Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by carpal 6695 days ago
That is exactly what I'm doing for my day job. We evaluated a ton of ERP/MRP providers, and they were all A) Extremely expensive, and B) Awful. So I lobbied them to have it be made in-house.

It is currently being done with only one developer. We're 6 months into the implementation, and are piloting in several of the modules. It is going pretty well so far.

If it continues to go well, we're considering spinning it out into its own company. A well-designed and user-friendly ERP system is a killer asset to have, and being able to resell it is an even bigger one.

I've come to pretty much the same conclusion as you, about customizing. I figured we'd have a "standard" set of modules, which would either be completely replaced or slightly modified as necessary to fit the client company. Certain things like maintenance, receiving, purchase orders and sales teams probably don't vary much between companies. Other things like manufacturing routers and change orders probably do. This would allow us to be flexible where it is necessary, and to reuse code where it is not.

As a side note, we're hiring another developer to work on this system. IC to start. Let me know if you're interested.
2 comments
cstejerean 6695 days ago
If you're developing an in-house system you should try to stay away from thinking about spinning out into a separate company. If/when you are successful you can asses what is needed to make the software into a viable product. I would focus on building something that works for in-house use only and not try to make it any more modular or extensible than absolutely necessary.
link
edw519 6694 days ago
"we'd have a "standard" set of modules, which would either be completely replaced or slightly modified as necessary to fit the client company"

This is what a dozen of my customers have suggested. (You know you're on the right track when your customers are pushing you into a business.) I'm doing something like this but with a few twists.

Thanks for the side note. I have start-up fever and am married to my project. But I'd love to stay in touch.

link