Implementation of management software is a matter of time and money. But then again, the maintenance of the solution has a cost that is repeated every year. It is this last category of expenditure that we study in this article.

Your annual budget is 0 €

You need a free really free of charge solution.

Recommendation by SISalp: Tryton OnLine

  • SISalp sets up for you a free hosted service with Tryton installed. You get all the standard features of Tryton. SISalp makes the necessary backups for you. The upgrade to new versions is performed for free. Solution up to 10 users. Multiple databases. No Customization by specific modules.

Recommendation on the condition of internal competence: Tryton local

  • You can install Tryton on a computer at home if you know how to ensure the security, backup, update.
  • You can add your specific Tryton modules.

Available alternatives

  • OpenERP Online. SISalp sets up for you a free hosted service with OpenERP. Without maintenance contract Openerp-SA, you will not be able to upgrade to next major version.
  • OpenERP on a local machine, with the same restrictions, but you can custom modules.

Your annual budget is 365 €

You can have a complete, open and efficient hosting solution based on a virtual server called VDS.

Recommendation by SISalp: Tryton on VDS hosting,

  • SISalp sets up a virtual server with preconfigured services for Tryton for 1 € / day. You have full access to the server, you get all the standard features of Tryton and you can add modules. SISalp helps you to configure backups. Upgrade to new versions is done under your control through automated management tool. Solution up to 30 users. Multiple databases, multiple versions, special procedures.
  • Paying options on this service are mainly "failure remote recovery" and "scured/high performance remote desktop" but they are not required for usual conditions of use.

Available alternatives

  • OpenERP on hosting VDS. SISalp sets up a virtual server preconfigured services for OpenERP. Without maintenance contract with Openerp-SA, you will not be able to upgrade. You can add custom modules.

Your annual budget is 420 €

You can have a service contract with Openerp-SA with a single user and a single database.

Available Solutions

  • SISalp does not recommend to perform operations under a single user with all privileges. Restoration and testing often require to have at least two versions of databases.
  • OpenERP offers the same conditions on a local server installed by you and Saas service.

Your annual budget is 840 €

You can have a service contract with a Openerp-SA user (admin user) and a single database.

Recommendation by SISalp: Openerp-SA Service Saas 2 users

  • Probably the entry-level service by Openerp-SA. However, you must remain vigilant about the contractual terms of Openerp-SA that can challenge the numbers of users afterwards.
  • No custom module available at the present time.
  • In case you decide to leave, you can either take your data on a local server running Openerp or migrate your critical data to Tryton thanks to Openerp2Tryton project.

Recommendation on the condition of internal competence: Local Installation and Openerp SA-2 users

  • So you can have multiple versions of your production database
  • No custom module available at the present time.

Your annual budget is 1,200 €

You can have a service contract Openerp-SA with one user (+ admin) and rent a VDS server at SISalp

Recommendation by SISalp: Openerp-SA contract 1 user on VDS hosting by SISalp

  • The least expensive solutions on OpenERP hosting and upgrade.
  • No custom module available at the present time, else Openerp-SA contract may be void.

Your annual budget is 2,500 €

You can have a service contract with Openerp-SA for four users (+ admin) and rent a VDS server at SISalp

Recommendation SISalp: Openerp-SA 4 users and VDS hosting by SISalp

  • The least expensive solutions on OpenERP hosting and upgrade.
  • No custom module available at the present time, else Openerp-SA contract may be void.

Available alternatives

  • Openerp-SA 5 users on the local server

General conclusions and recommendations for small organizations

  • SISalp does not recommend using a frozen version of OpenERP management software unless specific management activity limited in time. Solution will quickly become (2 years) a dead weight in a growing company. However it is the current choice for many small businesses that currently use OpenERP on free hosting services by SISalp without subscribing contract with Openerp-SA.
  • The adoption of OpenERP involves provisioning of maintenance costs for years of use. These costs are difficult to assess because they increase rapidly if the company grows gradually as new users are declared in the base ( € 4,620 / year for 10 users, € 10,000 / year for 22 users). To avoid any budget unpleasant surprise, Tryton is the preferred alternative.
  • OpenERP offers more features than Tryton. If you plan to use OpenERP features that are not present in Tryton, a study should compare the cost of maintenance on OpenERP years of use versus the cost of developing this function on Tryton by a specialist from Tryton community.
  • If you want to complement your ERP by developing (or ask someone to develop) a module for your business, the cost of maintenance of OpenERP can become important. Either the module is certifiable against payment to OpenERP-SA or data migration from one version to another will be a complex task. In this case also, small businesses will have to consider the Tryton alternative that incorporates upgrade its own code.

Links to references of this article

Openerp-SA
Tryton
Openerp2Tryton
Contrat de maintenance et hébergement Saas Openerp-SA
Montée de version Openerp-SA
Certification de module complémentaire Openerp
Tryton OnLine gratuit par SISalp
OpenERP OnLine gratuit par SISalp
OpenERP-Tryton VDS 1€/jour par SISalp