Business Central alternative for manufacturers: when the Premium plan is the constraint
Manufacturers who need production planning in Dynamics 365 Business Central must license the Premium plan, and per-user licensing then reaches shop-floor, planning and quality staff who touch production records. Self-hosted Odoo Manufacturing and ERPNext both cover bills of materials, work orders and subcontracting, so the question is whether their depth matches your routings, costing and traceability rules. The constraint for most manufacturers is cost and control over who can change production data, not a single regulatory rule. This section covers functional fit, shop-floor users and cost, and it names what to confirm before comparing licenses with a self-hosted build.
Start with a role map. Separate users who need full planning and costing from operators who only confirm operations, report scrap or receive subcontracted goods. For each group, test the scenarios that matter in your plant: multi-level BOMs with engineering revisions, routing steps with work centers, subcontract orders where the supplier receives components, lot or serial traceability, and quality inspection before a finished good is booked. Confirm each item in the current Odoo editions documentation and the ERPNext manual, because the feature set differs by edition and version. Also check customization. ERPNext server scripts are disabled by default from version 15 and must be enabled with server_script_enabled, and Frappe Cloud public shared benches do not allow them, so shop-floor logic that needs server code points toward a self-hosted or dedicated bench.
Cost splits into components. Business Central Premium licenses recur per user, and each added operator or quality technician adds to that total. Self-hosted ERPNext carries no license fee, though the ERPNext pricing page lists Frappe Cloud hosting from 5 US dollars per month for shared sites and 125 US dollars per month for dedicated servers. Odoo on premise requires an Enterprise subscription for upgrades and support, and Odoo's major versions on its hosted plans are mandatory every two years. Your one-time costs are implementation, data migration and device integration. Your recurring costs are hosting, upgrade testing and support. Ask any implementation partner for a written scope that lists named and occasional users, each integration, each upgrade cycle and who tests the upgraded database before production.
What a manufacturing ERP must cover before a switch makes sense
Manufacturing is where a Business Central switch succeeds or fails, because bills of materials, shop-floor transactions and costing touch every other module. The cards below are parallel requirements to test in a pilot on Odoo Manufacturing or ERPNext manufacturing, using your own items, routings and transaction volumes rather than vendor demonstrations.
BOM and routing depth
Confirm that the platform can represent your multi-level bills of materials, alternate components, byproducts and the routing steps, work centers and sequences your products really use. Test a finished product with at least three levels of sub-assemblies and a revision change mid-order. Ask the implementation partner to show where the structure would be maintained and who is authorized to change it.
Work order and shop-floor transactions
Shop-floor users need to start, pause, report quantities and close operations without navigating finance screens. Confirm how the work order module records scrap, rework and partial completions, and whether the interface works on the tablets or terminals your floor uses. Run a full shift of realistic transactions and measure how long operators wait for each screen to respond.
Subcontracting flows
Outsourced operations require goods to leave stock, return under a different item or lot, and carry the subcontractor's charge into cost. Confirm how each platform handles the outbound component shipment, the inbound finished goods receipt and the matching supplier invoice. Test a partial return, since that is the case most often misposted during migration.
Inventory valuation and costing
Business Central valuation settings such as average or FIFO costing, and the standard or actual cost roll-up you currently rely on, must map to the costing method in the target system. Reconcile a month of production postings against your general ledger in the pilot. Confirm with your controller and auditors which valuation method each product family uses before any cost data is loaded.
Quality and lot traceability
Regulated manufacturers need lot and serial traceability from raw material to shipped product, and quality checks recorded at defined points in the route. Confirm which quality control points, inspection records and lot genealogy reports exist in the Odoo or ERPNext editions you plan to use, and where the platform leaves gaps you must fill with custom development. If electronic records or signatures are in scope, check them against the requirements in 21 CFR Part 11 with your quality team.
