How an Odoo implementation starts: scope before price

Why an engagement starts with scope, not price

When a price is requested before the needs analysis, the figure given is not an estimate but a polished guess. An early number changes later when the real item count or the data volume appears, and the disagreement that follows comes from an unwritten scope rather than from bad intent.

What the scoping session fixes

• The primary user: who works in the system daily, and which task they complete.
• The problem release one solves, and what it explicitly excludes.
• The number of companies, branches and warehouses, items and users.
• The required modules, each workflow with its rules, and the integration scope.
• Acceptance criteria: how we know an item is finished, and who signs it.

Sequencing modules: where to actually start

Value comes from connection rather than count. Disciplined stock connected to sales and accounting beats six half-operated modules. The usual order is: clean the master data, then the module that stops the largest loss, then connect it to accounting, then expand with confidence.

Data: what moves and what stays

Not everything moves. What genuinely must move is inventoried and cleaned first (merge duplicates, correct units and categories), then a trial migration into a test environment with balances reconciled against the old system, then the final migration after approval. Opening balances are reconciled with accounting and stock, differences are documented with their causes rather than patched in a file, and detailed history usually stays in the old system for reference.

How duration is estimated

We present durations as planning ranges rather than commitments, because the decisive factor is not configuration but the readiness of your data: how fast counting and balance correction proceed, and how fast your team approves adjustments and permissions. So we schedule stages against published outputs — unified master data, matching balances, one complete tested cycle — instead of a single delivery date.

What we do not guarantee

• No commercial outcome: sales and margins are shaped by the market, pricing and execution.
• No binding price before the analysis, and no binding duration before the written scope.
• No timeline built on data we have not seen.
• And we do not call configuration customisation: what a standard setting achieves is not built in code.