20162016
IEEE6th
6thInternational
InternationalAdvanced
Conference
OpenERP/Odoo – An Open Source Concept to ERP
Solution.
Amal Ganesh Shanil K.N
Assistant Professor Assistant Professor
Dept. Of CSE, VAST Dept. Of CSE, VAST
Thrissur, India Thrissur, India
Abstract—Enterprise Resource Planning [ERP] is a widely
used system across all organizations regardless the size. The need
for making rapid decision based on the analysis of the complex
data lead to the use of ERP systems. In the beginning ERP
systems were limited to large organizations. Later this trend has
changed with the advent of open source ERP systems. With its
added advantage, it started to take over the confidence across
small, medium and large sized industries. There are lots of open
source ERP systems currently available in the market. OpenERP
is one of the prominent system. The beauty of framework, the
open source technologies which they used in the system makes the
OpenERP unique and efficient. By drawing a detailed
comparison between OpenERP and other prominent ERP
system, it became very clear that OpenERP meets the expectation
above its competitors. And with the introduction of
Odoo/OpenERP 8.0, the OpenERP have taken the ERP system to
new dimension. They have incorporated a CMS, an e-commerce
system and added business intelligence to the new system. But at
the same time, the complexity of the system has risen which
should be analyzed and addressed accordingly and that the
current user should have compatibility to upgrade to new
version.
Keywords—ERP; Open Source ERP; Enterprise Resource
Planning; OpenERP; Odoo;
I. INTRODUCTION
Enterprise Resource Planning [ERP] is a term widely used
in large corporate companies. But its wide acceptance leads to
the use of such systems both in medium and small scale
companies. ERP systems are basically high complex systems
which integrates the various business processes and
information associated within an organization. The main
objective of implementing an ERP system is to analyze and to
help its users to take real time decision of its business
processes [1].
Some of the market leaders in developing & implementing
ERP systems are SAP, Oracle, Microsoft, Sage systems etc.
These vendors provide an extensive ERP solution to its
customers at a very high cost. i.e., they have proprietary ERP
software package with them which they customize based on
the client requirements. This approach made it difficult for
small-medium based companies to invest on ERP system. This
lead to advent of open source based ERP system which is less
expensive compared to proprietary ERP system and allow
compatibility across different platforms, tools, plugins etc.
978-1-4673-8286-1/16 $31.00 © 2016 IEEE
DOI 10.1109/IACC.2016.30
Computing
on Advanced
Conference
Computing
Sunitha C Midhundas A.M
Associate Professor Senior Sofware Developer
Dept. Of CSE, VAST VICT
Thrissur, India Thrissur, India
II. OPEN SOURCE ERP SYSTEM
Open source ERP’s are currently trending regardless the
size of the organization. This is mainly due to the
implementation success rate it gained over the recent years
and the added advantages users will get compared to the
commercial ERP system. Some of the core benefits of open
source ERP system are listed below [2].
A. Less Expensive
As already explained, open source ERP system minimize
business cost of organization in a long run. i.e., open source
ERP system does not require any license to run the system.
There is no maintenance cost associated with open source
ERP’s as most of them offer community based support. Also,
these ERP’s make use of open source databases, operating
systems etc. for its implementation which are freely available
and cost-effective compared to commercial ERP systems.
B. Flexibility
Open source ERP systems provide more flexibility than
proprietary ERP systems. In many cases, while implementing
open source ERP system in a large company, a new interface
is created to meet the business needs of the organization
making it less complex in nature. Mostly, this interface will be
in line with current business process and will far off from the
framework of the system. But whereas in commercial ERP
system, the existing interface needs to be customized which
makes the system complex and at times the end-user needs to
adjust with the features already present in the commercial
system creating unwanted resistance from user perspective.
This flexibility gives open source ERP system to easily
upgrade to newer version without much hassles compared to
commercial ERP systems [2].
C. Absolute Ownership
Another benefit of open source ERP system is that the
organizations have full control over the system they invested
and the source code. Everything (both technical and domain
information) related to open source ERP system is available
online and further knowledge can be gained from open source
communities. This creates less dependency on the vendor and
gives the client more freedom on how to go about the
implementation. i.e., having technical and domain expertise,
organization itself can implement the system or hire a vendor.
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 Fig 1. OpenERP Architecture [6]
D. Quality Assurance
Open source ERP systems concentrates highly on the
quality of the system compared to commercial ERP systems.
