Community / Open Source

Is Open Source the ERP Cure-All?By Joseph C. Panettieri (May 1, 2008)Campus Technology
Conventional and hosted applications thrive, but open source ERP is coming on strong. Here's how to choose the best type of solution for your own institution.
Kuali develops open source financial and ERP applications for universitiesBy Tina Gasperson (April 24, 2008) Linux.com
Financial and ERP applications are arguably the last bastion of proprietary software giants, but the Kuali Foundation wants to eliminate those remaining barriers to open source enterprise systems, at least in the educational realm.
Sun Update on MySQL integration: Peachy keenBy Charles Cooper (April 15, 2008) CNet News.com
When Sun Microsystems paid $1 billion to buy MySQL, perhaps the biggest question facing the merger was the apparent culture clash. For years Sun had been a closed-source software company and the deal raised concerns within some quarters of the open-source community about how things might play out.
But on Tuesday Sun sought to dispel any questions with a choreographed love-fest at the first big gathering of MySQL developers since the deal closed in January.
Universities build open-source enterprise applicationsBy John Cox (March 27, 2008) Info World
A group of U.S. universities is blazing a new path in open source software. The members are building a set of enterprise applications -- the big, important, mission-critical ones that have long been the exclusive domain of software companies like Oracle, SAP, and Microsoft.
The first application is the Kuali Financial System, a financial management application designed from the outset for the specific requirements of colleges and universities.
Toss Out the ManualGlen O'Keefe (December 2007) NACUBO Business Officer Magazine
Using workflow technology, the University of Connecticut freed staff from labor-intensive tasks and simplified student financial services.
Imagine the bursar’s office bracing itself for the return of 28,000 students, when a nice thing happens: Few come to visit. Cashier lines are almost non-existent, phones are relatively quiet, and several staff are sent home early to enjoy the rest of their weekend.
That’s what happened this fall at the University of Connecticut (UConn), Storrs.
The Potato Made Me Do ItChristopher D. Coppola (November 14, 2007) Campus Technology
I'm currently reading a book called the The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan. You might recognize The Omnivore's Dilemma as his most recent book. One very interesting aspect of The Botany of Desire is that Pollan frees the reader from preconceived notions about the importance of people in the co-evolutionary relationship between humans and plants. He frees us by providing a completely inverted perspective. He writes from the perspective of the plant.
The Future of Open Source in Higher EducationJeff Young (Moderator) and Brad Wheeler (Guest) (Sept 27, 2007) Chronicles of Higher Education - Live Discussion
Many colleges have decided to rely on open-source software instead of commercial software for their campuswide systems. The price is right -- it's free. But there are challenges to adopting software built by a group of volunteers, and software companies say that only commercial products are stable enough and provide a strong enough support model to run crucial operations, such as course-management and financial systems. Open-source leaders argue that colleges are in a better position to build software for themselves, rather than wait for a company to build the tools and features that they need. Is open source sustainable, and if so, how can colleges work together to keep such projects running?
The Kuali Group: Effective Practices and Structures Foster a Successful CollaborationBy Bob Albrecht and Judith A. Pirani (Sept 12, 2007) Educause Connect
This case study complements the 2007 ECAR study by Philip J. Goldstein, IT Collaboration: Multi-Institutional Partnerships to Develop, Manage, and Operate IT Resources. Researchers undertook this case study to understand the methods and practices used to manage ongoing collaborative activity and how the Kuali group partners plan for the sustainability of their collaboration. The case study highlights the collaborative nature of the Kuali Project to meet its goal of building a suite of administrative software, rather than the project’s history, structure, or operations.
Open Source Is the Big DisruptorBy Peter Galli (Sept 21, 2007) eWeek.Com
Continued acceptance will drive down prices and force proprietary software vendors to change their business model.
What's a Kuali?By Jean Marie Angelo, (Sept 2007), University Business
A cute name belies the mission of this open source financial management software for higher education, which soon enters its next incarnation.
Higher Ed Takes the LeadDavid Raths (Aug 8, 2007) Government Technoloigies Public CIO
If progress in open source is measured by moving "up the software stack" from operating systems and development tools to mission-critical applications, it appears that higher-education institutions are leading the way.
The culture of higher education is attuned to the philosophy of open source, said Brad Wheeler, CIO of Indiana University in Bloomington. "Ford and Chrysler can't really sit down together and design a resource management system, but Cornell and Indiana universities can pool resources. It fits with the values of the academy - a collaborative culture."
Mitigating the Risks of Big SystemsBrad Wheeler and Joanne DeStefano (July/August 2007) NACUBO Business Officer Magazine
Consider the Community Source model as a way to blend the economies of off-the-shelf software with the customization advantages of owning the system.
Some of us have seen fortunes slip through our hands as we learned how to implement these kinds of systems in universities;” John R. Curry, executive vice president, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, February 2000.
The New Face of ERPJoseph C. Panettieri (June 2007) University Business
Enterprise applications come out of the back office to manage everything from business operations to student lifecycle relations.
