Duration: 25:54
PART 1 — Analytical Summary 🚀
Context 💼
This session, led by Frana (Product Owner for Odoo Dashboard and Odoo Spreadsheet), showcases the most impactful reporting improvements delivered in Odoo 19. Using a demo database for a comic book shop, Frana illustrates how Odoo is addressing common reporting pain points: scattered data, static reports, difficult updates, and poor collaboration. The goal is clear: turn raw data into actionable insights—faster and with less friction.
Core ideas & innovations 🧠
The release centers on making analysis simpler and more powerful without leaving Odoo. The redesigned Global Filters now live in the search bar for a more Odoo-native feel and faster access. Beyond styling, three new filter types broaden flexibility: selection fields (e.g., product type), booleans (e.g., limited edition), and numeric thresholds (e.g., amounts less than 100). The Date Filter is unified—no more choosing among “from–to,” “related,” or “specific period”; everything is available in one control. It supports quick period jumps (e.g., “last 90 days”) and adapts beautifully to time navigation.
Visual exploration gets a big upgrade. Chart granularity now adapts automatically to the selected period (switching, for instance, from months to days when focusing on 90 days), while allowing manual overrides (weeks, days, etc.). Charts can be copied, downloaded, or viewed full-screen, and a new slider lets you focus on a specific time window without reconfiguring filters. For denser dashboards, the new Carousel stacks multiple views (e.g., top 10 by revenue, by quantity) in the same space, reducing clutter.
On the analysis side, Dynamic Pivot tables are significantly more capable inside dashboards and spreadsheets. You can now sort list and pivot outputs directly within the dashboard, create manual groups (with optional “and others” tail behavior), and—critically—pull fields across related models when defining measures and dimensions. That means you can, for example, swap an aggregated “product” label from a sales report for the clean product name from the product.product model or add a custom field like “editor” without resorting to VLOOKUP-style hacks. Creating meaningful hierarchies and comparing majors vs. independents becomes a few clicks instead of spreadsheet gymnastics.
Usability and breadth continue to improve. There’s a true responsive mobile experience for dashboards and spreadsheets (thumb-reachable menu and formula bar), plus quality-of-life additions in Spreadsheet: a Command Palette (Ctrl+K), the ability to pin and compare two side panels simultaneously, an Irregularity Map to detect formula inconsistencies, native CSV opening, and a new ODOO.SURVEY formula to fetch survey results cleanly for analysis and charting. On visualization, new chart types include Tree Map, Sunburst, and a Countries map, with more planned.
Impact & takeaways ⚙️
Odoo 19 makes building, refining, and consuming reports far more self-service. Analysts can stay within Dashboard and Spreadsheet, traverse related models for cleaner labels and richer dimensions, and explore time-series data quickly with an improved date model, granularity control, and a focus slider. Teams gain faster decision loops through simpler sharing and cleaner visuals; heavy users save hours previously spent on data prep and clunky spreadsheet mechanics.
There are thoughtful guardrails and candid limitations. Data access remains controlled by user rights—what you can see still depends on your permissions. Exporting a fully formatted, scheduled PDF dashboard isn’t yet native, but you can share a frozen version and export to XLS (then PDF). Dynamic dashboards on the portal aren’t available due to permission complexity. Some “time intelligence” conveniences (e.g., same period last year, period comparisons) are not in v19; date comparisons and broader AI-infused features are targeted for v20. Linking one spreadsheet to another and DAX-like expressions are not supported today, while a flat/tabular pivot view is being worked on. The message is consistent: Odoo is closing gaps with a spreadsheet-first, integrated vision while maintaining simplicity and performance, especially on the web and mobile.
Q&A highlights underscore the roadmap and boundaries: comparison periods planned for v20, more chart types coming, fiscal-year alignment influenced by Accounting settings, and ongoing work to add pivot layout options. Meanwhile, power users should see immediate gains from the new filtering model, dynamic pivot capabilities, and cross-model field access—meaning less time wrangling data, more time delivering insight. 💬
PART 2 — Viewpoint: Odoo Perspective
Disclaimer: AI-generated creative perspective inspired by Odoo's vision.
Data should serve decisions, not the other way around. With Odoo 19, we doubled down on integration and simplicity: one date filter that just works, pivots that understand related models, and dashboards that adapt to your questions in real time. This is the strength of an integrated suite—your data is already connected; our job is to remove friction so insights emerge naturally.
We’ll continue to expand charting and comparisons, and bring AI where it genuinely simplifies work. But our north star doesn’t change: keep everything cohesive, approachable, and community-driven. Reporting should feel like a conversation with your business, not a struggle with your tools.
PART 3 — Viewpoint: Competitors (SAP / Microsoft / Others)
Disclaimer: AI-generated fictional commentary. Not an official corporate statement.
Odoo’s v19 push meaningfully advances self-service analytics for SMBs and mid-market customers. The unified filtering, mobile experience, and cross-model pivots reduce the need for IT and make daily analysis more approachable. The UX continues to be a differentiator—especially for teams already running operations inside Odoo’s suite.
Enterprise buyers will still weigh depth in areas like complex time intelligence, semantic modeling (e.g., DAX/Measures), scheduled governed distributions (PDF/email), and portal-grade security for external sharing. Scalability, auditability, and compliance frameworks remain key in highly regulated or multi-entity environments. That said, Odoo’s pace suggests these gaps will narrow, and their integrated approach offers a compelling alternative where “good enough everywhere, seamless together” beats stitching separate BI stacks.
Disclaimer: This article contains AI-generated summaries and fictionalized commentaries for illustrative purposes. Viewpoints labeled as "Odoo Perspective" or "Competitors" are simulated and do not represent any real statements or positions. All product names and trademarks belong to their respective owners.