How to Set Up and Use Your Business Odoo ERP Server

Welcome to your Cloud Acropolis Business Odoo ERP instance. This guide covers everything you need to get started — from your first login through managing accounting, invoicing, CRM, payroll, inventory, and more. Your Odoo server is fully managed, protected, and dedicated to you, running Odoo 18 Community Edition.

1. Accessing Your Odoo Server

Your Odoo URL was sent to you in your welcome email. It follows this format:

https://bod-{number}.cloudacropolis.lt

Odoo has its own built-in username and password authentication. No one-time email code (OTP) is required to access the main interface — you log in directly with your Odoo credentials.

2. First-Time Setup

Step 1 — Database Initialization

When you visit your Odoo URL for the first time, you will see the database setup screen. Fill in:

• Master Password — a strong password for database administration (not your daily login). Save this securely.
• Database Name — leave as odoo (pre-configured)
• Email — your admin email address
• Password — your admin login password
• Language — choose your preferred language
• Country — select your country to activate the correct fiscal localization
• Demo Data — leave unchecked for a clean production instance

Step 2 — Country and Fiscal Localization

When you select your country during setup, Odoo automatically activates the correct fiscal localization package for your jurisdiction. Your instance includes pre-installed localizations for all EU member states and all GCC countries, so the correct chart of accounts, VAT rates, and tax reporting formats are ready to use immediately.

Step 3 — Enable Two-Factor Authentication (Recommended)

Odoo has built-in 2FA using TOTP (Google Authenticator, Authy, or similar). Since your Odoo instance contains sensitive financial and business data, we strongly recommend enabling it.

1. Click your profile avatar (top right) → My Profile
2. Go to the Account Security tab
3. Click Enable two-factor authentication
4. Scan the QR code with your authenticator app
5. Enter the verification code to confirm

To enforce 2FA for all users: Settings → Permissions → Enforce two-factor authentication.

3. Understanding the Interface

Main Menu

The top navigation bar gives you access to all installed apps. Click the grid icon (top left) to see all available modules. Your installed apps depend on your subscription tier:

Settings

Access Settings from the main menu to configure your company details, users, security policies, email, and integrations. Always complete your company profile before going live — it affects invoices, reports, and legal documents.

4. Accounting and Invoicing

Initial Configuration

Before creating your first invoice, complete the accounting setup:

1. Go to Accounting → Configuration → Settings
2. Verify your Fiscal Localization package matches your country
3. Set your fiscal year start date
4. Configure your bank accounts under Accounting → Configuration → Banks
5. Set up your payment terms (e.g. 30 days, 60 days)
6. Configure your tax rates — usually pre-configured by the localization

Creating Customer Invoices

1. Go to Accounting → Customers → Invoices
2. Click New
3. Select the customer (or create a new one)
4. Add invoice lines with products/services, quantities, and prices
5. Verify the tax is correctly applied
6. Click Confirm to lock the invoice
7. Click Send & Print to email the invoice as PDF

Recording Vendor Bills

1. Go to Accounting → Vendors → Bills
2. Click New or use Upload to import a PDF bill
3. Odoo's AI will attempt to extract the bill details automatically
4. Review and complete the extracted data
5. Click Confirm

Bank Reconciliation

Connect your bank account to Odoo for automatic statement import:

1. Go to Accounting → Configuration → Banks
2. Click your bank account → Connect
3. Follow the bank synchronization setup
4. Once connected, transactions import automatically daily
5. Go to Accounting → Bank → Bank Statements to reconcile transactions with invoices

VAT Reporting

Your fiscal localization includes pre-configured VAT reports for your country:

• Go to Accounting → Reporting → Tax Return
• Select the period and generate the report
• For Belgium: Odoo supports direct Intervat submission and Peppol e-invoicing
• For Germany: DATEV export and GoBD-compliant reporting included
• For France: FEC export included

Chart of Accounts

Your chart of accounts is pre-configured by the fiscal localization. To view or modify:

• Go to Accounting → Configuration → Chart of Accounts
• Enable Developer Mode (Settings → Activate Developer Mode) for advanced account configuration

5. Contacts and CRM

Managing Contacts

Odoo's Contacts module is shared across all other modules — customers, vendors, and employees all live here.

• Go to Contacts from the main menu
• Create companies first, then add individual contacts under each company
• Set the Company Type (Company vs Individual) correctly — it affects invoicing and reporting
• Add VAT numbers for B2B customers — required for EU invoicing compliance

CRM Pipeline

The CRM module tracks sales opportunities from lead to close:

1. Go to CRM from the main menu
2. The Kanban view shows your pipeline stages (New → Qualified → Proposition → Won)
3. Create a new opportunity by clicking New
4. Set the expected revenue, close date, and probability
5. Log activities (calls, emails, meetings) directly on the opportunity
6. When won, click Won — Odoo can automatically create a customer and invoice

6. Documents

The Documents module is your central file repository — fully integrated with accounting, CRM, contracts, and HR.

