Odoo ERP Rescue: How WAO Rebuilt eSafety Supplies’ Financial Core

​Executive Summary

eSafety Supplies is a leading Australian supplier of premium safety equipment, serving over 121,000 customers nationwide through its comprehensive eCommerce store and Sydney headquarters. After migrating to Odoo to unify their operations, they found themselves in a worse position than before. 

The initial implementation, handled by a different partner, had been a technical exercise that completely missed the financial and operational realities of the business. Key financial processes were broken, inventory and manufacturing were incorrectly configured, and the team was forced to rely on manual workarounds, with the accounting department describing their core pain point as "all of it".

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WAO Group was engaged not just to fix a piece of software, but to rescue a critical business system. By applying our signature accountant-led methodology, we conducted a deep-dive analysis to diagnose the root causes of the failure. 

The project focused on a complete re-engineering of the system's financial foundation, correcting flawed customisations, and properly configuring the inventory and manufacturing modules to align with best practices. 

This optimisation project successfully transformed Odoo from a source of frustration into a powerful, unified platform, delivering the financial clarity and operational control that eSafety Supplies had been promised from the start.

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​The Challenge: The Aftermath of a Failed Implementation

When eSafety Supplies approached WAO Group, they were running a system that was actively working against them. The previous implementation had left them with a cascade of critical issues that created daily chaos and exposed the business to significant financial risk.

• ​A Broken Financial Core:
  The accounting module was fundamentally unusable. A previous customisation meant that when customers paid online, the resulting invoice would get stuck in a draft state and could not be validated, preventing the payment from being processed and creating a cash flow bottleneck. Furthermore, with no price lists configured, all pricing was being entered manually on sales orders, relying on an inconsistent Excel spreadsheet for costing.
  
  
• ​Catastrophic Manufacturing & Inventory Configuration:
  The system's manufacturing capabilities were crippled by "incorrect configurations by the previous Odoo implementation team". The business was forced to manage its production processes manually through Odoo Projects instead of the actual Manufacturing module, completely defeating the purpose of an integrated system. Inventory routes were also flawed due to "incorrect guidance," leading to inefficient stock movements and problematic transfers.  
  
  
• Complete Lack of Financial Control:
  Critical financial functions were either missing or set up incorrectly. The landed cost for imported goods was not being calculated properly, with freight costs incorrectly set up as a consumable product instead of a service, making true Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) impossible to determine. There was no automated credit limit check at the sales order level, and the Chart of Accounts required a complete overhaul.  

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​The Solution: An Accountant-Led Rescue and Re-Engineering

Our engagement began with a comprehensive "Solutions Finder" project, a deep-dive diagnostic to understand the full scope of the damage and build a blueprint for success. Our approach was not to apply band-aids, but to rebuild the foundation correctly.

​1. Rebuilding the Financial Foundation:

Our first priority was to fix the broken accounting core. As chartered accountants, we understood the urgency. We untangled the flawed customisation that was blocking payments, allowing cash to flow correctly. We then built out the system's financial intelligence, implementing Odoo's price list functionality to automate pricing and moving costing logic from unreliable spreadsheets into the ERP. 

We restructured their Chart of Accounts and correctly configured the landed costs module, ensuring every imported product had its true cost accurately reflected in the general ledger.

​2. Correcting the Operational Chaos:

We addressed the deeply flawed inventory and manufacturing setups. This involved a strategic re-engineering of their processes:

• Migrating to the Correct Module: 
  We moved their entire production workflow out of the generic Projects module and into the purpose-built Odoo Manufacturing module. This immediately provided the structure and visibility they needed to manage BOMs, work centres, and production orders effectively.

• Fixing Flawed Logic:
  We cleaned up the incorrect inventory routes that had been configured by the previous partner, implementing multi-step routes and putaway rules to streamline warehouse operations and ensure stock was tracked accurately from receipt to dispatch.

​3. Navigating the Challenge of Rebuilding Trust:

The most significant challenge was not technical; it was human. The eSafety Supplies team had lost faith in their Odoo system. A key part of our role was to be a true partner, working collaboratively to not only fix the system but also to re-train their team and demonstrate how a properly configured ERP should work. 

We were transparent about the issues we found and methodical in how we implemented the solutions, rebuilding their confidence step by step.

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​The Results: From Financial Risk to a Platform for Growth

By applying a finance-first, strategic approach, WAO Group transformed eSafety Supplies' broken Odoo instance into the powerful, unified platform it was always meant to be.

• ​Bulletproof Financial Processes:
  The broken payment and invoicing workflows were fixed, and manual processes were automated. The business now has a reliable, automated system for managing everything from pricing and landed costs to credit control and financial reporting.
  
  
• ​A Single, Trusted Source of Truth:
  By moving manufacturing into the correct module and fixing the inventory logic, all operational and financial data now resides in one unified system, eliminating the need for external spreadsheets and manual workarounds.
  
  
• ​ Real-Time Inventory & Manufacturing Control: ​
  The team now has full visibility over their production schedules, BOMs, and stock levels. This has streamlined their operations, reduced errors, and provided the data needed for more efficient procurement.  
  
  
• A Foundation for the Future:
  With a stable, scalable, and financially robust ERP system, eSafety Supplies has moved past firefighting and can now focus on strategic growth, confident that their core platform can support their ambitions.

"Our initial Odoo implementation left us with a system that was fundamentally broken and creating more problems than it solved. WAO Group came in, and their accountant-led approach was the difference-maker. They didn't just see technical issues; they saw the financial and process-related root causes. They methodically rebuilt our system's foundation, fixed the operational chaos, and restored our confidence in the platform. We finally have the single source of truth we were promised."

Simply Better
Director,  eSafety Supplies.