OrangeHRM Open Source HRM System Launches On-Demand Option,Releases New Edition with Broad Enhancements

April 19, 2007 (PRLEAP.COM) Technology News
San Francisco, CA (April 2007) – OrangeHRM Inc. today announced the availability of OrangeHRM On-Demand, a hosted version of its OrangeHRM open source human resources management solution for small and mid-sized enterprises. The company has also released a new Version 2.1 that upgrades the system’s Leave Management module and a variety of other functions.

“We are moving quickly to reach parity with proprietary HRM systems while offering key pricing and development cycle advantages related to our use of open source technology,” said Sujee Saparamadu, CEO of OrangeHRM. “These new releases make significant strides toward that goal.”

OrangeHRM On-Demand
In addition to installed software, OrangeHRM is now available under the Software as a Service (SaaS) model for organizations that have limited IT resources for automating their personnel management processes. The new OrangeHRM On-Demand option is hosted in the OrangeHRM data center, can be deployed by OrangeHRM personnel in 24 hours, requires no in-house hardware or software, and is priced by monthly or yearly subscription based on the number of users.

Each subscription includes automatic upgrades with every new software release at no additional charge, enabling users to take full advantage of enhancements provided by the OrangeHRM open source community. Subscribers also receive full professional support from OrangeHRM . OrangeHRM On-Demand allows the product to scale with the company’s growth and will beat the competition by:

 Quick release cycles of the Open Source product that is rolled in to hosted service results in a perpetual beta mode and an ever improving level of service.
 Large community of users of the Open Source Product would add to the level of comfort.
 AJAX based rich user interface.
 Lightweight LAMP architecture that results in high response time.
 Open data standards based on HR-XML
 Professional support structure backed by a highly responsive community increases the level of comfort.
 Use of Enterprise 2.0 concepts enable HR departments to build close relationships with the organization’s employees


Version 2.1 Upgrades
Both the installed and the hosted versions of OrangeHRM have also been enhanced in response to customer requests received after the release of Version 2.0 in one month. Requests were captured in a Wiki and used to define the new 2.1 features. Major upgrades include:

• Easier employee leave administration, including support for range-of-day leave requests, inclusion of weekends and holidays in leave calculations, a one-screen leave summary for all employees, and an automated email notification system that alerts supervisors when employees request or cancel leaves as well as informing employees when their leave requests are accepted or rejected. These features add to the system’s basic leave tracking capabilities and employee self-service leave requests.

• Enhanced employee search with the ability to search on all major fields contained in OrangeHRM’s Personal Information Management (PIM) Module, making it easy to select an employee based on a field without generating a report. The employee list has also been enhanced to display more information at a glance.

• User-defined employee IDs in the PIM module that enable HR administrators to use the company-assigned employee ID in OrangeHRM rather than being forced to use an ID generated by the system.
• Enhanced reporting with new fields including employee skills, start date, contract, supervisor, company division, years of experience and date of school graduation. These upgrades strengthen OrangeHRM’s Report Module, which allows users to create, save and generate customized reports by selecting from a menu of search criteria and report fields.
OrangeHRM 2.1 is the fifth major release of the product since the beta was rolled out in February 26. The software has received more than 36000 cumulative downloads in the last 13 months and is ranked among the 50 most active open source applications by SourceForge.

The installed version of OrangeHRM is available free of charge under the GNU GPL open source license with two different plans. Version 2.1 is immediately available for download at www.orangehrm.com

About OrangeHRM Inc.
OrangeHRM Inc. is a leading provider of open source human resource management software used by small and mid-size enterprises worldwide. The highly flexible OrangeHRM system is backed by a fast-growing and knowledgeable open source community and is available with support and services under the professional open source model.