Organizing Documents

• Go to Documents from the main menu
• Create Workspaces (folders) for each department or client
• Set access rights per workspace — control who can view and edit
• Tag documents for easy search and filtering

Connecting Documents to Accounting

Documents can be linked directly to invoices, vendor bills, and bank transactions:

• Upload a PDF invoice to Documents → it automatically appears in the Accounting inbox
• From a vendor bill, click the paperclip icon to attach source documents
• All attached documents are stored permanently with the accounting entry for audit purposes

7. Payroll (Business and Pro tiers)

Setting Up Payroll

1. Go to Payroll → Configuration → Settings
2. Select your country localization for payroll — this pre-configures salary rules, social security, and tax deductions
3. Create Salary Structures defining how employees are paid
4. Configure Work Schedules

Creating Employee Records

1. Go to Payroll → Employees → New
2. Fill in personal details, job position, work schedule, and salary structure
3. Add private information (national ID, bank account for salary payments)
4. Set the contract start date and salary amount

Running Payroll

1. Go to Payroll → Payslips → All Payslips
2. Click Create or generate a batch for all employees
3. Review the payslip — salary, deductions, and net pay are calculated automatically
4. Click Confirm then Validate
5. Odoo automatically creates the corresponding accounting journal entries

8. Purchase and Inventory (Business and Pro tiers)

Purchase Orders

1. Go to Purchase → Orders → Purchase Orders → New
2. Select the vendor and add products with quantities and prices
3. Click Confirm Order — this sends the order to the vendor
4. When goods arrive, click Receive Products to record the delivery
5. The vendor bill is automatically created — go to Accounting to review and pay

Inventory Management

• Go to Inventory from the main menu
• Configure your warehouses and storage locations
• Set reorder rules to automatically generate purchase orders when stock falls below minimum levels
• Use Inventory Adjustments to correct stock counts
• Run inventory reports from Inventory → Reporting

9. Project Management (Business and Pro tiers)

Creating Projects

1. Go to Project from the main menu
2. Click New to create a project
3. Choose the view: Kanban, List, Gantt, or Calendar
4. Create tasks with deadlines, assignees, and priorities
5. Link projects to customers for billable time tracking

Timesheets and Billing

• Enable timesheets on a project to track time spent
• Team members log hours directly on tasks
• Go to Project → Billing → Invoice Timesheets to bill clients for logged hours

10. Manufacturing (Pro tier)

Bills of Materials

1. Go to Manufacturing → Products → Bills of Materials → New
2. Select the finished product and add components with quantities
3. Define the routing (manufacturing steps) if needed

Manufacturing Orders

1. Go to Manufacturing → Operations → Manufacturing Orders → New
2. Select the product and quantity to produce
3. Click Confirm — Odoo reserves components from inventory
4. Click Produce when manufacturing is complete
5. Finished goods are automatically added to inventory

11. Website and eCommerce (Pro tier)

Setting Up Your Website

1. Go to Website from the main menu
2. Use the drag-and-drop website builder to create pages
3. All website content is managed directly in Odoo — no separate CMS needed

eCommerce

• Go to Website → eCommerce → Products to publish products online
• Configure payment providers (Stripe, PayPal, bank transfer) under Website → Configuration → Payment Providers
• Orders placed online automatically create sales orders and invoices in Odoo
• Inventory is automatically decremented when orders are fulfilled

12. Managing Users and Access Rights

Creating Users

1. Go to Settings → Users & Companies → Users → New
2. Enter name and email address
3. Set access rights per module — each module has multiple levels (e.g. User, Manager, Administrator)
4. Save — the user receives an invitation email to set their password

Access Rights Levels

13. Helpdesk (Pro tier)

Setting Up Helpdesk

1. Go to Helpdesk → Configuration → Helpdesk Teams → New
2. Configure your team, email alias (for automatic ticket creation from emails), and SLA policies
3. Define stages: New → In Progress → Resolved → Closed

Managing Tickets

• Tickets can be created manually, by email, via website form, or from a customer portal
• Assign tickets to team members, set priorities, and track time spent
• Link tickets to sales orders for billable support

14. Email Marketing (Business and Pro tiers)

1. Go to Email Marketing → Mailings → New
2. Choose recipients — contacts, customers, or custom filter
3. Design your email using the drag-and-drop builder
4. Test with Send Test before sending
5. Schedule or send immediately
6. Track opens, clicks, bounces, and unsubscribes in the reporting dashboard

15. Fiscal Localizations — EU and GCC

Your Odoo instance has all EU and GCC fiscal localizations pre-installed. Here are the key compliance features per region:

16. Security and Best Practices

Your Server Security

Your Cloud Acropolis Odoo instance is protected by:

• Dedicated VM — your instance is not shared with other customers
• Firewall (UFW) — only necessary ports are open
• Fortigate IPS — intrusion prevention at the network level
• ClamAV antivirus — daily virus scans with alerts
• Checkmk monitoring — 24/7 infrastructure monitoring by Cloud Acropolis
• Daily health checks — automated verification that Odoo and PostgreSQL are running
• Nightly backups — your data is backed up every night

Best Practices

• Enable 2FA for all users — especially for accounting staff with access to financial data
• Use role-based access — give users only the access they need
• Set a strong Master Password and store it securely (password manager recommended)
• Regularly archive inactive users — Settings → Users → select user → Archive
• Review the Audit Log (Settings → Technical → Logging) periodically for unusual activity
• Keep contact VAT numbers up to date for correct EU B2B invoicing

17. Getting Support

Cloud Acropolis Support

For infrastructure issues — server not responding, performance problems, module installation, upgrade requests:

• Email: support@cloudacropolis.lt
• Support ticket: my.cloudacropolis.lt

Odoo Documentation and Community

For module configuration, workflows, and accounting questions:

• Official documentation: odoo.com/documentation/18.0
• Community forum: odoo.com/forum
• eLearning: odoo.com/slides — free video courses for every module