GSoC 2011 Idea: Integrating Drupal/Ubercart with OpenERP

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Posted by tpfeiffer on March 17, 2011 at 10:43pm

Drupal (as everyone here might know) is one of the most popular Open Source Content Management Systems in the web. However, it often doesn't seem to be the best choice when it comes to web shops, even though there exists Ubercart, which can turn your Drupal site into a shop as well.
OpenERP is an Open Source software for Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM), that is on par with a lot of the commercial software systems, at least for small and medium-sized businesses (SMB). It can manage clients, quotes, invoices, warehousing, procurement and many other things that are helpful even for small companies.

For other web shop software, such as Magento, Joomla!VirtueMart, and osCommerce, there exist bindings to OpenERP that synchronize clients, products, invoices etc.
For Drupal, there is:

My idea for the GSoC 2011 is to work further on the Drupal v6 (Ubercart v2) / OpenERP v6 integration such that

  • persons (users/clients)
  • products (descriptions, prices, availability, ...)
  • orders (invoices, shipping, ...)

are synchronized between Ubercart and OpenERP. For that, it needs to be checked

  • how functional/complete the existing Drupal module code is,
  • what system should be the 'master' and which one the 'slave' (e.g. in which direction the synchronization takes place),
  • how other shop/erp bindings work and what functionality they provide,
  • if it is possible to make this also a useful piece of code for D7.

Afterwards, a (more) precise goal definition and roadmap can be made.

What's the benefit for Drupal?

  • For those already using Drupal/Ubercart, a way to couple that with a (existing/to-be-established) professional ERP system is established.
  • For those not already using Drupal/Ubercart, this can be a good reason to make a decision for that system. Drupal/Ubercart catches up in ERP integration in comparison with other Open Source webshop software.

I'm looking forward to receiving your feedback!

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Comments

Drupal Commerce

Posted by eltermann on March 17, 2011 at 11:32pm
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Drupal Commerce is the substitute for Ubercart, for D7 and beyond.
Not sure, but there will much propably be migration methods from Ubercart products/orders/... to Commerce, so the already existent systems could easily migrate.

So, why not integrating OpenERP with it, rather than with Ubercart?

(I'm interested in apply for GSoC as student, and I really like to work on some e-commerce stuff. Already worked [and actually working] with Ubercart, but Drupal Commerce seems to be the really e-commerce for Drupal from now)

Re: Drupal Commerce

Posted by tpfeiffer on March 19, 2011 at 12:49pm
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I agree that for the long term, it might make more sense to build such an adapter for D7 Commerce. On the other hand, I have a D6/Ubercart installation running right now for which I would love to see this OpenERP binding ;-) I don't know how and when the migration to D7 might take place for my site and when D7 Commerce will be ready to replace Ubercart, as - after all - to build a web shop module/software that is compatible with most countries' tax laws etc. is quite a complex thing (that also Ubercart doesn't handle tooo well).

Do you have a concrete idea on what you would like to work on? Would writing such an adapter for D7 be an option for you?

When the project is ready,

Posted by dawehner on March 20, 2011 at 7:26pm
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When the project is ready, which will be in ~6 months there will be probably no reason to use drupal6 anymore.

Even last year many projects were d7 only already.

Drupal 7.x + Drupal Commerce 1.x + OpenERP 6.x

Posted by noka on March 25, 2011 at 6:55pm
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It would be so nice if they (D7+DC1+OE6) work together.
Because, from a real business/enterprise perspective, Drupal 6.x + Ubercart 2.x and OpenERP 5.x (D6+UC2+OE5) were not good enough for the real business/enterprise use/purpose so far.
But now D7+DC1+OE6 are the one of the strongest candidates for the real enterprise use/purpose.

Features

Posted by tpfeiffer on March 26, 2011 at 1:46am
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Thanks for your positive reply!
Do you already run a business using UC2 or DC1 and/or OE5/6? What kind of features would you like to have for such a binding? Where do you think one could benefit the most from it?