Import from Business Central
Item masters, BOM lines, routings and open orders must move from Business Central without breaking their links. Odoo recommends External IDs when importing from a third-party application, and ERPNext Data Import advises loading only a few thousand records at a time. Plan a trial load of a single product family, reconcile item counts and BOM depth against the source, and keep the export files as evidence for the cutover.
Odoo Manufacturing, ERPNext and the Business Central Premium plan compared
This table compares Business Central Premium, self-hosted Odoo and self-hosted ERPNext for a manufacturing shortlist across licensing, functional fit, shop-floor users, hosting, upgrade cadence, customization and data migration. Read each row as a question to put to the vendor or your implementation partner, since manufacturing depth varies by edition and version. The main takeaway is that license cost is only part of the decision, and subcontracting and shop-floor coverage need confirmation on every platform.
| Dimension | Business Central Premium | Odoo (Community or Enterprise) | ERPNext (GPL-3.0) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Licensing | Per-user subscription, and manufacturing requires the Premium plan. Confirm current per-user pricing with Microsoft. | Community is LGPLv3 with no license fee. Enterprise adds a subscription for features, support and upgrades. | GPL-3.0 with free self-hosting. Frappe warranty coverage requires a matching Frappe Cloud support plan. |
| Manufacturing scope | Manufacturing sits in the Premium plan. Confirm bills of materials, work orders and subcontracting in your tenant. | Manufacturing is one app in the suite. Confirm subcontracting and shop-floor features in the edition you choose. | Covers bills of materials and work orders. Confirm subcontracting depth in the version you plan to run. |
| Shop-floor users | Users who need system access are licensed per user. Confirm the operator access model and user count. | On-premise hosting requires the Custom plan. Confirm operator access and user terms on that plan. | No per-user fee when self-hosted. Confirm operator screens and access controls for floor staff. |
| Hosting | Online in the Microsoft cloud or on premises. On-premises installations must be kept current. | Self-hosted on your servers. Odoo.sh and on-premise hosting are available only on the Custom plan. | Docker Compose, bench or Frappe Cloud. Frappe Cloud shared hosting starts at 5 US dollars per month (ERPNext pricing page). |
| Upgrade cadence | Six-month release waves. On-premises installations stay supported only while kept current. | Major versions get three years of standard support. Minor versions arrive about every two months. | Version 15 supported to end of 2027, version 16 to end of 2029. Minor releases arrive frequently. |
| Customization | Extensions are written in AL. Confirm which routing or shop-floor needs require extensions. | Custom modules are written in Python. Odoo Studio and custom modules require the Custom plan. | Frappe apps or server scripts. Server scripts are disabled by default from version 15. |
| Data migration | Online BACPAC export needs a paid subscription, up to 10 times per month per environment. | Excel and CSV import into any business object, with External IDs recommended for third-party records. | CSV or Excel Data Import with templates. Import a few thousand records at a time. |
Which option fits which production model
Job shops build to customer orders, often with engineered routings, varying lot sizes and frequent changes to bills of materials. The key questions are how well the system handles multi-level BOMs, routing changes and job costing. Odoo Manufacturing is a reasonable first pilot for teams that also want sales, purchasing and inventory in the same database, because the manufacturing and inventory modules share one data model. ERPNext is a comparable pilot for teams that want bills of materials, work orders and project-style job tracking in one open-source application built on the Frappe Framework.
- Costing method: Confirm how each option values work in process and finished goods, and whether standard, actual or average costing matches your accounting policy.
- Routing depth: Test a real engineered product with several operations, alternate routings and a change to a sub-assembly mid-order.
- Shop-floor access: Check whether operators can confirm operations from tablets or terminals, and whether that requires a feature in the Enterprise edition or a custom build.
- Edition needs: Verify which manufacturing and multi-company features sit in the Community edition and which need an Enterprise subscription.
- Data load: Plan the import of open BOMs and open orders with External IDs so that open jobs can be reconciled with Business Central history.
