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Enterprise Resource Planning
Is Open Source the ERP Cure-All?
5/1/2008
"Perceived lack of support is often cited as a primary reason why colleges and universities do not consider adopting open source software solutions like Kuali," concedes rSmart CEO Chris Coppola, in a prepared statement about the Sun relationship. "With this collaboration, schools no longer have this barrier to worry about. Sun and rSmart together will support entire Kuali solutions, from the hardware all the way up to, and including, the Kuali application."
In mid-2007, The rSmart Group assisted Strathmore University of Kenya with the first deployment of the Kuali Financial System. According to John Robinson, chairman of The rSmart Group, the rollout confirmed that the Kuali Financial System is relatively easy to deploy, and scales to meet the needs of major universities. What's more, Kuali isn't limited to financial applications; it also includes open source software components for research administration, endowment management, enterprise workflow, and student information systems. (More Kuali milestones are forthcoming. The first research module is scheduled to be released in July, and additional projects will be announced during the May Kuali Days VI event.)
The Final Analysis
Despite Kuali's growing momentum, it's important to keep the effort in perspective, say ERP market watchers; the "winner take all" mentality simply doesn't apply to the ERP industry. In reality, universities are pressing forward with traditional, hosted, and open source ERP systems, much in the way that server administrators still prefer Windows while others push for Unix, Linux, or Mac OS X. "When you're making an ERP system decision, you have to tune out the hype," says Golod. "Open source is like a religion: People will evangelize their solution to you, and open source may indeed be a good path for many universities. But it's certainly not the only ERP path."
::WEBEXTRAS ::
Dare to Share Pressed for dollars and resources, smaller institutions of higher education are pooling resources to gain access to sophisticated ERP systems, online course management systems, and data warehouses.
Stay on the ERP Treadmill! Enterprise resource planning systems are not easy to evolve, but regular upgrades will pay big dividends.
Mount Mercy College (IA) Bolsters Executive Management With ERP Solution.
Solution Center: ERP for the Campus Enterprise.
Joseph C. Panettieri is editorial director of Nine Lives Media, and has covered the business of IT since 1992.
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