Odoo, explained by people who implement it for a living.

/what-it-is

Not one product. A framework and about eighty applications.

On-Demand Open Object — Odoo — is an open-source business management suite covering sales, inventory, manufacturing, accounting, HR and eCommerce in one database. That single database is the entire argument for it, and also the reason implementations go wrong when the process work is skipped.

You license the applications you use, on one of two editions. Everything shares one set of customers, products and accounts, so a sales order, its picking, its invoice and its journal entry are the same object seen from four angles rather than four records that need reconciling.

The corollary is that a configuration decision in one module surfaces in another. Set your stock valuation method in Inventory and you have made an accounting decision. That interdependence is Odoo's strength and the thing that makes a scattergun implementation expensive.

/the-modules

Ten modules that carry most implementations.

CRM & Sales · Inventory & Warehouse · Manufacturing · Accounting & Finance · Purchase · Point of Sale · HR & Payroll · Project & Timesheets · Field Service · eCommerce & Website

Each page below covers what the module actually does, the configuration decisions that matter, and the customisations we'd talk you out of.

/what-goes-first

The temptation in phase one is to switch everything on. Resist it.

Every additional module is another set of master data to clean, another team to train, and another dependency in your go-live critical path.

Almost always phase one. — Sales, Purchase, Inventory, Accounting, Contacts

Phase one if it's your core operation. — Manufacturing, Point of Sale, Field Service

Almost always phase two. — HR & Payroll, Quality, PLM, Marketing Automation

Only once the above is stable. — eCommerce, Website, Helpdesk