ChloBo is a provider of jewellery handmade to order in the UK, using quality 925 sterling silver, 18ct gold and rose gold plating. Founded by Chloe Moss, the brand’s designs are inspired by her travels in Bali, and have grown from a studio in her spare bedroom to a Cheshire-headquartered business shipping all over the UK.
ChloBo was using Odoo v11 as its ERP system, covering invoicing, the purchasing components from manufacturers, crafting each individual item and shipping out to customers. Whilst the system fulfilled most of ChloBo’s requirements, as the business grew it began to struggle to facilitate the business’s development and planned expansion.
Users were spending more time on the system processing orders than carrying out their day-to-day jobs, and were experiencing a lack of clarity on what was ordered vs what was manufactured, delivered or receipted. ChloBo deals with precious metals, the prices for which fluctuate on a daily basis, but Odoo’s ‘out of the box’ functionality defined prices at the point of order rather than receipt.
In turn, this frustrated ChloBo’s accountants as they were unable to run simple reports and spent a great deal of time reconciling POs with bills. This was inevitably fuelling a lack of confidence among Board members as to Odoo’s capabilities. ChloBo’s ambition of implementing a one-day delivery policy was simply not feasible with this legacy system.
Smart IT had previously worked with ChloBo to implement Odoo v11, and were invited back to consult on a new solution. Smart IT made several onsite visits to the ChloBo headquarters, clearly defining both the problem and the solution to the Board, and working closely with the ChloBo finance team to provide high-quality accounting consultancy and best practice advice.
Ultimately, the Odoo gold partner advised a system upgrade to Odoo v14, as well as enhancements to the server specification to address performance issues.
Smart IT implemented several specific customisations and workflows to suit ChloBo’s needs. For example, a Bulk Manufacturing process was created, which enables ChloBo to process hundreds of orders at the click of a button. This immediately resulted in much quicker order processing. Flexible receipting processes were introduced, with prices updatable at the point of receipting, so ChloBo’s accountants no longer have to spend time on manual reconciliation.
Duplicate records had been another problem with ChloBo’s legacy system, and so Smart IT ran a comprehensive report on fields within Odoo which were triggering duplicates, closing all these loopholes. Smart IT set up automated action to detect and block duplication throughout the system. Meanwhile, to deal with ChloBo’s reporting frustrations, order dispatch reporting was introduced and Smart IT ran comprehensive training on standard functionality and real-time inbuilt spreadsheets. The upgrade to v14 also includes VAT reporting, MTD compliance and automated bank syncing.
The combination of new and bespoke functionality within Odoo v14, and Smart IT’s in-depth consultancy and training on how to get the most out of the system, has transformed ChloBo’s operations. Frustrated users, particularly in the accounting team, now have the efficiency and visibility they craved. The previously sluggish manufacturing process, in which each operation had to be fed into the system one by one, has been replaced with the seamless system whereby a click of the button processes hundreds of orders. Ultimately, Smart IT has built a lean system enabling users to focus on their day-to-day functions, and restored the Board’s confidence in Odoo.
Lauren Owen, Operations manager at ChloBo said: