How contacts are best set up in Odoo Contacts app to smoothly handle shifts in personnel among your contacts in your own operations.
Contacts include both your customers and your suppliers. Both companies and individuals can be set up as contacts and linked to each other.
I will not go through all the fields as most are self-explanatory, but I will provide some tips to manage your data consistently.
Companies
VAT number
When you want to add a company, it is best to start by filling in the VAT number without spaces or dots. This will automatically search for the company's data in an international database of companies and fill it in for you. You can always adjust this data later.
Name
Always place the company form at the end of the name and not at the front. This way, you avoid having to scroll through a long list of 'LLC ...' to find the right company later.
Always use the company's general email address (usually info@...). A personal email address or an email address for a department (e.g., accounting@...) can be provided later for the contact person or the department.
Phone
Always use the international format (starting with + followed by the country code), without special characters (such as ( ) / .) and without the leading 0. Spaces are automatically added by Odoo for readability depending on the country. E.g. +32479200100 is stored as +32 479 20 01 00.
Always use the company's general phone number (usually a landline). A personal phone number (cell phone or direct line) or a direct number for a department can be provided later for the contact person or department.
Language
If your database is configured for multiple languages, your contact will automatically receive system emails in the language you select here.
Contacts tab
In the Contacts tab you can add the contacts for this company. These can be individuals, departments, billing, shipping, or other addresses.
Here you can still enter the direct email address and phone number or mobile number for each contact.
Contact
Use this for contact people (managers, representatives, buyers, ...).
Billing Address
The email address of a billing address is automatically used by Odoo to send invoices and payment reminders for this company.
Please always enter a general name at the billing address here (e.g., Accounting) and not a personal name.
Shipping Address
A shipping address can be selected when placing an order from a customer. The selected shipping address and the corresponding phone number will be displayed on the delivery document.
Please always enter a general name at the delivery address here (e.g., Warehouse Ranst) and not a personal name.
Other Address
If a company has multiple locations under the same entity, they can be added here.
Please always enter a general name at Other address (e.g., Location Ranst) and not a personal name.
TIP
If you are using the Odoo Purchase, we recommend that you create a separate contact for orders with each supplier, using the specific email address where your supplier expects your order.
It is best to give the contact for orders a general name (e.g., Purchasing, Orders, ...) and not a personal name.
Also, if orders need to be sent to a personal email address of, for example, a representative, it is best to create a contact for the representative and a contact for the orders, possibly using the same email address.
This way, you can always set this contact (e.g., Supplier Name, Orders) as the supplier in the Purchasing tab under 'Supplier' for your products.
Benefits
- The order will be sent directly to the email address of this contact.
- When the email address for orders changes (e.g., when the representative changes), you only need to adjust the email address of the order contact and not all purchasing lines for all products from that supplier.