Our Wishlist for Odoo 20

1. Reporting That Doesn't Require a Workaround

Odoo's transactional modules are strong. Creating orders, managing inventory, processing invoices, all solid. But the moment a CEO asks "show me profitability by product line for the last quarter compared to last year," the answer is "we'll need to build that."

Odoo's built-in reporting covers the basics. Pivot tables, graph views, and the new dashboard builder in v19 are improvements. But for multi-dimensional analysis, cross-module reporting, and the kind of ad-hoc questions that leadership asks every Monday morning, you're still exporting to a spreadsheet or connecting a BI tool.

What we'd want in v20: - A native report builder that lets non-technical users create cross-module reports without Studio or custom development - Comparative period analysis built into standard views (this quarter vs. last quarter, this year vs. last year) - Scheduled report delivery: specific reports, specific people, specific cadence, directly in their inbox

For a growing SME, reporting is where confidence in the system lives or dies. If leadership can't get answers from Odoo directly, they stop trusting it, and go back to their own spreadsheets.

2. A Real Upgrade Path

Every Odoo implementation faces the same question eventually: how do we move to the next version?

The answer today is: carefully, expensively, and with a lot of testing.

Odoo offers an upgrade service for standard code, and it works. But the moment you have custom modules, custom fields managed outside Studio, or third-party apps, the upgrade becomes a project. A significant one. Custom code needs rewriting. Third-party modules may not be available for the new version. Data migrations require validation.

This isn't unique to Odoo. But it's worse than it needs to be.

What we'd want in v20: - A built-in upgrade impact analysis ("here's what breaks if you move to the next version") before you commit - A clearer compatibility standard for third-party modules, so partners can certify modules as upgrade-safe - Better tooling for migrating Studio customizations across versions - An honest, documented guide for what a typical upgrade costs and takes, not marketing, but reality

The current situation creates a perverse incentive: companies delay upgrades because the cost is unpredictable. Then they fall behind by two or three versions, and the upgrade becomes even harder. Odoo could break this cycle with better tooling.

3. Multilingual Website That Actually Works

Odoo's website builder improves with every version. But managing a multilingual site, and in Belgium, that means at least Dutch and French, is still painful.

The core problem: editing a page in one language can break the layout in another. Translations are tied to the source text, so restructuring a page means retranslating and retesting every language. For a Belgian SME with a bilingual website, this creates ongoing maintenance overhead.

What we'd want in v20: - Fully independent language pages where changes in one language don't cascade to others - A translation management interface that shows what's translated, what's outdated, and what's missing, in one view - Support for region-specific content (a Flemish landing page with different messaging than its Walloon equivalent, not just a translation)

Belgium is a multilingual market by default. Odoo should treat that as a first-class requirement, not an afterthought.

4. Smarter AI: From Reactive to Proactive

Odoo 19's AI App is a strong foundation. But right now, the AI waits for you to ask. You click the button. You type the question. You review the suggestion.

The next step is AI that acts without being asked, within boundaries you define.

What we'd want in v20: - AI that flags anomalies proactively: "This invoice is 40% higher than the average from this supplier, want to review it?" - Automated data quality checks: "These 12 contacts have no email address and no phone number, here's a suggested action" - Predictive alerts: "Based on current order velocity, you'll run out of product X in 9 days, your reorder lead time is 14 days" - AI that learns from corrections: when a user edits an AI-generated suggestion, the system should improve its future suggestions based on that feedback

The technology for all of this exists. The question is whether Odoo builds it into the workflow, which is where they've been strong, or leaves it as a bolted-on assistant.

5. Subscription and Contract Management That Scales

Odoo's subscription module has improved, but it's still not built for the complexity that growing B2B companies face.

Frame agreements, where one customer has multiple active subscriptions with different terms, renewal dates, and pricing tiers, require workarounds. Upsells and add-ons don't merge cleanly into existing subscriptions. The renewal workflow lacks the flexibility to handle "same customer, different terms, different products, consolidated invoicing."

What we'd want in v20: - Native frame agreements that group multiple subscriptions under one customer relationship - Automated subscription merging with correct proration and pricing - A renewal dashboard that shows upcoming renewals, at-risk contracts, and expansion opportunities in one view - Better integration between subscriptions and the CRM pipeline, so upsells flow naturally from sales to recurring revenue

For SMEs moving toward recurring revenue models, and many are, this is operational infrastructure, not a nice-to-have.

6. Inventory Forecasting That Reflects Reality

Odoo 19's Master Production Scheduler is a step forward. But inventory forecasting still treats demand as a math problem (averages and lead times) without accounting for the patterns that purchasing managers see every day.

What we'd want in v20: - Seasonal demand adjustment built into reordering rules, not managed manually - Supplier reliability scoring: if supplier A delivers late 30% of the time, the system should factor that into safety stock calculations - Mixed pallet and partial shipment support that actually works without workarounds - A forecasting view that shows confidence intervals, not just point estimates, so the purchasing team knows the difference between "we're sure we need 100" and "we think we need somewhere between 80 and 140"

For manufacturing and distribution companies, getting inventory right is the difference between cash tied up in stock and orders you can't fulfill. The forecasting tools should match the complexity of the decisions.

7. Better Documentation and Onboarding

This one isn't a feature. It's a foundation.

Odoo's official documentation is comprehensive for basic use. But for anything beyond the standard flow (custom configurations, edge cases, integration patterns) you're reading forum posts, testing in a sandbox, or asking your implementation partner.

What we'd want in v20: - Contextual help inside the application: not links to docs, but explanations of what a field does and why you'd use it, right where the field is - A guided configuration wizard for each module that walks through the key decisions: "Do you use serial numbers? Do you have multiple warehouses? Do you sell in multiple currencies?" and configures accordingly - Video walkthroughs embedded in the help system, not hosted on a separate YouTube channel

For SMEs without a dedicated IT team, the learning curve is the biggest barrier to adoption. Reducing it isn't a nice-to-have. It's what makes the difference between a system people use and a system people tolerate.

The Theme: Close the Gap Between Transaction and Decision

Odoo is excellent at capturing transactions. Orders, invoices, movements, timesheets, all handled well. Where it falls short is in helping leadership make decisions based on those transactions.

Reporting. Forecasting. Anomaly detection. Cross-module visibility. Proactive alerts.

These are the capabilities that turn an ERP from a record-keeping system into a decision-support system. Odoo 19 started the journey with AI. Odoo 20 should complete it by connecting AI to the parts of the business where decisions actually get made.

We'll be at Odoo Experience 2026 when v20 drops. Until then, we're building with what's here, and helping clients get the most out of it.

Business first. Software second.