Wasting $90K Annually on Manual Reports? Configure Odoo 18 Dashboards
By Braincuber Team
Published on December 22, 2025
CEO asks: "What's our revenue this month?" CFO opens Odoo. Goes to Accounting. Filters by date. Exports to Excel. Opens Excel. Creates pivot table. Calculates total. Takes 11 minutes. Says "$247K." CEO: "What about last month?" Repeat process. Another 9 minutes.
Your management team spends 4.7 hours weekly pulling basic numbers from Odoo. Sales manager wants: Monthly revenue, top 5 products, conversion rate. Inventory manager needs: Stock levels, reorder alerts, turnover rate. Each person logs in, navigates 3-4 menus, exports data, opens Excel, makes charts.
Cost: 4.7 hours weekly × 52 weeks × $85/hour avg = $20,748/year wasted on manual reporting. Plus the lag: By the time you finish pulling data, it's already outdated. Decisions made on yesterday's numbers, not real-time insights. Missed opportunities: Inventory stockout you didn't see until 2 days later = $14K lost sales.
Odoo 18 Dashboards fix this: Create custom dashboards pulling live data from any module. Revenue chart updates in real-time. Inventory alerts visible at glance. No Excel exports. Click dashboard, see everything. Here's how to configure dashboards so you stop wasting $35K/year on manual number-pulling.
You're Losing Money If:
What Odoo 18 Dashboards Do
Centralized view of key metrics. Real-time updates. Pull data from any Odoo module. Customizable widgets, charts, KPIs. No Excel exports needed.
| Without Dashboard | With Dashboard |
|---|---|
| Navigate 4 menus to find revenue number | Open dashboard, see revenue chart instantly |
| Export to Excel, create pivot tables (11 min) | Live charts auto-update (0 min) |
| Data from yesterday (or last week) | Real-time data, updates every refresh |
| Different people pull same data separately | Shared dashboard, single source of truth |
Step 1: Access Dashboard Configuration
- Open Odoo 18
- Go to Dashboards app (main menu)
- Click Configuration → Dashboards
- See list of existing dashboards
Step 2: Create New Dashboard
Basic Setup
- Click New
- Enter dashboard name:
- "Sales Performance Dashboard"
- "Inventory Management Overview"
- "Executive KPI Dashboard"
- "Marketing Metrics"
- Click Add a Spreadsheet
Choose Template or Blank
Wizard appears with two options:
Option 1: Pre-filled Templates
Quick start. Odoo provides templates for common use cases:
- Sales Analysis
- Inventory Monitoring
- Financial Performance
- CRM Pipeline
- HR Metrics
Choose template → Dashboard auto-populates with relevant data.
Option 2: Blank Spreadsheet
Full control. Build from scratch for custom requirements.
Start empty → Add your own formulas, charts, data sources.
Recommendation: Start with template if available for your use case. Faster setup. Customize later if needed.
Step 3: Configure Access Rights
Control who can view dashboard.
- In dashboard form, find Access Rights section
- Select user groups: Sales Team, Inventory Managers, Executives
- Or restrict by company (multi-company setup)
- Save
Security Tip: Don't give everyone access to financial dashboards. Sales team sees sales metrics. Finance team sees cash flow. Executives see everything.
Step 4: Customize Dashboard Content
Edit Spreadsheet
- From dashboard list, click your dashboard
- Click Edit button
- Spreadsheet editor opens
Add Data & Formulas
Full spreadsheet capabilities inside Odoo:
Examples:
- Pull live sales data from Sales module
- Calculate conversion rates automatically
- Show inventory stock levels by warehouse
- Display overdue invoices count
- Chart monthly revenue trends
Formulas work like Excel:
=SUM(A1:A10)
=AVERAGE(B2:B50)
=COUNTIF(C:C, ">1000")Add Charts
- Select data range
- Insert → Chart
- Choose type: Bar, Line, Pie, Scatter
- Chart updates automatically when data changes
Step 5: Insert Pivot Views
Powerful feature: Pull existing pivot views directly into dashboard.
From Any Module
- Open module (e.g., Sales)
- Switch to Pivot View
- Configure filters, groupings as needed
- Click Insert in Spreadsheet
- Select target dashboard from list
- Pivot data embedded in dashboard spreadsheet
Example: Sales by Product Pivot
Setup:
- Go to Sales → Reporting → Sales
- Switch to Pivot view
- Group by: Product, Month
- Measure: Total Revenue
- Click "Insert in Spreadsheet"
- Select "Sales Performance Dashboard"
Result:
Dashboard now shows revenue by product by month. Updates automatically when new sales recorded.
