The ERPAL Revival

The story

Why we revived it.

Good software ideas don't die when a project goes dormant. They wait for the right moment — and the right tools.

2012 – 2018 · The original ERPAL

An open-source ERP for service businesses

ERPAL began in 2012 as ERPAL for Service Providers, an open-source Drupal distribution by Bright Solutions GmbH and its maintainer team that brought CRM, projects and time tracking, documents and contracts, and invoicing together on one self-hosted platform. It grew into the ERPAL Platform for flexible business applications (2014). Development wound down by 2018, and neither project made the jump beyond Drupal 7 — but the idea was ahead of its time.

2017 – 2019 · Logic BMS

We ran on it, and believed in it

Our founder built ERPAL into Logic BMS, his Southern Oregon open-source business-technology company — proof the "one open platform" thesis worked, years before the big cloud suites made it their pitch. What was missing then was the capacity to maintain it all.

2026 · The revival

A ground-up Drupal 11 rebuild

The ERPAL Revival is not a port of the old code — it's a modern rebuild on Drupal 11: a flexible core data model, the entire configuration in version-controlled code, a full API, security hardening and audit trails, and an AI-assisted team carrying the maintenance load that used to make projects like this burn out.

Today

Running real businesses

ERPAL runs Lucky Duck Productions' own CRM, mail, booking, and project operations, and powers the client systems we deploy and manage. We run our business on the same platform we offer — that's the standard.

Credit where it's due

Standing on the shoulders of the original ERPAL team

The ERPAL Revival exists because Bright Solutions GmbH and the original maintainer community — manuelBS, bechtold, andrewsizz, thiemo, joe.p, ak1ra, and skdrupal88 — built and open-sourced the first ERPAL, and because the wider Drupal community built the platform it stood on. They created the foundation; we revived and modernized it. Their original projects remain on drupal.org: ERPAL for Service Providers and ERPAL Platform.

Both were released under the GNU General Public License, and the revival honors that same open-source license — which is exactly what makes a revival like this possible. Thank you.

What it is

ERPAL Core, plus the verticals your business needs.

A solid, industry-agnostic core — contacts, organizations, deals, activities, dashboards, API — with add-on editions configured per industry. All of it self-hosted, all of it yours.

CRM Cockpit

Accounts, contacts, leads, deals, and activities with dashboards, related records, and full search — the everyday driver's seat.

Booking & Scheduling

Self-hosted appointment booking with availability rules, locations, branded confirmation email, and calendar sync — no third-party booking subscription.

Logistics & TMS

Transportation-management building blocks: loads, routes, drivers, and route optimization with mapping — born from our founder's original freight platform.

Publishing

Publications, sponsorships, rates, and content workflow for community publishers — the edition we use for our own magazine operations.

Services & MSP

Service-provider operations: client accounts, recurring statements, mailboxes, and support workflow for managed-service businesses.

AI Grounding

Retrieval layers that ground AI assistants in your own business data — so the AI answering questions knows your records, not just the internet.

Why it matters

Own your data. Own your platform.

The ERPAL Revival exists because businesses shouldn't have to rent their own operations back from a subscription vendor.

For our clients

A CRM you actually own

Your customer data lives on your system — on an appliance at your business or hosting you control — not in someone else's cloud. No per-user fees, no seat limits, no export ransom. We set it up and run it for you, white-glove.

For the business community

One open platform

Small businesses deserve the same integrated CRM-plus-operations platform the big suites sell — without the lock-in. An open platform means any capable shop can support it, and your business is never hostage to one vendor. Including us.

For open-source developers

A modern Drupal 11 platform

Configuration fully in code, a flexible entity model, packaged install recipes, and a real production track record. Our goal is a public release the Drupal community can review, extend, and build businesses on.

Not a demo

We run our own business on it.

ERPAL isn't a side project we're pitching before we've lived with it. It is the operational platform behind Lucky Duck Productions today — and behind the managed client systems we build.

Ask us how it works

Running on ERPAL now:

Lucky Duck's own CRM — accounts, contacts, deals, activities
Appointment booking with calendar sync and branded email
Publishing operations for our community magazines
Client deployments on managed DuckBot appliances
AI assistants grounded in business records

The roadmap

Giving it back.

ERPAL REVIVAL

Planned · in progress

A stable ERPAL Core, contributed to the community

ERPAL started as open source, and we intend for it to continue that way. Our goal is to prepare a stable release candidate of ERPAL Core and contribute it back to the open-source community through drupal.org — where it can be reviewed, improved, and developed in the open.

We're doing this deliberately: hardening the core, completing documentation, and working through the community's project and security-review processes before anything is published. No promised dates — it ships when it meets the bar. Until then, ERPAL is available exclusively through Lucky Duck's managed deployments.

Want it before then? The white-glove lane is open today — we deploy, integrate, and run ERPAL for you. Get in touch →

Already on ERPAL?

Still running the original? There's a path forward.

As of July 2026, sites in the wild still report running the original Drupal 7 releases — 22 on ERPAL Platform and 10 on ERPAL for Service Providers — on a project marked "no further development." If that's you: your instincts were right, and you don't have to start over.

What the Revival preserves

The concepts you built on — CRM, projects, activities, invoicing-style workflow on Drupal
The self-hosted, own-your-data model
The GPL open-source lineage
The "one platform, flexibly modeled" philosophy

What modernizes

Drupal 11 core with current security support
Configuration fully in version-controlled code
A documented API on every record type
Optional AI grounded in your own records

A staged move, not a leap:

1. Assessment — we look at what your ERPAL site actually does today · 2. Data migration — your records move over on a mapped, verified path · 3. Verticals mapping — your workflows land on the matching Revival editions · 4. Cutover — you switch when it's proven, not before.

No pressure and no hard sell — it costs nothing to talk through whether the move makes sense for your site. Start the conversation →