Using Open Source ERP to support Online Product/Service Delivery

Hi Everyone,

I was recently asked about using iDempiere and ADempiere, open source ERP, to support the financial and operational processes for online video streaming (VOD or video on demand). Here was my response. I thought you might be interested. Please keep in mind this person was a contoroller; therefore, the answers are accounting focused. If you want to know more about using iDempiere or ADempiere for service operations. Click the button below to schedule a conversation.

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Hi Julie,

Since you are a software-based service delivery company, you might want to consider looking at open source ERP. Products like iDempiere are free regardless of the how many concurrent users you have, and they have been used by some large companies (hundreds of concurrent users). Since it is open source, your team has the ability to customize it to meet your specific needs without needing a large Oracle or SAP analysis team to support the effort.

Based on my user experience with your VOD services, your customer facing interactions are very much transactional. Just about any ERP can handle this part of the business (Sales, payments, returns, ) so long as it can handle your volume. This is one of the reasons I recommend open source ERP. There is no reason to pay $2K+ per user per year when you can get free software that supports your needs.

In my experience, time tracking plays on two sides of the accounting world: (1) payroll and (2) absorption activities.

1. Payroll is pretty straight forward. If you have lots of employees logging time to make a paycheck, you need a well polished time entry system. Unfortunately, iDempiere would not be a strong contender here. There are more polished payroll time tracking systems out there.
2. Absorption activities are where iDempiere will shine. If you have internal projects or support activities where you need to tie resource time entries (payroll absorption) and expenses to balance sheet accounts, iDempiere will support you nicely. Product and service activities relating to a project or support ticket get tagged all the way down to the GL. This fact makes financial reporting on single or group of projects and support functions much easier.

I hope this helps!

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ADempiere vs iDempiere vs Openbravo vs Compiere

Please note that ADempiere, iDempiere and Openbravo are forks or copies from Compiere. Therefore, they have similar abilities mentioned above. The biggest difference is that ADempiere and iDempiere are pure open source. There are no features held behind a commercial or paid license.