SAP PP to Odoo MRP: A Mapping Guide

Most SAP Production Planning concepts have a direct home in Odoo Manufacturing. Material masters become products. BOMs stay BOMs. Routings become operations on the BoM. Production orders become manufacturing orders. The MRP run becomes reordering rules, routes and the replenishment report, with an optional master production schedule on top.

The concepts carry over. The depth differs. SAP has more planning levers and more costing detail. Odoo is simpler to configure, quicker to change and easier for the shop floor to use. This guide maps the concepts one by one, then covers what you will miss, what is better and how to migrate.

It is based on the Odoo 19 documentation and written by a team with more than 30 years of SAP experience.

The big mapping table

SAP (PP / QM / MM)	Odoo 19	Notes
Material master	Product (with variants if needed)	One product form holds sales, purchase, inventory and manufacturing data.
MRP views (MRP type, lot size, planning time fence)	Routes, reordering rules, lead times	Routes: Buy, Manufacture, Replenish on Order (MTO). Reordering rules hold min, max and multiple.
Plant / storage location	Warehouse / location	Locations are hierarchical. Multi-step manufacturing (1, 2 or 3 steps) controls picking and storing.
BOM (production)	BoM type “Manufacture this product”	Components, quantities, operations, by-products.
Phantom assembly	BoM type “Kit”	A kit is exploded into its components when used.
Alternative BOMs / production versions	Multiple BoMs per product	First BoM by sequence is the default. No validity-date or lot-size selection.
Variant configuration (simple)	One BoM with “Apply on Variants” lines	Components and operations can apply to specific variants. Complex configurable products need more design.
Multi-level BOM	Multilevel BoMs (sub-assemblies)	Sub-assemblies replenished by their own rules or MTO.
Co-products / by-products	By-products tab on the BoM	Enable By-Products in settings.
Routing / operations	Operations tab on the BoM	Each operation has a work centre and duration.
Work centre	Work centre	Working hours, cost per hour, time efficiency, OEE target, alternative work centres.
Production order	Manufacturing order (MO)	Work orders are generated per operation.
Confirmations (CO11N)	Work order timers, Shop Floor	Time tracked per employee and work centre.
Goods issue / backflush	Component consumption on the MO	Consumption recorded on the MO or in Shop Floor.
MRP run (MD01/MD02)	Scheduler + reordering rules + Replenishment report	Planner reviews and confirms suggested orders.
Long-term planning / demand management	Master Production Schedule (MPS)	Manual forecasts by period. Suggests quantities. User creates the orders.
Capacity planning (CM01, CM21)	Work centre calendars, Plan action, planning by work centre (Gantt)	Schedules work orders against available hours.
Subcontracting (PO item category L)	Subcontracting BoM type	Basic, resupply subcontractor and dropship to subcontractor flows.
QM inspection plan / inspection lot	Quality control point / quality check	Checks triggered by operation, product or quantity.
Usage decision / defect recording	Pass-fail and measure checks, quality alerts	Failure locations route rejected stock.
Batch management	Lots	Tracking by lot.
Serial number profile	Serial numbers	Tracking by unique serial number.
Scrap (movement type 551)	Scrap orders to Virtual Locations/Scrap	From the MO or Shop Floor.
Disassembly	Unbuild orders	Reverses a production into components.
Standard price / moving average	Costing method: Standard, AVCO or FIFO	Set on the product category.
Product costing (CK11N)	MO cost (from BoM and work centre rates)	Odoo shows expected “MO cost” against “real cost”.
WIP (KKAX)	Post WIP Accounting Entry on the MO	Uses WIP and WIP Overhead accounts.
Variance calculation (KKS2)	Difference between MO cost and real cost	No SAP-style variance categories.

Master data: material master to product

In SAP, a material master has many views and many org levels. In Odoo, a product has one form with tabs. Manufacturing behaviour comes from three places:

Routes. Ticking Manufacture tells Odoo the product is made in-house. Buy means it is purchased. Replenish on Order makes it to order.
Reordering rules. Min, max and multiple quantities trigger replenishment. A 0/0 rule behaves like make-to-order for that product.
Lead times. Manufacturing, purchase and security lead times drive dates.

There is no MRP type, no planning strategy group and no lot-sizing procedure in the SAP sense. Most manufacturers find they did not use most of those settings anyway. Check before you assume.

BOMs and routings

Odoo BoMs are close to SAP BOMs. The main points for SAP users:

Phantom assemblies map to kits. A kit is a BoM that is exploded into components when sold or consumed.
Variants are handled in one BoM, with component and operation lines tagged “Apply on Variants”. This covers many cases that SAP handles with variant BOMs. Full SAP variant configuration with object dependencies does not have a direct equivalent.
Routings are not separate objects. Operations sit on the BoM’s Operations tab, each with a work centre and expected duration.
Alternative BOMs: a product can have several BoMs. The first by sequence is the default and you can choose another on the MO. There is no direct equivalent of SAP production versions with validity dates or lot-size ranges.

Work centres and capacity

An Odoo work centre holds working hours, cost per hour (per work centre and per employee), time efficiency, an OEE target and alternative work centres. If a work centre is unavailable, for example through scheduled time off, the Plan action can route work orders to an alternative.

