Top Ten Questions to ask your proprietary ERP salesman

[Peter Sullivan]

At one time, Oracle used to make a feature of "Top Ten Questions" for 
prospective buyers to ask salesman of whoever they perceived as their 
biggest competitor at the time. I wondered what a GNU Enterprise 
equivalent might look like...

To be fair, I recognise many of the GNUe answers are aspirational 
rather than as of time of writing (1st January 2002). However, as I 
understand it, this is where we are aiming for. Comments/corrections/
feedback welcome.

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Top Ten Questions to ask your proprietary ERP salesman
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1. I'm paying how much and I'm not allowed to know how it works?
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Proprietary ERP vendors are unusual amongst proprietary software 
vendors, in that they often allow you some access to some technical 
documentation about the software (e.g. database schemas). However, 
this information may be limited, and may be subject to non-disclosure 
agreements and impractical constraints (e.g. required to keep paper 
technical reference manuals under lock and key).

With GNU Enterprise, all the source code is freely available to you 
under the GNU Public License (GPL). You can see what the system does, 
and how it does it. You can use GNU Enterprise as a basis for writing 
your own packages. You can either keep these for yourself, or share 
them with others under the GPL.

You can, if required, prove system integrity to your Auditors by 
examining the source code for backdoors and trojans, and compile it 
from source. If you get your GNU Enterprise executables from a 
reputable source (e.g. the GNU Enterprise website), this shouldn't be 
a problem, but some highly secure organisations might require this 
level of assurance.

Also, all the documentation for the system is available under the 
GPL Documentation License. You can use GNU Enterprise documentation as 
the basis for your own internal manuals, or put it on your intranet or 
extranet, all without needing anyone's permission or paying any 
additional fees.

2. Am I too small for your package?
-----------------------------------

Most proprietary ERP vendors target their offerings at large 
enterprises. You might think that this is because only large 
enterprises can truly benefit from ERP. The reality is that SMEs 
(small to medium enterprises) can benefit just as much from a fully 
integrated ERP system as their bigger brethren. The reason proprietary 
ERP vendors target large enterprises is because they are the only ones
who can afford proprietary ERP vendors.

Some ERP vendors are now targeting SMEs with service offerings, 
where you access the software over the internet for a monthly fee. 
This is similar in principle to the ASP (Application Service Provider) 
service that they offer as an option to larger enterprises. However, 
this means that you do not control the hardware, or your business-
critical data.

GNU Enterprise is fully scalable in both directions. It is possible 
for an SME to run GNU Enterprise on a single, normal desktop PC, 
giving them the benefits of full, integrated, ERP. As the business 
grows, so can the system, with the addition of further hardware 
and network connectivity - but still the same software. 

As larger business look towards closer supply chain integration with 
their small and medium sized business partners, being able to support 
the e-business standards your biggest customer uses could become a 
critical business advantage.

3. What happens if my level of activity increases?
--------------------------------------------------

Many proprietary ERP vendors have moved away from user-based licensing,
in order to better fit the reality of web-based self-service, where 
the number of users can be indeterminate. However, you will still be 
licensed for the software on some sort of activity basis - number 
of transactions or size of server(s) are common ones.

With GNU Enterprise, if your business doubles in size, it still won't 
be cost-free. You will probably need more or new hardware, connectivity
and maybe some extra consultancy to get everything working together. 
But the software license still costs the same (i.e. nothing) - after 
all, it hasn't changed.

4. What standards do you support, and how are they licensed?
------------------------------------------------------------

Proprietary ERP vendors have started to take standards more seriously 
over the past few years, mainly due to customer demand. Some 
proprietary ERP systems now support multiple databases. Most 
proprietary ERP systems are starting to support standards like XML for 
information interchange.

GNU Enterprise has been designed from the start to support standards,
both current and future. Standards that are currently supported 
include { $$$ }

GNU Enterprise also supports a wide range of databases, including free 
software ones such as Postgresql and MySQL, "open source" ones such as 
SAP-DB, and fully proprietary ones such as Oracle.

