Empowering the Economic and Entrepreneurship Council of 'Aisyiyah Gresik through Open-Source ERP Implementation for Business Process Optimization of Milkfish Bone Floss Production

Abstract

Micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) play an important role in strengthening community economies, yet most of them still face obstacles in managing their business processes because of their reliance on manual administrative systems. The same problem was encountered by the Economic and Entrepreneurship Council (Majelis Ekonomi dan Kewirausahaan, MEK) of the 'Aisyiyah Gresik Branch, the community partner of this programme, which manages an enterprise producing shredded floss made from milkfish bones. This community-service programme aims to strengthen the managerial capacity of the partner through the implementation of an open-source Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system as a digital solution for integrating raw-material procurement, inventory, production, sales, and business administration. The programme was carried out using a Participatory Action Research (PAR) approach in which the partner was actively involved throughout the stages of needs identification, business process mapping, ERP configuration using Odoo, mentoring, implementation, and evaluation. The results show that the ERP system was successfully configured to match the characteristics of the partner's enterprise through the Inventory, Manufacturing, Purchase, Sales, and Accounting modules. Implementation of the system enabled the compilation of a Bill of Materials (BoM), the digitalisation of inventory data, and a more structured and integrated recording of the production process. Beyond improving the quality of data management, the programme also enhanced the understanding and skills of the management team in operating the ERP system, so that administrative processes became more effective, better documented, and easier to trace. The mentoring provided encouraged a shift in working patterns from manual record keeping towards data-driven business management. Open-source ERP implementation therefore proves to be an effective alternative solution for supporting the digital transformation of MSMEs, and it has the potential to be replicated in similar business groups as an effort to improve operational efficiency, decision-making quality, and business competitiveness.