Suitability of ERPNext for a SysAdmin Services Company

ERPNext
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I’m reaching out to seek your insights as I explore whether ERPNext is a good fit for my company, Sysplore. We are a sysadmin services company based in Bangladesh, specializing in system administration, DevOps, and managed hosting solutions. I’ve recently installed ERPNext and am evaluating it as a potential replacement for Odoo, which we used previously. I’m grateful for the entirely open-source nature of ERPNext and the efforts of the Frappe community—thank you for making this possible!

Background

Sysplore provides IT infrastructure support, including server management, cloud hosting, and DevOps automation for businesses. Our workflow heavily relies on managing client interactions, generating quotations, tracking customer support tickets, and maintaining a CRM to handle leads and projects. Previously, we used Odoo, which was feature-rich but became expensive as our needs grew. Odoo’s Chatter allowed seamless client communication and project discussions, and its portal enabled clients to sign quotations directly. The Discuss module was particularly robust, supporting our collaborative needs.

Observations with ERPNext

After installing ERPNext, I noticed the application seems tailored toward businesses dealing with physical products (e.g., inventory and manufacturing modules). This raises some concerns for us, as our services are intangible (sysadmin, DevOps, hosting). Before investing more time, I’d like to confirm if ERPNext can effectively support a service-based company like ours. The key features we need are:

  • Quotations: To create and send professional quotes to clients.
  • Customer Support: To manage tickets and track support requests.
  • CRM: To manage leads, opportunities, and client relationships.

I’ve also installed the Raven chat module, which is a good start for internal communication, but it lacks audio/video calling, voice messaging, and push notifications—features we found valuable in Odoo’s Discuss. I’m not demanding these additions; I just think they could enhance the experience.

Website Builder Challenges

Building a website with ERPNext has been frustrating. I installed the builder app, but the process feels cumbersome compared to Odoo, which offers pre-built templates. A template-based approach would significantly simplify our website creation for client portals or marketing purposes. Additionally, I noticed there’s no live chat feature for ERPNext websites, which would be useful for engaging visitors and converting them into leads—something Odoo handled well.

Docker Image and Modules

I appreciate the flexibility of ERPNext, but I had to build custom image to include apps like webshop, HRMS, and builder myself, as they weren’t included in the official Docker image. It would be ideal if these were part of the official image to streamline setup for users like me who rely on Docker for deployment.

Questions:

  1. Is ERPNext suitable for a sysadmin services company like Sysplore, given our focus on intangible services rather than physical products?
  2. Can ERPNext’s quotation, customer support, and CRM modules be adapted to meet our needs effectively?
  3. Would templates or a more user-friendly website builder be considered for future updates?
  4. Is there a live chat feature in development for ERPNext websites, or are there workarounds I could explore?

I’m not here to criticize but to learn and contribute to the discussion. I’d love to hear your experiences, suggestions, or any customizations you’ve implemented for service-based businesses. Thank you in advance for your time and support!

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hello @mitexleo and welcome. Running an T company, is honestly a very cumbersome affaire, and usually requires a lot of tools and tooling.

Erpnext, so far is the best available Single Source of Truth baseline, with everything else to be built to connect to it.

The fat that you’re selling services and products, is not a problem, its generally the same problem. just define them as items that you are not tracking stock for, and it works great. erpnext, if you’re not using.

Erpnext has a subscription management function, good with sysadmin based services however if you’re looking for automation, we use blesta for hosting automation, among other things. and are working on integrations with erpnext

About custom images, if you’re using frappecloud, from the $25 plan, then you can just add custom apps from github, which is very fast. However if you’re selfhosting, and management is hard, take a look at this ERPNEXT: The most agile ERP on the planet in NS8 - App - NethServer Community

The ERPnext customer support tools are significantly good for most use cases, we however make use of Zamamd.

We like separating core tools in our infrastructure so that, we never have everything go down at the same time, if anything goes wrong, however thats our own perspective.

truly the builder is not the most intuitive. Rule of thumbs, no single solution ussually with give you 100% what you require, however the builder in erpnext is getting significant improvements by the day.

For 95% your needs, you need erpnext, for the other 5%, N8N can help you to plug things.
If you were PAying for odoo, and you outgrew it, i will advice you to consider taking frappe cloud, preferably $50 plan and above, should remove alot of your headaches.

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After exploring ERPNext for service-oriented businesses, primarily through an 8-year-old video tutorial, I find ERPNext to be a robust and competitive alternative to Odoo. Its flexibility and open-source nature make it highly appealing, particularly for small to medium-sized enterprises. However, the platform’s documentation remains a significant drawback, lacking the depth, clarity, and up-to-date examples needed for seamless adoption. I hope the Frappe team and the ERPNext community prioritize improving the documentation to better support developers and end-users.

To streamline deployment for service businesses, I created a custom Docker image that bundles essential ERPNext apps, including HRMS (for human resource management), Raven (for real-time communication), and Builder (for creating custom web pages and interfaces). The image is available at: https://hub.docker.com/r/mitexleo/syserp. This setup caters to common business requirements, reducing the need for manual app installations and configurations.

I’ve gained a solid understanding (approximately 90%) of the Builder app, which allows for no-code/low-code creation of custom pages and forms. However, I still face challenges with effectively utilizing client scripts in ERPNext. Client scripts, which are JavaScript-based and executed on the client side, are critical for customizing form behaviors, automating field updates, and enhancing user interactions. The limited examples and outdated references in the documentation make it harder to implement advanced customizations, such as dynamic field validations or real-time data updates.

To address this, I recommend the Frappe team enhance the documentation with:

  1. Comprehensive Client Script Guides: Include step-by-step tutorials with practical use cases (e.g., auto-populating fields based on user input or triggering actions on form save).
  2. Updated API References: Provide clear, version-specific documentation for client-side methods like frappe.ui.form and frappe.model.
  3. Example-Driven Learning: Offer a repository of real-world client script examples, covering common scenarios like conditional field visibility, custom button actions, and integration with external APIs.
  4. Interactive Learning Tools: Introduce a sandbox or code playground for testing client scripts within the ERPNext environment.

Improving these areas would significantly lower the learning curve for developers and enhance ERPNext’s adoption for custom workflows in service businesses.

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https://docs.frappe.io/framework/user/en/desk/scripting/client-script
https://docs.frappe.io/framework/user/en/desk/scripting/server-script

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Do you recommend installing the CRM app separately? Isn’t it installed by default? Is there any difference between this one and what we have in ERPNext already?

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There’s a difference. I would recommend. We have swiched to it internally, mostly to learn it in depth, and eventually to start proposing it to customers. We offer servces around the solutions.

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What’s the point of ERPNext if we use core apps like CRM separately? Won’t it conflict the default CRM module?

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It doesn’t conflict. You should probably read up a bit on why the apps were seperated out. Hr, CRM, Helpdesk, and the rest. So they mature seperately.

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Understood. What will happen to the existing CRM or Helpdesk app if I install the new ones? I want to replace the support app with Helpdesk.

Asked the same question here: Helpdesk Update - #13 by mitexleo

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They co-exist. See, CRM and Helpdesk are seperate apps.