Chapter 3 Master Data Preparation

Master data is one of the most underestimated parts of an Odoo implementation. Many customers think that "importing Excel" is data preparation. In reality, proper data preparation means organizing old system records, Excel files, and business rules in employees' heads into data that Odoo can use reliably.

This chapter does not aim to move every historical record into Odoo at once. It helps customers prepare the data required for a phase-one go-live.

Why Master Data Comes First

Odoo Sales, Purchase, Inventory, and Accounting all depend on master data.

If product data is wrong, quotations will be wrong, inventory quantities will be wrong, and costs may also be wrong. If customer records are duplicated, receivables, reconciliation, and invoices will be scattered across multiple customer records. When data is not clean, even a powerful system becomes hard to use.

For self-implementation, spend time cleaning the data before entering a large number of business documents.

Master Data Overview

Phase one should at least prepare the following data:

Do not try to complete every possible field from the beginning. Phase one should focus on the ability to sell, purchase, receive, deliver, invoice, and reconcile.

Company Data

Company data appears in many places, such as quotations, invoices, email signatures, and the customer portal.

In Odoo, start from Settings to configure company and system information.

Recommended fields:

If the company has multiple legal entities, do not configure a complex multi-company flow on the first day. First confirm whether multi-company accounting, inter-company purchase, or inter-company inventory is truly required.

Users And Permissions

Do not let all employees share the administrator account. The administrator account should handle configuration and maintenance. Daily business should be performed with each employee's own account.

Users can be managed from Settings -> Users & Companies -> Users.

Prepare users by role instead of assigning permissions casually person by person.

The rule for permissions is "enough to work." If access is too small, employees cannot do their job. If access is too large, they may accidentally change prices, inventory, or accounting data.

Customers And Vendors

In Odoo, customers, vendors, and contacts are all contact records. A company can be both a customer and a vendor.

In Sales, open the customer list to view and maintain customers.

Do not import only names. At minimum, prepare:

Deduplicate before import. Common duplication problems include:

• The same customer has both a short name and a full legal name;
• The same vendor is created separately by different departments;
• A contact person is imported as a company;
• Invoice address and delivery address are mixed in one record;
• Customer phone or email is empty, so quotations or reconciliation emails cannot be sent later.

If a customer has multiple delivery addresses, maintain them as different addresses under the same company in Odoo instead of creating duplicate customer records.

Product Data

Products are core data for Sales, Purchase, Inventory, Manufacturing, and POS. If product data is wrong, every later process will be affected.

Products can be created from the Sales application's Products menu.

At minimum, confirm these fields:

Pay special attention to product type.

If a product has color, size, or specification variations, use variants. But in phase one, do not create excessive variants only to make the product list look complete. Too many variants increase maintenance cost.

Warehouse And Inventory Data

Companies that manage physical inventory must prepare opening stock. Opening stock is not only a total number. It should explain which product is in which warehouse, in which location, and in what quantity.

At minimum, prepare:

If the company does not manage detailed locations yet, start with one main stock location. Do not create many shelves, zones, or virtual locations at the beginning just to look detailed.

Accounting Master Data

Finance must participate in confirming accounting data. It should not be filled in only by business users or implementation staff.

At minimum, confirm:

Note: In Odoo, an Invoice is an accounting customer invoice or vendor bill. It is not the same as a Chinese tax-control VAT invoice. If a domestic company needs e-invoice, Golden Tax, or third-party tax invoicing integration, evaluate it separately.

Recommended Import Sequence

Do not import data in a random order. Use this sequence:

1. Company data;
2. Users and permissions;
3. Customers, vendors, and contacts;
4. Product categories;
5. Products;
6. Warehouses and locations;
7. Pricelists and vendor prices;
8. Opening inventory;
9. Opening receivables and payables;
10. Unfinished sales orders and purchase orders.

Import master data first, then business balances. Do not import orders first and later discover that customers, products, and taxes are wrong.

Data Cleaning Checklist

Use this table before import:

If this table does not pass, do not rush to import data into the production database.

Data Not Recommended For Phase One

Do not move all historical data into Odoo in phase one.

Temporarily avoid importing:

• Customers that have been inactive for many years;
• Old products that are no longer sold or purchased;
• Historical quotations without future business value;
• Historical invoices and payments that are already fully settled;
• Custom fields from the old system that nobody maintains;
• Inventory quantities with unclear sources;
• Duplicate, incomplete, or unconfirmed data.

More historical data does not always mean a better implementation. In phase one, it is more important that future business happens accurately in Odoo.

Master Data Acceptance Standard

After master data preparation, the company should be able to reach these standards:

After master data passes this acceptance standard, move to the next chapter and rehearse the process in the test database.