ERP & Odoo glossary: the 29 terms to know before your project
From scoping to Go-Live, from MRP to application maintenance: the useful definitions, with a link to the page that goes deeper into each topic.
ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning)
Integrated management software that brings accounting, sales, purchasing, inventory, manufacturing, HR and projects together in a single database. In Morocco, Odoo has become the reference; see ERP in Morocco.
Odoo
Modular, open-source suite of business applications, published in Belgium and deployed worldwide. Karizma is its integrator in Morocco and a publisher of business solutions.
Odoo Community vs Enterprise
Community is the free edition; Enterprise adds advanced applications, publisher support and Odoo.sh hosting. The choice depends on your scope: our comparison.
Module (Odoo application)
Installable functional building block — Accounting, CRM, Inventory, Payroll… A project assembles standard modules then configures them and, where needed, extends them.
Localisation
Adaptation of an ERP to a country’s rules: chart of accounts, VAT, tax returns, payroll. In Morocco: CGNC, DGI, CNSS; in West Africa: SYSCOHADA.
MRP / manufacturing
Computer-aided production management: bills of materials, manufacturing orders, requirements planning, quality control. See MRP & manufacturing.
WMS
Warehouse Management System: warehouse management by location, lot, serial number, picking and stock counts. See WMS & warehouse management.
HRIS
HR information system: employee records, contracts, leave, attendance, payroll and employee portal. See HRIS & payroll.
CRM
Customer Relationship Management: sales pipeline, opportunities, activities and forecasts. See Odoo CRM.
POS (point of sale)
Cash register connected to the ERP: sales, inventory, loyalty and accounting in real time, with offline mode. See Odoo point of sale.
CMMS
Computerised maintenance management: equipment, preventive and corrective maintenance, work orders. See CMMS & maintenance.
Application maintenance
Third-party application maintenance: corrective and evolutionary maintenance of the ERP after Go-Live, under SLA. See support & maintenance.
SLA
Service Level Agreement: contractual commitments on incident response and resolution times.
Scoping
Initial phase that sets scope, schedule and budget before any configuration. It is the first of the five phases of our method.
Key user
Client-side reference user, per domain, who validates the design, performs acceptance testing and trains colleagues.
Acceptance testing
Functional tests run by key users on real scenarios before Go-Live; it ends with a signed acceptance report.
Data migration
Migration of master data (customers, products, accounts) and history from the legacy system, with consistency checks.
Go-Live
Go-live: switch-over from the legacy system to the ERP. At Karizma, it is a contractual milestone followed by a hypercare period.
Migration
Move from legacy software (Sage, SAP, Excel) or an older Odoo version to a recent version. See Odoo migration.
Sovereign hosting
Data hosted and operated in the client’s country, under its law. See Odoo hosting in Morocco et Karizma One.
SaaS / subscription
Software delivered as a service, billed by subscription, including hosting, updates and support.
API / integration
Interface that lets the ERP exchange data with other systems: bank, e-commerce, WMS, tax authority. See integrations.
RPA
Robotic Process Automation: automation of repetitive tasks (data entry, reconciliation, reminders). See RPA automation.
AI agent
Assistant that performs business tasks in the ERP from natural language: quotes, reminders, summaries. See business AI agents.
E-invoicing
Obligation to issue and transmit invoices in a structured format to the tax authority. See DGI e-invoicing.
CNSS / Damancom
Moroccan national social security fund and its online filing portal. See CNSS filing via Damancom.
SYSCOHADA
Accounting standard of the 17 OHADA countries (Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroon…), available in Odoo. See Odoo in Africa.
TCO
Total Cost of Ownership: full multi-year cost (licences, integration, hosting, support). See price of an Odoo project.
Digitalisation grant
Public funding covering part of an ERP project. See grants in Morocco.