Real-World Dashboard Examples
Example 1: Executive Dashboard
Widgets:
- Revenue Chart: Monthly revenue, last 12 months (line chart)
- Cash Flow: Current accounts receivable vs payable
- Top 5 Products: By revenue this quarter
- Sales Pipeline: Total value by stage
- Inventory Alerts: Products below reorder point
- Customer Satisfaction: Average rating from helpdesk
Access:
CEO, CFO, COO only
Update Frequency:
Real-time (refreshes on page load)
Example 2: Sales Team Dashboard
Widgets:
- Daily Sales: Today's revenue vs target
- Conversion Rate: Leads → Opportunities → Won
- Top Performers: Sales reps ranked by revenue this month
- Pipeline Value: Total expected revenue by stage
- Overdue Follow-ups: Count of activities past due date
- New Leads: Count by source (website, referral, ads)
Access:
Sales team, sales manager
Result:
Sales reps see performance at glance. Manager identifies who needs coaching. No manual reporting.
Example 3: Inventory Manager Dashboard
Widgets:
- Stock Levels: By warehouse, by product category
- Reorder Alerts: Products below minimum quantity (red highlight)
- Turnover Rate: How fast inventory moving
- Overstock Items: Products sitting > 90 days
- Pending Receipts: Purchase orders arriving this week
- Dead Stock Value: Total $ value of unsold inventory > 180 days
Access:
Inventory team, warehouse managers
Result:
Stockouts prevented. Overstock reduced 31%. No more daily spreadsheet exports.
Advanced Features
1. Real-Time Data Updates
Dashboard pulls data directly from Odoo database. No manual refresh needed. Open dashboard → see current numbers.
2. Multi-Module Integration
Single dashboard can pull from multiple modules:
Example: "Operations Dashboard"
- Sales data (Sales module)
- Inventory alerts (Inventory module)
- Overdue invoices (Accounting module)
- Support tickets (Helpdesk module)
- Manufacturing orders (Manufacturing module)
All in one view.3. Conditional Formatting
Highlight critical data automatically:
- • Revenue below target → Red background
- • Stock below reorder point → Orange highlight
- • Overdue invoices > 30 days → Bold red text
- • Conversion rate > 25% → Green highlight
Common Mistakes
1. Too Much Data on One Dashboard
Cramming 47 widgets onto single dashboard. Overwhelming, can't find key metrics quickly.
Fix: Create multiple focused dashboards. One for sales, one for inventory, one for finance.
2. No Access Control
Everyone sees everything, including financial data warehouse staff shouldn't access.
Fix: Set proper access rights. Sales sees sales dashboard. Finance sees financial dashboard.
3. Static Data Instead of Live
Manually entering numbers into dashboard spreadsheet instead of pulling from Odoo modules.
Fix: Use pivot views or formulas that reference Odoo data. Auto-updates, no manual entry.
4. No Visual Hierarchy
All metrics same size, same color. Can't tell what's important at a glance.
Fix: Make critical KPIs larger. Use colors (red for problems, green for good).
Real-World Impact Example
Scenario: Manufacturing Company (23 Employees, $8M Revenue)
Before Dashboards:
- Weekly management meeting: 90 minutes
- First 45 minutes: Pulling numbers from Odoo, exporting to Excel
- Each manager spends 1.2 hours weekly creating their reports
- Total: 6 managers × 1.2 hours = 7.2 hours weekly
- Annual cost: 7.2 hours × 52 weeks × $85/hour = $31,824
- Plus: Data always 2-3 days old by meeting time
- Inventory stockout discovered 4 days late = $18K lost sales quarterly
- Total cost: $31,824 (reporting) + $72K (stockouts) = $103,824/year
After Implementing Dashboards:
- Created 4 dashboards: Executive, Sales, Inventory, Finance
- Each dashboard shows real-time metrics from relevant modules
- Inventory dashboard has red alerts for stock below reorder point
- Sales dashboard shows daily progress vs targets
- Executive dashboard consolidates all KPIs
- Weekly meeting: 45 minutes (was 90)
- No prep time needed—everyone opens dashboard before meeting
- Manager time saved: 7.2 hours → 0.5 hours = 6.7 hours weekly
- Annual savings: 6.7 × 52 × $85 = $29,614
- Stockouts caught same-day via dashboard alerts
- Lost sales reduced: $18K/quarter → $3K/quarter = $60K saved annually
- Total saved: $29,614 + $60K = $89,614/year
Impact: $89,614 saved annually + faster decision-making + happier managers
Quick Implementation Checklist
- Identify key metrics each team needs daily (sales revenue, stock levels, cash flow, etc.)
- Create dashboards by role: Executive, Sales, Inventory, Finance
- Start with templates if available for your use case (faster setup)
- Insert pivot views from existing reports for auto-updating data
- Add charts for visual trends (line charts for revenue, bar charts for comparisons)
- Set conditional formatting to highlight problems (red for low stock, overdue invoices)
- Configure access rights so teams only see relevant dashboards
- Test with users: Can they find key metrics in under 10 seconds?
- Iterate: Ask users what's missing, add those widgets
- Replace manual reporting: Stop creating weekly Excel reports if dashboard has same data
Pro Tip: Start simple. One dashboard with 5-7 key metrics. Get teams using it daily. Add complexity (more widgets, more dashboards) only when needed. Don't over-engineer on day one.
Wasting $90K Annually on Manual Reporting?
We configure Odoo dashboards with real-time KPIs, multi-module integration, role-based views. Stop exporting to Excel, start making decisions on live data.