ERP tool in focus: Odoo 11

What is Odoo?

Odoo is an all-in-one management software that offers a range of business applications. It forms a complete suite of enterprise management applications targeting companies of all sizes. It is versatile in the sense that it can be used across multiple categories including CRM, website, e-commerce, billing, accounting, manufacturing, warehouse, and project management, and inventory. The community version is free-of-charge and can be installed with ease.

Odoo is one of the fastest growing open source, business application development software products available. With the announcement of version 11 of Odoo, there are many new features added to Odoo and the face of business application development with Odoo has changed.

In Odoo 11, the online installation documentation continues to improve and there are now options for Docker installations. In addition, Odoo 11 uses Python 3 instead of Python 2.7. This will not change the steps you take in installing Odoo but will change the specific libraries that will be installed.

While much of the process is the same as previous versions of Odoo, there have been some pricing changes in Odoo 11. There are only two free users now and you pay for additional users. There is one free application that you can install for an unlimited number of users, but as soon as you have more than one application, then you must pay $25 for each user, including the first user.

If you have thought about developing in Odoo, now is the best time to start. Before I convince you on why Odoo is great, let’s take a step back and revisit our fundamentals.

What is an ERP?

ERP is an acronym often used for Enterprise Resource Planning. The ERP gives a global and real-time view of data that can enable companies to address concerns and drive improvements. It automates the core business operations such as the order to fulfillment and procures to pay processes. It also reduces risk management for companies and enhances customer services by providing a single source for billing and relationship tracking.

Why Odoo?

Odoo is Extensible and easy to customize

Odoo's framework was built with extensibility in mind. Extensions and modifications can be implemented as modules, to be applied over the module with the feature being changed, without actually changing it. This provides a clean and easy-to-control and customized applications.

You get integrated information

Instead of distributing data throughout several separate databases, Odoo maintains a single location for all the data. Moreover, the data remains consistent and up to date.

Single reporting system

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Odoo has a unified and single reporting system to analyze and track the status. Users can also run their own reports without any help from IT. Single reporting systems, such as those provided by Odoo ERP software helps make reporting easier and customizable.

Built around Python

Odoo is built using the Python programming language, which is one of the most popular languages used by developers.

Large community

The capability to combine several modules into feature-rich applications, along with the open source nature of Odoo, is probably the important factors explaining the community that has grown around Odoo. In fact, there are thousands of community modules available for Odoo, covering virtually every topic, and the number of people getting involved has been steadily growing every year.

Go through our video, Odoo 11 development essentials to learn to scaffold a new module, create new models, and use the proper functions that make Odoo 11 the best ERP out there.

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