Before choosing, have your planners walk through three recent orders end to end in a test database and confirm that the costs match the job ledger.
Make-to-stock manufacturers run repetitive production with large numbers of stock movements, lot or serial tracking and tight replenishment cycles. Here the risk is less about configurability and more about transaction throughput, reporting speed and the stability of the inventory model under load. Odoo Manufacturing with its inventory module is typically piloted first in this model, provided the team tests high transaction volumes on production-sized data. ERPNext can also be piloted, particularly where the team is comfortable running its own Docker or bench deployment and tuning the database layer.
- Transaction volume: Load a realistic month of stock movements and production entries, then measure how long posting and inventory valuation reports take.
- Replenishment logic: Verify reorder rules, safety stock and lot or serial traceability for your product types.
- Hosting sizing: Ask your infrastructure team to size the database, workers and scheduler for peak posting periods, since these drive the cost of self-hosting.
- Upgrade path: Confirm the supported version calendar for your chosen release, because an Odoo or ERPNext upgrade on a high-volume database needs a tested rehearsal window.
- Integration: List every system that consumes stock data, including warehouse, transport and any Business Central extensions, and confirm each has an interface in the target.
Close the pilot with a reconciliation of stock on hand by item and location against the source system at a fixed cut-off date.
Manufacturers that send operations to external shops, or that keep quality records subject to regulation, need the system to track material sent out and returned, certificates, inspection results and electronic approvals. Subcontracting flows and quality documentation depend heavily on configuration and on custom development, so the pilot should focus on these flows rather than on standard manufacturing. Odoo is worth piloting where subcontracting is a core flow, but the team should confirm whether the features it needs are in the Community edition or require Enterprise. ERPNext can be piloted in the same way, with the added step of checking which server-side customizations are allowed on the hosting model chosen.
- Subcontract flow: Test sending components to a vendor, receiving finished goods back and matching the cost to the purchase order.
- Quality records: Confirm how inspection results, certificates and nonconformance records are stored, versioned and locked after approval.
- Electronic signatures: If records fall under 21 CFR Part 11, verify audit trails, user attribution and signature controls, and have your quality team review the design. Neither platform is validated for this out of the box.
- Customization: Confirm whether Server Scripts or custom modules are permitted in your hosting setup, since some managed options restrict them.
- Access control: Check directory integration for shop-floor and supplier accounts, including LDAP support in the chosen version.
Ask your quality and compliance leads to sign off the test scenarios before any production data is migrated.
What Premium licenses cost against self-hosted manufacturing ERP
Compare the recurring lines first, because they usually decide the multi-year total more than the one-time build. In Business Central, manufacturing requires the Premium plan, so every named user who plans, costs or records production carries a Premium per-user charge. Ask your Microsoft partner in writing which roles need Premium, how shop-floor users such as operators, terminal or kiosk users are counted, and whether any limited-use roles are billed separately. Those answers can change the license total more than the list rate does. Partner implementation, data migration and AL extension rework are mostly one-time costs. Licenses, Microsoft's release waves and the partner work that follows each wave recur.
Self-hosted Odoo and ERPNext remove the per-user license line but add lines you must price yourself: servers, administration, backup, and support. Odoo Community is free under LGPLv3, but Manufacturing for on-premise use sits within the Custom plan on Odoo's pricing, and the upgrade service requires an Enterprise subscription. Confirm the per-user Enterprise rate and which manufacturing features it includes. ERPNext self-hosting is free under GPL-3.0. Frappe Cloud shared site hosting starts at 5 US dollars per month, and dedicated servers start at 125 US dollars per month, according to the ERPNext pricing page. Implementation is available through certified partners, so ask each for a fixed scope in writing.
