Making effective use of Odoo ERP for small and medium-sized businesses
Odoo ERP is one of the most flexible and economical platforms for digitizing business processes for medium-sized companies. Its modular structure, open source code, and high level of integration make the system a real alternative to established, often cumbersome ERP solutions—especially for companies with 100 to 400 employees.
Below you will find a comprehensive overview of the most important Odoo functions, their specific benefits for medium-sized companies, and the role of FPA as a specialized partner in the field of financial accounting and payroll accounting.
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Regelmäßig praxisnahe Einblicke zu den Themen Odoo Accounting, Finanzbuchhaltung, Payroll-Outsourcing und echte Erfolgsgeschichten aus der FPA-Welt erhalten.
Why Odoo ERP is suitable for small and medium-sized businesses
Odoo is an open-source ERP system that brings together key business areas in a single platform – from CRM, purchasing, and warehousing to accounting, HR, manufacturing, and e-commerce.
The software has a modular structure: companies can start with a small range of functions and expand the system flexibly as needed. This architecture is particularly suitable for small and medium-sized businesses, as it makes investments predictable and avoids unnecessary complexity.
Medium-sized companies benefit in particular from:
- Fast go-live with step-by-step implementation
- Lower license costs (community version free of charge, enterprise version with transparent pricing model)
- Adaptability to industry-specific processes
- Modern, intuitive UI – also suitable for career changers
The challenge lies in implementation and ongoing operation: without technical expertise in accounting, process design, and system configuration, Odoo often falls short of its potential.
Odoo ERP in medium-sized businesses: opportunities and challenges
Medium-sized companies often face limited resources: little time, a restricted budget, and hardly any internal IT capacity. At the same time, there is growing pressure to digitize processes, comply with regulations, and work more efficiently. Odoo ERP offers a platform that can be flexibly adapted to the respective company’s reality—rather than the other way around.
Challenges arise especially when:
- Existing systems (e.g., DATEV or other specialized software) need to be connected
- Data quality is insufficient or migration errors are made
- Users are not sufficiently trained
- There is no clear process logic within the company
This is exactly where specialized Odoo service providers such as FPA come in, offering not only technical but also professional support.
Odoo features that are particularly relevant for small and medium-sized businesses
Odoo covers a wide range of business-related processes. The following modules are particularly valuable for medium-sized structures.
1. Financial accounting & controlling
The Odoo Accounting financial module has been GoBD-compliant since version Odoo 18 and offers all the functions required for complete financial accounting:
- Accounts receivable and accounts payable accounting
- Automatic dunning and payment proposals
- Bank integration (including SEPA, online banking connection)
- Asset accounting with automated depreciation postings
- Inventory accounting
- POS systems
- Budgeting, cost center accounting, business analysis, liquidity planning
- Tax configurations for Germany, Austria, and Switzerland
Powerful, automated financial accounting is essential, especially in medium-sized businesses, where a large number of accounting transactions occur every day. Odoo Accounting significantly reduces the workload for accounting departments, as recurring tasks such as posting incoming payments, reconciling accounts, and creating standard reports can be largely automated. The integrated OCR recognition also speeds up the processing of incoming invoices, further simplifying the booking process.
One major advantage of Odoo is the real-time availability of financial data. Decision-makers in the company can obtain an up-to-date overview of open items, cash flow development, budget utilization, and earnings situation at any time—without having to wait for prepared reports. This creates transparency, improves control, and reduces risks in liquidity planning.
Odoo can also be used to efficiently map monthly and annual closing procedures. Periodic accruals, provisions, and the reconciliation of general ledger accounts can be prepared with the support of the system. Integration with DATEV or other external systems ensures smooth data exchange with tax advisors or auditors.
For companies with international business relationships, Odoo also offers functions for foreign currency accounting, consolidated financial reports across multiple companies, and the management of intercompany relationships. This makes the system attractive for medium-sized corporate groups with multiple locations or subsidiaries.
FPA offers a complete takeover of Odoo accounting—including setup, ongoing bookkeeping, reporting, and reconciliation. As a financial service provider specializing in Odoo, FPA is familiar with both the technical capabilities of the system and the practical tax and procedural requirements. This reduces errors, saves time, and ensures reliable accounting that you can depend on.
