Odoo for a Specialty Coffee Roaster: Task Ownership and Helpdesk

Real client project, name withheld. Delivered at Master Software Solutions; my role is set out below. The client's name and identifying details are left out.

A multi-channel specialty coffee business in Canada moved off a 20-year-old system onto Odoo, so every task and customer query now has an owner, a deadline and a history.

• Industry: Food and beverage: specialty coffee
• Location: Canada
• Platform: Odoo
• Odoo implementation
• Helpdesk
• Process design

Figures published by Master Software Solutions for this project, not my own measurements.

The problem

The business sells through many channels at once: whole bean and single-cup coffee, subscriptions, office coffee programmes, café and restaurant supply, wholesale and private-label blends. Work passed between people all day, but nothing recorded who owned a task, whether it was finished, or what had happened to a customer's question.

The existing process

The company ran on a platform about 20 years old. It had no task ownership, no audit trail and few modern integrations or reports, so staff had built their own workarounds. Customer queries came in by phone and email and were followed up informally, and each department had its own way of doing things.

Business requirements

• Every operational task assigned to a named person, with a due date and a record of completion.
• One place for customer queries from every channel, with response targets.
• Standard, repeatable processes across departments instead of personal workarounds.
• Screens simple enough for staff who are not technical.

My role

I delivered this project at Master Software Solutions as consultant, tech lead, project manager and delivery manager: understanding how the business worked and designing the Odoo solution, leading the MSS developers who built the custom parts, planning and running the phased rollout, and owning delivery through go-live.

The solution

We replaced the legacy platform with Odoo and organised day-to-day work around two things: activities and tasks for internal work, and the Helpdesk app for customer queries. Recurring work was automated so it lands on the right person's list without anyone having to remember it, and workflows were set up per sales channel so each team sees what it needs and nothing more.

Key decisions

• Design around ownership first. Work without an owner and a deadline was the real problem, so every workflow ends in an activity assigned to a named person.
• Route every customer query into Helpdesk, whatever channel it arrives through, instead of leaving email as the record.
• Keep the interface task-driven and simple for non-technical staff, even where Odoo offers more options.
• Roll out in phases, so each team was comfortable with the new way of working before the next one moved over.

Odoo modules used

• Helpdesk
• Activities and task tracking
• Workflow automation

Implementation

A discovery phase mapped how each channel and department worked. The rollout was phased, and training focused on making the system easy to adopt for staff without a technical background.

Challenges

• Twenty years of habits and workarounds. People needed to see that the new process was easier than their workaround, not just more controlled.
• Many channels with different rhythms, from one-off retail orders to recurring office, café and wholesale accounts.

Results

• Every operational activity is now tracked against a named employee.
• 90% of customer queries are resolved within the agreed response window (published figure).
• Open, overdue and completed work is visible across the business without chasing people.