ERP/CMS for Small Business IT consultants

Serge asks: "In my IT-consultancy-network-engineer job, where I visit several small business customers, I've been looking for some software to extensively manage resources I have on our customers. Currently, the system sucks. We write reports in Microsoft Word, draw network schemes in Visio, export offers to PDF, and so on, and stack it all together on a nice Windows file server in a per customer directory structure. So much for the automation aspect of Information Technology. My ideal app would be accessible online and offline (I travel with my laptop), I would document a log on every network object I work on, I could pull a query on all those logs from one day to give a daily report to the customer, I could input my working hours to bill later on, it would be integrated with our helpdesk software and would manage each customer's to-do list. The sky is the obviously limit. So, what does Slashdot do to fully handle this information ERP issue?"

Comments

Compiere

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.compiere.org/

Might need some tweaking.

Re:Compiere

[itwerx]

Uh, WTF? Compiere doesn't do any of the stuff that was requested!
Granted, the poster shouldn't have used the term "ERP" since that has a very different meaning from a financial perspective (which is appropriate to Compiere).
What they should have said was "asset management" since that what is really what is being described.

Not available offline, but...

[Acorsys]

I've been using a great product called http://www.basecamphq.com/Basecamp. its only available on the web, but it allows collaboration, file uploading, and lots of features. There's also a company called Guavasoft that is developing an open source ERP suite similar to Compiere, only not just CRM and its a web-application. Kind of like salesforce.com but expanded.

Re:Mixed up

[La Camiseta]

Well, if you're looking for a CMS (content management system), then you probably should have looked through the recent archives of Ask Slashdot (http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/11/18/0 043234&tid=169).

And then if you're looking for an open-sourced ERP/CMS, Google can be your best friend. (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&client=fir efox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&q=open+s ource+erp&btnG=Search, http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&client=fire fox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&q=open+so urce+crm&btnG=Search).

The only one that seems to intersect both is Compiere, but that requires an Oracle license.

Of course, if what you're doing is just contracting, I'd just look at some good CRM software, like here (http://java-source.net/open-source/erp-crm).

Build your own

[abulafia]

I may be a little biased, as my business builds this sort of thing for other companies. But You really have to build this stuff. There are nice tools out there that can serve as building blocks, but what you're really looking for is a business management package, which is going to be as specialized as your business. Automating proposals, ticket tracking, scheduling, billing and network diagramming is just not something that is out there as a pre-existing package.

Another thing to consider is that it is hard to move a company to a business automation system. You have to carefully get everyone lined up, take their concerns into account, watch for potential turf-wars, teach everyone to use if properly, and deploy it without a hitch. Oh, and that's assuming you built the right thing in the first place. Don't underestimate the difficulty of getting this sort of thing right - it is much more than a technical problem.

Groupware?

[cuteseal]

The functions you are asking for are very specific, and it depends on whether you can compromise - i.e. if the client only accepts word documents and visio diagrams, then you're pretty much stuck using those applications.

Have you considered groupware apps?
http://www.phpgroupware.org/
http://www.phprojekt.com/features.php
http://www.opengroupware.org/en/applications/ind ex.html

Easy solution

[sydbarrett74]

Pay some high-school geek minimum-wage to do it -- much cheaper.

You have the tools

[Ropati]

Script it. Batch it. Perl it. AutoIT it. VBA it. Don't start over with a package. Make what you have work.

You write reports in Microsoft Word:
Make a template of your reports with all boiler plate data. Create a form to open with the template to enter the necessary data. Automate the form to a database for other reports, Statements of Work, Invoices etc..

You Draw network schemes in Visio:
Generate automation scripts to build your drawings. Visio has all the tools. In Visio 2000 you could import well formed text files. As I understand it, in Visio2003 you can import xml. Write a script to parse your sys data and make diagrams.

Export offers to PDF:
Look at AutoIT (http://www.hiddensoft.com/AutoIt/): You can automate whatever you need to do by keystroke.

Stack it all together on a nice Windows file server in a per customer directory structure:
And what is your problem??
Harden and put the file server in a DMZ with IPsec. Update the files from the road. Work alot behind an enterprise firewall, use SSH on the file server. Or VPN into your company system.

I could pull a query on all those logs from one day to give a daily report to the customer:
Try using Outlook journaling features (unfamiliar). Get the journal to generate time usage by time spent on Visio or Word doc work per File|Properties|Catagories string which would be scripted in.

I could input my working hours to bill later on:
Isn't that what Outlook Journalling does??

integrated with our helpdesk software:
What do you want to integrate? Diagrams? Reports?

If your file structure is clear enough, you should be able to script that pretty easily.
\Customer\Service Date\Reports
\Customer\Service Date\Diagrams etc.
One push of a button should open the customers latest diagram.

would manage each customer's to-do list:
This is probably more difficult as you want to now integrate with your financial package (open POs). Still it can be scripted.

Need help?
Google:
Microsoft Script Center
Scriptomatic
Perl
AutoIT
VBscript tutorials

Enable VBA in Word, Outlook and Visio. Read the help files

Or as all the other OOS zealots will tell you, start all over, learn Linux and roll your own.