2. Sales, Purchasing & Warehouse Management
Sales, purchasing, and warehousing are fully integrated in Odoo. This enables consistent processes without media discontinuity:
- CRM with lead management, sales opportunities, and forecasts
- Quotation and order processing with price lists and discounts
- Automated purchasing processes based on minimum stock levels or sales orders
Warehouse management with multiple locations, batches, and serial numbers - Integration with shipping service providers and logistics systemsFür mittelständische Unternehmen ist besonders die Transparenz der
Goods movements are relevant – from ordering to delivery. Sources of error in warehousing are minimized and delivery times can be planned more effectively.
Odoo ERP links these areas within the system without interfaces or manual transfers. This means that an order in sales automatically triggers a requirement in purchasing, which in turn is reconciled with the warehouse stock. This creates a continuous process that optimizes inventory, avoids bottlenecks, and shortens response times.
User guidance is crucial, especially in a medium-sized environment where teams often cover several roles at the same time. Odoo offers an intuitive interface with context-sensitive information: Sales employees can see directly in the quote, for example, whether a product is in stock or needs to be reordered. Purchasing managers receive automatic suggestions for reorders as soon as minimum quantities are reached. At the same time, traceability via serial numbers or batches is a must in many industries (e.g., food, medical technology, mechanical engineering) – this can also be fully mapped with Odoo.
Integration with shipping service providers further accelerates the fulfillment process: shipping labels, tracking numbers, and delivery notifications are generated directly from Odoo. This is particularly important for companies with multiple warehouse locations or dropshipping strategies, as it significantly reduces operational complexity.
Another plus: the warehouse
3. Production & Manufacturing
The Odoo module for manufacturing (MRP) is ideal for medium-sized production companies without complex SAP structures:
- Management of multi-level bills of materials (BOM)
- Work plans with capacity planning and machine allocation
- Production orders with feedback on times and material consumption
Quality checks in the production process - Maintenance planning for machines
Close integration with warehousing, purchasing, and accounting enables end-to-end production control without additional tools or manual transfers.
4. Project management & time tracking
The project module in Odoo supports structured, budget-oriented project management:
- Project structuring into tasks and subtasks (Gantt, Kanban)
- Time tracking directly on project tasks (mobile & desktop)
- Real-time budget and cost control
- Automatic invoicing based on time spent, milestones, or fixed prices
Internal and external communication via task comments and customer portals
Odoo creates transparency and enables accurate post-calculation, especially in the service sector or for agency-like business models.
5. Human resources & preparatory payroll accounting
Odoo offers a robust HR module that can be easily connected to existing payroll systems such as DATEV. This allows medium-sized companies to efficiently digitize their HR processes without having to abandon established payroll systems. The most important features at a glance:
- Digital management of employee data
- Vacation and absence planning with approval processes
- Working time models, shift schedules, and time tracking
- Travel expense reporting with multi-level approvals
- Preliminary payroll accounting including export interfaces (e.g., DATEV LODAS, Lohn & Gehalt)
The HR module is particularly valuable for companies with decentralized teams or flexible working time arrangements. Absences, overtime, bonuses, or variable remuneration components can be managed centrally and automatically transferred to payroll accounting. This significantly reduces the coordination effort between HR, team management, and accounting.
The Odoo HR module has a modular structure, allowing individual functions to be activated as needed from simple personnel data management to complex shift planning. In practice, this means that even smaller companies that initially only want to digitize vacation requests can start with Odoo and add additional modules later, such as time tracking or travel expenses.
FPA handles the entire payroll process, regardless of the system used. For companies that already work with Odoo, we integrate preparatory processes such as absence bookings or working time accounts directly into the system—without detours via Excel or third-party tools. Upon request, we work directly in our customers’ Odoo system to make processes consistent, transparent, and audit-proof.
Even though Odoo is not certified payroll accounting software in the strict sense, the entire preparatory process can be mapped in a structured manner. FPA then takes over the entire payroll accounting process via DATEV – including notifications, payment runs, and archiving. Our experience in working with, for example, personnel service providers, public institutions, and manufacturing companies ensures that even complex requirements (e.g., surcharge models, project billing, tariffs) are reliably covered.
In addition, we are also happy to assist with the configuration of the HR module – for example, absence types, working time models, or export formats. This makes Odoo a powerful tool for personnel management without the need to purchase or maintain additional software.
