Barcelona, Spain - May 26th, 2009. Openbravo, the leading developer of web-based open source Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Point of Sale (POS) solutions for businesses, has signed an integration partnership with HIS, a provider of integrated software systems for higher education to deliver ERP and financial planning capabilities to German universities and colleges.

HISinOne is a web-based resource management system for universities and higher education institutions. It monitors and automates the breadth of management processes within higher education organizations. For its financial accounting modules, the HIS development team decided to integrate with the professional edition of Openbravo’s open source enterprise resource planning (ERP) software for its capacity for flexible and agile development, as well as an accelerated Roll-Out.

Dr. Sven Gutow for HIS said: “We needed a solution partner that was adaptable, established and able to meet the detailed technical and legislative demands of German laws and their impact on education institutions throughout Germany.  Openbravo was the best choice for a new partnership as it has the dedication, expertise and support of a large and active community, and an impeccable history as a leader in its market.”

Dr. Gutow continued, “It was also important to us, or more importantly to our users, that Openbravo’s solutions are open source. Integration with an open source solution validates and reinforces our strategy and commitments including future-proofing, security, transparency, and the inherent innovation that comes from rapid-paced development.”

Under the new partnership, Openbravo ERP will be adapted for university use and fully integrated into HISinOne. This integration will provide a market-ready solution that will be rolled out in nearly all Universities in Germany.

Since none of the new integrated resource management system functions will have to be developed from scratch, the partners expect a rapid uptake of HISinOne in the market.

Existing university users of HISinOne will continue to benefit from the experienced implementation and support of HIS, and HIS will continue to be the contact and provider of support services. Openbravo, as an HIS partner, will offer second and third level support with close associations as a development partner.

The new integrated HISinOne resource management will be trialed with agreed pilot sites at universities in early 2010 and a full roll-out starting in 2011.

HIS is conceived as a part of the German higher education system and has been offering IT-solutions to higher education administrations for nearly forty years. This concept secures a long-term not-for-profit performance profile, which takes its lead from the needs of the higher education sector. With more than 220 installations, its products and services have gained market leadership in the field of the German higher education system.

The product portfolio covers all university business processes for different sizes and forms of organization. The current software solution is a client server architecture for higher education with web-based access for students and employees. The next-generation software HISinOne, a solely web-based system, will transcend the current level of integration, thus building a strong foundation for the requirements of the Bologna Process.

HIS does not only utilize open source software for development but has also contributed to a multitude of open source projects in the area of higher education IT-systems.

To find out more about HIS, please visit http://www.his.de/english/organization.