Alfresco for financial data (forms and data lists)

Question

I need to build a solution for financial data analysis comprised of:

* storage     * forms     * ACL
* workflows   * reports   * custom logic

It mainly needs to present forms to different users, collect structured (form) data over different workflows, report do different users etc.

I'm investigating Alfresco as a base platform.
It already has the Alfresco repository for storage with built in ACL and Workflows, and also there is the forms module.
The recent data lists feature seems a good fit, maybe complemented by the WCM.

I am wary as the data list feature is pretty young (and incomplete here there).

• How does the Alfresco Repository scale against the reporting needs (intense reads, grouping, computing averages &c)?
• Has anyone tried to take alfresco on this path (forms/data/reports platform), is it a good fit, any hurdles on the road, alternative ideas (build your own, use this other solution)?

Answer 1

I can provide a limited answer here. We are using alfresco in production, not strictly for financial data analysis, but we're in the sector. As such, we have some reports based strictly on the data from alfresco itself. We're still not using the data lists feature, we just recently upgraded from alfresco 3.0 to the newest version, but we do collect information and we do some counting/calculating. It all seems ok, and what's most important, it scales pretty well. Also what's good about alfresco is that depending on "seriousness" of your needs, you can leverage different APIs - javascript scripts are pretty quick to deploy and Java API is good for connecting your alfresco numbers to other numbers.

If you decide to take it the alfresco road, I will suggest to hire experienced alfresco developer for initial setup - as some not-so-smart choices in the beginning cost you a great deal later down the path.

Answer 2

I am building an Alfresco based business application that requires about the same list of features as the one in question(plus some maps and GIS). I just grabbed the Record Management Module AMPs from SVN (DOD 5015 & DOD 5015 Share) and building my application on top of them. This way I have plenty of working examples and best practices.

I'll post more updates on my progress as we go.