How to add Project Management to the ODOO ERP platform

If you’re looking to expand the features found in ODOO to include project management, you’re in luck. Jack Wallen shows you how easy this is so you can start managing your projects along with your ERP needs.

ODOO is a great Enterprise Resource Planning solution for any sized business looking to level up resource management. I recently described how easy it is to deploy this platform with the help of Docker. Once you have ODOO up and running, the sky’s the limit with what you can do with it.

Including project management.

That’s right. If you were hoping to extend this ERP solution to include project management, you’re in luck because it’s just an app away from coming true.

With the addition of the Project Management tool, you get features like:

Although this app might not add every project management feature you’ve ever needed, the Kanban boards alone are worth using because they are very user-friendly, allow you to create multiple boards and offer drag and drop between lists with cards that include customers, deadlines, tags, sub-tasks, messages, log notes and more.

Let’s install the necessary app and see how it works.

SEE: Hiring kit: Project manager (TechRepublic Premium)

What you’ll need

The only things you’ll need to make this work are a running instance of ODOO and an admin user. That’s it. Let’s make ODOO project-friendly.

How to install the necessary app

Log in to your ODOO instance and click the four-square icon in the top left corner. From the resulting popup menu, select Apps (Figure A).

Figure A

The ODOO menu gives you access to installing new apps.

In the resulting screen, search for Project and you should see the lone app you need to install (Figure B).

Figure B

Installing the Project app in ODOO.

Click Install and ODOO will take care of the rest.

How to get started with Project

Once the installation is complete, you’ll see Project listed in the menu. Click that entry to open the new Project Management tool. You’ll probably see some pre-configured projects you can use as examples (Figure C).

Figure C

I’ve created one Project to go along with the samples.

Either create a new project or open one of the samples to see how the new addition works (Figure D).

Figure D

One of the sample projects found in the Project app.

Before you dive into creating new projects, you should click Configuration at the top of the screen and then first create new Activity Types (such as emails, calls, todos and upload documents), as well as Tags (such as Bugs, Features, Experiments, Usability, Internal, External). Both Types and Tags will be used in your cards. You can also create these items within a card, so you don’t have to do them from within the Configuration section.

In the end, the ODOO Project app might not include every bell and whistle you need but it certainly is a great addition to help extend the platform to be even more useful for businesses looking to up their efficiency, productivity and resource management.

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