NGO/Non-profit

[nsomaru]

Greetings Alfrescians,

We are a non-profit organisation located in India. Here is the sequence of events:

1) Googled 'open-source sharepoint alternative' –> came upon Alfresco
2) Began testing Alfresco 3.3g on an old machine
3) Satisfied with what we saw and the roadmap
4) Googled for an Alfresco Indian Partner – came across Cignex
5) Contacted Cignex India on the phone and was handled by an extremely rude individual who told me it would be US$20,000 to set up Alfresco. That's an impossible fee for us.
6) Decided to contact Alfresco, after some badgering got through to Ana Hortas-Barros
7) She insisted on a budget requirement, and I explained our (modest) use case, limited funds. She did not provide a quotation and instead referred me back to Cignex
😎 At this point I give up.

The 'rounded up (ceil)' current USD:INR = 1:46.

Through a program called Bigtech which offers discounted software to NGOs, I can get the following:
Microsoft Sharepoint Server Enterprise @ Rs 11,935 (~$260)
CAL's for Sharepoint Enterprise 2010 @ Rs 222/license (~$5)
(http://bigtech.in/directory/2)

Compare the cost! Despite this, I am an advocate of the Open Age. I like Alfresco, I like the community, I like what we stand for. I know this does not include 'support' but we are not looking for _major_ support – mainly just access to the Enterprise Version and an email now and then to help us fix things if they break. Not like some 24/7 dedicated super-ultimate-platinum membership.

We only have one IT guy, that's me. I do training, maintenance, backup, everything. Our organisation totals about 100 people, about 20 of which know how to use a computer. We are located in a village in rural India and we have a 'home' broadband connection serving 5 desktops and 6 laptops. It's uptime averages 43%. We do not have access to the network from the internet due to an unreliable connection. We are looking for a stable repository to store and collaborate on information (locally) so as to leave a legacy that people coming after us can follow. Alfresco, so far, has checked all the right boxes save the cost issue. The alternative of the Community Edition does not sit well with the trustees. They are familiar with Microsoft and I have strong opponents.

Bottom line is this: Is Alfresco able to provided an affordable option for NGO's and the like? If I am not able to convince the trustees that we do not need the Enterprise version, I might be forced to go down the beaten track, and Sharepoint it will be.

Any assistance in this matter will be greatly appreciated.
Nikhil

[rajni]

Hi Nikhil,

I read about your problem,in past I got connected with Ashish Trehan from CIGNEX Technologies-Mumbai,and he was able to resolve mine and my clients issue related to Alfresco effectively.
you can reach him on +91-98330-09690

I am sure he can help you!

Rgds,

Rajni

[seaton]

Posting your thoughts here would be useful - either that or create a page on our wiki and use that for discussion.

Thanks,
Mike

Now that I'm back from leave I'll post what I would like to see in a licensing model for small non profit / local government organisations.

1) My main thing is official support and training from official partners when and if we require it, I'm happy to use the community version if I can get official support and training for it.  Happy to pay per incident if required.

2) Cheaper licensing for smaller organisations, something along a user count license maybe.  As mentioned in an earlier post the only option we were given by the Australian Alfresco sales manager is a hosted edition or the full version, unfortunately due to geographical location we are located at a remote country location where bandwidth is very expensive, and have had our internet down for over weeks in the past.  A hosted option is not a solution for us it has to be inhouse.

3) A model that will support a user base as small as 20-30 users and allow us to ramp up as the userbase grows.

4) obviously something that is affordable to an organisation of our size on an annual basis.

Regard,

Stephen…

[merpmerp]

Can someone provide a link for the community version?

Thank you,
Mark

[mikeh]

Can someone provide a link for the community version?

Seriously? Did you miss the huge orange panel in the top-right corner of the page?

Mike

[msus3380]

is it okay to use alfresco on my site? or is there a certain pre-requisite waiting period or approval process to be able to do this?

[mrogers]

No.

[nsomaru]

Hi Nikhil,

I read about your problem,in past I got connected with Ashish Trehan from CIGNEX Technologies-Mumbai,and he was able to resolve mine and my clients issue related to Alfresco effectively.
you can reach him on +91-98330-09690

I am sure he can help you!

Rgds,

Rajni

Thanks Rajni, I will be sure to attempt to get in touch with him.

[mrogers]

Yes.  

There are a small number of "Enterprise Only" extensions and equally there are from time to time some "Community Only" features.

There are other differences as well such as better documentation and access to the alfresco network.

[mrogers]

Alfresco Team was announced today.

http://www.alfresco.com/media/releases/2011/06/alfresco-team/