The term ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) is the evolution of Manufacturing Requirements Planning (MRP). From a business point of view, ERPs have expanded from the coordination of manufacturing processes to the integration of enterprise-wide backend processes. This may include manufacturing, logistics, storing management, distribution, invoicing and accounting. |
Open Source refers to any computer software whose source code is either in the public domain. The main qualifications for open-source software are that the product must have free redistribution, the source code must be available and that modifications and derivative works must be allowed. Making the source code available on the Internet gives programmers the ability to read, redistribute and modify the source. The idea behind open-source is that this improves the product as bugs are fixed and enhancements are implemented. With plenty of people contributing to the source, changes and updates to the software can happen much faster than with conventional software development processes. The quality of the software increases according to the huge number of programmers which can review the code. The Internet is leading the Open Source chain to become a large scale team work, which is often seen as the source of fee-free software. |