[[!meta date="2015-02-13 10:58"]]
[[!tag erp odoo python usability]]
[[!summary is ODOO a modern ERP system written in python?]]
[[!img media/company_logo.png alt="" style="float: right"]]

# motivation
i've been looking into various open source ERP systems on [1] and started with odoo version 8.0.

# odoo

the ERP i'm searching for must fulfill the following requirements:

* html5 interface (with great usbility)
* API for automated unit testing

things i want to realise with it:

* payment (accounting)
* address database for customers
    * room management
* hosting data for creating a catalogue
* statistics
* data import (from previous ERP)

## what i liked

at first glance:

* **pure html5 interface** on the client (there is xmlrpc [4] for scripting!)
* **nice, clean and modern interface**
    * consistent design, very nice!
    * ajax use, for example in the search field

        [[!img media/erp_odoo2.jpg alt="" ]]

* written in python
* **they use git** and github.com
* **they use postgresql**
* easy to install
* documentation [4] and [5] seems to be well done
* like the 'as a question' [6] which reminds me of stackoverflow

## what i disliked

at first glance:

* **odoo use long-polling (not websockets) for the internal chat. all other modules i tried _lack_ support for such transparent updates.** this includes:

    * calendar
    * messaging
    * fleet management  
    * human resources
    * sales

    **this is hard to accept for me! webdesign from the 80ties! but compared to 'apache ofbiz' it seems pretty modern. anyway i hate systems which force me to press F5 when something changed!** this is annoying, especially in the fleet management where you have to click the drop down to see all data after each F5.

* calendar

    lacks room management?!

    [[!img media/erp_odoo1.jpg alt="" ]]

* **no REST interface**

* **removing of optional components broke the interface** by leaving menus which just won't do anything (experienced with installing/removing the fleed module)

* the installation for the ubuntu 14.04 [3] was incomplete:
    * python-pypdf was missing 
    * python-passlib was missing

    thus **incomplete dependencies**! as a result the **initial database deployment was corrupted** and it took me quite a while until i realised i had to remove the database first and then restart the daemon afterwards which then recreated the db successfully. one solution would be to use nix on nixos!

* using ``./odoo.py scraffoldd openacademy addons`` does not have any effect, as the scraffold**d** is accidentaly written with two d but ./odoo.py does not report any error!

# conclusion

i got mixed feelings about this <strike>project</strike> product:

* **nice html5 interface** which at first glance seems good **but requires manual refresh -> ugly!**
* **i need to implement my own module [5] to experience the API is well designed**
* **don't like the odoo marketing** (too much design and fuss)
* need to look into optional modules, but installing them is not straight forward ;P

my overall impression is rather positive.

# links

* [1] <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ERP_software_packages>
* [2] <https://www.odoo.com/>
* [3] <https://www.techreceptives.com/install-odoo-v8-ubuntu-14-04-lts/>
* [4] <https://www.odoo.com/documentation/8.0/api_integration.html#calling-methods>
* [5] <https://www.odoo.com/documentation/8.0/howtos/backend.html>
* [6] <https://www.odoo.com/forum/help-1/question/are-the-translation-language-files-finished-for-odoo-v8-updated-9-feb-2015-64234>