The largest recurring difference is upgrade effort. Odoo standard support covers each major version for three years, and on Odoo Online and Odoo.sh major upgrades are mandatory every two years, so budget for a recurring upgrade test cycle. ERPNext v15 is supported until the end of 2027 and v16 until the end of 2029, and Frappe warranty coverage requires a listed version plus a matching Frappe Cloud support plan. In every quote, request separate line items for shop-floor device counts, bill of materials and work order migration, barcode or machine integration, customization hours, hosting, backup and support, with response terms written down. Treat any figure without a stated source as provisional until you confirm it.
How to deploy self-hosted manufacturing ERP alongside production
This sequence moves manufacturing records into a self-hosted Odoo or ERPNext instance one production line at a time, so the shop floor keeps running while the new system proves itself. Each step closes with a check that tells you whether the next one can start.
Audit scope, bills of materials and routings
Your operations lead, manufacturing engineer and the Business Central administrator list every item, bill of materials, work center, routing and open work order in scope, and mark which ones are active. Compare this list with the Business Central Premium features you actually use, such as production orders, capacity planning and subcontracting, so that each one has a named owner on the Odoo Manufacturing or ERPNext side. Confirm with the vendor or your partner which manufacturing features need the Odoo Custom plan or extra apps before you commit. The step is done when the scope document is signed off and every gap has a decision and an owner.
Export and clean source data
Your Business Central administrator exports the data you need, either as a BACPAC file from an online database or from the on-premises SQL Server database, and loads it into a staging SQL Server to query. Your data analyst then extracts items, customers, vendors, bills of materials and open orders into flat files, removes duplicates and assigns a stable External ID to every record, since Odoo recommends External IDs when importing from a third-party application. The step is done when row counts reconcile against Business Central for each object type and the cleaned files pass a review by the operations team.
Build the self-hosted environment and import in batches
Your platform engineer installs Odoo from its packaged installer or source, or ERPNext with Docker Compose from the frappe_docker repository or manually with bench, on infrastructure you control. Load master data first, then bills of materials and work centers, importing in batches of a few thousand records for ERPNext Data Import, and in comparable chunks for Odoo, so that a failed batch is easy to isolate and rerun. The step is done when a test copy shows the same item counts, bill of materials cost roll-ups and open order quantities as the source extract.
Pilot on one production line
Choose one production line with a limited set of finished goods and run real work orders through the new system in parallel with Business Central for an agreed period set by your operations team. Shop-floor operators record consumption, output and scrap in the new system, and the controller reconciles inventory valuation and labor postings between the two. Record every mismatch in a defect log and resolve the cause before expanding. The step is done when the controller signs off that valuation and quantity differences are explained and the operators can complete a work order without help from the project team.
Configure shop-floor access and authentication
Your identity team connects the new ERP to your directory through LDAP, using the Odoo LDAP authentication documentation or the ERPNext LDAP integration guide, and enables social login through the Frappe Social Login Key only where your policy allows it. Create roles that limit shop-floor users to work order, stock movement and quality entries, and keep costing and posting rights with finance. Confirm that terminals and kiosks use the same authentication path as desktops. The step is done when a test account from each role can sign in through the directory, and an account that leaves the directory loses access.
Set up backups and restore tests
Your database administrator schedules full database backups and file store backups for each environment, stores copies outside the production network, and documents the restore order for the database, attachments and scheduled jobs. Your team restores a backup to a separate server and compares record counts and recent transactions with production. The step is done when a restore has been completed and timed by the team, and the runbook names who can authorize a restore.
Test upgrades on a copy before production
Your platform team duplicates the production database to a non-production server and removes or neutralizes sensitive data for test use. For Odoo, a major version upgrade through the upgrade service requires an Enterprise subscription on-premise, and the Community edition has no access to that service, so confirm your subscription status before planning. For ERPNext, apply the new minor or major version with bench on the copy, then run the production work order scenarios from the pilot. The step is done when the upgraded copy passes the scenario test script and the change record names the rollback point.