GNU Enterprise has also made a conscious decision to avoid depending on 
standards which are proprietary, such as Java (owned by Sun). You can 
use proprietary standards with GNU Enterprise if you want to, but there 
will always be a non-proprietary equivalent.

5. How does this work with the stuff I already have?
----------------------------------------------------

Proprietary ERP vendors encourage you to see their system as an 
"all or nothing" proposition. Some of them even charge license fees 
as a single cost for all modules, regardless of which ones you intend 
using, in an attempt to lock you in to the product. They may even use 
the term "free" to describe this. It would be more accurate to 
describe this as a sunk cost in license fees for proprietary 
software.

GNU Enterprise is a much more heterogeneous business solution. As with 
any ERP package, you will get the full benefits of end-to-end 
integration in the easiest way by implementing as much of it as is 
relevant to your enterprise. However, because of its commitment to 
standards, you should find it much easier to integrate one part of GNU 
Enterprise with other business systems. For example, you might want to
integrate GNU Supply Chain Management and CRM with your existing 
proprietary finance package doing Accounts Receivable and General 
Ledger.

In addition, GNU Enterprise includes GNUe Integrator, a tool 
specifically designed to transfer data from and to the GNUe 
environment. Unlike some other ERP vendor's interfaces, this works 
using flexible XML definitions rather than pre-defined flat file 
formats, and can work in real time as well as in batch.

6. What level of support will I get?
------------------------------------

Proprietary ERP vendors offer a limited range of support options. 
These are usually geared towards larger enterprises, and priced 
accordingly. You can usually only get your support from one source, 
either the system supplier or their designated reseller (who may be 
acting as first-line support for the system supplier). Poor support 
is one of the most common criticisms enterprises have of their ERP 
vendor. Although your vendor may offer "guaranteed" support response 
speeds, you may find that it is difficult to enforce these without 
jeopardising your overall relationship with them.

With GNU Enterprise, you can run without a support contract altogether
if you want to. You have access to the source code, and may have the 
in-house skills to resolve any problems you run into. If bug fixes 
are made to the official release, you can download them and apply them
yourself. You can also choose not to apply bug fixes that are not 
relevant to you if you prefer.

However, most organisations will probably feel more comfortable paying 
for a support package from a consultancy firm. You may want your 
consultants to provide you with a wide range of services, including 
hardware and networking support, as well as GNU Enterprise applications
support. You may need 24/7/365 access to a large, multi-skilled, 
support team, and be prepared to pay accordingly. Or you may just need 
a friendly voice at the end of a phone line or internet address on an 
occasional basis. You pay for the level of support you need.

If your GNU Enterprise support is not up to scratch, get rid of them 
and find another one.

7. What happens if I want to customise the package?
---------------------------------------------------

Proprietary ERP vendors are unusual amongst proprietary software 
vendors, in that they often positively encourage you to customise the 
application - usually by paying them to write a customisation for you. 
Of course, you will never be aware if they have already written an 
identical or similar package for another customer - it will always be 
charged to you as if they had had to write it from scratch. You are 
also then dependant on the vendor to check that the customisation 
is compatible with any future upgrades.

To be fair, several vendors have now discovered some of the problems 
involved in supporting customisations. Their response has been to 
try to convince you to do without customisation altogether, and mould 
your business processes to their software. It may well be, especially 
if your organisation hasn't used an ERP package before, that your 
business processes could do with an extensive review, and this should 
be encouraged. But let's be clear - they want you to adopt different 
business practices not because they are "best practice," but because 
they fit their software.

GNU Enterprise offers an alternative way of providing customised 
functionality, via the use of Templates. Templates are ways of 
customising a module or modules, for example for a particular 
industry. Templates can add or remove fields from the database, 
add extra business rules to objects, or even add whole business 
processes. But all in a way that is standardised, and which will 
survive any future upgrades. You can apply existing templates, or 
write your own, or modify those that other have written.

