Hello, I'd like your opinion on the following: Currently, we're making some effort to integrate "multi-company" support in the OpenERP addons. This means that we're adding a 'company_id' field in many tables, and subsequently extending the rules/clauses/logic to follow this company field.
I'd like to challenge that. What is the purpose/vision of a multi-company installation? Obviously, one use would be to have a unified db instance, which would serve a few "sibling" companies. But: what are the records/models/tables that these companies would have in common? Do we have a chart of the things that will be common vs. the ones (models) that will be shared? Which ones do have a strict rule on the company, as opposed to allowing Null company for all of them? Second: what are the performance implications of using this company_id field? If the rule system have us join one more table, in so many places, wouldn't that affect the server's response (considering that many OpenERP installations will be for a single company) ? How can we make up for that? Could this code turn into a no-op when not needed? Third (only a remark) is that migration from 5.0 databases may get a little hairy, if the company_id is not properly updated (has happened here). Please check thoroughly that things work when using an old db. That said, I would NOT wish to back off from the current multi-company development, but just consider an alternative. I still appreciate the effort done. My counter-proposal (which, however, doesn't cancel the multi-company code) would be to also put an effort into **B2B** instances of OpenERP. That is, instead of cramming many companies into the same db, try to have a solid framework of inter-operation between OpenERP instances. Let 2 or more OpenERP dbs share their data through some communication channel. I do know that this is not my idea, but has been started and worked upon by others, already. Indeed, I support it and propose that it would be an alternative to the multi-company case. B2B links between OpenERP instances (= dbs) would bring a series of advantages to OpenERP. It is a scalability solution, for one. It is also an added value to the OpenERP project, because it could create a /network effect/ of OpenERP installations. Just make sure b2b works out of the box, with easy installation and minimal administration. My EUR 3M ;) _______________________________________________ Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~openerp-expert-framework Post to : [email protected] Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~openerp-expert-framework More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
