ERPNext

ERPNext is an open source ERP written on Python and has MySQL at the backend. It is a relatively new addition (2009) to Open Source ERP projects and it has a sister project (wnframework) that is a metadata driven web app framework. The project is actively developed and hosted on Github
Features and Data Model
ERPNext contains Financial Accounting, Inventory Management, CRM, Project Management, Human Resource MS. It is designed to be easy to use and ideal for small businesses. The data model is not based on any standards, but has evolved with feedback form customers. A live system contains close to 200 tables.
Architecture
ERPNext has a standard Model-View-Controller architecture, with a slight twist. It has built-in metadata modeling tools that can be used to
* All objects in the ERP are DocTypes (not to be confused with HTML DocTypes) and the Views are generated directly in the browser.
* Client interacts with the server via JSON data objects on a Representational state transfer (RESTful) supporting server.
* There is ability to plug-in (event driven) code on the client and server side.
The underlying web app framework is called "wnframework" and is maintained as a separate Project. wnframework started as a web based metadata framework based on though it has evolved differently.
This architecture allows rapid application development.
History
ERPNext was created by Rushabh Mehta and is maintained by Web Notes Technologies, a Mumbai based Open Source startup.
* 2005-2009: For the first few years, the project was built as a custom ERP for a manufacturing company. At the end of 2009, the project was Open Sourced at Google Code.
* 2009: The metadata model evolved from completely database driven to file driven so that it could be effectively managed on Revision Control Systems on Open Source project hosting sites.
* 2009: ERPNext was also launched on a Software as a Service model in May 2009.
* 2011: ERPNext was also linked in some reliable blogs including ReadWriteWeb , Managing Automation and O'Reilly Radar .
* 2011: In 2011, an installer was written for the first time.
* 2011- : The project is still undergoing rapid development and the latest efforts include addition of Test Cases and use of HTML5 (localStorage)
Innovations
The core innovation has been in the metadata modeling. The concept is not new but the implementation for a highly complex product like ERP is rare. This results in ERPNext in having one of the smallest code bases among ERPs.
ERPNext has also tried to model its user interface with modern usability paradigms.
Weaknesses
By far the biggest weakness of ERPNext is that there is not enough automated testing in place. Since August 2011, an effort is being made by the developers to add Test Cases so that further development can keep in place.
ERPNext also does not follow any standards for data-modeling.

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