Expand by line and retire Business Central access
After the pilot sign-off, your project lead moves the remaining production lines in groups, repeating the import, parallel run and access checks for each group. Once every line has run in the new system for an agreed period, your controller freezes Business Central postings and sets the database to read-only for audit retrieval. The step is done when all lines post only to the new system, the retention copy is documented, and the operations team confirms that no shop-floor work order still depends on Business Central.
Business Central manufacturing alternative questions
What drives the total cost of moving manufacturing off Business Central?
The total cost is driven by who is paid for each component: licenses, hosting, implementation, data migration, customization and ongoing support. In Business Central, Premium licenses are recurring and charged per user, so shop-floor headcount matters. With self-hosted Odoo or ERPNext, there is no per-user license fee for the open-source editions, but you pay for infrastructure, implementation partner time, integration with shop-floor equipment, testing and staff who run the platform. Separate one-time costs (data mapping, bills of materials cleanup, training, pilot) from recurring costs (hosting, patching, support). When requesting a quote, ask the partner to itemize scope by module, data volume, number of integrations, number of users by role, and test cycles, and to state what is excluded. Ask about Odoo Enterprise or ERPNext support plans separately if you need them.
How long does a manufacturing pilot take and what depends on data quality?
The timeline depends mostly on the state of your master data, not on the software. Bills of materials, routings, work centers, item codes and unit of measure conversions must be clean before a pilot can produce meaningful work orders. Inconsistent item numbering or undocumented scrap rates typically extend the mapping phase more than any configuration task. ERPNext's Data Import tool loads CSV or Excel files with downloadable templates, and its documentation advises importing only a few thousand records at a time, so large item and BOM sets need to be batched and reconciled. Odoo's import documentation recommends External IDs when importing from a third-party application, which helps keep relationships intact across loads. Ask any partner for a pilot plan that lists the master data objects in scope, the reconciliation checks, and the criteria that end the pilot. No duration is set here; request one in writing based on your data.
Can an in-house IT team run Odoo or ERPNext for manufacturing?
An in-house team can run the platform if it has skills in Linux, PostgreSQL or MariaDB, backups, upgrades and Python or Frappe customization, and if it has a named owner for manufacturing configuration. Both products are used with ongoing upgrade work. Odoo's documentation states that each major version is supported for three years, followed by two more years to complete the upgrade, and that minor versions are usually released every two months. ERPNext releases frequent minor versions on supported majors, and Frappe's supported versions page lists end-of-life dates for each major. On Odoo Online and Odoo.sh, major upgrades are mandatory every two years according to Odoo's documentation. Most manufacturers keep an external partner on a support or upgrade retainer while building internal depth. DeployOpen provides ongoing support, upgrades and continuous testing as retainers, and implements and hardens self-hosted platforms in your own infrastructure.
Does Odoo Manufacturing or ERPNext handle subcontracting?
Both products cover manufacturing, but subcontracting depth must be verified against your process before you commit. ERPNext lists manufacturing among its covered areas, along with accounting, inventory, asset management and projects, and its documentation covers bills of materials and work orders. Odoo's suite includes a Manufacturing application that is part of its open-source ecosystem, and the Community edition is licensed under LGPL-3.0. Whether a specific edition supports subcontracting flows, such as sending materials to a vendor, receiving finished goods back, and costing the operation, is a configuration and version question. Ask for a demonstration using your own bills of materials and a subcontracting purchase order, and confirm the edition and version that includes the required behavior. Also check whether any functionality you need sits only in Odoo Enterprise, since Odoo's pricing page states that some features, such as multi-company and custom modules, are limited to its Custom plan.
How are shop-floor users licensed and authenticated in a self-hosted setup?
