1. Company profile
"Shree Ganesh Industrial Supplies" (fictional, based on typical partner projects such as the Dallas parts distributor case where inventory accuracy went from 67 % to 96 % in 90 days).
- Distributor of bearings, fasteners and power tools; 4,500 SKUs; 2 warehouses (Ahmedabad main, Surat branch).
- 25 users: 8 sales, 6 warehouse, 4 purchase, 4 accounts, 3 management.
- Currently on Tally + Excel; stock is checked by phone; dealers get prices from a PDF.
2. Pain points (as-is)
- Stock accuracy ~70 %; frequent stock-outs on fast movers, dead stock on others.
- Pricing errors (dealer, retail and project prices kept in Excel).
- No visibility of pending deliveries/backorders.
- Month-end takes 12 days; debtor follow-up is manual.
- Branch transfers recorded twice (two Tally companies).
3. Apps
Sales, CRM, Purchase, Inventory, Barcode, Accounting (India localisation), Documents, Spreadsheet (dashboards), optionally eCommerce B2B portal (Phase 2). Plan: Standard if single company with branches as warehouses; Custom if the branches are separate GSTINs/companies with inter-company flows.
4. Key design decisions
| Topic | Decision | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Companies | 1 company, 2 warehouses (or branches if separate GSTIN) | Simple transfers; one stock view |
| Product categories | By product family; AVCO, automated valuation | Prices fluctuate; average cost is fair |
| Tracking | Serial numbers only for power tools (warranty) | Bearings/fasteners untracked |
| Receipts | 1 step (small items) | Speed |
| Deliveries | 2 steps: Pick → Ship, picking by wave per zone | Many small lines per order |
| Replenishment | Min/max reordering rules, preferred vendor per product; v20 suggested min/max | Fix stock-outs |
| Pricing | Pricelists: Dealer, Retail, Project; quantity breaks; v20 price rules per packaging | One source of truth |
| Credit control | Customer credit limit (Accounting settings > Sales credit limit) | Stop risky orders |
| UoM | Box of 100 vs piece: same UoM category "Unit"; packagings for boxes | Correct conversions |
5. Step-by-step configuration
- Settings > General: company GSTIN, logo, document layout; activate Multi-currency only if imports.
- Accounting > Configuration: Indian CoA (auto-installed), GST taxes (CGST/SGST/IGST 5/12/18/28 %), fiscal position "Inter-State" (auto-detect by state), journals, bank.
- Inventory > Settings: Storage Locations ✔, Multi-Step Routes ✔, Packages ✔, Lots & Serials ✔, Barcode ✔, Wave Transfers ✔, Batch Transfers ✔.
- Warehouses: AHD (Outgoing: Pick + Ship), SRT. Resupply SRT from AHD: on SRT warehouse tick Resupply From AHD → inter-warehouse route.
- Locations: AHD/Stock/Zone-A/Rack-01… (type Internal); barcodes on each location (print location labels).
- Product categories: Bearings, Fasteners, Power Tools → costing AVCO, valuation Automated, stock accounts.
- Import products (internal ref, barcode, category, UoM, cost, sales price, HSN code, GST tax, vendor, lead time).
- Reordering rules: import min/max per product per warehouse; trigger Auto. In Odoo 20, use the suggested min/max column (demand history, days of coverage).
- Sales > Settings: Pricelists ✔ (advanced rules), Discounts ✔, Customer addresses ✔, Quotation approval (Studio rule if discount > 10 %).
- Pricelists: Dealer = formula −12 % on Sales Price, round 1.00; Project = fixed prices imported; quantity breaks (min qty 100 → extra −3 %).
- Purchase > Settings: Purchase Agreements ✔ (blanket orders with key vendors), Vendor warnings ✔, Bill control = received quantities, 3-way matching ✔, PO approval above ₹2,00,000.
- Accounting: follow-up levels (7 days email, 15 days email + call activity, 30 days letter + block via warning), payment terms 30/45 days, bank sync, reconciliation models.
- Dashboards: Spreadsheet with stock value by category, slow movers, sales by dealer, AR ageing.
6. To-be daily process
- Sales: salesperson quotes in Odoo (dealer pricelist auto), WhatsApp/email PDF → confirm → warehouse gets the pick.
- Warehouse: morning wave per zone on mobile barcode → pack table → Ship step → delivery slip + e-way bill.
- Purchase: daily review of Replenishment report; RFQs auto from rules; blanket-order release for contracted vendors.
- Accounts: invoices from delivered SOs (batch), bank reconciliation daily, follow-ups twice a week.
7. Data migration specifics
- Tally stock summary → opening inventory with AVCO cost per item per warehouse.
- Dealer outstanding (bill-wise) → open invoices against opening clearing account.
- Do a full physical count over the go-live weekend; import the counted quantities.
8. KPIs
Inventory accuracy (cycle count variance), fill rate / OTIF, stock turns per category, dead stock > 180 days (v20 stock aging report), DSO, gross margin by dealer.
9. Pitfalls
- Don't mix "Box" and "Piece" as separate products; use packagings (v19+ merged into UoM).
- Set the removal strategy only if needed; FIFO default is fine.
- Turn on cycle counts per location (Inventory frequency) instead of yearly big-bang counts.
- AVCO + negative stock = wrong costs. Enforce receipts before deliveries.
10. Version notes
| v18 | v19 | v20 |
|---|---|---|
| Perpetual valuation entries on moves | Valuation closing entry at month-end; "suggested quantity to replenish" from sales history; multiple routes on SO lines | Suggested min/max, stock aging, allocation from forecast, vendor quality rate, default Incoterm per vendor, bill-to-PO matching warnings, pay vendor bills via PISP |