Free and Open Source Enterprise Resource Planning:: Systems and Strategies

Free/Open Source Enterprise Resource Planning systems (FOS-ERP) are gaining popularity and acceptance due to two main factors: their lack of licensing fees and customizability. Given this, organizations are able to easily adopt and manipulate these systems to meet their individual needs. Free and Open Source Enterprise Resource Planning: Systems and Strategies unites research on FOS-ERP, comparing differences with proprietary Enterprise Resource Planning products, and demonstrating key research factors. It includes cases demonstrating how small enterprises have benefited from FOS-ERP in Spain and in Belgium, along with difficulties encountered and solutions developed. This essential reference addresses key issues such as security and legal risks, as well as challenges, opportunities, and barriers to adoption.

Rogerio Atem de Carvalho a B.Sc. in Computer Science and M.Sc. and D.Sc. in Industrial Engineering. He is a teacher and researcher at the Instituto Federal Fluminense (Federal Fluminense Institute) - IFF, Campos, Brazil, where he coordinates Nucleo de Pesquisa em Sistemas de Informaçao (NSI - Information Systems Research Group), which has been producing innovative software in partnership with government and private sectors since 2002. He is also a teacher and researcher with the Production Engineering Graduation programs at Universidade Federal Fluminense and Universidade Estadual Fluminense. His research on FOS-ERP was awarded by IFIP in 2006 and jointly by IFIP and IEEE in 2007. He is a consultant for government and private sectors and authored many book chapters and research papers on ERP, ECM, Software Engineering, Project Management and Decision Support Systems.

Björn Johansson holds a PhD and a Licentiate degree in Information Systems Development from the Department of Management & Engineering at Linköping University and a Bachelor degree in Business Informatics from Jönköping International Business School. He defended his doctoral thesis "Deciding on Sourcing Option for Hosting of Software Applications in Organisations" in 2007. Currently he works as an Associate Senior Lecturer at the Department of Informatics at School of Economics and Management, Lund University. Before that he had a Post Doc position for three years at Center for Applied ICT at Copenhagen Business School, within the 3gERP project. He is a member of the IFIP Working Group on Diffusion, Adoption and Implementation of Information and Communication Technologies (IFIP TC8 WG8.6), the IFIP Working Group on Enterprise Information Systems (IFIP TC8 WG8.9) and the research networks: VITS Work practice development, IT usage, Coordination and Cooperation and KiO Knowledge in Organizations.