Odoo as an international finance and multi-company platform for Librio
CONSENSO is implementing an international Odoo solution for Librio covering accounting, intercompany processes, VAT and cost accruals. Customer, address and order data is transferred from the Sylius e-commerce platform to Odoo via Apache NiFi.
At a glance
Initial Situation
Librio's operational e-commerce processes run in Sylius, where customers, delivery addresses and orders originate. A more modern solution was needed for financial accounting — one able to represent the international company structure and the particular requirements of the business model.
The challenge was not to replace the existing online shop with Odoo. Rather, Odoo was to be used as the central finance and accounting platform behind the e-commerce system.
Several topics had to be connected in the process:
- several companies in different countries
- customers with multiple delivery addresses
- international sales orders and currencies
- differing VAT treatments
- accounts receivable and accounts payable
- intercompany transactions
- various payment providers and their fees
- period-accurate accrual of the production costs of books ordered
- preparation of consistent data for finance and BI analysis
Clearly defining system ownership was especially important. Sylius remains the system of record for customer addresses and sales orders, while Odoo takes over and processes the accounting-relevant information.
Solution with Odoo
CONSENSO designed an Odoo environment that represents Librio's international group structure and can be used as the central finance platform.
The Swiss parent company and the relevant international subsidiaries are set up in a multi-company structure. This allows each set of accounts to be kept separately while still accounting for intra-group relationships and intercompany processes.
Through an integration built with Apache NiFi, customer information, delivery addresses and sales orders are transferred from Sylius to Odoo. Sylius remains the system of record for this data.
The imported order information forms the basis in Odoo for further accounting treatment. Odoo therefore does not take over the operational sales process, but receives the information required for accounting, accruals and reporting.
In accounting, the setup covers accounts receivable and payable, company- and country-specific charts of accounts, intercompany accounting, international VAT configuration, processing of different currencies, integration of the relevant payment flows, treatment of payment provider fees, and accrual of the production costs of books ordered.
For cost accrual, the product costs maintained in Odoo are linked to the orders transferred from Sylius. The expected production costs of the books ordered can therefore be recognised in the accounts in the correct period.
The work also includes an initial data migration, setup of the product master data and preparation of testing, training and go-live. The internal project plan provides for the phases of requirements analysis, technical setup, configuration, handling of special cases, user testing, training and productive cutover.
Result
- A central finance platform for several international entities
- More consistent accounting processes across country borders
- A clear separation between the operational e-commerce system and the finance system
- Less manual transfer of customer, address and order data
- More structured intercompany processes
- Better traceability of international payment flows
- More period-accurate representation of production costs
- A more consistent data foundation for finance and BI analysis
- Differing VAT and currency requirements accounted for
- A scalable foundation for further international development
As the available project documentation dates from the kick-off and planning phase, these points are presented as a target picture and expected value rather than conclusively measured results.
Project at a glance
- Industry
- E-commerce and personalised children's books
- Project type
- International Odoo accounting and multi-company implementation
- Project status
- Implementation of the defined core scope; final live status to be confirmed
- Previous core system: Bananas
- Company structure: A Swiss parent company with international subsidiaries
- System landscape: Odoo · Sylius · Apache NiFi · various payment providers · BI system (Google stack)
- Highlights: International VAT, intercompany accounting and accrual of production costs
Competencies
- Apache NiFi
- Cost Accruals
- Data Migration
- E-Commerce Integration
- Intercompany Accounting
- International Accounting
- Odoo Accounting
- Odoo Multi-Company
- Sylius Integration
- VAT Configuration
About the company
Librio develops and sells personalised books, posters and other gift products. Customers design the main characters of the books using attributes such as name and appearance. Every book is configured individually and produced to order.
The Zurich-based company launched in 2017 and sells its products internationally. By its own account, Librio has already produced more than 500,000 books for customers in over 108 countries.
The business model combines an international online shop with personalised products, differing production and shipping costs, multiple currencies, various payment providers and country-specific VAT requirements.
Odoo apps used
Core apps: Accounting · Contacts · Purchase
Supporting apps: Sales for product and order-related master data
Odoo capabilities: Multi-company · intercompany accounting · multi-currency · international tax configuration
Integrations and custom extensions
- Integration between Sylius and Odoo
- Apache NiFi as the integration and data processing layer
- Transfer of customers and delivery addresses from Sylius
- Representation of multiple delivery addresses per customer relationship
- Transfer of sales orders from Sylius
- Sylius as the system of record for customer, address and order data
- Odoo as the system of record for financial accounting
- Integration of the relevant payment providers
- Processing of payment fees and exchange rates
- Custom posting logic for accruing production costs
- Multi-company configuration for the international group structure
- Intercompany configuration between the Librio entities
- Structured data relationships for later BI analysis
The solution is based primarily on standard Odoo functionality, complemented by the integration architecture and the posting and accrual logic defined for Librio.
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In a conversation we will clarify whether we already have experience in a similar situation, and what a sensible entry point could look like.