• Select ERP Package according to Business process functional fit: The CIO should select ERP package which provide functionality fit between Open Source ERP system and business requirements. The logic of Open Source ERP system may not conflict with the logic of business. The higher the fit is the lower are the customization and implementation cost. Functionality fit has high impact on total cost and implementation time. In order to find appropriate Open source ERP package CIO needs to setup a team to do analysis of current business processes of the organization then study available Open Source ERP packages in the market, start with web sites like SourceForge.net. Select and implement those modules that support organization business processes, execute small pilot projects and evaluate the results of implemented packages to select required Open Source ERP package.
• Check Open Source ERP system license terms are compatible with their business requirements: Many open source ERP vendors follow GPL license which include complex terms like Copy left. According to such license type any improvement and derivative works organization create also released under the same license terms so CIO should understand the terms of the open source license before they adopt an Open Source ERP package into organization. CIO should take help of consultant who provide support for Open Source Licensing process.
• Check strength of the community: The CIO should understand what types of communities (people) are involved in the Open Source ERP project in order to check sustainability and continuity of project development related tasks. If large numbers of people are actively involved means less vulnerabilities, security issues, maturity and sustainability level of Open Source ERP project increases.
• Check for Open Source ERP application adopted by other companies: The CIO should evaluate the Open Source ERP system by doing analysis regarding how many other companies implemented successfully Open Source ERP. Many Open Source ERP vendors showcase the various clients’ reviews that have adopted and are using their product. This process motivate CIO and create some assurance the Open Source ERP implementation is feasible, especially if CIO find an existing client similar to their enterprise.
• Check for Commercial Support: The CIO should check for commercial support is available from selected Open Source ERP system vendor. The voluntary support from community is not sufficient for critical applications. Most of open source ERP vendors provide support through other vendors involved in the project that provide different type of supports like customization related support, maintenance related support, provide training , certification services and 24*7 production assistance.
• Check for Quality assurance process: The CIO should verify what types of Quality Assurance processes used by the Open Source ERP developers. Because ERP systems integrates all business processes. If the quality assurance processes are not up to organizational standard then CIO can choose other Open Source ERP option or allocate some budget in order conduct the missing QA process either internally or by a third party vendors.
• Check for Documentation process: Some Open Source ERP Communities will have major focus on Software development and give less importance to documentation processes or they can be poor in documentation. To implement or customize such application is very difficult task because standard documents like administrator guide, installation guide or user manuals are not available or not provide sufficient information regarding processes. So CIO should verify all required documents are provided by community or not. How frequently they update the documents? Is documents are accessible from online community portals? What type of documentation formats are used by communities?
• Check for customization, re-engineering and integration efforts: The CIO should evaluate what types of efforts are to carry out customization, re-engineering and integration process throughout the organization. The cost of customization changes based upon the system architecture design if system is module driven then it is easy to modify the particular module and test with other modules, how cleanly the code is written , core modules and third party APIs are well documented or not. The third party module plug-in support architecture provided or not, what type of upgrade effort required in customized module after core modules are updated. Some time Open Source ERP processes are needs to change dramatically as per business process requirement there might occurs staff resistance and change management, training processes are involved so CIO should have action plan ready for these processes. The CIO should also produce feasibility documents by conducting pilot projects in order to integrate Open Source ERP modules with existing Legacy systems which are running into the organization to support mission critical business processes.
• Check for Security updates: The CIO should evaluate what type of efforts Open Source ERP vendors are taking to provide security related process like deliver security patches in time, identify and fix vulnerabilities before attack can exploit them, keep track of security flaws and patch developed to solve those issues. Generate accessible Security related patch version control systems. Check vendor is using best security related practices in every level of software development lifecycle. The CIO can also allocate some budget for security audit for selected open source ERP packages and fix those flaws internally.
• Check Open Source ERP system license terms are compatible with their business requirements: Many open source ERP vendors follow GPL license which include complex terms like Copy left. According to such license type any improvement and derivative works organization create also released under the same license terms so CIO should understand the terms of the open source license before they adopt an Open Source ERP package into organization. CIO should take help of consultant who provide support for Open Source Licensing process.
• Check strength of the community: The CIO should understand what types of communities (people) are involved in the Open Source ERP project in order to check sustainability and continuity of project development related tasks. If large numbers of people are actively involved means less vulnerabilities, security issues, maturity and sustainability level of Open Source ERP project increases.
• Check for Open Source ERP application adopted by other companies: The CIO should evaluate the Open Source ERP system by doing analysis regarding how many other companies implemented successfully Open Source ERP. Many Open Source ERP vendors showcase the various clients’ reviews that have adopted and are using their product. This process motivate CIO and create some assurance the Open Source ERP implementation is feasible, especially if CIO find an existing client similar to their enterprise.
• Check for Commercial Support: The CIO should check for commercial support is available from selected Open Source ERP system vendor. The voluntary support from community is not sufficient for critical applications. Most of open source ERP vendors provide support through other vendors involved in the project that provide different type of supports like customization related support, maintenance related support, provide training , certification services and 24*7 production assistance.
• Check for Quality assurance process: The CIO should verify what types of Quality Assurance processes used by the Open Source ERP developers. Because ERP systems integrates all business processes. If the quality assurance processes are not up to organizational standard then CIO can choose other Open Source ERP option or allocate some budget in order conduct the missing QA process either internally or by a third party vendors.
• Check for Documentation process: Some Open Source ERP Communities will have major focus on Software development and give less importance to documentation processes or they can be poor in documentation. To implement or customize such application is very difficult task because standard documents like administrator guide, installation guide or user manuals are not available or not provide sufficient information regarding processes. So CIO should verify all required documents are provided by community or not. How frequently they update the documents? Is documents are accessible from online community portals? What type of documentation formats are used by communities?
• Check for customization, re-engineering and integration efforts: The CIO should evaluate what types of efforts are to carry out customization, re-engineering and integration process throughout the organization. The cost of customization changes based upon the system architecture design if system is module driven then it is easy to modify the particular module and test with other modules, how cleanly the code is written , core modules and third party APIs are well documented or not. The third party module plug-in support architecture provided or not, what type of upgrade effort required in customized module after core modules are updated. Some time Open Source ERP processes are needs to change dramatically as per business process requirement there might occurs staff resistance and change management, training processes are involved so CIO should have action plan ready for these processes. The CIO should also produce feasibility documents by conducting pilot projects in order to integrate Open Source ERP modules with existing Legacy systems which are running into the organization to support mission critical business processes.
• Check for Security updates: The CIO should evaluate what type of efforts Open Source ERP vendors are taking to provide security related process like deliver security patches in time, identify and fix vulnerabilities before attack can exploit them, keep track of security flaws and patch developed to solve those issues. Generate accessible Security related patch version control systems. Check vendor is using best security related practices in every level of software development lifecycle. The CIO can also allocate some budget for security audit for selected open source ERP packages and fix those flaws internally.
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