The Service Business ERP Stack
Service businesses sell time, expertise, and deliverables — not physical products. The ERP needs to track leads, manage projects, record time, bill accurately, and analyze profitability. The AI agent configures these modules in the correct order with cross-module consistency.
Module Stack
- CRM — Lead tracking, opportunity management, pipeline stages
- Sales — Quotations with service products, T&M and fixed-price billing
- Project — Task management, milestones, deliverable tracking
- Timesheets — Time recording, billable vs non-billable, project allocation
- Invoicing/Accounting — Time-based or milestone-based invoicing
- HR — Employee management, leave, attendance
- Expenses — Project-related expenses, client reimbursement
- Helpdesk — Post-project support (optional)
Service-Specific Configuration
Billing Models
| Model | Configuration |
|---|---|
| Time & Materials | Hourly rates per role, invoice on timesheets, monthly billing cycle |
| Fixed Price | Milestone-based invoicing, progress tracking, change order process |
| Retainer | Monthly prepaid hours, overage billing, rollover policy |
| Subscription | Recurring monthly fee, SLA included, usage tracking |
| Mixed | Fixed fee for deliverables + T&M for additional requests |
Profitability Tracking
- Revenue per project = invoiced amount
- Cost per project = (billable hours × employee cost rate) + expenses
- Margin per project = revenue - cost
- Realization rate = billable hours / total hours worked
- Utilization rate = billable hours / available hours
Resource Planning
- Skill-based team assignment
- Availability tracking (who is free next week?)
- Capacity planning (can we take on a new project?)
- Conflict detection (same person on overlapping projects)
Time Comparison
| Approach | Time | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Consultant | 3-6 weeks | $15,000-$40,000 |
| AI-assisted | 1-2 weeks | $3,000-$8,000 |
Getting Started
Deploy Odoo on DeployMonkey and describe your service business: billing model, team structure, project types. The AI agent configures CRM through invoicing with the correct cross-module links.