Can anyone comment on real-time integration of OpenERP with existing legacy systems (instead of using an "import and cut-over" strategy)?
My organization has a number of legacy systems: client job planning/scheduling, part number management, manufacturing process management and serialized part tracking, and issue-tracking. Would it be advisable (and practical) to connect a new OpenERP to this data in real-time (perhaps think "continuous import") as an iterative implementation strategy? The users performing data entry could continue to use their familiar legacy systems while senior management (primarily interested in aggregated data reports) start using OpenERP reporting and dashboards with current data. Then as OpenERP features and workflows become better understood (and support increases from senior management), legacy systems would be replaced with OpenERP - first the legacy systems under my personal control (I'm the manufacturing leader), with others coming later as OpenERP knowledge and acceptance increase. For example, our Operatins team uses the client planning system to plan and mange client jobs, while I only need the job number and date for checking out serialized parts (this is currently all done by re-typing data from one system into another, there is no integration between the various legacy systems). I've implemented scheduled (cron) export from the legacy systems to CSV with import into a MySQL database (using one or more tables in the same database for each legacy application). I've also created a link table for establishing relationships between legacy applications (for example, to relate part numbers in the legacy part number system to corresponding part numbers in the legacy manufacturing system; part numbers in the two systems are similar but not identical due to their history). My thought was to use the MySQL database as an integration point for control, and to view and validate the legacy data before being imported by OpenERP, but OpenERP could just as easily import the CSV data directly if that was more efficient or effective. Is this reasonable? Possible? I'd really appreciate some specific direction if anyone has some thoughts. Dale _______________________________________________ Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~openerp-community Post to : [email protected] Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~openerp-community More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
