Bachelor Thesis in Information Systems REPORT NO. 2008:040 ISSN 1651-4769 Department of Applied Information Technology Comparing Open Source and Proprietary Enterprise Content Management Systems: Alfresco Compared to IBM Lotus Domino Document Manager Integrated with IBM Lotus WorkFlow DANIEL G.R. ANDERSSON IT University of Göteborg Chalmers University of Technology and University of Göteborg Göteborg, Sweden 2008 Abstract This thesis is a part of the current discussions of open source versus proprietary software for Swedish authorities. A new governmental policy has been estab- lished for which the purpose is to spread the use of open source software and thereby save governmental funds and to increase quality. A case study has been conducted about an enterprise content management solution for the authority the Swedish Armed Forces. Enterprise content man- agement is not a new product category but an integrated approach to handle all types of content. The solution is required in order for the authority to conform to current Swedish laws. Two candidate systems are compared against the re- quirements for the solution, were one is open source and the other is proprietary. The first research question addresses the argument of open source software lacking features. The result implies that open source software provides an equiv- alent set of features. The second, third and fourth research questions address implications for Swedish authorities of choosing an open source or a propriety system. The organizational implications are of democratic interest. Open source increases the organizational transparency by making source code public, which allows automated decisions to be examined. All citizens of Sweden are by law granted access to records that are not classified. Why should this not apply to the source code used by Swedish authorities as well? Another possible organizational implication could originate from an unex- pected multi-national scenario. It could become disastrous if Swedish authorities are dependent on abroad organizations which could not provide critical support. Skills and know-how should be supplied within the country. The economic implications are profound. The Swedish authorities are cur- rently purchasing solutions based on proprietary software from private compa- nies. When the projects are finished, the companies are able to sell the same solutions again to other authorities for the same amount of money. Governmen- tal funds could be much better spent if the authorities choose an open source solution and share the source code and experiences with each other. Contents 1 Introduction 5 1.1 Purpose ................................ 5 1.2 Research questions .......................... 6 1.3 Outline ................................ 6 2 Theory 7 2.1 Enterprise Software .......................... 7 2.2 Enterprise Content Management .................. 7 2.2.1 Document Management ................... 8 2.2.2 Web Content Management ................. 8 2.2.3 Enterprise Portals ...................... 9 2.2.4 Knowledge Management ................... 9 2.2.5 Records Management .................... 9 2.3 Open Source Versus Proprietary Software ............. 9 2.3.1 The Current Discussions ................... 11 3 Research Method 12 3.1 The Research Process ........................ 12 3.2 Scientific Viewpoint ......................... 12 3.3 Choice of Method ........................... 12 3.4 Choice of Inquiry Group ....................... 13 3.5 Delimitation .............................. 13 3.6 Course of Action ........................... 14 3.7 Processing and Analyzing ...................... 15 4 Systems Evaluated 16 4.1 IBM Lotus .............................. 16 4.2 Alfresco ................................ 17 5 Requirements of the Swedish Armed Forces 18 6 Results 20 6.1 Reliability ............................... 20 6.2 Authorization Control ........................ 21 6.3 Case Management .......................... 21 6.4 Document Management ....................... 21 6.5 Repository ............................... 22 6.6 Customizing .............................. 22 6.7 Extensibility ............................. 22 2 6.8 Updating ............................... 23 6.9 Releases ................................ 23 6.10 Partnership for providers ...................... 24 6.11 Cost Estimation for Customers ................... 24 6.12 Supported Interfaces ......................... 25 7 Discussion 26 7.1 Features ................................ 26 7.2 Technical Implications ........................ 26 7.3 Organizational Implications ..................... 27 7.4 Economic Implications ........................ 28 8 Conclusions 29 3 Acknowledgements Atea has been most supportive and the author wishes to express his gratitude. Thank you Ylva Amrén for support and creative solutions of how to obtain em- pirical data, Magnus Ericsson for important information about IBM products, Carl-Fredrik Eld for essential empirical data about the project in the case study and the Swedish Armed Forces, and Arne Billestedt for help to keep the thesis impartial and well-balanced. The author would also like to express his gratitude to his academic super- visor Magnus Bergquist for the support, input and guidance. Further would the author like to thank William Sullivan for his language support and wise thoughts. Last but not least, thank you Julia Friman for support when working hours got long, for great discussions and for being a wonderful person. 4 Chapter 1 Introduction Open source and proprietary (or closed source) software are two opposite ap- proaches to the development, control and commercialization of software. In con- trast to proprietary software, open source allows individuals and organizations to view, modify and redistribute the source code. During the commercialization of software through the 1970s and 1980s, software source code became managed as a trade secret. Only the object code was distributed and installed, the source code became hidden from the users. The idea was to gain an economic advan- tage over competitors and customers.[37] Today, is the information technology business switching back to open source. According to Gartner Research vice president Mark Driver, the better part of software will consist of open source code. You can try to avoid open source, but it’s probably easier to get out of the information technology business altogether. By 2011, at least 80 % of commercial software will contain significant amounts of open source code. - Mark Driver at Gartner Open Source Summit 2007 [15] 1.1 Purpose The relative merit of open source versus proprietary software has been widely debated in Sweden. News features are published more or less daily. In the area of enterprise content management, this thesis investigates implications for Swedish authorities when choosing open source or proprietary software. Technical, or- ganizational and economic implications of choosing either will be discussed. A question often raised, is if open source can deliver the same features as pro- prietary software. For this thesis, a case study is carried through, comparing features of an open source enterprise content management system against a proprietary content management prototype. 5 1.2 Research questions Based on the purpose, the following research questions were formulated. • Does an open source content management system provide an equivalent set of features compared to a proprietary (closed source) counterpart? • What are the technical implications for a Swedish authority when choosing an open source or proprietary content management system? • What are the organizational implications for a Swedish authority when choosing an open source or proprietary content management system? • What are the economic implications for a Swedish authority when choosing an open source or proprietary content management system? 1.3 Outline The first chapter “Introduction” is an introduction to the thesis. Purpose, re- search questions and this outline are described to provide the readers with an understanding to their forthcoming reading. The second chapter “Theory” introduces the theoretical framework for this thesis. The area of enterprise content management is a base for the reader to better understand the presented results. The open source description is mainly provided for the discussion chapter. The third chapter “Research Method” describes the methods used in the thesis and a short description of the research process is presented. This is where the delimitation for the thesis is found, since some understanding of enterprise content management is required, found in the previous chapter. The fourth chapter “Systems Evaluated” describes the software products that are compared in this thesis. The fifth chapter “Requirements of the Swedish Armed Forces” presents the case study and the organizations and products that are included. In the sixth chapter “Results” are the two systems features compared based on selected requirements in the pre-study for the Swedish Armed Forces’ case and document management. In addition to this, is also comparison of general system and business concerns also included. The seventh chapter “Discussion” is focused on discussing the research ques- tions and the results, and an interview with the Swedish authority City of Stockholm’s Culture Administration is included. The eighth chapter “Conclusions” summarizes what conclusions that can be made from the thesis. 6 Chapter 2 Theory The theoretical departure for the thesis is theories within