Odoo Implementation
How to navigate upgrading your business with a new all-in-one business system like Odoo
You want to make the switch to an all-in-one business system like Odoo but don't know where to start? Everyone has a different opinion, horror story or a success story. There are a few questions that will help you find the right approach for you and your business.
Question 1: Project resources
The first question is to work out if you will switch to your new all-in-one business system like Odoo by yourself or use an expert Odoo partner to help you.
- A partner-led implementation
- Do-it-yourself
While a D.I.Y implementation may be cheaper in money spent upfront, it will take significantly more internal resources and time from the business which may come at a higher opportunity cost than outsourcing the project to an experienced Odoo partner.
Both DIY and partner lead projects can both fail, but the chances are much, much higher if you have never implemented a system before, this can set back the business and timeline as the project starts again, but the damage to staff moral may be impossible to overcome the second time around.
An experienced Odoo partner will help you implement Odoo in the order that best works with your business size, complexity, resources, budget and timeframe. Finding the right partner is important. Do you want a partner that is personable and will be with you for the long-term and journey with your business, do you want a quick project that has a clean finish. Is customisation important to you to build new features in Odoo to suite your specific business or keep the project lean and out of the box? We work with many Odoo partners and can help you find the right one for you and your business.
Question 2: Strategy
Once you have worked out if you would like to go DIY or a partner-led project there is still more to work out. What order, which apps or departments will you move into your new system and when? There are lots of variations of how to do this but at a high level there are two main strategies or approaches in how to structure your implementation project.
- The big bang approach
- Phased implementation approach
Big bang implementation is to move the company over to a new system in one big moment. This may be needed if you already have heavily integrated systems that are all interconnected that need to moved all at once. If you are moving from a smaller system like Xero or MYOB you may be able to launch in Odoo with just accounting and then grow into other areas like inventory, purchasing and CRM in stages as a phased implementation. A phased implementation will reduce project risk, budget and scope making the project much easier to run. Which approach you will need to follow will largely depend on how intergrated your systems are already.
With OLaunch you can convert your current system into a new Odoo database ready to go.
If you have a more complex project that will be a big bang approach make sure you rehearse the switch. Running a pilot, or parallel run are worth exploring when planning how you will make the switch.
Training
Regardless of which approach you use you will need to make sure that you are proficient in your new system. One way to do this is write a journal of all the activities you do over a week and at the start and end of a month. Then make sure you know how to do this in the new system. A practice or sandbox system is perfect for this and will allow you to practice everything without breaking anything or accidently emailing your customers your new marketing campaign or sale orders. Odoo has an eLearning course and functional certification's to help you know when you are ready to lead your organisation into a new a successful implementation of Odoo.
Use OLaunch to convert your current system into a new Odoo database and use it for your training. It's free to convert for testing and training!
Question 3: Your data
A new system is great, and having all the training you need is excellent, but what about your data? Do you have your customers, products, open receivable/payable balances ready to go? What about your sales history? Stock levels? Purchase history? File attachments? The list goes on and on.
Can you re-market to your client base customers that bought a specific product? look up sales history for a warranty claim? See product purchase history to see how your margins are trending? Let your customer's log in to your new eCommerce portal and see their order history?
Did you know you can convert your current system into a new Odoo database with all of your data and transactional history?
There are a few approaches to solving this problem with you guessed it pros and cons for reach
- Keep your old system around and import entity and open balances
- Full transactional history
The easiest open is to only import entity data like customers, suppliers and products along with open balances. This involves importing products, customers, and suppliers with CSV/Excel files into your new system and keeping your old system around to see any historical transactions as you need to refer to them. This is often done by downloading spreadsheets/csv files from your old system, cleaning them up in Excel and then importing them into your new system. Opening balances can be a bit more challenging and can either be done as a csv file that will need a bit of work to get right for most systems or more commonly depending on how many open transactions you have, to enter in these by hand into the new system as an opening balance journal with a line with a contact, date and amount for each balance owed.
Having full transactional history is amazing but doing this can easily double the cost of your project. We have a very cost-effective system with OLaunch to convert your current system into a new Odoo database that is free to preview and test. See what your business can look like in Odoo today.
System Conversions
There is another way than doing the data imports by hand. We built OLaunch to solve this very problem. Convert your old system into Odoo in only a few clicks and bring your full transactional history into Odoo. See your sales history, purchases, inventory, journal entries, bank reconciliation, files, attachments and so much more.
It's easier than you think and will make the switch to Odoo incredibly straightforward. We support phased, pilot, and big bang implementation. DIY or partner-led you will be in good hands with OLaunch. Why not make the leap into Odoo with OLaunch today with a free preview of your conversion with 100% of your data. Only pay to keep your new Odoo database. Use it to explore, train and go-live with. There is included verification reports so you can be sure it's perfectly converted. Make the switch to Odoo with confidence.
If you need more support we work with many Odoo partners in Australia and would love to have a chat with you and help you find the support you need and work out the best way for you to discover and use Odoo. We know Odoo and are here to help. Contact us for a free chat.