Re: [silk] Online SCM and Shopping

2007-10-04 Thread Ramakrishnan Sundaram 
Gautam John said the following on 04/10/2007 13:27:

 As part of my work, I'm helping to try and institute systems for CRM and SCM
 because we work with many local branch offices,
 
 Also, is there a way I can/should combine inventory/SCM management and
 CRM/donor management?

I explored this a year ago. My conclusion was that the only way to do
something efficiently was to implement an OSS ERP system like Compiere.
There are others now that are totally web-based as well.

ERP will allow you to create suppliers (donors), customers, and manage
inventory. You can also integrate your accounting systems with it.

Be warned, implementing Compiere is a pain. The web-based ones may be a
bit better.

Ram

Re: [silk] Online SCM and Shopping

2007-10-04 Thread Gautam John 
On 10/4/07, ashok _ [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

http://civicrm.org/


Thanks. Looks like they also have a hosted version.

But its based on drupal (www.drupal.org)


Will take a look. Seems intimidating!

Cheers!

-Gautam

Re: [silk] Online SCM and Shopping

2007-10-04 Thread Gautam John 
On 10/4/07, Ramakrishnan Sundaram [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

If managing inventory is key, I'm afraid you have no option but one of
 the ERP products. Maybe you can hire one of Compiere's implementation
 partners to do it for you?


I have sent them a mail.

The one thing I've noticed about US based companies (it may be wider, but my
experience is limited) is how far out of their way they'll go to assist
non-profits, technically and financially, in terms of discounts or free
licenses. It has been quite an eye opener.

Re: [silk] Online SCM and Shopping

2007-10-04 Thread Gautam John 
On 10/4/07, Ramakrishnan Sundaram [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

My conclusion was that the only way to do something efficiently was to
 implement an OSS ERP system like Compiere.


Thanks.

I looked at that and Vtiger [1] but the level of complexity scared me.

[1] http://www.vtiger.com/

Re: [silk] Online SCM and Shopping

2007-10-04 Thread Biju Chacko 
On 10/4/07, Ramakrishnan Sundaram [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
 Gautam John said the following on 04/10/2007 13:27:

  As part of my work, I'm helping to try and institute systems for CRM and SCM
  because we work with many local branch offices,
 
  Also, is there a way I can/should combine inventory/SCM management and
  CRM/donor management?

 I explored this a year ago. My conclusion was that the only way to do
 something efficiently was to implement an OSS ERP system like Compiere.
 There are others now that are totally web-based as well.

 ERP will allow you to create suppliers (donors), customers, and manage
 inventory. You can also integrate your accounting systems with it.

 Be warned, implementing Compiere is a pain. The web-based ones may be a
 bit better.

http://ofbiz.apache.org/  perhaps?

-- b

Re: [silk] Online SCM and Shopping

2007-10-04 Thread Ramakrishnan Sundaram 
Gautam John said the following on 04/10/2007 13:56:

 I looked at that and Vtiger [1] but the level of complexity scared me.
 
 [1] http://www.vtiger.com/

While I haven't used vtiger, I've used SugarCRM, which it is forked
from, extensively. It's not complex at all, but won't serve your purpose
- it does sales pipelining and CRM only.

If managing inventory is key, I'm afraid you have no option but one of
the ERP products. Maybe you can hire one of Compiere's implementation
partners to do it for you?

Ram