Odoo Project + Timesheets

Why it matters

Most service businesses outgrow basic time-tracking (Harvest, Toggl, FreshBooks) when project P&L matters more than basic time billing. Specialist project tools (Workday Professional Services / Mavenlink / Kantata / NetSuite OpenAir) are expensive at USD 80–200/user/month. Odoo Project unifies project management + timesheets + billing + accounting natively, included in Enterprise Custom (USD 38/user/month). For professional services firms 10–500 users, this is meaningful TCO advantage.

Features

• Multi-view project management

  Kanban, Gantt, Calendar, List, Timeline views — switch per user preference. Drag-and-drop task management.

• Timesheets (web + mobile)

  Time tracking per task / project / employee. Mobile app for field / on-site time capture. Approval workflows. Bulk entry. Stopwatch for live tracking.

• Project budgets + cost tracking

  Budgets per cost type (labour / materials / sub-contractor / overhead). Real-time actual vs budget. Employee cost rates per role. Vendor cost capture.

• Real-time project P&L

  Project profit and loss calculated live from timesheets, materials, sub-contractor costs, expenses, vs billing. Margin per project visible to project managers.

• Multiple billing models

  Fixed-price, T&M (timesheet-based), retainer (recurring), milestone (percentage of completion), prepaid. Different rules per project; even within a single project.

• Revenue recognition (ASC 606 / IFRS 15)

  Project revenue recognised per appropriate method: completed contract, percentage of completion, milestone, time-and-materials. WIP accounting handled.

• Resource planning

  Capacity planning per employee / role. Forecasting vs allocated time. Gantt-based resource scheduling.

• Integration with Sales + Purchase

  Project created from Sales quote / order. Materials purchased via Purchase orders linked to project. Expenses captured against project.

• Customer portal

  Customers see project progress, timesheets, milestones, billing through self-service portal. Reduces project-status inbound queries.

• Multi-currency project billing

  Project costs in local currency, billing in customer currency, with appropriate FX gain / loss accounting.

How it works

1. 1

   Process discovery

   Interview project leads, PMs, finance. Document project lifecycle, billing models, current pain points. Output: project-management spec.

2. 2

   Configuration

   Project templates per service type, task templates, billing rules per template, employee cost rates, approval workflows.

3. 3

   Active-project migration

   Current active projects migrated with WIP balances, remaining budget, milestone status, customer billing schedule.

4. 4

   Training + pilot

   Project managers + timesheet users trained. Pilot 1–2 projects on Odoo while existing projects continue on legacy. Iterate.

5. 5

   Full cutover

   All new projects on Odoo. Existing projects either migrate or finish on legacy. Customer portal launched.

6. 6

   Stabilisation

   30-60 days post-cutover. First fully Odoo project billing cycle. Project P&L reporting validated by finance.

Deployment timeline

Standard Project + Timesheets implementation: 6–10 weeks fixed-price. With complex billing rules + revenue recognition: 8–14 weeks. Construction-specific with WIP + retainage: 10–18 weeks. Project add to existing Odoo: 4–8 weeks.

Best for

Professional services firms (consulting, agencies, IT services, accounting, law) 10–500 users. Construction (with construction-specific extensions). Project-based manufacturing (custom equipment, project engineering). Any business where projects are the revenue model, not just orders.