Maximum automation with TANSS-Odoo integration

October 2023

Key Facts

Interview partner
Christian Popp
Company
Netz16 GmbH
Employees
200
TANSS in use
since 2012

Used modules

Basic Module
Device Management
Ticket System
Project Ticket
Maintenance Contract
Processes
Customer Login
License Management
Deployment Planning
Absence Management
Telephony
Mail Robot
Escalation & Rules
Dashboard
Time Recording
Contract Workflow

TANSS and Odoo: The dynamics behind 500 recorded services per day

Christian Popp is the Managing Director of the netz16 Group, an IT system house based in Augsburg that specializes in the cloud business and managed services. His company is heavily involved in managed security and operates three subsidiaries: Digisoolut (ERP solutions based on odoo), Alphasystems (individual programming) and Fundwerk (telemarketing, ParIT SMB IT solutions and Datev). The use of Odoo (Open Source ERP & CRM) and the integration of TANSS are key elements of the business structure. "We had two ladies in Ulm who were desperately sitting in front of their PCs and couldn't get any further because they couldn't keep track of the sheer mass of services. We switched to TANSS within a few days."

The decision to use TANSS was made around twelve years ago when Christian and his team realized that their existing ERP system was no longer able to efficiently bill for the growing number of services. The changeover to TANSS took place within a few days and brought immediate benefits. Approximately 20% more services could be recorded, which significantly increased transparency and efficiency. This positive experience continues to this day: "We can measure very precisely and see which projects we are involved in and where we are stuck. We currently use around one hundred TANSS licenses and our small team of three employees in service management monitors all activities. We easily record around 500 services of this size every day. "

As digital and automated as possible

Odoo plays an important role in the company and serves as a marketing tool for telemarketing, mailings and CRM. Every sales employee tracks their sales opportunities in Odoo, from which quotations are created. As soon as a quotation is accepted and contains services, a project with tasks is automatically generated. The working time is recorded in TANSS and billing takes place seamlessly via Odoo. A service management team monitors all activities with TANSS. "We have developed an app that virtually turns a normal Odoo into a system house Odoo, with all the features we need on a day-to-day basis."

The integration of TANSS and Odoo has significantly improved their business processes. Customers can view their tasks and tickets in their Odoo portal. The TANSS interface enables real-time time tracking and perfect monitoring of projects. The aim is to use Odoo's entire BI system to provide the technicians with evaluations. The company plans to digitize and automate the entire business process as much as possible. "Our workflow for delegating service orders to our technicians is now extremely efficient. At the touch of a button, I can seamlessly transfer jobs to TANSS, monitor progress and view the status of tickets in real time. This saves us countless phone calls and ensures complete documentation"

Challenges, opportunities and flexibility

"You can do incredibly flexible, smart things with TANSS." Christian Popp explains the challenges and opportunities of integrating TANSS and Odoo. He emphasizes the flexibility of TANSS, which makes it possible to handle complex billing scenarios. He also discusses the difficulty of implementing this flexibility 1:1 in the interface, especially when it comes to different hourly rates at different times and devices. The retransfer of data from TANSS to Odoo also proves to be challenging.

He points to the open source nature of Odoo and the openness of the source code, which makes it possible to customize the interface and add fields. This means that the specific requirements of TANSS can be met. "If a few system houses come along and work with me to drive the interface forward, then our total costs will be halved, so I'm happy about everyone who helps develop it." Odoo's philosophy is based on openness and adaptability. Christian explains that Odoo is not dependent on a single manufacturer, but is supported by a large developer community. He points to the global presence of Odoo developers and the ability to make individual customizations (there are more than 16,000 community modules on the Odoo marketplace). In this way, users like the netz16 Group can ensure that the interface meets their specific requirements. He invites all interested programmers and developers to join the community and contribute to continuous improvement and customization. If you have the skills and interest to make customizations or integrate missing features, netz16 is looking for talented programmers and developers to help shape the future of the interface.

Instructions for the interface

1. Leads in the sales pipeline

In advance at odoo: Link odoo customers with the associated companies in TANSS via the API.
Start with a lead in the sales pipeline. In this example, we call the customer "Christian Popp" and have his contact details.

2. Create offer

Open the lead and create a quote. The master data of the customer, in this case Christian Popp, is automatically inserted.
Add a product, e.g. "Hourly rate" and enter the desired quantity (e.g. 8 hours).
Save the quote.

3. Send offer by e-mail

Click on "Send offer". The quote is sent to the customer by email.
As soon as the customer has accepted the quote, the quote is automatically converted into an order. In the process, odoo creates a project with a task. The task contains the service from the quote.

4. The TANSS interface

Transfer of tasks to TANSS - incl. default settings.
Linking of tasks to the TANSS ticket and transfer of ticket number to odoo department, ticket type, status, and employee can be preselected, and the customer order is added to the ticket as a PDF - if desired.

5. TANSS ticket number

You can now see the TANSS ticket number in your task in odoo.
One click takes you directly to TANSS, where the ticket is displayed in detail.

6. Order processing and invoicing

The technician processes the order in TANSS, records his working time and marks the order as completed.
The accounting department receives a message and can simply transfer the data to odoo and create the invoice.
The booked TANSS times are transferred to the projects/tasks and the time recording of odoo.