Well, as some of you may know, I have been lurking around the mailing lists for quite some while and added some input here and there. With ilscipio (www.ilscipio.com/en) we are currently focusing on many aspects of Apache OFBiz and try to contribute a little more to the community in the near future. We are happy to say that our clients love Apache OFBiz and we are currently either in the talks or already in collaboration with some global players.
Through the past few years, I have come to a few thoughts on the marketability of Apache OFBiz, especially with regards to the architecture. I would like to discuss these openly with you, since I got the feeling that there are a few things that we as a whole should change in order to push Apache OFBiz further. This does in no way mean that I am unsatisfied with the status quo (clearly Apache OFBiz is an awesome piece of work with a great design underneath), but rather that I think it may not be marketed correctly or be as appealing as it could be. Here is what I think: · Is Apache OFBiz an eCommerce or an ERP System? Apache OFBiz is marketed as an eCommerce System, but the eCommerce App is a special purpose application. This doesnt mean that it cannot be both, but if you are marketing Apache OFBiz as a big eCommerce System (competing with Hybris, Intershop and IBM Websphere on the market), then it should focus on that. Dont get me wrong, the overall architecture underneath aims at being great for much more than the eCommerce App (clearly it is aiming to be used for all business processes), but I think here is where we fail to show Apache OFBiz at what it is. By losing focus on the eCommerce aspect of it all, we fail to market it as a whole. · Target company size & clients I think there is a big misunderstanding on our target group as a whole. Apache OFBiz reaches a complexity so that it comes unattractive for small size businesses. True, it features a lot for low costs, but then again, the backoffice is overwhelming and customization takes a lot of effort so that small size companies simply cannot implement Apache OFBiz successfully. If they go that route they will have to pay for it with a lot of labor and or by paying a lot of money. That is, in my opinion, why OFBiz competes with Hybris, intershop, IBM Websphere and other rather big systems and is not competing against Magento. · Contradicting Architecture The current architecture defines framework, applications, special-purpose and hot-deploy apps. Whereas the definition being a little vague on: o Framework the basic stuff, entities, services and such o Applications General Applications that play a role in most environments o Special Purpose hey look, you can do this, too (more of a demo implementation or lesser used applications) o Hot-Deploy applications your own application/modification I have no problem with Framework & Hot-Deploy, but I believe that the current way Applications and Special-Purpose are used is at least a little misleading. If we assume that Apache OFBiz is an eCommerce Application then we must assume that the eCommerce Component is a core element of the architecture. It isnt. The same applies for payment partners and distribution channels. All of these are special purpose applications. I believe this goes hand in hand with a mind unset on whether Apache OFBiz is an ERP or an eCommerce System. I would argue that either eCommerce is added to applications and modified to be self-contained (I will explain this a bit further in my next statement), or that eCommerce and all other special purpose applications are dropped in favor of a modular design in which third parties provide a store as a plugin to the Apache OFBiz framework. In case of the latter Apache OFBiz should drop the eCommerce approach and rather focus on creating a great eCommerce or ERP framework. It would also require proper release planning and rollouts. Here a switch to maven could be beneficial since the dependencies are easier to maintain but that is another discussion. · Making it accessible On a user level, I believe that OFbiz has a problem with showing too much to the general public. Sure, OFBiz can do all a client would ask for, but the problem is that the client doesnt see it. He sees all functions at once and is hence losing out of sight what he was looking for. This is the true reason for why all eCommerce Agencies start working on their own shop design and drop functions wherever they can. It simply isnt attractive to outsiders otherwise (though again, the structure itself and the functionality it comes with is where ofbiz shines). I personally would argue that keeping it down to a bare minimum could benefit all. Perhaps we could create a list of supported functions rather than trying to show off all of them at once. The functions can remain as is. The same can be said about the backoffice, where we show off functionalities that arent of interest to the key-users (a marketing person is only interested in the marketing app, a product manager only in the product manager etc.). Here we fail, by keeping cross references to other apps, instead of opting for intuitive wizards or forms that the user can rely on. Simplicity is key. On a developer level, OFBiz has a problem with keeping it easy to work with. The structure in its own is designed for reusability, but at the same time OFBiz fails to make it easy to customize. The current way widgets are used are confusing to many outsiders the cross references are simply overwhelming. So I would argue we need better tools and opt for a clear design goal of each application. At the same time the confusing architecture of the eCommerce application makes it more difficult to customize the shop than it has to be. Most people will probably look at OFBiz as an alternative to another eCommerce System. We basically show off all the eCommerce App can do by providing a demo with the special purpose application. However, we made it so that the eCommerce app is not self-contained, meaning that she heavily relies on screens and widgets that derive from the other applications. This means that we have a conflict of interest here: we want people to customize, but at the same time they cannot do that, because they will affect the other core applications. This is the sole reason to why all developers either begin to copy the ftls into the eCommerce application or another reasons why eCommerce agencies build their own version of the store. There is probably a lot more that I could add, but I really want to start a discussion with you guys. As I said, I myself and ilscipio are really eager to contribute more in the future and we would love to push OFBiz into a direction that is beneficial to all of us J Cheers, Paul --- Paul Piper Geschäftsführer Web: <http://www.ilscipio.com/> http://www.ilscipio.com Tel: (+49) 611-94589441 Mobil: (+49) 176-63283066 Fax: (+49) 611-94589449 eMail: <mailto:[email protected]> [email protected] ilscipio GmbH Am Drosselschlag 7 D-35452 Heuchelheim Germany
