Our implementation philosophy

Whether we implement small to mid sized companies or big enterprises, we tend to follow the same principles:

Build a rock-solid relationship Because everything is in trust. Instead of one-night stands we seek for long term partnership with our clients.

Keep things simple We value our customers time and money. That is why we avoid long lasting implementations for a simple reason: odoo is already a great software. There is no doubt about the huge benefits our customers will get from using it out of the box. However, we are aware that the project implementations can be quite complex and challenging. Either way, we try to deliver a software that covers all critical business flows and the most of the expected features as soon as possible. Later we gradually improve it, together.

Always give honest opinion Whenever possible we try to avoid politics and provide our honest expert`s opinion. That also means that we like to challenge our customer`s business demands, for the benefit of the project. 

Our implementation methodology

When implementing odoo business solutions, people usually ask "what would be the implementation cost?". In most of the cases, our answer is "we don`t know". There are several reasons for that: complex or unclear business processes, complex internal structure of the client, complex legacy systems or external integrations, clients being inflexible, etc. However, we always strive to keep projects and business processes as simple as possible. We know how to avoid unnecessary pitfalls such as custom developments; the main source of complexities and risks of delay. That is why our focus is to start with the least amount of services possible in order to let the customer get the instant benefits from the software. Also, we always strive to keep these objectives in our head: be on time, be within the budget and keep away unnecessary extras.

Phase 1: Indication 

The goal of this phase is to learn more about the clients business processes, organizational structure, challenges and issues they face in their daily operations. In particular we try to understand to which extent odoo can meet customer needs with out-of-the box features. In order to obtain a more comprehensive understanding of our clients' needs, we are conducting an initial survey to gather additional information from the client with the main goal to detect any potential business critical functionalities which are missing and would require custom development. 

Following the initial survey, we may suggest two options for moving forward: the Quickstart pack, which exclusively utilizes standard Odoo functionalities (without any custom development), or the Gap Analysis (Phase 2). This phase is free of charge! 

Phase 2: Detailed project analysis (Gap analysis)

The goal of this phase is a detailed review of business processes and client needs in order to be able to define the detailed project plan and the necessary budget for the implementation of the project. The process is usually carried out in the form of workshop meetings with Modoolar functional consultants, and clients main process owners. After the workshop phase, Modoolar will review every business requirement and document all detected needs as well as provide a detailed estimation for each detected item. As a result of this phase, the client will receive a fully specified project plan and costs needed to implement the odoo business solution. The duration of this phase heavily depends on the complexity of the project. Modoolar will charge the time spent on the analysis phase.

Phase 3: Legal 

The goal of this phase is to regulate the relationship between the client and Modoolar. Depending on the previous phases, mutual collaboration can be regulated either as a project-based (in case of the finished Gap analysis phase) or time and material base (in case we skipped Gap analysis phase). In this phase, the client selects Modoolar SLA packs and hosting type. When signing the contract, it is necessary to specify the responsible persons on the client's side for 1) financial matters and 2) specifying/clarifying business requirements. Beside regulating mutual collaboration between the client and Modoolar, in this phase the client needs to accept and sign Enterprise contract with odoo SA, editor of the platform. Once the legal phase is finished, we move to the next phase - project implementation.​

Phase 4: Iterative-incremental project implementation

Following the rough project plan defined in the phase 1 or the precise project specification defined in the phase 2, we start the project implementation. We start with creating the necessary project infrastructure (development environment, code repository, user acceptance test (UAT) environment, production environment). In parallel, we start the development process for all the missing business critical functionalities and planning of the data migration and user training. At the end of this phase, the client needs to accept the proposed solution after which we set the go-live date. Officially we start the production of priority 1 features. While the main features are already in the production, we continue with developing priority 2+ features and gradually improve the system over time. This way, the client benefits from the fast software adoption.  

What do we expect from our clients?

Implementing business solutions is quite a complex and challenging task which sometimes requires us to make tough decisions. Good decisions can save us days of work. In order to make these decisions, we have to rely on our clients and our healthy relationship.   

Full support from top-level management
In most cases, our business solutions affect the whole organization and their business processes.  There will be challenges and difficult decisions to make. In order to succeed, we need the full support of the management of the company. Trust and commitment from top-level management is a requirement in order to accept any project

Clear decision maker for business requirements
Whether the client will provide an internal project manager or business process owner, this person must be dedicated to the project, must have authority to make decisions on their own, and must have the leadership and autonomy to train and enforce policies for their departments. Also, this person should have direct access to the executive committee if needed

Be rational and willing to make small compromises
Although every company is unique in its own way, in most of the cases they all share the similar business principles and processes. Sometimes, it is better to make a small compromise in a business process if that saves a lot of development efforts. Because customizations cost time and money, they are more complex to maintain, add risks to the implementation, and can cause issues with upgrades.