OpenERP has all of the features one would expect to find in an enterprise-class ERP system costing hundreds of thousands of dollars, but OpenERP is available under an open source license, so there are NO software costs associated!

OpenERP is based on "modules" that can easily be installed or un-installed from a browser-based control panel with a click or two of the mouse. Because of this modularity, a business can implement only the modules it needs enabling OpenERP to be used as a departmental solution and eventually scale into a full enterprise solution.

In addition, OpenERP makes it extremely easy to customize and modify the base functionality with little-to-no programming required!

First, OpenERP also has an Application Builder that, in most cases, will either greatly reduce the amount of time needed by a programmer, or eliminate the need for programming entirely. In short, the Application Builder includes the following:

• Screen Designer - Develop new screens, add fields
• Report Designer - Design report templates using Open Office
• Workflow Designer - Drag & drop customization of business logic and automate actions for each document or step
• Database Builder - Create new objects and add new fields
• Web Services - Allows development of custom plug-ins using a full-featured web-service interface through XML-RPC
• Module Packager - Allows customizations to be packaged into a module for publishing or re-use

OpenERP's base modules include:

• Accounting
• CRM
• Point of Sale
• Project Management
• Warehouse Management
• Human Resources
• Purchase
• Manufacturing
• Marketing
• Invoicing
• Payroll
• Application Builder