IBM e-business logo with the following descriptive term "server" following it. Other brand and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.
Ful Mapics® Press Release
Wednesday 01 June 2011 at 1:36 pm
prospects measured and filed when receiving calls by use the API to integrate the CRM - Customer relationship Management - product sales procedure assets to any income method. Sales managers require to consistently adapt to shifts in customer attitudes and perspective in purchase to make effective product sales methodologies. efficient way to apply and keep track of an automated income procedure. Prospects delegated within the product sales team Evaluate sales operations to supply group leaders with data of income forecasting in Sigma CRM Probability assessments are tracked and mapped sales data extended phrase reviews and give the front finish gross sales force maximum visibility client partnership management procedure. Buyer Service Automation online customer service precise purchaser service use of client retain every last communication and transaction services Quote Era Generating rates within the similar purchase management technique as the buyer connection management program Purchase Management Integration with the buy management technique changes the operate of the Customer Relationship Management
Thursday 03 March 2011 at 5:02 pm
Compiere
15 Users - $ 6,000
Server stack - Dell/Intel/Redhat/Postgres - $ 1,500
Serverless - workstation PostgresSQL install - $250
Includes access to support, pdf report writer, service packs, and choice of Postgres Plus Advanced Server or Oracle Standard Edition
Quickbooks Enterprise - free trial - yes, server required - no.
5 Users - $ 3,000 (per year for updates)
30 Users - $ 8,000 (per year for updates)
Thursday 03 March 2011 at 1:06 pm
Free trials. Both Xtuple and OpenBravo are open source software, and allow free downloads for Windows computers to evaluate the software. Consultants with Linux and Sql knowledge can even implement multi-user solutions in the free and open source format. Licensing for commercial use should be considered to help defray development costs for the publishers.
Seats vs Users; Most software for networks should be controlled by user, i.e. my use of the software allows me to do anything, including adding and deleting other users. The new person answering the phones and entering vendor invoices, already coded and approved with g/l distribution, does not have permission to add more users, or cut checks.
With QuickBooks when you have three users, you have three seats. You are not to install their software on twenty different computers but use only three at once as that is a violation of their licensing terms.
With the packages we review, you may have these twenty different computers with the software installed all linked to the database server. But only the allowed and licensed number of users may run concurrently, i.e. be logged in and entering data or inquiring, at precisely the same time.
Compared to QuickBooks, OpenBravo is quite expensive. Quickbooks, for three seats, costs around $ 687 per year and includes 60 days of support during each annual upgrade. With discounts it can be even less. Support can be purchased seperately. However for five concurrent users they jump to $ 2,000 according to their web-site, and I have found their technical people reliuctant to tout this configuration. They also offer an Enterprise version which costs around one and a half times more, but offers a more robust and SQL styled database engine and supports much higher numbers of seats.
Five Seats - Good for Eight to 12 Users
| |
OpenBravo |
Xtuple |
| Year One |
$ 5,000 |
$ 4,500 |
| Per Year |
$ 5,000 |
$ 1,850 |
Add Seats Annual
|
$ 1000 |
$ 162
|
| |
|
|
Key Software Features
| |
OpenBravo |
Xtuple |
| Servers |
None, Windows, Linux
|
None, Windows, Linux
|
| Database |
SqlServer, MySql
|
PostgresSql |
| Concurrency |
Unlimited Users
|
Unlimited Users |
Full Demo
|
Free, Single Seat
|
Free, Single Seat
|
| Clients |
Windows, Linux
|
Windows, Mac
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
From Xtuple;
Software maintenance - access to all upgrades, major and minor - is included in the annual license, as is direct helpdesk support from xTuple if you have 15 or more licensed users. The annual license is like a subscription. You are licensed to use the software as long as you are current on your payments (either annual or monthly). If you're more than 30 days late, you could be in default of your license and support agreements.
The perpetual license is a one-time purchase of the then-current version of the software. Software maintenance is priced separately - currently at 18% of the current per-user license cost, and required for at least the first year. Direct support from xTuple is another 7% on top of the maintenance (which is a prerequisite for support).
- « Previous page
- 1
- Next page »