Now I am using the followings

Posted by noka on March 26, 2011 at 6:53am
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Now I am using the followings for my real business.
- Pantheon/Mercury http://groups.drupal.org/mercury (Pressflow 6 based) on a dedicated server
- Online/SaaS version of OpenERP http://www.openerp.com/online/

And I am building an all-in-one new site with;
- KVM based cloud environment with OpenQRM http://openqrm.com/
- OS: Ubuntu
- Drupal 7 + Varnish
- Drupal Commerce
- OpenERP 6

Initially I will use current OpenERP related modules as they are.
- OpenERP Proxy API http://drupal.org/project/openerp
- OpenERP Blocks http://drupal.org/project/openerp_blocks

As you may know, OpenERP is not a simple accounting software. It is a great enterprise suite including ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), CRM (Customer Relationship Management), SCM (Supply Chain Management), MRP (Manufacturing Resource Planning), POS, etc. And the most important thing is that all the function/feature are truly integrated. So, basically only OpenERP itself is enough for internal company operation.
But the most important factor of business is how to transact efficiently with external company people such as partners (this is a term of OpenERP including customers/clients, suppliers, members, etc.). This is the key for success. That is why CMS (Content Management Software) and EC/SC (E-Commerce/Shopping Cart) are necessary for companies who want to win in the market.

As for function/feature, I believe basic sync is enough initially such as;
- Partners (People/Entity) sync between Drupal(+DrupalCommerce) and OpenERP
- Product
etc.

Since I am relatively a sales & marketing person and am not a technical person, I can not develop software by myself, but I can outsource the development work to the professional engineers, such as and for example, software development companies in India or so. In the future, if necessary, I can ask them to develop, enhance and/or polish (fine-tune) Drupal modules for OpenERP as paid services, then everything will be working fine. (That is the reason why I choose D7+DC. DC is transparently/seemlessly integrated with Drupal 7.)

I'm looking for such solution

Posted by maxchock on April 29, 2011 at 5:25pm
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I'm looking for such solution also for my furniture business as I have few outlet and plan to expand into e-commerce market. Searching thru google return almost nothing for Ubercart + erp except for this （http://drupal.org/project/erp） which I have fail to setup.

Currently I'm testing Drupal + Magento + OpenERP but thinking the Magento will be quite useless in this combination.

If such integration for D7 + DC + OpenERP is available it will create a better system to work with.

Best regards,
Max Chock.

I'm interested in this

Posted by Quarantine on August 19, 2011 at 4:03am
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I'm interested in this solution as well - is there an update for this?

Where are you with this project ?

Posted by gregober on September 3, 2012 at 9:25pm
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Hello,

I am planning to extend the functionnality of my Drupal UC module to OpenERP or smthg similar.
I would like to know if you have integrated this module or moved on to another solution ?

Thanks for your reply.

Sincerely yours.

OpenERP+Drupal (DrupalCommerce)/Ubercart

Posted by sushilck on June 28, 2013 at 7:43am
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Our team has done some data synchronization with OpenERP and Drupal (DrupalCommerce)/Ubercart

Could you please let me know any specific integration with OpenERP and Drupal interest anyone then our team focus on that first and post here

Hi I am also looking for a

Posted by z_khn06 on November 19, 2013 at 11:33am
z_khn06's picture

Hi

I am also looking for a similar integration.

My aim is to sync orders, customers and products created in drupal to openerp. Is it possible you could share your findings or modules used to create this integration.

Thanks

Drupal OpenERP integration

Posted by gregober on November 19, 2013 at 11:54am
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Yes, I have taken decisions : move on to Magento !

Sorry for Drupal, but the shopping solutions lacks support and are way back in terms of quality compared to Magento.

That being said the CMS is probably the best !
Can't be good everywhere I guess.

See

Posted by Frando on February 3, 2014 at 3:21pm
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See https://drupal.org/project/commerce_openerp.