6. E-commerce & customer portals
Odoo has a complete website and e-commerce module with direct connection to inventory, CRM, and accounting:
- Drag-and-drop website editor
- Webshop with payment and shipping integration
- Customer portals for documents, support, invoices
- Newsletters, campaigns, event management
- Integrated Google Analytics and SEO functions
For medium-sized companies, this means no separate shop solution, no duplicate data maintenance, and a consistent customer experience.
7. Helpdesk & Customer Service
The support area in Odoo ERP is particularly useful for service providers:
- Ticket system with SLA tracking
- Automatic assignment, escalation, prioritization
- Knowledge base for recurring questions
- Integration with email, website, and customer portal
Customer history available from CRM
This allows your teams to maintain an overview even when the volume of inquiries increases.
8. Reporting und Dashboards
Odoo offers a wide range of integrated evaluations that are available directly in the system without additional BI tools. These include, among others:
- Financial reports: BWA, profit and loss statement, balance sheet, cash flow
- Sales statistics: Sales by product, region, customer group, conversion rates
- Warehouse key figures: Inventory turnover, inventory coverage, shortages, traceability
- Project metrics: Budget variances, time schedules, billable hours, contribution margins
- HR data: Absence statistics, vacation balances, working time overviews
- Individual dashboards for management and specialist departments
All reports are available in real time and can be exported directly as PDF or Excel files. This reduces dependence on external tools and ensures a uniform database within the company.
A key advantage: The evaluations are based on the same data used in the operational modules – e.g., bookings, orders, stock movements, or time entries. This eliminates manual exports and error-prone data consolidation.
Management can configure their own dashboards that clearly display all relevant KPIs, such as EBIT margins, payment terms, open items, or order volumes by status. Specialist departments gain targeted insights into their areas: the finance team can see target/actual deviations per cost center, sales monitors incoming orders and closing rates, and production tracks throughput times and scrap rates.
The integration of external data sources is also possible – for example, to supplement market or industry data. Odoo allows access to external services via its API, which also enables company-specific KPIs to be mapped.
FPA supports companies in setting up these reports – from the selection of relevant key figures to the technical implementation in the Odoo dashboard. Especially in medium-sized businesses, where quick decisions are required, direct access to reliable figures is a clear advantage. Instead of prepared monthly reports from the accounting department, current data is available at any time – even on mobile devices. This improves control, increases transparency, and creates the basis for well-founded decisions.
Scalability and technological flexibility
Odoo can be used both on-premise and in the cloud. Updates can be installed in a controlled manner and modules can be added flexibly. This is particularly important for growing companies:
- New locations or business areas can be integrated without any problems
- Processes can be adapted without having to set up the system again
- Extensive API for third-party connections (e.g., shipping service providers, BI tools, payment providers)
For initial Odoo installations, custom developments, and system integrations, FPA works closely with Odoo Gold Partner manaTec GmbH—an experienced service provider for Odoo projects in Germany.
Practical examples from small and medium-sized enterprises
- A trading company replaces Excel and isolated applications with Odoo ERP – purchasing, warehousing, web shop, and invoicing are now integrated.
- A service provider uses Odoo for project management and employee administration – absences, shifts, and wage exports are recorded centrally.
- A manufacturing company introduces the production module – parts lists, production orders, and feedback are digitized, and throughput times become measurable.
How FPA supports Odoo usage
FPA Services specializes in accounting and payroll processes in Odoo, with a focus on medium-sized companies. We offer:
- Complete accounting directly in Odoo, including monthly financial statements, advance VAT returns, and reporting
- System-independent payroll accounting with integration of
- Odoo data
- Support with the configuration of Odoo financial modules
- Training courses for accounting in Odoo
- Quality assurance, data migration, and ongoing support
Thanks to our many years of experience in accounting and payroll accounting, we not only know the software, but also your day-to-day business requirements.
Conclusion: Efficiency, transparency, and security with Odoo
Odoo is not a system for companies looking for standard “off-the-shelf” processes. It is a platform for companies that understand their processes, want to actively shape them, and digitize them in a scalable way. This makes Odoo ERP particularly interesting for small and medium-sized businesses: economical, flexible, and powerful—with the option to use only what is really needed.
With an experienced partner like FPA at your side, getting started with Odoo is structured, technically sound, and economically sensible. Contact us.