Templates also provide a way of providing internationalisation. With 
a development team spread across different continents, GNU 
Enterprise has been designed from the start as an internationally
aware product. It is not a U.S.-centric (or any other centric) product, 
where specific functionality for other countries has been bolted on 
afterwards. 

Of course, if you want to customise GNU Enterprise by editing and 
recompiling the source code, you can do so. For extensive 
customisations, this may be the only way. However, you should look at 
using templates first.

8. What happens if you go bust?
-------------------------------

Proprietary ERP vendors often have elaborate "escrow" arrangements, 
which allow you access to the source code if they go out of business 
or if other key "trigger" events happen. 

With GNU Enterprise, you have the source code up front. If your GNU 
Enterprise consultancy firm goes out of business, find another one, or 
get the skills in-house to manage the product.

9. What happens if you get taken over? 
--------------------------------------

It is not uncommon for proprietary ERP vendors to acquire other ERP 
vendors. Sometimes this will be to "cherry-pick" bits of the 
'intellectual property' of the target. Often, the real asset they are 
buying is the customer base of the other vendor, who will find their 
old system becoming unsupported, with varying degrees of pressure to 
move onto the vendor's main package.

GNU Enterprise is not 'owned' by anyone. The copyright is held by the 
Free Software Foundation, but this is just to allow them to uphold 
the freedoms of all users under the GPL. If, hypothetically, every GNU
Enterprise consultancy firm went out of business, and everyone else 
stopped using it, you still have everything you need (including the 
source code) to continue supporting yourself.

10. What happens if we don't get on?
------------------------------------

Proprietary ERP vendors don't always sell their product direct. Your 
salesman may be working for a "partner" of the ERP vendor. That 
partner may have monopoly rights to your geographical area, or market 
sector. If your relationship with the vendor or reseller breaks down, 
you may have no choice but to ditch the system and move to another 
vendor.

With GNU Enterprise, you are always in control. Subject to contract, 
you can walk away from your current GNU Enterprise consultant or 
consultancy firm, and either find another one, or get the skills 
in-house to manage the product. What's more, your GNU Enterprise 
consultant knows this as well. GNU Enterprise consultants stay in 
business by providing a professional service to their customers, not 
by (ab)using their monopoly power over your investment in "their" 
system.

11. How often must I upgrade?
-----------------------------

Proprietary ERP vendors will often insist that you upgrade the 
system on a regular basis. This may even be written into the contract. 
Some ERP clients have been subject to several mandatory upgrades 
over just a few years, from terminal ("green screen") products, to 
client-server PC-based products then on again to web-based products, 
with extra hardware costs each step of the way. Although upgrades may 
be "free" (i.e. there is no additional license fee cost), there may be 
additional consultancy costs in doing the upgrade. There will certainly
be internal costs and disruption. You may also have to re-train a 
large number of end-users.

With GNU Enterprise, there are no mandatory upgrades. Both the core 
GNU Enterprise developers and your GNU Enterprise consultants (if any) 
would encourage you to update on a regular basis, and your GNU
Enterprise consultants might make upgrade assistance part of your 
overall support arrangements with them. However, you are at liberty to 
ignore this advice. You are the only one who can make the decision 
about what is best for your enterprise, including balancing all the 
internal and external costs.

Note that GNU Enterprise supports both two-tier (client-server) and 
n-tier (client-applications server-database serve) architectures. 
You can use the same application - even the same form - on different 
types of client in the same installation. So you could have a mixture 
of graphical PC-based users, web-based HTML users and old character 
terminals all at the same time. (The only constraints are those of the 
underlying hardware, e.g. you cannot display graphics on a character-
based device.) This flexibility removes a lot of the costs associated 
with upgrades that also involve changes in architecture.

Also note that the license fee cost for an upgrade of GNU Enterprise 
is the same as for the original software, i.e. free.

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That's actually 11 questions, but then you always get more than you 
expect with free software ;-)

-- 
Peter Sullivan