Odoo V16 - Expected Features - just keeps getting better!

Jonathan Wilson

In early October, together with my colleagues Giovanni Fariselli and Felix Choo, I will be travelling to Belgium to attend the 2022 Odoo Experience.

We are looking forward to immersing ourselves in everything “Odoo” for the week, catching up with Odoo Partners from around the world and bringing back our insights to enhance our sales, marketing and delivery services to current and future clients.

With every new release, Odoo continues to add new applications and improve the existing features. WilldooIT has seen this growth first hand becoming the first Australian Odoo partner in 2008. The growth of Odoo has truly been impressive and I am continually amazed at what they have accomplished in creating such a feature-rich and integrated product which improves year by year. It is also notable that they have done this in the context of open sourcing their code thus creating a dynamic and engaged global community enriching and supporting the product. I have gathered and organised from various sources some of the new and improved features we can expect in Odoo V16.

Odoo text and image block

User experience and performance improvements

A priority has been to improve the user experience by cleaning up critical areas of the code and making a myriad of small performance enhancements that add up to noticeable product responsiveness. Additionally, there are many small improvements across all modules to improve usability and functionality. Notably, workforce management of the HR team and product management of the sales team is expected to be optimised in the new V16 edition, and 

Sign and Marketing modules have undergone significant revisions.

Improved accounting localisation

How this translates in the Australian and New Zealand context is yet to be seen.  However, it is notable that Odoo's Sydney office will soon be in operation and I have had discussions with their developers regarding BAS integration with the ATO - so watch this space.


Knowledge module

This is a new module enabling product and company knowledge to be centralised and conveniently available in context across all modules in Odoo. A quick snapshot:



The knowledge articles are available in context within the various functions, e.g. in a sales order:



I firmly believe that the best place to document an ERP system is within the system itself, and be made available to knowledgeable end-users to maintain information relevant to their own workflows - the Knowledge module is perfect for this.


Accounting

Journal audit report:
An easy-to-read journal audit report that will improve BAS auditability:  



Credit limits:
A limited credit limit checking facility has been implemented. Strangely, credit limits are set globally and not against a partner. WilldooIT have developed a comprehensive Localisation Module that our clients will benefit from whereby credit and terms limit checking is configurable at both sales and delivery. 


Statements reconciliation: There is now an improved interface making reconciliation much easier:



Accounting firms mode:
If you are managing your Customers' books in Odoo, entering that stack of Invoices gets FASTER!


- tab quickly to Customer/Vendor, Total, Ref, Date

- enter things out of order

- invoice lines default (tax included) to match the total


Drag and drop upload for accounting documents:



Alerts to identify “holes” in sequences:




Unified Report Engine:

Sales:

Sales Reports across Companies are multi-currency aware - leverage the latest exchange rate to dynamically re-value all sales!



Confirm sales order cancellations with customers:




Delivery and goods receipts status:

𝗗𝗲𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘁𝘂𝘀 - for your Sales Orders

𝗥𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗶𝗽𝘁 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘁𝘂𝘀 - for your Purchase Orders


Purchasing:

Improved “Call for Tenders”:

- decide at any time to shop around

- quickly create and manage PO alternatives

- easily compare arrival and cost by line

- split your PO between Vendors based on the best option for you at the time



Advanced supply chain visibility:
Visibility into frequently updated scheduled arrival dates of Forecasted Inventory. Refer here.


Project:

Link Project Milestones to Sales Order lines. You will no longer have to manually update the milestones on the Sales Order.



Marketing:

Email marketing gets a significant makeover. The most notable upgrades in the marketing module are -


  • Create a new mailing from the previously saved lists

  • Edit global attributes of the mailing list all at once

  • Save and reuse filters for future mailings

  • Import your contacts and mailing addresses

  • New templates

  • Ability to operate Twitter from the social marketing module.



Sign module:

You will be able to decline to sign a document using this new functionality. In addition, you can also change the individual assigned for a role after the request has been made.


Rental:

Rental app goes online:



Manufacturing:

  • Split and Merge Manufacturing Orders

  • Expand Reception Report to MRP

  • Mass Produce in 15.2

  • BOM structure and cost (Print unfolded button)

  • Allow canceling multiple Manufacturing Orders

  • New filter in the Manufacturing view for unbuilt orders

  • Refer here


  • Allow searching the work order by final product (Work order view) 

  • Subcontracting Portal

  • Return & Repair

  • Manual MO consumption

  • Other improvements:

  • Landed Cost for Subcontracting

  • Cost Analysis Report

  • UX: Work Order list view, MO form view, Tooltip - MRM lead time

  • Refer here


  • Work order dependencies

  • Planned time vs Operating time

  • Work centers specific capacity

  • Propagation on quantities for the pickings when manufacturing in 2 or 3 steps

  • Return & Repair

  • Refer here


Website:

Coupons and Promotions

Coupons and promotions are incorporated under a single platform and can be accessed through e-commerce, POS, and conventional orders. E-Wallet is also included in the list of new features which was missing in the previous version.


Managing multiple eCommerce product photos is easier:


- bulk upload

- grid presentation (customize size and spacing)

- carousel presentation (zoom "on click" or "hover")

- sort images after upload

- replace / remove images one by one



If you are offering alternative products:
when selling online, Odoo v16 lets you customize how you show them. Change the design or leverage pre-built templates.


- for all visitors or just those logged in? 

- for specific marketing campaigns?


 


Remove prices when you want to:
Works with one product, some products, all products:


- force Visitors to sign up / log in before they see prices

- force Customers to contact you



Address auto-completion at checkout:
(uses Google API so should be OK for Aus/NZ):



“Pickup” option:

- payment online OR in store, no shipping!

- configured PER Payment Acquirer.


Other:

Redesigned chatter interface:




Find out how you can streamline your business processes by implementing Odoo V16, or for a discussion on the upgrade process contact us at info@willdooit.com.


 

Jonathan Wilson – Chief Sales and Innovation Executive, WilldooIT

If you are a CFO, MD or CEO of an innovative and forward-thinking organisation seeking a simpler and more effective method of tracking your business performance via integrated ERP and eCommerce software solutions, perhaps I can help.

With over 40 years of verifiable success in the IT industry, including roles as Director of Sales – Odoo and Chief Sales and Innovation Executive at WilldooIT, Managing Director of WillowIT and CTO at Nexus Business Software, I understand the importance of an integrated ERP and eCommerce solution that has the potential to meet the functional processes and financial requirements across all the departments of your organisation.

My skills include partnering with senior leaders of a business to determine business needs, risks and functionality and aligning solutions in support of strategic and tactical objectives to satisfy cost-effective business requirements and deliverables.