Introduction
This survey was created to get feedback about Apache OFBiz,and how the existing documentation resources support its installation and use. The information gathered will be used to help update and re-organise the documentation in way that will make it easier for a wide range of people to use.
- It was conducted over the period 22nd September 2014 to 6th October 2014. Details of the survey was posted on the mailing list, Twitter and also Linked In groups.
- A total of 76 responses were recorded and the details are recorded below.
Survey Catchment
Additional statistics were captured about the respondents country.
- The majority of respondents were from Asia, followed by Europe and America.
- The most common country from respondents was India, followed by the US and France.
The country breakdown was as follows:
Country | No. Responses | Country | No. Responses | Country | No. Responses | Country | No. Responses |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Netherlands | 2 | US | 14 | South Africa | 1 | Malaysia | 1 |
India | 23 | Canada | 2 | Singapore | 1 | Luxembourg | 1 |
UK | 2 | Italy | 3 | Vietnam | 2 | Pakistan | 2 |
Germany | 1 | France | 12 | Thailand | 2 | Kuwait | 1 |
Chile | 1 | Ireland | 2 | Afghanistan | 1 | China | 2 |
Response Frequency
The survey was open for a total of 2 weeks (22nd September - 6th October 2014).
- The majority of responses were recorded during the first two days
- Based on this I would suggest that future surveys be limited to a week
Survey Questions
Question 1: Please tell us about how do you use Apache OFBiz. Do you
Answer Choices | Percentage | No. Responses |
---|---|---|
install or implement OFBIz for other people's businesses? | 80% | 59 |
use OFBiz to run your own business? | 42% | 31 |
consult in the ERP space and evaluate or recommend OFBiz to clients? | 31% | 23 |
plan to look at evaluating OFBiz for your company's use? | 12% | 9 |
Other (please specify) | 0% | 0 |
Total Respondents: 74 |
Comments and Conclusions:
- The objective of this question was to find out what the community profile was like.This was a multi-answer question meaning that respondents could select more than one option.
- It was surprising for me to find that the majority of respondents are OFBiz integrators or offer OFBiz consulting services as considering how long OFBiz has been around I would have expected a larger end user community.
- Of the 9 respondents that were "evaluating OFBiz for their company's use" 6 of them were not integrators or consultants. This suggests that these 6 are in fact real end users.I suspect the end user community is a lot larger than this but perhaps they dont actively interface with the OFBiz community but rather with their OFBiz integrator or consultant. It would be interesting to survey this group further to gain more insights into their profiles.
- Also the fact that there are so many OFBiz integrators and consultants in the market means that they must think that there is adequate OFBiz business to support them.
Question 2: Which version of OFBiz do you use?
Answer Choices | Percentage | No. Responses |
---|---|---|
Trunk | 28% | 21 |
13.07 | 35% | 26 |
12.04 | 26% | 19 |
11.04 | 8% | 6 |
10.04 or earlier | 3% | 2 |
Total Respondents: 74 |
Comments and Conclusions:
Question 3: How did you install or implement Apache OFBiz?
Answer Choices | Percentage | No. Responses |
---|---|---|
yourself | 60% | 45 |
with an integrator | 0% | 0 |
someone else did it for you | 0% | 0 |
we are an integrator | 40% | 30 |
Total Respondents: 75 |
Comments and Conclusions
Question 4: Evaluate the following statements:
Answer Choices | Strongly Disagree | Disagree | Neither Disagree nor Agree | Agree | Strongly Agree | Total Respondents |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Finding documentation to download and install OFBiz was easy | 3 | 15 | 8 | 37 | 10 | 73 |
Finding documentation about setting up and configuring OFBiz was easy | 3 | 23 | 17 | 25 | 5 | 73 |
Finding documentation about how to customise or develop with OFBiz was easy | 7 | 25 | 21 | 17 | 2 | 72 |
Finding documentation about what OFBiz does 'out of the box' was easy | 15 | 29 | 20 | 7 | 2 | 73 |
Responses as a percentage:
Answer Choices | Strongly Disagree | Disagree | Neither Disagree nor Agree | Agree | Strongly Agree | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Finding documentation to download and install OFBiz was easy | 4% | 21% | 11% | 51% | 14% | 73 |
Finding documentation about setting up and configuring OFBiz was easy | 4% | 32% | 23% | 34% | 7% | 73 |
Finding documentation about how to customise or develop with OFBiz was easy | 10% | 35% | 29% | 24% | 3% | 72 |
Finding documentation about what OFBiz does 'out of the box' was easy | 21% | 40% | 27% | 10% | 3% | 73 |
Comments and Conclusions
Question 5: How long have you been using Apache OFBiz?
Answer Choices | Percentage | No. Responses |
---|---|---|
Less than 12 months | 9% | 7 |
1-2 years | 31% | 23 |
2-5 years | 19% | 14 |
Over 5 years | 39% | 29 |
Not applicable as only evaluating OFBiz | 1% | 1 |
Total Respondents: 74 |
Comments and Conclusions
Question 6: How many Apache OFBiz users do you have?
Answer Choices | Percentage | No. Responses |
---|---|---|
1-2 | 25% | 18 |
3-5 | 10% | 7 |
5-10 | 18% | 13 |
10 or more | 47% | 34 |
Total Respondents: 72 |
Comments and Conclusions
Question 7: How often do you use or search for information in the Apache OFBiz Wiki?
Answer Choices | Percentage | No. Responses |
---|---|---|
Never | 3% | 2 |
Rarely (less than once a month) | 36% | 27 |
Sometimes (less than once a week) | 35% | 26 |
Often (once a week or more) | 27% | 20 |
Total Respondents: 75 |
Comments and Conclusions
Question 8: How often do you search the Mailing Lists for information about how Apache OFBiz works?
Answer Choices | Percentage | No. Responses |
---|---|---|
Never | 3% | 2 |
Rarely (less than once a month) | 20% | 15 |
Sometimes (less than once a week) | 31% | 23 |
Often (once a week or more) | 47% | 35 |
Total Respondents: 75 |
Comments and Conclusions
Question 9: Evaluate the following statements
Answer Choices | Strongly Disagree | Disagree | Neither Disagree nor Agree | Agree | Strongly Agree | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
I think the Technical Documentation is the highest priority | 2 | 5 | 19 | 22 | 19 | 67 |
I think the End User Documentation is the highest priority | 2 | 5 | 16 | 17 | 29 | 69 |
I think both Technical and End User Documentation are important | 3 | 1 | 10 | 27 | 31 | 72 |
as a percentage
Answer Choices | Strongly Disagree | Disagree | Neither Disagree nor Agree | Agree | Strongly Agree | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
I think the Technical Documentation is the highest priority | 3% | 7% | 28% | 33% | 28% | 67 |
I think the End User Documentation is the highest priority | 3% | 7% | 23% | 25% | 42% | 69 |
I think both Technical and End User Documentation are important | 4% | 1% | 14% | 38% | 43% | 72 |
Comments and Conclusions
Question 10: Describe your involvement with the Apache OFBiz project and community
Answer Choices | Percentage | No. Responses |
---|---|---|
I am already officially involved | 21% | 16 |
I would like to get more involved | 28% | 21 |
I respond to question in the community mailing lists | 8% | 6 |
I ask questions or read the community mailing lists | 40% | 30 |
What community ? | 3% | 2 |
Total Respondents: 75 |
Comments and Conclusions