Cash flow remains the lifeblood of every company, whether it is growing, restructuring or investing. Yet too often, the tools used to forecast it are disconnected from operational reality: manual Excel exports, external software, or back-of-the-envelope projections.
What if your cash flow were finally integrated directly into your ERP, using your real sales, project, production, invoicing and bank data? That is entirely possible with Odoo.
A cash flow forecast based on reality
With Odoo, we are not talking about a hypothetical curve, but a living projection, automatically fed by:
- Your CRM opportunities, weighted by their probability of closing
- Your confirmed sales orders, enriched with projected due dates (deposit, milestones)
- Your issued invoices, with their actual due dates
- Your bank receipts, thanks to automatic reconciliation
All in a single tool, with no re-keying or extra layer.
CRM: a single weighted reference quotation
In Odoo, a sales opportunity can have several quotations. For the forecast, we use the quotation most likely to be signed, not the most expensive one.
Forecast revenue = Reference quotation amount x Opportunity probability
This method avoids optical illusions: it is realistic, reliable, and directly actionable.
Sales orders and projected payment schedules
Once the order is signed, you can forecast the collection pace:
- Deposit at order
- Interim invoicing by project milestone
- Balance at delivery or acceptance
All while factoring in payment terms (30 days, end of month, 45 days...), to show the realistic collection date, not the invoice date.
Taking accounting and bank data into account
A cash flow forecast would not be complete without the reality of the past and present:
- Invoices already issued
- Payments received
- Bank statements and reconciliations
- Upcoming due dates
This makes it possible to project from the actual balance, not just from a theoretical one.
Management in Odoo Spreadsheet
This is where the power of Odoo really shows:
- Dynamic simplified tables (by customer, project, type, analytic account...)
- Cumulative cash flow curves
- Inflow / outflow histograms
- Internal "what-if" scenarios
All in Odoo Spreadsheet, with no export, no Excel, and no loss of information. Your data is live, and so is your analysis.
And in practice, what is it for?
▪️ Re-motivate salespeople: see their direct forecast impact, and adjust targets if the conversion rate drops.
▪️ Talk to the bank with solid data: a projected collection plan, justified due dates.
▪️ Convince investors: every euro is sourced, every milestone is visible, every risk is modeled.
What development is required?
Odoo already provides 80% of what is needed. To model a real forecast:
▪️ You need to create a payment schedule object on sales orders (milestones, deposits, payment)
▪️ Provide a field to flag the reference quotation used in the CRM
▪️ Create a few templates in Odoo Spreadsheet with suitable filters and alerts
These customizations are lightweight, targeted, and high-impact. And above all, it avoids relying on heavy, costly external tools disconnected from operations.
Conclusion
With a well-designed ERP and a few smart adjustments, your cash flow forecast becomes a real management tool:
- Connected to reality
- Easy to maintain
- Actionable day to day
Odoo is not just a management tool. It is a lever for vision and confidence.
And at Auguria, we know exactly how to get you there.