Open Source For America News & Articles

What’s the government’s excuse now? That’s the question that will be on the minds of many at Alfresco, now that it’s official. Alfresco has achieved DoD 5015.2 certification -- the first open source Enterprise CMS to do so.

The fanfare isn’t so much that Alfresco is the first, (although congrats, anyway!) but rather that after delivering what the G-Men said they wanted, it's time for the government types to start buying in.

Open Source is in Favor

The open source movement has gained considerable momentum in recent years and especially since the Obama Administration came to power. But Alfresco’s Chairman and CTO, John Newton, assures us that’s not what drove their ambition, and further that they've been working on this for quite some time (there are, one might note, Alfresco Records Management tutorials on YouTube dating from April 2008).

But are there any G-Men lined up at their door now since the certification was posted publicly? While no  one on the Alfresco team would say for sure, it is understood that three of the government’s largest agencies have shown interest. And let’s not forget about the non-government workers -- rumor has it that they were slobbering over it at the recent ARMA conference.

On First Blush They Are Looking Good

The beauty of the DoD certification is that everyone is covered, and gets to share in the fun. For many, the DoD certification is standard checkbox when evaluating candidate records management solutions.

Thanks to Carlos Miguens, Alfresco's global training director, (and all around project manager guru for the DoD certification initiative), CMSWire was treated to a demo of the certified solution. And we can confidently say that it’s going to be hard to resist the temptation to go open source.

Alfresco Records Management - The File Plan

Bundled with Community and Enterprise Versions

Their Records Management Module was introduced with Alfresco Community 3.2 -- so it's available both in the free community product and in the non-free enterprise version -- and is built on the Alfresco Share/Surf platform. It sports the following components:

• a Forms system
• metadata management
• lifecycle management
• open import/export capabilities
• enhanced auditing
• improved workflow controls

With its simple but sophisticated UI and automated controls that let administrators set permissions, disposition and access across a single scalable repository, we reckon users will be able to effectively save time and cut costs.

Alfresco Records Management -- Record (Document) Preview with Metadata

By enhancing the already sleek tools offered in Alfresco Community 3.2, the government-certified version is simple enough for novice records managers, yet powerful enough for the most savvy (hint, hint US Archives).

But will this be incentive enough to entice the government to address what some have called the massive hemorrhaging of the US government's electronic history? Here's three cheers to the records managers who say, "Yes we can!"

Note: If you want to learn more about Aflresco Records Management, you can tune into the company's upcoming webinar on Alfresco Records Management, running on October 29th at 11am Eastern time.

The feds are gettin’ open source with it!

And by that we mean Open Source for America (news, site), a movement to increase the adoption of open source technology in the U.S. Federal Government, is gaining some traction. The Linux Box, a company dedicated to providing customized open source software services, is the latest to join the flux.

When the new administration at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW boasted transparency, they weren't necessarily talking about open source. But some people, a group called Open Source for America for instance, thinks that government agencies should at least consider open source software as an option in their buying decisions.

Considering that the U.S. government might be out to save a few bucks, OSA's claim that open source applications can help save the government money might just hold some water. Afterall, open source is change we can all believe in. It needn't be limited to health care and economic stimulus.