7 Media Web solutions, LLC has started their revolution by creating a crowdfund campaign for their first open source project called eduTrac. eduTrac is an open source SIS/ERP that helps educational institutions manage Faculty, staff, students, courses, course sections, as well as other features found in your typical educational student system. However, 7 Media branding eduTrac as being unique among the predecessors proprietary.
Unlike other proprietary systems, 7 Media States that eduTrac is different for four reasons:
One, most of the big name SIS/ERPS out there is closed source and is under a strict commercial license. Not so with eduTrac. It is open source, so that the community can get involved and make it even better.
Two, most of these proprietary systems must be adapted to fit an institution's way of doing things. Which means that if the core code has changed, upgrade can be a pain, and even a nightmare. eduTrac will have an extension system that will make it possible for programmers to write code that can hook into the Edutrac's functions without having to modify or hack the core functionality. Now, there may be some small adjustments needed here and there, but it is the hope that these adjustments will eventually go into the next version, which makes it easier to upgrade to new versions without fear of breakage.
Three, with eduTrac, institutions can install it on their servers and use their own database, or they have the option to use Edutrac's secure database data warehouse, which is hosted in the cloud for scalability.
And four, eduTrac comes with a SQL Terminal. It is a secure interface to data stored in the database, which will allow users (with appropriate permissions) to create ad hoc reports on the fly. This is unique, because they do not have to use some sort of Query Builder, but instead, the user will retrieve exactly what he or she needs because of the relational data, and the user will become proficient with SQL syntax (training available).
This is what 7 Media coined, "EduTrac difference." 7 Media pushing for eduTrac to stand out and become the most coveted after student information system in the world. The fact that it is open source gives it a chance to become just that with hopes of a strong community contributes to its core. In addition, opens the door to the eduTrac internationalization function to be translated into other languages.
For more information, you might want to check out eduTrac campaign on Bountysources website: https://www.bountysource.com/fundraisers/455-edutrac. Come and be a part of the difference!
About 7 Media Web solutions, LLC
7 Media is a PHP development and consulting firm specializing in open source PHP web-based applications for educational institutions.