Information Systems have played an increasingly visible role over the past several years in improving the competitiveness of business. Integrated management software is today very often a key source of significant competitive advantage. Risks and integration costs are important barriers to all the advantages you gain from such systems. That’s why, today, few small- and medium-sized companies use ERP.

The development processes of open source software, and the new business models adopted by their developers, provide a new way of resolving such problems. Open ERP is such Open Source management system which is routinely used not only by big companies but also by very small and independent companies. With more than 1000 downloads per day, this is one of the most admired and used free and open source management software solution in the world. It covers all the modular and flexible enterprise functions including customer relationship management, sales management, accounting, finance, stock management, project management, internal organization, human resources, purchase management and manufacturing management.

For Open Source software, experience has shown that there’s no need to train users for several months on the system, because they can just download it and use it directly. To make this process of learning fast and effective, Open ERP has taken several steps with its large partner network and community e.g. Forum and IRC which are platforms to discuss common topics among community and get help, Open ERP Planet is used to announce new developments in Open ERP, Launchpad is a unique collaboration and Bazaar code hosting platform for software projects. Other then these, detail Documentation is available which serve as a guide to understand and get started with Open ERP. 

In continuation of providing better documentation to its community and encouraged by the huge response for earlier book - "Open ERP : a modern approach to integrated business management based on a free Open Source software system" which also got best seller mark on amazone.com, it has published a range of books for various business profiles i.e. Retail and Industrial  Management, Customer Relationship Management, Service Company Management and Accounting. These books are very effective  in explanation while focusing on end user aspects and explain how to use ‘Open ERP’ to integrate business and increase it’s efficiency. It also works as a guide for the new comers for Open ERP so they can understand its functionalities and get started. This will be mutually beneficial for industry and Open ERP community. You can order these books on http://www.openerp.com/fr/buy/books.html or here.

Written by two CEOs who have been successful with new technologies, these books are aimed at directors and managers who have an ambition to improve the performance of their whole company’s management team, as they have significant responsibilities and possess the influence to get things done in their companies.
It’s likely that most readers will come from small- and medium-sized enterprises (up to a few hundred staff) and independent companies, because of the breadth of functions that need to be analysed and involved in change. The same principles also apply to larger companies, however.

The Authors
Fabien Pinckaers is the founder and director of Tiny sprl. In four years he created a group of over  80 employees with no borrowings or need for capital. In this Collection he presents his  management methods and the software that enabled such organic growth.

Other author of books, Geoff Gardiner is the managing director of Seath Solutions Ltd in the UK. Seath Solutions is a leader in improving working processes and integrating management information.