This is because the existence of open source ERP systems are
based on the contributions and enhancements provided by the
passionate cum independent developers who bound to give
endless support to open source technologies. So a competition
will arise among these developers which make them active in
the community, criticizing the code developed and providing
valuable contribute to the community. Also, unlike
commercial ERP system, open source ERP systems are built
based on the other opens source technologies, database
models etc. This gives a strong base & flexibility to open
source system. This is not the case with commercial systems,
if one of the technologies associated with the commercial
ERP system becomes obsolete then the users attached to that
system gets isolated [3].
E. Easily Upgradable
As mentioned earlier, open source ERP systems are easier
to upgrade compared to commercial systems. In open source
ERP systems, customization is mostly done at the interface
level without changing the framework of the system. Since
the framework is not modified, the upgrades can be done
easily without interrupting the production server [2].
Currently, there are lots of Open source ERP systems
available in the market such as OpenERP, OpenBravo,
XTuple, ADempiere ERP Business Suite etc. Out of these
systems, OpenERP and OpenBravo stand out to be the leading
ERP solution providers. On careful comparison between
these two solutions, we found OpenERP has got an upper
edge over OpenBravo.
III. OPENERP – A BETTER UNDERSTANDING
OpenERP has been emerged as one of the major enterprise
resource planning systems. Since its inception in 2005,
OpenERP has grown tremendously and has become a leader
within small to large size business community [6]. As already
mentioned, OpenERP has all the advantages offered by open
source ERP systems such as less expensive, flexibility,
absolute ownership, quality assurance and easily upgradable.
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Fig 1, explains the architecture of OpenERP system.
OpenERP make use of open source technologies for its ERP
system. Some of the core open source technologies used in
OpenERP system are:
A. Scripting/Programming language – Python
Python is a new powerful, rapidly growing dynamic
programming language which is used in a wide variety of
application domains. Python runs everywhere. Python can be
used in most of the available operating systems such as
Windows, Linux/Unix etc. Python is open and available to
everyone. i.e., it is freely available for commercial use [7].
Some of the key features of Python programming language
are [8]:
• Python structure is simple with clearly defined
syntax and limited keywords.
• Python source code is very easy to maintain.
• Ensures compatibility across all the platforms.
• Easily extendable as python allow its users to
efficiently customise their tools by adding low level
module to its interpreter.
• Scalable as it provides better structure and support
for large programs.
• Python supports GUI application which can be
connected using system call and libraries
B. Database Server – PostgreSQL
PostgreSQL is an open source database system which
enables object-relational mapping. It is freely available as
well as highly scalable technology both in storing large
quantity of data and in number of users it can accommodate
[9]. There are some active production environment systems
which accommodate and manage more than 4 terabytes of
data. Other than these features it provides reliability, data
integrity, and correctness of the data stored. PostgreSQL
works in almost all major operating systems including Linux,
UNIX, Mac OS X, Solaris and Windows etc. It has native
programming interfaces for C/C++, Java, .Net, Perl, Python,
Ruby, Tcl, ODBC etc. Some of leading clients of PostgreSQL
are Yahoo, Facebook, Skype, Sony Online etc.
 TABLE 1. GENERAL POSTGRESQL LIMITS

Limit Value
Max Database Size Unlimited
Max Table Size 32 TB
Max Row Size 1.6 TB
Max Field Size 1 GB
Max Rows per Table Unlimited
Max Columns per Table 250 - 1600 depending on
column types
Max Indexes per Table Unlimited
C. Web Server – CherrPy
CherryPy is an object-oriented framework which follows
python convention. Just like building python application,
developers can easily develop web applications using
CherryPy [10]. Some of the key features of CherryPy are
listed below:
• CherryPy source codes are smaller and structured
making it simple and efficient.
• Provides power tools and plugins which can be used
to build robust web applications using Python.
• Ensures maturity of the web applications by not Fig 2. Model View Controller Architecture [12]
allowing the API to change immediately or allowing
backward compatibility. IV. WHY OPENERP?
As we already know, there are lots of open source and
• CherryPy runs on all platform (Windows, MacOSX, commercial ERP systems available in the market. But after
Linux etc.) which makes it easy to deploy. i.e., it has analyzing and understanding the OpenERP in detail, we can
a HTTP server which is compatible python. clearly identify OpenERP as one of the key solution provider
• CherryPy is a freely available open source in ERP systems. A comparison between OpenERP and other
technology [10]. ERP systems will draw more proof on these aspects [13].
