User Guide

User Guide

A practical walkthrough of the everyday OdooPLM tasks. This assumes the server modules are installed (Installation) and, where CAD is involved, that the desktop client is connected (CAD Client Setup). If a term is unfamiliar, check Core Concepts.

0. Learn on the demo product first

You don't need your own CAD data to follow this guide. Install plm_demo (or boot a -demo Docker image) and you get LSU-100, a linear shaft support unit: 12 parts over three BOM levels, a spare BOM per assembly, 29 STEP / 3MF / DXF / PDF documents with previews, ballooned assembly sheets, the document tree a CAD upload produces, and 3D markups with their chatter.

Open the top assembly and you can walk through almost everything below — BOM structure, revisions, the 3D viewer, the spare parts manual — on data that is already there. Uninstalling the module removes it again.

1. Bringing a CAD design into Odoo

From your CAD editor, with the client connected:

1. Open the assembly or part you want to manage.
2. Use the client's upload / check-in command. The client walks the CAD structure (assembly → sub-parts → drawings) and creates the matching PLM documents and products in Odoo, preserving the links between them.
3. Each new item starts in the Draft state.

If you assign engineering codes automatically, install plm_auto_engcode so codes are generated by sequence per product category instead of typed by hand.

2. Checking out and editing

To change a managed file:

1. Check out the document — this locks it so colleagues can't overwrite your work.
2. Edit in the CAD editor.
3. Check in to upload the new content and release the lock.

3. Creating a revision

When a released item must change, you don't overwrite it — you revise it:

• From CAD: use the client's revise command on the part/assembly.
• From the web: with plm_web_revision installed, open the component in Odoo and create a new revision from the web interface.

The previous revision is preserved; the new one starts its own lifecycle. Downstream apps can be configured to always use the latest released revision (see step 6).

4. Working with BOMs

• The engineering BOM reflects the CAD assembly (plm_engineering).
• Generate a manufacturing BOM automatically from a released engineering structure with plm_automate_normal_bom.
• Compare two BOMs with plm_compare_bom to see exactly what changed between revisions — added, removed or changed lines.
• Download every file of a BOM structure at once with plm_pack_and_go.

5. Releasing through the workflow

Move an item through its lifecycle: Draft → Confirmed → Released. Releasing freezes the item for production, sale and purchase. Reopening a released item for change puts it Under modify; withdrawing it sets it Obsoleted (requires plm_suspended).

To automate side effects of a transition (notifications, field updates, server actions), configure custom workflow actions with plm_workflow_custom_action.

6. Keeping sale / purchase / manufacturing on the latest revision

Install the “only latest” modules so users can't accidentally pick an outdated revision:

• plm_sale_only_latest — Sales order lines.
• plm_purchase_only_latest — Purchase order lines.
• plm_product_only_latest — Manufacturing orders.

7. Viewing 3D models and drawings in the browser

With plm_web_3d, open a component in Odoo and preview its 3D model or DXF drawing directly in the web client — no CAD editor needed. plm_web_3d_sale extends this to website/eCommerce product pages.

8. Reports

• BOM structure, component and document reports ship with the core plm module.
• Spare parts manual and spare BOMs: plm_spare.
• Multilanguage reports: plm_report_language_helper.
• PDF on the shop floor: plm_pdf_workorder surfaces the PLM PDF inside the manufacturing work order worksheet.

Where to go next

• Pick additional features in the Modules Reference.
• Hitting a problem? See FAQ & Troubleshooting.