Thomas,
Sorry for the delay -- I've been out of pocket for a couple days. First off, I should give you a better picture of how we've been using OFBiz.
Maybe you can complete http://wiki.cocoondev.org/Wiki.jsp?page=WorkflowImplementationComparison with your knowledge about OFBiz?
We're a consulting company that typically provides custom web applications with a focus on Open Source. One of our projects required workflow and at the same time, I was working on putting together a list of open source components for enterprise class applications. Our search for workflow turned up the OFBiz project as they had implemented an XPDL compliant workflow engine. A closer look at the overall architecture turned out to provide most of what I was looking for in terms of components and design (Service Oriented Architecture, Separation of Concerns, Security, Persistence, Reporting, etc.).
We have not really utilized any of the vertical applications. However, the underlying data model is quite extensive and we've utilized it along with some of the components a few times. From a data model perspective, it would be plenty flexible to handle a CRM application probably out of the box. There is a party manager that is fairly mature and I know you can do mailings, but beyond that I don't know what other CRM features have been implemented. If you're interested, I can certainly look into it further -- it would probably be good for me to know.
On the cocoon side, I've always been interested in the project, but have only played with it on occasion. Based on your email, I can't really see a benefit to using both cocoon and OFBiz. My lack of experience with cocoon prevents me from giving you a good comparison, so I will tell you the benefits I see in using OFBiz. You can decide whether they are actually beneficial in your situation.
But might the missing benefit of using both OFBiz and Cocoon not result from poor Separation of Concerns, what you mentioned above? Why can't I use *only* the Workflow Engine? I had a look today on different Workflow Frameworks (OFBiz, OpenSymphony OSWorkflow, and Lenya's workflow stuff). The second one was just confusing in naming, the first one was to complex IMO (and access to CVS possible only after registration), only Lenya seemed to have clear SoC, but this might result from the fact that it only consists of 10 interfaces and 10 classes and is not that complex yet.
Joerg
1. Standard Integrated Data Model 2. Service Oriented Architecture 3. Workflow Engine 4. Security Integrated with Users in Data Model 5. Existing Vertical Applications
There is definitely value in keeping it simple. OFBiz is an enterprise platform and as such has the inherent complexity. If you're looking to meet your requirements in short order, OFBiz will not work. If you're looking to provide integrated functionality beyond CRM in the future and your timeframes permit, it might be a good option.
Good luck,
Chris
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