The book is divided into the following sections:
- Installation of Odoo and the basics for implementing Odoo in your business (Chapter 1, Setting Up Odoo 12, to Chapter 5, Making Goods with Manufacturing)
- Introduction to accounting and finance setup and modules to help your business run more efficiently (Chapter 6, Configuring Accounting - Finance Options to Chapter 8, Implementing the Human Resources Application)
- Advanced configurations and customization of Odoo (Chapter 9, Understanding Project Management to Chapter 15, Discovering Custom Odoo Modules)
- A comprehensive comparison of Odoo Community and Odoo Enterprise (Chapter 16, Comparative Analysis of Community versus Enterprise Editions)
Chapter 1, Setting Up Odoo 12, gets you started right away by showing how you can use Odoo online without any setup. Just open up your browser and you are ready to get going. Next, the chapter goes on to cover the different installation types and prerequisites for both Windows and Ubuntu. Instructions are provided on finding the right download package and setting up Odoo on your own server. The chapter then goes into the basics of configuring Odoo. At the end of the chapter is a useful collection of tips on how to troubleshoot your Odoo installation.
Chapter 2, Installing Your First Application, begins by introducing you to the real-world case study that will be used as an example throughout the book. We continue by learning how to create the company database and configure the basic company settings required to quickly get your first Odoo system up and running. The first module, Sales Management, will be installed, and we will walk through the steps for entering a customer and a product. The chapter concludes with entering a sales order, completing the sale, and producing an invoice.
Chapter 3, Exploring Customer Relationship Management in Odoo 12, starts with a basic overview of CRM systems and their importance in today's modern business environment. After we cover the installation of the CRM module, a lead is entered for our sample company. We will demonstrate the CRM workflow by turning the lead into a customer. Next, a quote is generated for our newly acquired customer, and a call is scheduled for follow-up using Odoo's meeting functionality. We also cover the Open Chatter feature, which is used throughout Odoo to provide notes and messages associated with Odoo documents.
Chapter 4, Purchasing with Odoo, shows you how to install the purchasing module, set up suppliers, and begin purchasing and receiving products through Odoo. Later in the chapter, you'll learn how to tie purchasing into sales orders to automatically generate draft purchase orders based on your business requirements.
Chapter 5, Making Goods with Manufacturing, begins to explore some of the primary functionality of ERP systems for manufacturing operations. You will learn how to set up your manufacturing orders and define the bill of materials to specify the raw materials that will go into your final products. Manufacturing operations can then be extended with routing and work centers to provide you with more control when tracking time and resources.
Chapter 6, Configuring Accounting - Finance Options, discusses the Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable basic functions. Next, we introduce the chart of accounts and discover how to set up fiscal periods. This chapter also covers basic accounting reports and how to close a period.
Chapter 7, Administering an Odoo Installation, begins by discussing overall considerations for implementing Odoo in a business environment. This includes advice on server configurations, documenting your processes, and the importance of considering business continuity. We then go into how to manage users, groups, and set up security roles to manage access to various applications within Odoo. Finally, we look at how to implement internationalization for multiple languages and currencies.
Chapter 8, Implementing the Human Resources Application, begins by installing the basic Human Resources (HR) modules and going over the employee directory. Other topics in the chapter include timesheets, the recruitment process, and leave management. At the end of the chapter, we look at how to create online interviews and hire employees using the tools in Odoo.
Chapter 9, Understanding Project Management, covers the features of the Project Management module in Odoo. We will create a project, and see how to enter tasks and tie a project to a specific customer. Next, team members are assigned to the project, and we configure task stages. We then go over real-world examples of using the Project Management module to more easily manage complex orders and customer needs. Finally, we see how Project Management can be used along with analytic accounting to provide better reporting.
Chapter 10, Creating Advanced Searches and Dashboards, demonstrates how to utilize the advanced search features and configure custom dashboards in Odoo. By the end of the chapter, you will be able to create and save custom searches to reuse later and add search results to dashboards.
Chapter 11, Building a Website with Odoo, is dedicated to exploring Odoo's powerful new website-building platform. At the beginning of the chapter, we look at what a Content Management System (CMS) is and some of the other popular website-building platforms. We follow along with Odoo's website-building tutorial and then look at the features that can be used to promote your website right from within Odoo.
Chapter 12, Implementing E-Commerce with Odoo, builds on the previous chapter by adding a fully functioning online shopping cart to the website. We look at how to publish products to the website and the various options for changing their appearance. Midway through the chapter, we cover product variants that add additional flexibility to how you manage your products within Odoo. Finally, we conclude by examining how to set up a payment processor to take payments online through PayPal.
Chapter 13, Customizing Odoo for Your Business, explains how to enter developer mode to make a variety of custom changes to Odoo. We walk through the steps to add fields to the sales order form, and then include the fields in tree views for sorting and reporting. From here, we get into advanced configuration topics to better customize Odoo for your specific business requirements.
Chapter 14, Modifying Documents and Reports, goes over the basic reporting options that allow you to change the footer and access the QWeb source for your internal and external reports. Next, we see how to modify existing reports in Odoo.
Chapter 15, Discovering Custom Odoo Modules, introduces the process of developing custom solutions in Odoo. We build on what we have learned about customizing Odoo and create a module that will persist in our custom field and views within our module.
Chapter 16, Comparative Analysis of Community versus Enterprise Editions, provides information that will help you to decide which version of Odoo, Community Edition or Enterprise Edition, is right for you.
Appendix A, Locating Additional Odoo Resources, includes a list of resources that can help in extending your knowledge when it comes to supporting an Odoo installation.