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The Odoo integration makes projects, timesheets and invoicing available in client work. Ask what was logged against a project, which tasks are late, or which invoices are still draft for a customer, and Hebno answers from Odoo with each record cited. When a request implies a change, such as logging a timesheet line or preparing an invoice, Hebno shows a confirmation card and writes to Odoo only after you confirm.

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At a glance

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Before you start

You need:
  • An owner or admin role in Hebno.
  • Your Odoo address, for example https://yourfirm.odoo.com, or your own domain for a self-hosted installation, and the database name.
  • An Odoo user for the integration, with access rights to the apps Hebno should read: Project, Timesheets, Invoicing and CRM. Odoo applies this user’s record rules to every call, so the integration can read only what the user may open.
  • An API key for that user, created in Odoo under Preferences → Account Security → New API Key.
External API access depends on your Odoo plan. If Test connection is refused on an Odoo Online database, ask Odoo or your partner to confirm external API access is enabled for the plan.
Create a dedicated user for Hebno instead of using an administrator. Grant read on the apps you want visible, and add create on timesheets, tasks and invoices only if you want members to write back. A call without the right returns an access error rather than partial data.

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Connect Odoo

1

Allow the integration

Open Admin → Connectors → Catalogue, find Odoo under ERP, and set it to Allow.
2

Connect the organisation

Select Connect, enter your Odoo address, the database name, the integration user’s login and its API key, then select Test connection. Hebno checks that it can connect to Odoo and lists the models the user can read and write.
3

Choose teams and data areas

Under Who can use it, choose All teams or pick teams. Under Data areas, choose what members can see. See Data areas.
4

Set access

Access is Read only by default. Choose Read and write to let members propose timesheet lines, tasks, draft invoices and notes.
The card shows Connected with the Odoo address. Members in the selected teams can use Odoo in chat straight away. Members can link their own Odoo API key so writes are made in their name under their own Odoo access rights.
  1. In Odoo, open Preferences → Account Security and select New API Key. Copy the key.
  2. In Hebno, open Settings → Connections, find Odoo and select Link your account.
  3. Paste the key and select Link.
When your account is linked, Hebno reads and writes as you: timesheet lines are registered against your employee record, and you see only the projects and records your Odoo rights allow.

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Data areas

Data areas control what members of the allowed teams can see through the organisation connection. They apply on top of what the integration user can read in Odoo.
Admin connector panel showing who can use it, access and data areas

An organisation connection with team access and data areas. Financial figures default to owners and admins.

To share financials with delivery leads, open the Odoo card in Admin → Connectors, select Financials and add the teams that should see them.
When a member has linked their own key, Hebno uses that member’s Odoo access rights instead of the organisation connection. Data areas still apply, so a member never sees more through Hebno than both Odoo and your Hebno settings allow.

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What Hebno reads

Reads are live. Hebno queries Odoo when a request needs it. Only what a reply used is stored with the conversation as its sources. For totals across many lines, such as revenue by customer, Hebno requests grouped totals from Odoo and reads the result.
Excerpts a reply uses, including invoice amounts, become part of the conversation. Anyone you share the conversation with can read them.

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What Hebno writes

Every write appears first as a confirmation card. You can change any field before you select Confirm.
Confirmation card for Odoo with editable fields

An Odoo change pending confirmation. Nothing is written until you confirm.

A draft invoice is in the Draft state in Odoo until a person reviews and confirms it there. Hebno never confirms or posts an invoice, sends it, registers a payment, or changes contacts, products, taxes or accounting configuration. If you have linked your own key, the line is created as you. Otherwise it is created through the organisation connection, with your name in the description and the write recorded against you in Admin → Logs → Integrations. Linking marks which Odoo records belong to a project, so you can ask “what is left?” without naming the Odoo project.
  1. Open the project and select Brain.
  2. Under Linked records, select Link record, then Odoo.
  3. Search by contact name, project name or lead, and select the record. Repeat for each record in the engagement.
In chats tagged to the project, Hebno starts with the linked records for any delivery or billing question, and cards default to them. See Linked records.

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Use Odoo in chat

  • Attach: open the + menu, choose Sources → Odoo, and pick a contact, a project, a task, an invoice or a lead. Or type / and choose Odoo.
  • Ask: name the customer, project or period in your request. For example:
    What is overdue on the Contoso audit project, and who owns each task?
    Compare hours logged with allocated hours by task for the Contoso audit.
    Draft an invoice for Contoso for the hours logged on the audit in October.
  • Research runs show a Checking Odoo step, with a chip for each record it read.
  • Agents can read Odoo on a schedule, for example a Friday summary of unbilled timesheets by project. Writes an agent proposes appear in agent approvals for review.

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Troubleshooting