Inventory Management Software: Is there a simpler alternative to Compiere?

April 29, 2007 10:10 AM

Inventory Management Software: Is there a simpler alternative to Compiere?

I (in US) am partners with a friend (in UK). We need to share inventory/sales data. We could send spreadsheets via email but I would prefer a web-based solution.

Are there simpler (to use) alternatives to Compiere? Extra points for open source/free but low-cost options considered as well. Actually, I'd consider any options including a good spreadsheet solution.

posted by trinity8-director to computers & internet (6 comments total)

There are any number of Web based EDI solutions replacing traditional VANs (Value Added Networks) for Electronic Data Interchange. The value of a Web EDI solution is that you can share data with a partner who needn't use the same business process or software as you do, so long as both your applications can produce and import standard data sets which have been externally defined. The penalty of EDI is that by externalizing the process, it has tended to favor batch processing as opposed to real time processing, and that it requires more net processing generally than running a common system would, since a common system would not need either import or export functions.

But your question, referencing Compiere, is an apple and oranges one. Compiere is an ERP system, which contains inventory management as a core functionality. If you implemented Compiere, or any one of hundreds of other ERP solutions, and both you and your partner used the application for managing inventory, you perhaps as Warehouse 1, and they as Warehouse 2, you'd be working on common data, not sharing data via EDI. You'd have apples, whereas EDI is oranges.

A common solution such as Compiere has a number of advantages perhaps, particularly if you are working in different stock keeping units, units of measure, currency basis, or have different accounting needs for tax and locality purposes, as once you set up your software and accounting rules, transfers of stock from one location to another can be nearly automatic, even to adjusting unit costs for shipping, customs, and related charges. If you don't do inter-location shipping, you might still benefit from being able to quote and ship, say, South American orders from either location, and have the different costs flow through to your seperate subsidiary chart of accounts to the selling company "automagically." The greater effort of setting up an ERP system is usually justified by the ongoing operation efficiencies the software functionality provides.

It all depends on your business. But if you just want to exchange data at a lowest common denominator level, look into Web based EDI solutions such as CoValentworks or TrueCommerce .
posted by paulsc at 10:36 AM on April 29, 2007

Thanks, paulsc. Let me clarify that the inventory will all be in the UK so the data sharing is more like my ability to peek in and see what's going on. EDI is definitely overkill for this but it is an interesting idea.
posted by trinity8-director at 11:31 AM on April 29, 2007

There is one point about EDI that *everyone* seems to miss, that I'd like to point out here (though it's not strictly germane to your situation, I don't *think*, which is probably why paulsc didn't mention it in his typically complete reply :-):

Part of the *point* of the system architecture of 'traditional' EDI is that the inter-company documents land in transit at the location of an independent third-party organization.

This provides an unambiguous method of proving that yes, you really *did* send out that purchase order at a specific date and time, regardless when the recipient says they sent it.

If you send your transactions direct, you lose that -- and it's a service people are willing to pay money for in many circumstances.

EDI's major selling point *used to be* that it made everyone's software play nice... but it's by no means useless, even after that's no longer an issue.
posted by baylink at 8:39 PM on April 29, 2007

"... Let me clarify that the inventory will all be in the UK so the data sharing is more like my ability to peek in and see what's going on. ..."

The devil is in the "what's going on", in most situations. Inventory management means different things to different people, in different businesses, because of how they think about "what's going on." Inventory is generally not a list of static quantities of physical items. It's the availability of physical items to support business processes. That means, "what's going on" generally needs to encompass ideas like committments to sales orders and internal orders (samples, QC stocks, manufacturing bills of material, etc.), safety stocks and reserves, replenishment schedule, obsolescence control, and (possibly) returns/credits. In some businesses, lot tracking, serial number tracking, and particular kinds of cost tracking are essential features of inventory control, as well.

Without a more detailed knowledge of your business, making a useful recommendation is impossible, as there are tens of thousands of software packages that attempt to manage inventory, and thousands that are Web based. Something as simple as QuickBooks with a simple inventory report dump to .csv file format, which your partner emails you daily, and you import via a spreadsheet might be satisfactory.

But as it sounds like your UK partner is the one doing the heavy lifting with regards to managing the physical inventory, might I respectfully suggest that it should be their preference for selection that guides the decision, as they will be the one living by it. Support and training for business software determines its success, more than cost, in my experience, and so I'd advise to let them find products and people they find most suitable.
posted by paulsc at 1:11 AM on April 30, 2007

might I respectfully suggest that it should be their preference for selection that guides the decision, as they will be the one living by it.

It's a fair suggestion. I'm the one who is (vastly) more tech capable and so I am taking on this responsibility. It may well be that QB is the easiest route to take.
posted by trinity8-director at 11:40 AM on April 30, 2007

paulsc is right: there are tons of software packages available. without knowing more specifics of what you're trying to accomplish, it's really hard to make recommendations. Things like how many users will need access, the timeliness of the data (does it need to be up-to-the-minute or will an once-a-day "dump" work?), how many SKUs, etc. will greatly affect your choices.

Since you mentioned sending spreadsheets via e-mail...if that's even a consideration, maybe a online spreadsheet will work? Google docs is a decent choice, and there are a few other free sharable spreadsheets like zoho sheet and numsum.
posted by edjusted at 10:23 PM on April 30, 2007