Odoo 20 Is Coming: What South African Businesses Should Consider Before Upgrading

With Odoo 20 starting to enter the conversation, we're already getting to the point where businesses running Odoo will be asking the obvious question:

Should we upgrade?

Our answer would be: not just because there's a new version.

If you're running a stable Odoo 19 environment and it's doing what the business needs, there isn't necessarily a reason to rush into an upgrade. On the other hand, if you're running an older version, have accumulated a fair amount of custom development, or there is new functionality that could solve an existing business problem, then it's worth starting the discussion.

An Odoo upgrade should ultimately have a business reason behind it.

Start With What You're Running Today

Before looking at Odoo 20, we would first look at the existing system.

Which version are you on? What has been customised? Which third-party applications are installed? What external systems are integrated with Odoo?

These questions matter more than the version number.

We've seen relatively large Odoo environments that remain quite close to standard and are therefore reasonably straightforward to assess for an upgrade. We've also seen smaller databases where years of custom development make the upgrade considerably more involved.

User numbers alone don't tell you how difficult an upgrade will be.

The customisation footprint usually tells you much more.

This is also one of the reasons businesses shouldn't wait until an upgrade becomes urgent before investigating it. If you're running Odoo 18, for example, there may be no immediate pressure to move, but there's value in knowing what the next upgrade is likely to involve.

If you're still on Odoo 16 or earlier, the discussion is more pressing because the version is already outside Odoo's current standard support window.

Don't Automatically Migrate Every Custom Module

This is something we feel quite strongly about.

When an Odoo database has been running for several years, it often contains custom development that made perfect sense when it was originally written.

The mistake is assuming that all of it needs to move to the next version.

Odoo itself has changed considerably over the past few releases. Processes that required custom development three or four years ago may now be handled perfectly well by standard functionality.

During an upgrade assessment, we therefore prefer to go back to the reason for the customisation.

What problem was it solving?

Does the business still work that way?

Can standard Odoo now do it?

If the answer to the last question is yes, there is a good argument for dropping the custom module rather than spending money migrating it.

We've found this can be one of the most useful parts of an upgrade project. Instead of carrying years of development forward indefinitely, the business gets an opportunity to simplify the system.

That can also make the next upgrade easier.

The Database Is Only Part of the Upgrade

For many South African Odoo users, Odoo doesn't operate in isolation.

There may be connections to Takealot, Amazon, Shopify, WooCommerce, payment providers, couriers, banks, EDI platforms, Power BI or industry-specific systems.

Those integrations are often where a large part of the upgrade testing sits.

It isn't enough to migrate the database, log in and confirm that the screens look right.

We want to know whether the actual business process still works.

Take a distributor receiving online orders.

Can the order still enter Odoo correctly? Is the right customer and product information created? Does stock reserve correctly? Can the warehouse process the delivery? Does the courier integration work? Is the invoice created correctly? Does the accounting result look right?

If all of that works, we're getting somewhere.

The same applies to EDI. A successful upgrade isn't simply being able to open the sales order screen. It's confirming that the customer's EDI document can come in, be processed correctly and that the required documents can go back out.

These are the tests that matter once the system goes live.

Manufacturing Needs Even More Care

Manufacturing environments deserve particular attention because so many processes are connected.

A manufacturing order can involve stock, purchasing, Bills of Materials, work centres, quality, maintenance, subcontracting and accounting.

Testing the Manufacturing app on its own doesn't tell you enough.

We would rather take several real production scenarios and run them through the upgraded environment from beginning to end.

Produce an item.

Consume the components.

Handle a shortage.

Record scrap.

Complete the quality checks.

Process subcontracting if the company uses it.

Then check the finished product, stock valuation and accounting result.

It's not particularly glamorous testing, but it tells you whether the system is ready for Monday morning.

Where Does AI Fit Into Odoo 20?

AI is going to be an increasingly important part of the Odoo discussion, but we would be careful about upgrading purely because a new AI feature looks impressive in a demonstration.

The question we ask is much simpler:

Does it remove work from the business?

If AI can summarise a lengthy Helpdesk ticket before a consultant picks it up, that's useful.

If it can help a salesperson understand months of CRM history before phoning a customer, that's useful.

If it can analyse maintenance notes and help identify recurring problems, that's worth investigating.

We've been looking at the same principle with external AI platforms such as Claude. The interesting part isn't putting another chatbot on the screen. It's finding the repetitive work people are currently doing inside an Odoo process and seeing whether AI can reduce it.

The same test should apply to new Odoo AI functionality.

If it saves time or improves the process, look at it.

If it doesn't, don't implement it simply because it's AI.

So, Should You Move to Odoo 20?

It depends where you're starting from.

For a business running a stable Odoo 19 environment, we'd first want to see a clear reason for moving. There is little value in creating disruption just to have the latest version number.

For an Odoo 18 customer, we'd start thinking about the roadmap. That may mean upgrading sooner, or it may mean planning the project for a sensible point in the business calendar.

For businesses several versions behind, we'd approach it differently again.

Before deciding on the destination version, we'd assess the current database, custom modules, integrations and business processes. There may be quite a bit that should be cleaned up before anything is migrated.

The important thing is having that information before you need it.

An Upgrade Is a Good Excuse to Clean House

One thing we've learned from Odoo upgrades is that they can expose processes nobody has questioned for years.

Reports are still being produced that nobody reads.

Approval steps exist because someone requested them five years ago.

Custom fields are being maintained even though nobody uses the information.

Users have created Excel workarounds because they didn't realise Odoo could handle the process.

Custom development remains in place even though standard Odoo has since caught up.

An upgrade is a good opportunity to challenge some of this.

Ask users what frustrates them about the current system. Find out where they leave Odoo and use spreadsheets. Look at reports that are being prepared manually. Review old custom development.

Then decide what the new environment should look like.

If the end result is simply the old system running on a new version, some of the opportunity has been missed.

Our View on Odoo Upgrades

At AP Systems, we don't think every customer needs to upgrade every time Odoo releases a new version.

What every customer does need is a reasonable idea of where their current version sits and what moving forward will eventually involve.

That becomes more important as the database gets older.

If you're on Odoo 19, the right answer may be to stay where you are for now.

If you're on Odoo 18, it makes sense to start thinking about the next move.

If you're on Odoo 16 or earlier, we'd recommend assessing the environment rather than continuing to put the question off.

Odoo 20 gives businesses a good reason to have that conversation.

Not because everyone suddenly needs Odoo 20, but because a new release is a useful reminder to look at the system you're running today and ask whether it's still where you want it to be.

AP Systems works with South African Odoo users to assess existing databases, review custom development and integrations, and plan upgrades around the needs of the business rather than simply the release of a new version.

If you're unsure what would be involved in moving your current Odoo environment forward, start with an assessment. Once you understand the work involved, deciding when to upgrade becomes considerably easier.Start writing here...