| When the Best of Open Source Software Awards | | | | Procurement and warehouse management toolso |
| 2009 were handed out earlier this year, 40 products | | | | Financial and accounting featureso Production logistics |
| made the cut and walked away "Bossie" winners. | | | | for shop floor oversighto A healthy set of alerts, |
| Whittling down the contenders was not an easy task | | | | role-based user provisioning and access controlo A |
| for the judges. One of the shortcuts they used to | | | | good Web-based UI (user interface)o Warehouse |
| narrow the field "was to omit desktop productivity | | | | and manufacturing management capabilitieso |
| tools and focus strictly on enterprise software, | | | | Purchasing, finance, and business performance |
| application development tools, networking and | | | | managemento CRM-style features |
| network management software, and platforms and | | | | An ERP-compatible shop floor management system |
| middleware." And one of the sub-categories in which | | | | that enables manufacturers to compete on speed |
| competition was the fiercest was enterprise resource | | | | rather than cost and delivers real-time, continuous |
| planning (ERP). | | | | improvement for greater profitability and faster |
| According to InfoWorld staff, "Open source ERP has | | | | delivery to customers leverages these features, and |
| come a long way in a short time, and may in fact be | | | | compensates for them in cases where they are |
| the next big growth area for open source in the | | | | missing. Its real-time data collection system with |
| coming year. Because ERP is anything but one size | | | | touch screen capabilities affords better scheduling, |
| fits all, specialized verticals will no doubt begin to take | | | | WIP tracking, data collection and time & |
| root." Manufacturers who take advantage of open | | | | attendance labor management. |
| source enterprise resource management may also | | | | Some of its advantages include:o More accurate and |
| want to check into a real-time data collection system | | | | timely asset analysiso Real-time information about |
| that provides job tracking and factory floor control. | | | | orders and operations with up-to-minute dispatch lists |
| An Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) and finite | | | | (schedules) to help keep the most important jobs on |
| scheduling system can visually improve the | | | | topo A partnership with a provider of production, |
| sequencing of production (and raw materials). It | | | | materials management, warehouse management, |
| accomplishes this feat through a PC based system | | | | finance and accounting solutionso Seamless oversight, |
| that is completely interfaced with most ERP and MRP | | | | so that shop floor managers can concentrate on their |
| systems. Its drop and drag electronic board and | | | | bottom lineso User alerts to problems as they occuro |
| unlimited set of scheduling rules helps enterprise | | | | An easy-to-install and intuitive push-button touch |
| resource planning users get the most out of their | | | | screen user interfaceo A paperless ERP system that |
| systems. | | | | helps manufacturing managemento Implementation of |
| What were some of the features that made certain | | | | a solid customer relationship management (CRM) |
| open source ERP systems stand out against others | | | | module |
| to the awards' judges?o An asset management | | | | Clearly, manufacturers can benefit from ERP, and |
| systemo Rich e-commerce functionalityo A hand | | | | they can maximize their advantages with an |
| MVC (model-view-controller) frameworko A | | | | ERP-compatible real-time data collection system that |
| well-developed POS (point-of-sale) solutiono | | | | provides job tracking and factory floor control. |