Planning, Tracking, Delivering: A Guide to Odoo Project for SMEs

When the Project Plan Lives in Someone's Head

At APAA, the Hong Kong SMEs we work with rarely lack ambition — what they lack is a single, shared view of who is doing what, by when. The project plan exists, but it is scattered: a spreadsheet for the schedule, a WhatsApp group for updates, a folder for the files, and the real status only fully known by whoever is running the job. The moment that person is on leave, the project stalls.

Odoo Project is built to pull all of that into one place. It is an all-in-one tool for planning, tracking, and delivering work from start to finish — whether you are managing production schedules, client deliverables, or internal workflows. Kanban boards, Gantt charts, time tracking, automation, and real-time dashboards all live inside one integrated app.

Creating a Project

Standing up a new project takes only a few clicks, and the choices you make here shape everything that follows:

• Assign a project manager — name the person accountable for seeing it through
• Set start and end dates — define the timeline so the team knows the shape of the schedule
• Mark priority — flag the high-priority projects so they stand out in your list
• Add followers — bring stakeholders in as followers so they are notified of every change

Visibility and Access Control

Odoo Project gives you full say over who can see and reach each project:

• Internal visibility — restrict access so only the team members you choose can view the project
• Invite external users — grant access to outside stakeholders such as investors or clients, letting them collaborate without joining your organisation

For HK SMEs that work closely with clients, that second option matters: a customer can follow their own project's progress in a controlled view, without you having to send status updates by hand.

Kanban View for Task Management

Kanban is the default way to see a project, and for most teams it is all they need. You arrange tasks into stages that mirror your actual workflow:

• Create stages — define stages like "To Do," "In Progress," "Review," and "Done" to match your process
• Drag and drop — move tasks between stages as they advance
• Status indicators — colour-coded labels show at a glance whether a task is on track, blocked, or complete

Gantt View for Time-Based Planning

When a project lives and dies by its scheduling, the Gantt view gives you a timeline-based layout instead:

• Visual timeline — every task plotted along a horizontal timeline
• Adjust deadlines — drag a task bar to push its deadline earlier or later
• Task dependencies — link tasks to define which must finish before others can begin

This view earns its keep on production schedules, construction projects, or any workflow where the sequence of tasks is the thing that can break.

Breaking Down Tasks With Subtasks

Big tasks become manageable once you split them into subtasks, so no detail gets lost:

• Add subtasks — create child tasks under a parent to break complex work into pieces
• Track progress — watch subtasks complete while the main task view stays tidy
• Assign separately — each subtask can have its own owner and deadline

Recurring Tasks

For work that comes round on a regular cycle, the recurring feature creates the tasks for you:

• Set frequency — daily, weekly, monthly, or a custom schedule
• Automatic creation — Odoo generates the next occurrence on its own, so routine work never falls off the radar

Automation Rules

Automation rules let you strip out the repetitive manual steps that quietly eat a team's day:

• Tag-based triggers — when a specific tag is added to a task, Odoo can assign a follower, change the stage, or notify someone automatically
• Custom actions — define exactly what happens when the trigger condition is met, such as adding a team member or sending a notification

For instance, you could set a rule so that every time a "Design" tag is added to a task, your lead designer is added as a follower automatically — no one has to remember to loop them in.

Activities and Next Steps

Activities keep the team pointed at what has to happen next, not just what is on the board:

• Schedule activities — assign next steps like phone calls, meetings, or approvals directly on a task
• Set deadlines — each activity carries its own due date to keep momentum
• Assign to team members — hand the activity to the right person

Built-In Time Tracking

Odoo Project includes time tracking, so hours are logged against the work they belong to:

• Log hours — team members record the time spent on each task
• Monitor productivity — review the logs to see how effort is really distributed across the project
• Billable invoices — turn logged hours into invoices for client-facing work

For any HK consultancy or agency billing by the hour, that last point closes the loop between work done and money invoiced, with no separate timesheet tool in between.

Customer Ratings

On client projects, the customer ratings feature gathers feedback at the moment it is most honest:

• Rate completed tasks — clients can rate a task once it is done
• Track satisfaction — use the ratings to spot where the team can improve
• Continuous improvement — those feedback loops help the team deliver better over time

Dashboards and Reporting

The dashboards give you a live read on how a project is really performing:

• Profitability — track revenue against cost to see whether you are on budget
• Budget monitoring — compare planned spending with actual
• Milestones — set and track the key milestones that mark real progress
• Custom reports — build reports around the metrics that matter to you

Quick Access With the Top Bar

The app's top bar puts related information one click away, without leaving the project:

• Timesheets — the project's time logs
• Documents — legal files, contracts, or reference material
• Materials lists — the resources the project needs
• Custom shortcuts — your own quick links to the views you use most

Getting Started

Odoo Project is free to use. You can start managing work right away by opening your Odoo instance and enabling the Project app. With scheduling, timesheets, automation, and reporting all integrated, it gives you everything a successful project needs in one place — and gets the plan out of one person's head and into a system the whole team can see.

If you would like help mapping your real delivery process into Odoo Project, talk to the APAA team and we will help you set it up to fit how your team actually works.