What changes with version 20
This appendix is for those who were already using Odoo and are moving to version 20. It lists what they will see change, and tells apart what calls for configuration to be taken up again from what changes on its own.
It does not replace the chapters: each point refers to the one describing the function in detail.
Note
A major version upgrade commits production data. The sequence and the precautions are given in appendix section B, under the question on moving to a new version.
What calls for configuration to be taken up again
Access rights rest on a single object
Access rights and record rules were two distinct notions, set on two screens. They are now one.
A right names a type of document, the operations it allows and a condition that bounds the documents concerned. What decides its effect is the presence of a group: attached to a group, the right grants to its members; with no group, it restricts everyone, the administrator included.
To take up again: any scope that rested on a record rule. It now reads as a right with no group. See chapter 6.
Watch out
Duplicating a group no longer shares its rules: it creates copies of them. Modifying the copy no longer affects the original group, which used to be the case. A configuration that relied on that sharing no longer behaves the same way.
Legal identifiers are entered by type
The single field that took the Siren or Siret number no longer exists. The VAT number stays alone on the form, and the other identifiers are added beside it through a button, which only offers those of the country.
For a French company, two separate entries: the nine-digit SIREN and the fourteen-digit SIRET. Both are checked as they are typed, and filling in the SIRET fills in the SIREN.
The field that took the trade register number goes with it: it too joins the identifiers added under the VAT number.
To take up again: your company record, and the records of the customers and vendors whose identifier matters, in particular for electronic invoicing. See chapter 5 and chapter 13.
Electronic invoicing classifies on the SIREN
Classifying a sale as business-to-business or to a private individual no longer rests on the customer's VAT number, but on their SIREN.
Watch out
A direct consequence for business customers with no VAT number, those under the small-business VAT exemption and sole traders in particular: the invoice is now transmitted to them through the platform and the sale enters the e-reporting flows. The same transaction is therefore brought to the administration's attention by two routes.
The point deserves a check on your database before the deadline: spot the customers carrying a SIREN with no VAT number. See chapter 13.
Two other changes on the same subject: the setting that opened e-reporting and the sending of invoices has become a single box, and the pilot phase has gone from the interface.
Customer reminders are enabled before they serve
Automatic chasing is no longer available straight away: it is enabled through a setting, which at the same time creates three default levels and starts the task that runs them.
Two new things in the setting of the levels: a level is designated by its delay and not by a name, and the delay can be counted before the due date, to warn the customer of an approaching payment.
To take up again: the follow-up status has gone from the customer record, along with the filter that isolated late customers. Monitoring that relied on it is redone from the invoice list. See chapter 12.
Pricelist rules change modes
A rule was computed as a discount, as a fixed price or through a formula. The formula goes, replaced by the Markup, which adds a percentage to the base price where the discount takes one away.
The settings that belonged to the formula still exist, but as fields of their own: rounding, extra fee, minimum and maximum margins.
To take up again: every rule that used a formula. See chapter 9.
Stock tracking of a product fits in one field
The box stating whether a product was tracked in stock and the list specifying the tracking mode are brought together into a single list, with four values: no tracking, by quantity, by lot, by serial number.
To check after the upgrade on the products whose tracking matters. See chapter 9.
Lead assignment is set by rotation
The monthly capacity of a salesperson and the box that paused them give way to a rule with three values, per team member: always in rotation, in rotation with a limit, or out of rotation.
To take up again: the capacities entered on the team members. See chapter 8.
An artificial-intelligence agent can act on its own
That is the change with the heaviest consequences on this subject. An agent now carries triggers: it can run at a fixed time or when an event occurs, with nobody reading its answer.
Watch out
Caution is no longer set at the level of the function but at the level of the configuration. An agent with no trigger answers and waits; an agent with a trigger acts. Set the triggers last, once the rest has been tried out in conversation. See chapter 20.
Second point: there is no longer any setting allowing you to plug in your own account with a model provider. Going through Odoo's service, billed by usage, is the only route.
What changes on screen without asking anything
| Subject | What you will see |
|---|---|
| Working offline | Data entry becomes possible with no network. The operations are queued and replayed when the connection returns, and an indicator in the top bar lists them. See chapter 3. |
| Converting a lead | The conversion wizard goes. Conversion is immediate, and Odoo matches or creates the customer itself. Merging duplicates goes through the actions menu. See chapter 7. |
| Sales pipeline | A team selector appears at the head of the pipeline, and becomes the default team of the deals created. The stages are set without going through developer mode. See chapter 7. |
| Bank reconciliation | The screen becomes a list of the transactions to handle, each row carrying the buttons matching its situation. See chapter 14. |
| Data import | An interrupted import resumes where it stopped, with no need to state the starting row. See chapter 22. |
| Timesheets | The stopwatch leaves the task form for the top bar, where it stays visible from one screen to the next. See chapter 18. |
| Activities | An activity can be handed to a role and no longer only to a named person, and then stays waiting to be taken. See chapter 4. |
| Studio | The tab that carried the access rights of a screen is now called Security. See chapter 23. |
| Kind of contact | The choice between company and person goes from the form. Odoo works it out: a contact that is its own business entity and carries a plausible tax identifier is a company. A file taken over with no VAT number therefore comes in as natural persons. See chapter 11. |
What disappears
| What no longer exists | What replaces it |
|---|---|
| Project profitability | Two indicators on the project, Real Costs and Estimated Costs, and the margin analyses of the reporting menu. See chapter 18. |
| The project side panel | The buttons of the project form, and the screen bar for the milestones and the timesheets. The button that opened the dashboard is now called Status. |
| The Formula mode of pricelists | The Markup, plus the rounding, extra fee and margin fields. |
| The Siren/Siret field | Identifiers by type, added under the VAT number. |
| The follow-up status on the customer record | Monitoring from the invoice list, and sending reminders in bulk from that list. |
| The monthly capacity of a salesperson | The auto-assignment rules, with three values. |
Tip
This appendix only lists what touches the functions described in this guide. A database carrying specific developments calls in addition for a review of those, which is conducted with your partner.