Many professional activities include a significant amount of project management, but not all of them need to be managed with dedicated tools.

We will understand here which organizations may need project management tools, and why Odoo may be the right solution.

What is project management?

In short, it refers to the ability to organize and complete all the actions and steps that will lead to the success of the project, regardless of its nature. An IT project, which requires the coordination of a client, one or more service providers, and end users. A land project, which requires a long term administrative follow-up. An industrial project, which allows the business to have new parts designed by a design office. The list is endless. What do all these projects have in common? An identified need, a kick-off date, an identified cost, a deliverable to be reached by a certain deadline.

Project management challenges

A project begins with an identified need for an object that does not yet exist. 

Once this need is identified, how will you realize it? In-house? With the help of a service provider?

• Assign a budget, in currency or in time/man.
• Organize, identifying the steps and milestones necessary to achieve it, as well as their interdependencies.
• Schedule these steps, and plan the necessary resources. Resources are the people, machines, materials, etc. you will need.
• And all along the way, analyze the progress, track the costs and communicate with all the project stakeholders.
   

A project management tool, for whom?

Everything is a project, but not everything deserves to be managed by a project management tool. Is your organization too small? Are your projects simple, short and few in number? There are probably other tools that are better suited. For example, a project involving selling products in a store requires a cash register tool, a payment terminal, and that's probably all.

You have a very specialized job? There are probably dedicated tools. If you manage logistics or goods flows, there are tools on the market to manage these highly specialized projects. The same goes for manufacturing.

If on the other hand, as part of your production unit, you need to design new objects, and if this design requires time, validation, follow-up, exchanges, then you can conceive this as a project that will lead to a new production line.

It is up to you to place the cursor related to your need. The implementation of a new IT tool requires a certain amount of time (this is a project that will use a project management tool), has a certain cost, and is made possible by the common willingness of all future users to have this new tool.

If you are a craftsman, a notary or an architect, if you are an industry, distribution or e-commerce player, you know when your current way of doing things has reached the end of its capacity. At this point you have decided to industrialize your project management.

Which tool should you choose?

A project management tool is a software that allows you to sell and follow each project, step by step, to check the progress, to make sure that the costs are under control. It is a collaborative platform, which allows everyone to consult or advance the project. It is also a document space enabling the deposit or consultation of documents, such as contracts, specifications, invoices, etc.

You will undoubtedly expect your future tool to be flexible and to adapt to your activities and your organization. It must therefore be customizable and interconnectable with other software.

From sales to project

Odoo combines all these qualities and is almost turnkey: you can start immediately, with the basic configuration, to manage your projects of all types. 

You will be able to configure a project as a product, and make it go through a complete sales cycle, from quotation to order and then to the invoicing of milestones or time spent.

Odoo, for project planning

Odoo, by nature, is a user-oriented tool that adapts very well to your uses. You can set up your typical projects, with the steps and tasks necessary for them to run smoothly. 

It is also a scheduling and planning tool, where you can create inter-task dependencies. Odoo can reschedule tasks in the best possible sequence and allows you to easily schedule and create dependencies in a visual way, by simply dragging and dropping on the calendar grid, and by clicking between 2 tasks to create dependencies.

On-site service

Your activity takes you to your customers? The Field Service module allows you, from anywhere, to charge your working time to a current project. A simple browser on your phone and you can time yourself or enter the time worked afterwards. This time can then be invoiced.

Odoo, to communicate

You can easily exchange with Odoo, communicate internally and externally without quitting the tool. Each task, each project can be shared or exchanged from the Odoo software as well as from the website, with your customers, your providers, or your co-workers.

You can chat or make a video with any user without having to open other software, like Meet or Teams.

One of the keys to the success of a project is the fluidity of the communication between the players. With its exchange tools, Odoo is a key enabler.

Odoo, a powerful analysis tool

Analysis of a project is necessary, both during the project to ensure that it stays on track, and at the end to measure the financial impact.

You can analyze the speed of progress, the respect of milestones, the time spent by task managers, but also the expenses and revenues associated with the project.

Odoo offers powerful and flexible possibilities, allowing you to export your data in excel, csv or even save them in the tool for analysis thanks to the integrated spreadsheet.

Odoo, application bricks for all your needs

This application offers a very broad business coverage, with modules adapted to all needs (CRM, sales, logistics, manufacturing, recruitment, etc.) all interconnected, making it possible to transform a prospect into a customer, to sell a project to him and to carry it out, and to recruit the resources necessary for its successful operation.

Start with a brick and build your solution little by little.

Odoo offers you a versatile, easy-to-implement tool to follow your projects from start to finish. If you are ready for change, Odoo is for you.