WHEN IT COMES TO ENTERPRISE APPLICATIONS, ONE SIZE DOES NOT FIT ALL. Just ask John Southard, chief technology officer for New York Law School.
Southard's team manages a "quasi best-of-breed" mix of enterprise resource planning (ERP) and constituent (or customer) relationship management (CRM) systems across the university. The solution includes SunGard's SCT Banner for ERP; Admit-M software from the Law School Admission Council; and Blackbaud's Raiser's Edge software for alumni development.
The Ignorance of CrowdsNicholas G. Carr, strategy+business
The open source model can play an important role in innovation, but know its llimitations.
Ten years ago, on May 22, 1997, a little-known software programmer from Pennsylvania named Eric Raymond presented a paper at a technology conference in Würzburg, Germany. Titled “The Cathedral and the Bazaar,” the paper caused an immediate stir, and its renown has only grown in the years since. It is now widely considered one of the seminal documents in the history of the software industry.
Open your mind with open source ERPManel Sarasa (May/June 2007) ITadviser, Issue 49
Business processes such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) are no longer the bastion of global enterprises. As smaller, nimbler businesses enter the market, web-based and open source solutions are becoming an increasingly compelling solution, argues Manel Sarasa.
Out in the Open - Universities join forces to build their own softwareEric Butterman, (May 2007), EDTECH
Typically, colleges buy off-the-shelf software. Sometimes they might ask a vendor to customize part of it, or they might even do some coding themselves.
This process has worked fairly well, at least as long as a product remains on the market. But the sticking point often comes when vendors no longer support an application, forcing colleges to scramble to reconcile programming issues.
Invest LocallyChristopher Coppola (April 2007). Campus Technology
The sustainable agriculture movement is a lot like the open source software movement in higher education today--simply replace "better food" with "better software." Okay, it's not quite that simple, but there are a lot of similarities. Communities like Sakai, Kuali, uPortal, Moodle, and others are taking advantage of a better way to build software through open source communities. Interest in these communities is growing rapidly, certainly outpacing the capacity of these communities to provide all services necessary for new community members to be successful with the software.
Open Source Technology Update :: Breaking AwayJoseph C. Panettier (April 2007). Campus Technology
Brad Wheeler is breaking with tradition. As CIO of Indiana University, Wheeler is leading an ambitious move to open source-based applications that will manage the bulk of the university’s business and academic systems. One of the initiatives, known as the Kuali Project, involves multiple universities writing and sharing code for their financial and operational systems.
Open Source 2010: Reflections on 2007Brad Wheeler (January/February, 2007). EDUCAUSE Review
Much has happened since the 2004 prognostications of my EDUCAUSE Review article "Open Source 2007: How Did This Happen?"1 The article peered into the future through the lens of two possible outcomes for open-source application software by 2007. In the first scenario, higher education and commercial firms overcame many challenges to evolve a new "community source" model for developing and sustaining enterprise-scale, quality software. In the second scenario, the obstacles for collaboration and coordination of investments were simply too great: institutions could not find ways to agree.
A Flexible Financial SystemKathleen McNeely & Mary Wheeler (February, 2006). Business Officer Magazine
The fifth annual Kuali Users Conference, which attracted attendees from more than 150 higher education institutions in North America, has just concluded. Sessions included “Implementation Tips and Tricks”; “Enhancements to the Endowment and Research Administration Modules in the Next Release”; and three roundtable forums for users from public and independent research universities, independent liberal arts colleges, and community colleges in which participants shared information about the application on their campuses.
Community Source Springs ForthAnna Jackson (May 2005), Business Officer Magazine
Implementing new administrative systems software takes time, but support for community source projects is gaining ground. Henry Ford once said, “Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.” Ford would know business acumen; he is often credited as the father of 20th-century American industry. Nearly 100 years after Ford rolled out the first Model T, while it might seem unusual to correlate his words of wisdom with higher education, Ford’s pontifications on teamwork pertain to a developing IT solution for institutions: community source software initiatives.
An Open Mind on Open SourceKarla Hignite (August 2004), Business Officer Magazine
As hundreds of colleges and universities gear up to replace outdated administrative systems software, more are contemplating open source as an option. Yet many business officers remain uncertain about the possible risks and unaware of the potential benefits of this new phenomenon. At least 25 percent of institutions of higher education are likely facing replacement of their financial, human resource, and/or student services administrative systems within the next three years.
Open Source 2007:  How Did This Happen?Brad Wheeler (July/August 2004), EDUCAUSE Review
Developing sustainable economics and advancing the frontiers of innovation are the dual challenges for application software in higher education. Sustainable economics means that an institution’s base budgets can support the licensing fees, developers, maintenance, training, and support required for application software.
The Inevitable Unbundling of Software and SupportBrad Wheeler (February 2004). Campus Technology
Recent months reflect an important discussion of open source application software for higher education. The success of Linux and Apache at the infrastructure level and the generally collaborative nature of universities prompted Gartner to forecast that higher education would be one of the early places for open source applications, such as course management systems, portals, and ePortfolios.