Compiere

**Compiere**
Original author(s)	Jorg Janke; Kathy Pink
Developer(s)	Consona Corporation
Initial release	March 5, 2002 (2.4.2)
Stable release	CE 3.5.0 (Unknown release date) [±]
Preview release	none [±]
Written in	Java, JavaScript, PL/SQL
Operating system	Cross-platform
Available in	Multi-lingual
Type	Enterprise resource planning software
License(s)	GNU General Public License
Website	Compiere.com

Compiere or Compiere ERP is an open-source enterprise resource planning (ERP) application. Developer Consona Corporation focuses primarily on its commercial offerings, though it still offers a community edition. All community versions up to 3.3 can be found on the SourceForge site^[1], while the latest community version 3.5 requires giving demographic information to acquire it directly from Consona's website.^[2]

Product history

Compiere was originally authored by Jorg Janke and Kathy Pink in 1999^[3]^[4] The duo chose the open-source model for Compiere because, they claimed, it allows "people [to] do the presales themselves" without "sales pressure or misleading presentations."^[3] On June 9, 2001, a SourceForge project was started for the software^[5], and the first non-beta release arrived as version 2.4.2 on March 5 of the following year.^[1]

As Compiere's popularity grew, so did the activity surrounding it. The Compiere SourcForge project was recognized as one of the top 10 most active projects in February 2004 and was awarded Project of the Month status.^[6] By 2006, the company looked into raising venture capital to further support the project as a growing and sustainable commercial endeavor, gaining $6 million of it from New Enterprise Associates.^[7] However, a disagreement late in the year arose between Compiere's developer community and its corporate sponsor concerning the greater emphasis on the open source nature of the project rather than the community nature of the project.^[8] This disagreement ultimately led to the creation of a fork of Compiere called ADempiere.^[9]

Despite the fork the project carried on in 2007, hiring new executives, revamping engineering and support processes, and expanding its sales and service channels.^[10] In the autumn of 2009 the Compiere product line expanded to include Professional, Enterprise, and Cloud editions while the company continued to maintain the open source foundation as Community Edition.^[11]

On June 16, 2010, Consona Corporation acquired Compiere, Inc., though terms of the deal were not disclosed.^[12]^[13]

Features

The main features of Compiere's free open-source community edition include^[14]:

client-server architecture
financial management
purchasing
materials management
order management
project accounting
sales management
customer service module
eCommerce support
performance management
reporting

Hardware/software requirements

Installation requirements for version 3.5 of the free Community Edition are unknown. According to the installation guides for v3.2, a supported database and Sun Java JDK 6 are required.