D. Framework – Model View Controller (MVC) Table 2 showcase a comparison between OpenERP and
other well know ERP systems. The following aspects were
OpenERP make use of Model View Controller [MVC] has
taken into consideration while drawing the comparison. Top
their framework. Since ERP systems are complex information
ERP systems like SAP and Microsoft Dynamics NAV were
systems, it is always advisable that data (model) and user-
considered from commercial systems. From open source ERP
interface (view) are separated while building a framework.
systems, OpneBravo is considered since it stands along with
This separation helps in modifying the interface without
OpenERP.
impacting the data tables and that the data can be restructured
without affecting the interface. To achieve this separation, The following factors were taken to do the comparison:
MVC has introduced controller as intermediate component
which separates data access and business logic from data • Features & Business Applications
presentation from user interface [11]. • Market Position
Fig 2, explains the MVC architecture in detail. In OpenERP, • Productivity, Ergonomy & Ease of Use
the following opens source technologies are used to represent
Model View Controller framework, • Customizations & Flexibility
• Model: PostgreSQL Tables (data handler) • Technical Quality
• View: XML files (interface) • Total Cost of Ownership
• Controller: OpenERP objects.(act as link between Based on the feedback from around 4319 users, we have
model and View) received different feedback values from various ERP systems
for the features mentioned above [13]. From these feedbacks,
it is clearly evident that OpenERP stand on top compared to
its competitors. SAP retains the upper position in Market

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SI
Feature Name
NO OpenERP
Features & Business
1 84.8%
Applications
2 Market Position 47%
Productivity, Ergonomy &
3 82.6%
Ease of Use
Customizations &
4 85.2%
Flexibility
5 Technical Quality 78.6%
6 Total Cost of Ownership 96.16%
Table 2. COMPARISON BETWEEN OPENERP VS OTHER ERP SYSTEMS [14]
Position and it is the closest competitor to OpenERP compared
to other ERP’s. Whereas OpenBravo and Microsoft Dynamics
NAV falls behind the OpenERP in almost all aspects. These
values show that even though OpenERP has steady notable
growth, it has still got room for improvement.
The main area where OpenERP needs to concentrate is on
how to improve its market position. OpenERP should make
serious efforts to make the product clearly visible to its users
across all dimensions from small - medium to large scale
industries which are widely spread across the globe. Since
OpenERP is an open source ERP system it has a legal
obligation share the work flow of the product which includes
an comprehensive document explaining in detail on its
framework and its associated technologies.
V. ODOO – A NEW BRAND FOR OPENERP
We now know that OpenERP 7.0 reaches its expectation as
an ERP system for all the type of users spanning from small to
large scale organizations. But the creators of OpenERP now
see things way beyond the ERP system [15]. They want to
bring more features like Content Management System for
building interactive website solutions, an integrated E-
Commerce for a robust online transaction service and business
intelligence efficient project management along with
traditional ERP system features. Currently, the three new
features standalone to form three separate business entities in
the corporate world. By combining the three powerful
standalone features, OpenERP is taking ERP systems to a new
dimension and they name it Odoo (OpenERP 8.0).
Some of the key features of Odoo (OpenERP 8.0) are:
• Faster, user friendly and much easier to configure
• Key improvements to the existing apps by adding
732 tasks covering most of the applications.
• Efficient Content Management System [CMS] and
robust tools for building interactive website.
• iPad/Android based Point of sale is now available
with full support compatibility from hardware
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User Feedback in Percentage
Microsoft
OpenBravo SAP
Dynamics NAV
29.80% 33.52% 78.9%
38.75% 94.75% 100%
41.6% 48.8% 74%
34.6% 51.8% 69.6%
54.1% 56.1% 75.3%
46.83% 42.33% 62.83%
vendors along with new Warehouse Management
System [WMS] and CMS.,
• Different user oriented features like online job offers,
event booking, quotation generator and electronic
signature are brought as frontend application.
• A major tuning of framework is done by bring new
API. Allow backward compatibility to older version
for the current OpenERP 7.0 users.
• Obsolete and unwanted features of the previous
version removed.
VI. CONCLUSION
In this modern world, ERP systems are indispensable part
of most of the organizations. The large data handling and
unavoidable need for decision making analysis lead to the use
of ERP systems. In the beginning, ERP systems were limited
to large organization as they only could afford the high rate for
implementing these systems. But the situation has changed
after the intervening of open source technologies and thus
brings forth open source ERP systems. OpenERP is one of the
top open source ERP systems currently available in the market
and after undergoing detailed comparison with other
prominent ERP systems, it became evident that OpenERP is
standing tall against the market leaders in many aspects. With
the introduction of Odoo, the latest OpenERP have taken the
ERP system to new dimension. They have incorporated a
CMS, an e-commerce system and added business intelligence
to the new system. However, the complexity of the system has
increased dramatically and the possibilities for the existing
user to adapt to the new changes are yet to be analyzed.
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