Technology, AI & ERP — explained in plain English
Odoo reordering rules watch forecasted stock, not just shelves, and refill from a minimum up to a maximum via a chosen route. This guide explains automatic and manual triggers, the quantity calculation, the 0/0/1 pattern, and how to choose min/max values from daily demand and lead time.
Odoo Online, Odoo.sh, and self-hosting run the same Odoo 20 software — what changes is who runs the servers, who may install custom modules, and who owns upgrades and backups. This comparison lays out the three options side by side and the three questions that settle the choice.
Odoo 20 adds a platform-wide offline mode: create, edit, archive, unarchive, and delete records — and re-run previous searches — with no connection, then sync when coverage returns. This article explains what the mode covers, who it is built for, and how it differs from the older POS-only offline behaviour.
The POS session is Odoo’s unit of cash control: opening counts, reasoned cash in/out, and the Closing Control comparison of expected versus counted cash. Odoo 20 keeps that ritual but reworks the accounting behind it, with a global sale at close and payment journal entries that no longer wait for the session to end.
Odoo’s Replenish on Order (MTO) route turns a confirmed sales order into a linked manufacturing order automatically, and Odoo 20 adds draft-or-confirmed MOs, continuous production, and splittable orders around it. This tour follows one custom product from quotation to delivery, including the cancellation traps that break the chain.
Odoo 20 gives Canada a new Avalara Included integration method covering full tax computation for Canada and the US, batch CPA 005 pre-authorized debit payments, and a reworked localised chart — plus a stricter fiscal-position rule that can silently remove tax from invoices. This guide separates the verified Canada items from the general changes and provides an eight-point checklist to test with your accountant.
Multi-warehouse routing in Odoo decides where demand is sourced from and which transfers satisfy it, using routes made of pull and push rules. This guide sets up the built-in resupply route between a central warehouse and a shop, explains custom routes, and gives a testing checklist before go-live.
Odoo 20 adds 13 industry packages — from beauty parlors and therapy practices to machine rental and vineyards — that pre-build a trade’s apps, data, and workflows into a new database. This article lists all 13 with what Odoo’s release notes say each covers, and where the head start ends.
Loyalty cards, gift cards, and eWallets in Odoo POS all run on one program engine shared with Sales and eCommerce. Odoo 20 adds expiring loyalty points and single-use-per-customer discount codes on top of the long-standing register workflows for earning, redeeming, and selling prepaid balances.
The Master Production Schedule turns a planner-controlled demand forecast into manufacturing orders and purchase orders period by period, balancing starting stock, forecasted and indirect demand, safety stock, and replenishment. Odoo 20 strengthens what follows the plan: ASAP scheduling, a redesigned MO Kanban, new work order Gantt and Kanban views, and draft-versus-confirmed MOs from procurement.
Odoo has no monthly period to flip closed — the close is verification, cut-off, and lock dates, in that order. This walkthrough adapts the official 20.0 closing checklist to a monthly rhythm, covering bank consistency, the reconciliation summary report, suspense and aged-item review, tax checks, and advancing the lock date.
Standard support for Odoo 17 ended in September 2026 when Odoo 20 arrived, and the subscription agreement’s covered-version rules add a commercial clock from March 2027. This article sets out the four realistic options — upgrade to 20, step to 19, buy extended support, or stay and self-support — and what a three-version jump actually involves.
Odoo 20 adds a call flow designer to its Phone app, letting businesses build incoming-call routing with extensions, menus, queues, and time- and location-based steps inside the ERP instead of a provider portal. The softphone also gains a floating widget, auto-fill and auto-log, simultaneous calling, and mid-call audio controls.
Odoo 20 lets the browser talk directly to network ePOS printers through Local Network Access, shrinking the IoT box’s role at the counter. This audit guide goes device class by device class — printers, drawers, scanners, scales, displays, terminals — showing what keeps working, what still needs an IoT gateway, and what to replace, starting with Bluetooth printers.
Odoo subcontracting keeps outside work inside the same inventory, costing, and lead-time records as in-house production, across basic, resupply, and dropship models. Odoo 20 adds a subcontracting MO overview with component status, reception valuation from the vendor pricelist when no PO is linked, and component costs in MO cost.
Odoo’s improved duplicate detection flags invoices and bills in two tiers: red for highly likely duplicates that should be corrected, and yellow for possible duplicates to investigate before posting. This guide explains what each colour demands, where duplicates come from, and how to work both warnings into your payment and month-end routines.