Switching Odoo partners when your implementation is stuck.
The implementation is stuck, Odoo or the partner does not answer, or nobody knows the custom development anymore. A takeover then does not start with new features. It starts with who can still access your Odoo, and with reading what is there.
With Odoo since 2016. The same team does the audit, the build and the support.
An implementation rarely gets stuck on one point
Usually it piles up. The inventory is off, so a spreadsheet appears next to it. Questions go unanswered, with the partner or with Odoo itself.
Sometimes a module from another vendor blocks a standard Odoo app.
A blockage in an old version is sometimes itself the reason to upgrade first.
First, sort out who can still access your Odoo
A previous partner often still has access. You sort that out before the work starts.
The source code of the custom development.
It is usually on GitHub, with the previous partner. Ask for a transfer, not just access. As long as the code sits with them, they see every change.
The Odoo.sh project.
That too is sometimes under the previous partner's account. First become administrator yourself, in your own name. Then you download a backup yourself. The project moves with you, the database stays the same.
The administrator and the old accounts.
Change the administrator password and remove the previous partner's user accounts. As long as those accounts exist, the previous partner can still make changes.
Your own backup.
Odoo.sh makes daily backups. Still, take a full copy at the takeover, with the attachments.
Want to see how this would run at your organization?
The subscription is a contract between you and Odoo
Your partner cannot renew it or reopen it. Odoo sends the renewal to you, and you pay it.
If it expires, Odoo can block the database for everyone, including your partner. Only Odoo can reopen it. After such a block, the bank integrations also have to be reconnected.
Put the expiry date in your calendar and decide a month ahead. Odoo also lists a partner on your subscription. After the switch, your new partner belongs there. Report the change yourself to your contact at Odoo.
The audit reads how you work, the code and the database
How you work.
A problem in the inventory often starts with how products and components are set up. That is why how you work comes first.
What is in the code.
We read every function in the custom development and describe what it does. That happens separately from production.
What sits outside the code.
The database also holds screens from Studio, custom fields, server actions and email templates. An audit counts them all. What your team built in the database itself can also break during an upgrade.
What the data says.
Which field is really used, and how often? You read that in the data, not in the code.
The people who work with the custom development help decide what stays
We go through the custom development with the people who work with it. For each part we choose: keep, rebuild or remove.
What is used and solidly built comes along. A feature you want to keep but that does not run reliably, we rebuild. What nobody can explain is removed. If someone misses it after three months after all, we look at it again.
Recent versions of Odoo often do themselves what used to require custom development, such as packagings as a unit of measure. We do not carry over custom development that nobody uses.
You keep working on your existing database
You keep the history of orders, invoices and payments.
We remove custom development that is no longer needed from the database. What stays, we set up properly. We also clean up the master data.
We test on a copy, together with your team
Before the upgrade in production, we test on a copy of the database. We do that with your own cases: a non-standard price, a partial delivery, a credit note and the month-end close.
That way we see what is used in practice. We keep the backup from just before the upgrade.
How a takeover runs
A hard deadline sometimes comes first, such as a stock count. After that we deliberately return to this order.
Diagnosis
First we sort out access and a backup. Then comes the audit of how you work and of the environment.
Design
For each piece of custom development we decide together what comes along, what we rebuild and what goes.
Delivery
We upgrade and rebuild what is needed. Your team tests on a copy.
Growth
Then come the processes that were left aside, such as manufacturing.
What a takeover costs and what that depends on
The assessment is free and takes one hour. In it we map how your whole organization works, including what is stuck today.
The audit after that is paid work of a few days. We confirm the price in advance. After the audit you get a fixed price for the first phase.
That price depends on the custom development, how many versions behind you are, the state of the data and the integrations.
You pay the Odoo license and the hosting on Odoo.sh directly to Odoo, see odoo.com/pricing. After that, support runs through prepaid hours or a service agreement.
After the audit you know where you stand, even if our advice is to stay with your current partner.
Abstractive is an Odoo Silver Partner in Affligem, between Ghent and Brussels. Since 2016 we have set up Odoo for organizations in the Benelux.
Who is responsible for what after the takeover
After the takeover, one team does the build, the upgrades and the support. You remain responsible for the subscription with Odoo.
Cleaning up the master data is up to your team, such as a product code and a unique barcode per product. We tell you what needs to happen. Your team tests and approves before the upgrade goes to production.
Questions about switching to another partner
Do we have to give notice to our current partner first?
First read what your agreement with the current partner says about termination. Arrange the transfer of the code and the Odoo.sh project before that agreement ends.
Does this also work if Odoo itself did our implementation?
Yes, we then start the same way: how you work, the settings, Studio and the data. If your Odoo runs on Odoo Online, the custom development sits in Studio and in imported modules without program code.
Can we keep working during the takeover?
Yes, you keep working in the current environment. We test the upgrade on a copy. The switch in production requires an interruption at an agreed moment.
How long does a takeover take?
That depends on the custom development, how many versions behind you are and the time for testing. We know that after the audit.
Who can still access your Odoo today?
In a free one-hour assessment we map how your whole organization works. Then you know where you start.