Pipeline
CRM, quotes, estimates, and win-rate tracking.
PSA that doesn't need a second ERP.
Consultancies, agencies, and services firms: project accounting, timesheets, invoicing, and resource planning in one system. Margin visibility with finance, not a PSA vendor.
Why PSA tools and ERP tools keep drifting apart.
Services firms run a PSA tool (timesheets, utilization, project profitability) alongside an ERP (GL, AR, AP, revenue rec) and spend close week reconciling them. Rates diverge, codes drift, WIP doesn't match revenue. When the two disagree by 15%, nobody trusts either.
Odoo Project + Accounting is one source of truth. Time updates WIP and labor cost simultaneously. Milestone invoicing posts revenue to project and GL in one transaction. Profitability reports run against actual GL — not a reconciliation, the source.
— Capabilities
From sales to collection.
Project delivery
Plans, tasks, milestones, Gantt views, and client portals.
Timesheets
Desktop, mobile, or calendar-driven capture.
Billing
Fixed-fee, T&M, milestone, and retainer invoicing.
Resource planning
Utilization, forecasting, bench management.
Profitability
Project, client, and practice-level margin in real time.
— Real numbers
Services firm transformation results.
+6 pts
Gross margin
80-person consulting firm: 42% → 48% in Year 1 with real-time profitability.
5 → 3
Days close
Same firm cut PSA-to-ERP reconciliation from 5 days to 3 hours.
95%
Timesheet compliance
Agency: 78% → 95% after calendar auto-capture and Slack reminders.
— Questions
Professional services — FAQ.
Is this better than dedicated PSA tools like Kantata or Deltek?
Not always — but for mid-market firms the TCO advantage of one ERP vs. PSA + accounting + CRM is substantial. You lose some PSA-specific bells and whistles (sophisticated resource optimization algorithms, specialized industry workflows) and gain real-time GL, one system to train users on, and one source of truth for reporting. For firms with under 500 employees or straightforward project models, Odoo wins. For larger firms with deep PSA processes, Deltek or Kantata might still be the right call.
Does it work for mixed revenue (services + subscription + product)?
Yes. Odoo handles project revenue, subscription revenue, and product revenue in one general ledger with proper revenue recognition per stream. We've deployed for firms with all three revenue types.
How does utilization and forecasting work?
Resource planning views show utilization (billable / available) by person, team, or practice. Forecast views combine booked work and pipeline to project utilization 8-12 weeks out. For sophisticated resource optimization (multi-constraint matching, skills + seniority + location + cost) we sometimes extend the native module with custom scoring.
What about complex engagement pricing?
Odoo handles fixed-fee, T&M with bill rates by role/seniority, milestone-based, retainer-based (burn-down), and blended-rate arrangements. We configure rate cards, approval workflows for rate deviations, and automatic rate escalation on multi-year contracts.
Can we use it for government contracts?
Yes. We've deployed Odoo for firms doing state and local government contracting and civic-tech work. Government-specific requirements like DCAA-compliant timesheet tracking, FAR-compliant billing, and indirect rate calculation are configured into the deployment.
How does project profitability reporting work?
Real-time reporting from GL: direct labor cost (from timesheets × loaded rates), direct expenses (from AP tagged to project), project revenue (from invoicing). Gross margin calculated on demand. Practice-level or client-level rollups available. No month-end rebuild required — the report is always current.
Billable hours leaking?
30-min services review. Utilization, project accounting, and resource planning in one Odoo stack — margin visibility with finance, not a PSA vendor.
Book a services review