Supporting Open Source Software for Education
Phoenix, AZ (October 17, 2006) –The rSmart Group, Inc. (rSmart) the first provider of commercial open source applications and support for education, today announced that Strathmore University, one of Kenya’s leading universities has chosen to be among the first institutions to deploy the rSmart Kuali Financials system. Strathmore University saw Kuali Financials as the path to dramatically reducing the cost of enterprise software and providing a way to avoid being locked-in to proprietary software vendors. Higher education is recognizing that open source is the way forward and the rSmart Kuali Financials system is leading that trend with a solution built by education for education.
Strathmore University is located in Nairobi, Kenya and is comprised of a total population of 5,088 students (full-time and part-time) studying Accountancy, Administration, Commerce, Finance, Management and Information Technology. "We were looking for a flexible, cost-effective solution that could address a diverse set of requirements. We have determined rSmart’s technical approach to be an excellent fit for our immediate and long-range business objectives. Their business model provides real value by significantly reducing the platform's TCO", said Dr. Joseph Sevilla, Deputy Vice Chancellor Research and Quality Assurance for Strathmore.
The success of the current project hinges on ease-of-use and ease-of-integration with home grown and commercial software. For example, Indiana University recently integrated an early release of the Kuali Financial System’s Procurement module into its legacy financial system. Additionally, IU has integrated other parts of Kuali modules with the University’s recently implemented PeopleSoft student and human resources systems. Strathmore will be using Kuali in a similar best of breed manner. This approach will enable Strathmore to leapfrog the proprietary state of the ERP industry and pursue a modular implementation resulting in a totally open standards environment along with a rapidly growing community of higher education institutions worldwide.
"We have a great deal of experience in enterprise financial applications for educational institutions", said John G. Robinson, Chairman and Co-Founder, rSmart. "One of our goals was to make the deployment and integration of this solution as simple as possible. The Kuali design embodies a broad set of higher education business practices and enables scalability over a wide range of institutions -- from community colleges and liberal arts colleges to research universities. The choice by Strathmore reflects the progress we have made towards this goal."
About The rSmart Group
The rSmart Group is the leading open source application software company serving the higher education market. rSmart packages, certifies, deploys, and supports a suite of enterprise financial and collaborative learning applications for colleges and universities. As an active member of open source projects like Kuali, and Sakai, rSmart is able to provide its clients with software applications specifically designed to meet the unique needs of institutions of higher education. This collaborative approach allows rSmart to offer colleges and universities open source applications that break their dependence on traditional proprietary software vendors.
Please visit www.rsmart.com for more information.
About Strathmore University
Strathmore is dedicated to the advancement of education through teaching, scholarship and service to society by providing an all-round education in an atmosphere of freedom and responsibility, creating a culture of continuous improvement, fostering high moral standards and developing a spirit of service and respect for others.
For more information, please visit Strathmore University on the web at www.strathmore.edu .