Evaluating Odoo
This site aims to provide information about experience implementing Odoo in the UK. It answers questions:
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What is ERP and how it can help in my business?
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What is the history and problem that ERP tries to solve?
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What is Odoo?
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What differentiates Odoo from other ERP software platforms?
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Is Odoo right for me?
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What is the nature of application integration projecds in general?
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What to focus on and what to avid with limited resources?
What is ERP?
ERP is an acronym for Enterprise Resource Planning, but even its full name may not be enough to clarify what it is and what it does. The history of ERP goes back to the 1960s, where many businesses were in the manufacturing sector and hence, the first ERP’s were used to monitor inventory and to reconcile balances. By the 1970s, these systems were called MRP’s, which stands for "Material Requirement Planning". It stored information about what components are needed to produce a finished product in a given manufacturing phase. Common concept used by manufacturers is "Bill of Material" or its acronym BoM.
The next phase were MRPII, which stands for "Manufacturing Resource Planning" and it encompasses even more manufacturing processes.
By the 1990s, these systems had expanded beyond inventory control and other operational processes to other back-office functions like accounting and human resources, setting the stage for ERP as we’ve come to know it.
Today, ERP has expanded to encompass business intelligence (BI) while also handling "front-office" functions such as sales force automation (SFA), marketing automation and ecommerce. With these product advancements and the success stories coming out of these systems, companies in a broad range of industries—from wholesale distribution to ecommerce—use ERP solutions.
Moreover, even though the "e" in ERP stands for "enterprise," high-growth and mid-size companies are now rapidly adopting ERP systems.
Lets summarize it in observe the pattern how ERP’s grow in scope:
Year |
Acronym |
Full Name |
Scope, Platform |
1960s |
— |
Monitor Inventory, report on status |
|
1970s |
MRP |
Material Requirements Planning |
Inventory & Bill of Material |
1980s |
MRPII |
Manufacturing Resource Planning |
Begins to be process oriented, grows in scope |
1990s |
ERP |
Enterprise Resource Planning |
Includes back-office functions such as accounting and human resources…. Client/Server architecture. |
2000s |
ERP+SFA |
ERP+Sales Force automation |
Includes all before + sales force automation and eCommerce |
2010s |
ERP,CRM |
Enterprise Resource Planning |
Cloud base allows for consolidation and costs savings. I believe it was pioneered by Netsuite. Cloud Based |
2020s |
ERP |
Enterprise Resource Planning |
All before + ? |
Although the stages may not be exact, the pattern is that ERP software tends to grows in scope. Technically, it divides the whole application into several modules that share one database. This makes it easier to integrate these applications into one.
We can conclude that the Value Proposition of ERP’s is:
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Global real-time of data that can companies to address concerns proactively and drive improvements
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Improve statutory compilance with regulatory standards and reduce risks
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Automates core business operations such as Lead to Cash, Order to Fulfillment/Cash etc
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Enhances customer service by providing one source for billing and relationship tracking
What is the main barrier of adopting an ERP software
When we observe in more detail what operations an organisation need to get done in order to acomplish its goals, to stay profitable and organised, we usualy find there is tremendous amount of work to be completed. With the advancement of personal computers, various purpose specific application have been developed to help managers and employees to their work completed more effectively.
In essence, ERP tries to solve this problem by becoming a silver bullet application. Is it successful? What is it holding back?
What is Odoo.com and what problems does it solve
Odoo.com is Open Source software that aims to integrate multiple applications into one and hence, allowing for a seamless transition from one application to an another. Using Odoo is the next step when:
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There is enough volume of transactions to process
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Your procedures have been established
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You wish to automate most common tasks
Contact us
You can reach us via email: info@galtys.com