In a self-hosted setup, shop-floor users are usually handled through the platform's user model and your directory, not through a per-user Business Central license. Business Central Premium licenses are assigned per user, so the number of operators and terminal users directly affects cost. Odoo Community and ERPNext are free to self-host, but Odoo Enterprise and any paid hosting or support plan are priced separately, so confirm which edition each shop-floor role needs. For authentication, Odoo documents LDAP authentication, and ERPNext documents LDAP integration and social login keys through Frappe. Plan for kiosk or tablet access, session timeouts, shared device policies and role-based permissions for quality and production screens. Ask the partner to show how each role logs in, how accounts are removed when operators leave, and how access is logged for audit purposes.
How do I export Business Central data for a manufacturing migration?
For Business Central online, the supported route is a BACPAC export. According to Microsoft Learn, online databases can be exported as BACPAC files to an Azure standard storage account, only with a paid subscription, up to 10 times per month per environment. Microsoft does not support creating a working on-premises Business Central environment from that BACPAC, so the file is a data source, not a restore point for a new Business Central instance. Load it into SQL Server to query ledgers, items, bills of materials and production orders, then extract data into CSV or Excel for import. Odoo's import tool accepts Excel and CSV files for any business object, and ERPNext's Data Import tool uses templates. For on-premises Business Central, extraction comes from your own SQL database. Confirm with your partner which tables hold routings, capacity and production journals, since these are often the hardest to map.
What compliance rules apply to manufacturers moving to self-hosted ERP?
Compliance depends on your sector and customers, not on the ERP brand alone. Manufacturers in the EU should check NIS2, which lists manufacturing as a critical sector covering NACE Rev. 2 divisions 26 to 30, and the Cyber Resilience Act for products with digital elements. The CRA's Article 14 reporting obligations have applied since 11 September 2026 according to the regulation, while general application of the regulation begins on 11 December 2027. For plant control networks, the ISA/IEC 62443 series is the reference for industrial automation security, and NIST SP 800-82 Rev. 3 covers operational technology. Where records must be electronic and signed, review 21 CFR Part 11 if you serve regulated markets. Keep ERP production records separate from control system networks, and ask any partner to document the controls and evidence they will prepare. DeployOpen prepares systems, controls and evidence for compliance assessments, but independent auditors and certification bodies issue audit reports and certifications.
Evidence to keep for auditors and customers
A self-hosted ERP is only as defensible as the records behind it. The cards below cover the evidence a manufacturer should be able to produce on request, from master data and costing to access logs, restore tests and upgrade records. DeployOpen prepares this evidence, but independent auditors and certification bodies issue any assessment or attestation.
Validated BOM and routing master data
Keep dated, approved versions of every bill of materials and routing, with the approver, effective date and the change that replaced the previous revision. In Odoo Manufacturing or ERPNext, export these masters at each release and store them outside the live database. Check that work orders reference the revision that was current when production ran, not the latest one.
Work order and costing records
Retain completed work orders with material consumption, labor time, scrap and the cost roll-up that produced each finished-goods value. Auditors will test whether the costs in the ledger trace back to the operations that consumed them. Confirm with your finance team how standard and actual costs are recorded in the chosen platform before go-live, since the method is a configuration decision.
Access and change logs
Document who can create, approve and modify masters, routings and posted transactions, and keep the logs that show each change. Tie user accounts to a directory and review role assignments on a schedule. Shop-floor terminals and shared logins are common gaps, so confirm that each operator action is attributable to an individual.
Backup and restore tests
A backup only counts as evidence once a restore has been performed and recorded. Keep the schedule, the backup scope (database, attachments and configuration), the restore test date, the person who ran it and the result. Test the restore into a separate environment, and record the time it took to bring the plant's order data back to a usable state.
Upgrade test records
Record each upgrade as a change with its test database, the scripts or custom modules checked, the test cases run against production-like data and the sign-off. Odoo's upgrade documentation expects the upgraded test database to be tested before production, and ERPNext upgrades should follow the same discipline. Keep the release notes that were reviewed for each version.
