The team has finished the work, but finance is still waiting to hear what can be billed. Connecting the client agreement to services, recorded time and deliverables in Odoo helps the owner see what is ready to invoice. Finance can answer a client with the agreed line and the work behind it, while the project lead spots scope changes earlier. ToDoOps ties this setup to each firm’s commercial model, from the first enquiry to collection.
How does Odoo connect a service quotation to delivery and collection?
Services firms sell expertise and deliverables, so they need to see where each piece of work stands: a prospect, an agreed service, a work log and deliverable, a reviewed invoice, and collection. The useful result is that each department can explain the service status from the same agreement, rather than interpreting the sale again at every handover.
How do you configure timesheet billing for Odoo services?
According to Odoo 19 documentation on time and materials billing, the service is configured as follows:
- Product type: Service.
- Invoicing policy: Based on timesheets.
- Create on order: Project & Task, or a task linked to an existing project.
Once the sales order is confirmed, the configured flow creates the project and task. Entering a quotation alone does not. For hours to be billed, timesheets must be properly linked to the sales order item.
Fixed price, milestone billing and time-based billing are commercial choices defined in the agreement, not by the software. And not every salaried hour is billable; some time is internal and belongs to no client.
What is the difference between a draft, an invoice and a collection?
Three separate stages appear in the cycle: creating a draft invoice from the order, confirming and posting it, and then collecting payment. Creating the draft is its own action and does not happen automatically when time is logged.
Expenses can be re-invoiced to a client only if that was agreed and configured. It is not a mechanism for all internal spending. That protects client trust: they see only what you agreed.
An example: recorded hours and billed hours
This is a hypothetical example to illustrate the idea. It is not a ToDoOps rate or a customer result. Ten hours are recorded on the same engagement. Six are agreed as billable and four are internal and non-billable.
At an assumed client rate of SAR 250 per hour, the draft invoice is 6 × 250 = SAR 1,500 before VAT, with no earlier invoice or down payment. It is not SAR 2,500 for all ten hours.
At an assumed internal cost of SAR 80 per hour across all ten hours, cost is SAR 800. The illustrative contribution is 1,500 − 800 = SAR 700, before other costs, overhead and tax. It is not net profit, and it is not cash collected.
Finance should validate the cost assumptions before relying on them. A fixed-price contract would have a different invoicing basis. Finance reads this as a billing and contribution illustration and reviews the revenue and cost basis. What matters is keeping the period and engagement aligned in the comparison.
How do you read project profitability without mixing things up?
According to Odoo 19 project profitability documentation, records appear in the project profitability dashboard when linked to both the project and its analytic account, and internal cost needs a proper definition. The expected, to-bill and billed stages are shown separately and are not summed together. An invoice is not cash collected, so collection is followed as its own step.
This lets finance see what has been billed and what is waiting, without a column of invoices turning into a wrong picture of liquidity.
What does a clear service mean to your client?
Clients sometimes buy beyond price and performance. In its B2B Elements of Value article, Bain & Company describes how business buyers value personal professional reputation, reduced anxiety and ease of doing business alongside objective price and performance. For a services firm that means a written scope, invoices that make sense on first reading, and early notice when work changes. It is a wider advantage than an hourly rate.
Which apps and sectors fit?
This cycle works with the Sales, Project, Timesheets and Invoicing apps. Browse the Odoo apps to decide where to begin, and the industries to see how needs differ between consulting, engineering, design and marketing.
To see how a document passes from one department to the next, open the interactive Odoo demo, a guided simulation with fictional data for a sales and inventory path. It shows how departments connect. It does not simulate service projects or timesheets.
How is this implemented in practice?
The ToDoOps scope covers configuration, agreed development, migration, training and support, with what falls inside it settled by agreement. We start with one or two services that represent your model, prepare the products, invoicing policy and visibility rules, and then expand. For a general estimate of implementation cost and estimated savings, the ToDoOps calculators are an optional place to start.
Frequently asked questions
Are all recorded hours billed? No. The agreement determines what is billed, and some time is internal.
Is a project created when I enter a quotation? It is created after the sales order is confirmed, according to the configuration, not when the quotation is entered.
Does a posted invoice mean the client has paid? No. Collection is a separate step from invoicing.
Can client expenses be re-invoiced? Yes, if the contract agrees to it and the setup is configured for it. It does not apply to all internal spending.
References
- Odoo 19 documentation, invoicing based on time and materials: explains the Service product setup, the timesheet invoicing policy, project creation after order confirmation, and the separation of draft from posting.
- Odoo 19 documentation, project profitability: explains linking a project to an analytic account, defining internal cost, and keeping expected, to-bill and billed stages separate.
- Bain & Company, “The B2B Elements of Value” (February 2018): a public article showing that client value spans price, performance and personal professional factors; we read its public text on 27 October 2026.
Next step
Answer two questions for yourself: which work is ready to bill this week, and what is changing scope before you know about it? Then look at the solution ToDoOps offers and how it connects the service to the project and the invoice. You can estimate implementation cost and savings in the calculators, or contact us to review your pricing model and choose the first service to start with.