Odoo 18 brings a suite of new features and enhancements designed to streamline operations and make business management more efficient than ever before. From improved budgeting tools to enhanced planning views, Odoo 18 caters to various industries, providing powerful solutions that increase flexibility and control. Here’s an in-depth look at some of the most exciting features introduced in Odoo 18.
At Cravit, we closely monitor the developments in the latest version of Odoo and would like to share a few things with you already.
Using spreadsheets to calculate product prices
One of the standout features in Odoo 18 is the ability to calculate product prices directly within spreadsheets. This new functionality allows businesses to leverage familiar spreadsheet tools within the Odoo environment, making complex price calculations easier and more flexible.
You can now perform detailed analyses, link product data, and even create formulas to dynamically update prices based on changing variables like cost, margins, and currency exchange rates. This eliminates the need for external tools and ensures that all data remains centralized in Odoo, providing a seamless experience for price management.
Improved lock date wizard
The updated Lock Date Wizard in Odoo 18 gives finance teams more control over accounting periods. This feature allows you to lock specific date ranges to prevent further modifications, ensuring that financial reports are accurate and protected from errors.
With more granular control, you can lock periods while still allowing ongoing entries in future periods. This enhancement is particularly beneficial for teams managing complex accounting structures or adhering to strict regulatory requirements. The flexibility of the lock date wizard ensures that while past financial periods are safeguarded, future transactions continue to flow seamlessly.
Enhanced budgeting - one of our favorites!
Budgeting in Odoo 18 has seen significant improvements, with enhanced features that allow better control and forecasting. You can now set up more detailed budgets, track expenses against them, and adjust forecasts in real-time.
The updated budgeting feature integrates smoothly with other Odoo modules, making it easier to manage financials across departments. Whether it's marketing, operations, or HR, each department can have its budgets closely monitored, with quick access to reports showing variances and expenditure breakdowns.
Down payments on purchase orders
Managing supplier relationships is easier than ever with the introduction of down payments on purchase orders. This feature allows businesses to make advance payments to suppliers directly within the purchase order process.
Not only does this streamline payments, but it also improves cash flow management by tying down payments to specific purchase orders. This feature is particularly useful for businesses working with long lead times or high-cost goods, ensuring that payments are tracked, allocated, and reconciled efficiently.
Quick activity re-assignment
In Odoo 18, managing tasks and workflows has become more agile thanks to the new Quick Activity Re-Assignment feature. This allows managers to reassign activities with just a few clicks, ensuring that tasks are always aligned with the appropriate team members.
Whether it’s shifting priorities or addressing resource availability, quick reassignments ensure that no task gets delayed, and team productivity is optimized. This feature is particularly useful for dynamic work environments, where priorities can change rapidly.
Improved gantt view for planning - one of our favorites!
The Gantt view has been significantly improved in Odoo 18, offering an even more user-friendly and detailed interface for project and resource planning. Teams can now visualize timelines, dependencies, and workloads in greater detail, making it easier to adjust schedules and optimize resource allocation.
This feature is particularly useful for industries where project timelines and resource management are critical, such as construction, manufacturing, and IT. With the improved Gantt view, businesses can streamline planning processes and ensure that deadlines are met efficiently.
Sharing accounts across entities
Odoo 18 introduces the ability to share accounts across entities, a highly-requested feature for companies operating in multiple regions or with complex organizational structures. This feature allows you to centralize accounting functions and share accounts across multiple subsidiaries or business units, reducing redundancy and improving data consistency.
This feature is especially valuable for multinational companies, ensuring that financial reporting is consistent while providing flexibility to manage regional or subsidiary-specific transactions.
Transport and route planning in deliveries
Odoo 18 brings an enhanced transport planning and route planning feature for managing deliveries. This addition simplifies logistics by enabling businesses to plan delivery routes efficiently, ensuring timely deliveries and optimizing transportation costs.
With this feature, you can map out routes, assign deliveries to specific vehicles or drivers, and manage multiple deliveries in one go. The system also helps businesses reduce fuel consumption and optimize delivery schedules, making the entire supply chain more sustainable and cost-effective.
Pick-pack-ship flexibility
The "Pick-Pack-Ship" process in Odoo 18 has been made more flexible, giving users control over when each step is triggered. Previously, confirming a sale would trigger all three steps, but now you can independently manage picking, packing, and shipping tasks.
This flexibility is beneficial for businesses that deal with high volumes of goods or have specific logistical needs. It allows for better planning, particularly when handling bulk orders or fulfilling time-sensitive deliveries. You can choose to pack orders in advance or delay shipping until the perfect time, giving your business greater agility.
Conclusion
Odoo 18 continues to innovate with a wide range of features designed to make business management smoother and more efficient. From the enhanced budgeting capabilities to improved task management tools, businesses now have even more control over their operations.
With powerful tools like transport route planning and product price calculations through spreadsheets, Odoo 18 caters to a diverse set of industries and business needs. The new features not only streamline processes but also empower teams to work smarter, making Odoo 18 a must-have upgrade for businesses looking to stay ahead in a competitive market.