Sector rules such as 21 CFR Part 11
Regulated products bring their own rules. For example, 21 CFR Part 11 covers electronic records and electronic signatures in FDA-regulated work, and it needs controls such as unique user identification, audit trails and signature manifestations. Confirm with your quality team which records fall under these rules and whether the chosen platform and its configuration can meet them. Standards and sector rules are interpreted by your auditors and regulator, not by the platform vendor.
Where OT security standards apply to a manufacturing ERP
The ERP does not sit inside the industrial control layer, but it can become the easiest route into it, so the first decision is to define the boundary in writing. The ISA/IEC 62443 series organizes requirements for industrial automation and control systems (IACS) into general, policy, system and component groups, and NIST SP 800-82 Rev. 3 covers SCADA, DCS, PLCs and building systems. Both govern the shop floor. Your self-hosted Odoo Manufacturing or ERPNext instance belongs in the business network, and the design question is which flows cross into the control zone: production orders, machine-level quantities, quality results or maintenance data. Confirm with your OT engineers and your ISA/IEC 62443 risk assessment (ANSI/ISA-62443-3-2-2020 covers this for system design) which data paths are allowed, and enforce them with segmentation, a dedicated integration tier and no direct database access from the ERP into PLC or SCADA networks.
Regulatory exposure depends on where you operate and what you make. NIS2 Annex II lists manufacturing as a critical sector, covering NACE Rev. 2 divisions 26 to 30 and medical and in vitro diagnostic devices, and in-scope entities must report significant incidents with an early warning within 24 hours and a final report within one month under Article 23(4). The Cyber Resilience Act applies to products with digital elements from 11 December 2027, while manufacturers' Article 14 reporting duties have applied since 11 September 2026 according to Article 71(2). The Machinery Regulation, applying from 14 January 2027, adds an essential requirement that connecting another device or remote device must not lead to a hazardous situation. Whether any of these reach your plants, products or subsidiaries is a legal question, so ask counsel to map your entities and product lines against each text before you scope controls.
For the ERP itself, the practical work is to record which obligations your own environment must evidence: access control to production data, change control on routings and bills of materials, logging of integration accounts and incident response timelines that the ERP team can meet. Self-hosting gives you that evidence in your own systems, but it also makes you the operator of the patching and monitoring. Ask any implementation partner to document the integration boundary, the service accounts used for machine or MES connections and the retention of audit logs. Treat these documents as inputs for your auditors and counsel, since DeployOpen prepares controls and evidence for assessments but does not issue certifications or legal opinions.
How DeployOpen deploys manufacturing ERP under your constraints
DeployOpen plans, implements, customizes, integrates, hardens, backs up and documents self-hosted open-source ERP inside your own cloud accounts, data centers or air-gapped networks. For manufacturers replacing Business Central, we start from your bills of materials, shop-floor workflows and subcontracting process, then agree the scope in writing before any work begins.
How we scope
- Written scope lists the manufacturing modules, routings, work centers and subcontracting flows in use today.
- Scope records which shop-floor users, roles and plant locations will access the system.
- Engagements are fixed-scope, with deliverables and timelines agreed in writing before work starts.
How we build
- We map bills of materials, work orders and costing methods to Odoo Manufacturing or ERPNext configuration.
- Custom logic is built as Odoo Python modules or Frappe apps, with server scripts enabled only where your settings allow.
- Data migration is tested on copies of your records before any production load is scheduled.
How we hand over
- Handover covers installation runbooks, configuration records, custom code documentation and integration maps.
- Access control is set through your identity provider, with the chosen LDAP or social login method documented.
- Backup, restore and upgrade procedures are written and tested with your operations staff before sign-off.
How we support
- Ongoing support, upgrades and continuous testing are available as retainers after handover.
- Upgrade planning follows the vendor's published support windows, so your production release dates stay under your control.
- Support scope, response expectations and test cadence are defined in the retainer agreement before it starts.
