integrated system dashboard - Python/Django? OOo Base? Other?

[snfctech]

I'm about to start a fairly large project for a mid-sized business with a lot of integration with other systems (POS, accounting, website, inventory, purchasing, etc.) The purpose of the system is to try to reduce current data siloing and give employees role-based access to the specific data entry and reports they need, as well as to replace some manual and redundant business processes. The system needs to be cross-platform (Windows/Linux), open source and is primarily for LAN use.

My experience is mostly PHP/web/app development, but I have developed a few LAN apps using Java/Servoy (like Filemaker). I am leaning towards Python/Django - but wondering whether this may be unnecessarily web-specific. I really felt Servoy development was very rapid, and it was cross-paltform, but it was not open source (not to mention that anything custom needed to be Java which I find too verbose/ slow to develop in). Or maybe Open Office Base and some scripting is sufficient to handle my needs.

So, my main question is: Does a web framework like Django sound like a reasonable platform to build a LAN Dashboard for a mid-sized company? Or am I thinking too much like a web developer?

Any tips or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[hexcoder]

You mention twice you are looking for an open source solution. Why?

[snfctech]

Hello, hexcoder. Thanks for your reply.

We believe that open source is the best approach for our organization. We have been plagued by licensing issues and an inability to modify and improve some of the closed source products we have been using. Plus, we are a Co-op, and believe that the cooperative approach of open source projects bests align with our business principals.

[Markus]

PHP works just as well on the desktop, and is open-source. There's even a (maturing) UI library - php-gtk2.

[snfctech]

Thanks for your reply, Markus.

I'm actually starting to think that a web client/server paradigm is the best approach for my application for 3 main reasons:
- easy deployment
- easy updates
- faster UI development with web framework than with desktop library

The web2py project is looking like the most promising framework for my project, largely due to it's built-in multi-database/product handling.