The planning-by-work-centre Gantt view shows the load, and work orders are scheduled against work-centre calendars. There is no separate capacity levelling tool like SAP CM21 or CM25. For most small and mid-sized plants, this is enough. If you run heavily constrained, multi-resource scheduling, test it with your real data.

Planning: MRP run to replenishment and MPS

SAP MRP runs as a batch and produces planned orders. Odoo works differently:

Reordering rules and routes create purchase orders and MOs, either automatically through the scheduler or from the Replenishment report, where planners review and confirm.
The Master Production Schedule is optional. You enter forecast demand by period (daily, weekly, monthly or yearly), set a safety stock target, and Odoo suggests replenishment quantities. It does not create orders on its own. Odoo’s documentation advises against putting reordering rules on products that are managed in the MPS.

The planner’s job becomes more visible and less batch-driven.

Subcontracting

Odoo supports three subcontracting flows: basic (the subcontractor sources everything), resupply (you ship components when the PO is confirmed) and dropship (your supplier sends components straight to the subcontractor). The setup uses a subcontracting BoM linked to the subcontractor.

Quality: QM to Odoo Quality

SAP inspection plans and lots map to Odoo quality control points and quality checks. A control point defines which operation and products it applies to, and how often: every time, randomly by percentage, periodically or on demand. Check types include instructions, pass-fail, measure, take a picture, register production and print label. Failed checks can raise quality alerts and send stock to a failure location.

There are no inspection lot statuses, sampling procedures or dynamic modification rules in the SAP sense. Many plants find the simpler model is easier to keep running.

Batch, serial and scrap

Batches become lots. Serial number profiles become tracking by unique serial number. Scrap is recorded from the MO or Shop Floor and moves stock to a virtual scrap location. Disassembly is done with unbuild orders.

Costing and WIP

This is where SAP users need the most care.

Odoo supports Standard, AVCO and FIFO costing, set on the product category.
Odoo shows an expected MO cost (components, work centre rates and labour from the BoM) and the real cost (actual consumption and time).
WIP can be posted from the MO with the Post WIP Accounting Entry action, using dedicated WIP and WIP overhead accounts. By default the entry reverses the next day, so treat it as a manual or periodic posting rather than continuous WIP.
Odoo 19 documents both periodic and perpetual inventory accounting. Most Australian manufacturers will want perpetual, but confirm the choice with your accountant.

What Odoo does not do is SAP’s full controlling stack: cost estimates with costing variants, overhead costing sheets, settlement rules and variance categories. If your management accounts depend on those, design the replacement reports early, and test how variances land with standard costing in your own data. See what it really costs to leave SAP for Odoo.

Shop floor

Odoo’s Shop Floor app is a tablet-friendly view of MOs and work orders by work centre. Operators start and stop timers, follow instructions, record quality checks, register lots and serials, and scrap components. It replaces confirmations and many paper travellers.

What’s different, what you’ll miss, what’s better

What’s different

Planning is rule-driven and continuous. There is no nightly batch of planned orders.
Routings live on the BoM.
Costing is simpler and closer to the ledger.

What you’ll miss

Production versions with validity and lot-size ranges.
Full variant configuration with object dependencies.
Detailed capacity levelling and sequencing.
SAP CO product costing depth and variance categories.
QM sampling procedures and inspection lot statuses.

What’s better

Far faster configuration. Most changes do not need a developer.
Shop Floor is usable by operators without training manuals.
One product form with tabs. No separate views per org level.
Quality, maintenance, PLM, inventory and accounting share one database.
Licence and support costs are often lower for mid-sized manufacturers, though it depends on scope; the cost guide shows how to compare.

Migration tips

Extract what you actually use. Pull MRP types, lot sizes, BOM usage and active routings from SAP. Many settings are unused.
Clean BOMs before you move them. Remove obsolete alternatives and unused components.
Decide on costing first. Standard, AVCO or FIFO by category affects everything downstream.
Rebuild routings as BoM operations. Map SAP work centres one to one where you can, then simplify.
Replace the MRP run deliberately. Decide which products use reordering rules, MTO or MPS. Do not mix MPS with reordering rules on the same product.
Map QM to control points. Start with the inspections that matter. Add more later.
Move open orders carefully. Close or finish production orders in SAP where you can. Migrate only open stock and open orders that must carry over. Our guide to SAP data migration to Odoo covers the wider data work.
Run parallel costing for a period. Compare Odoo MO and real costs with your SAP standard costs before you switch off reports.

To compare the platforms more broadly, read Odoo vs SAP S/4HANA, and for picking a delivery team, how to choose an Odoo partner in Australia.

Next step

Want to know how your SAP PP setup would land in Odoo? Book a free SAP Exit Assessment. We read your SAP configuration and show you what maps, what changes and what needs a decision.

FAQ

Can Odoo replace SAP PP for a mid-sized manufacturer? For many mid-sized discrete and process manufacturers, yes. Odoo 19 covers BoMs, work centres, manufacturing orders, MPS, subcontracting, quality and costing. Plants that rely on advanced variant configuration, capacity levelling or detailed SAP CO costing should test those areas carefully.

What is the Odoo equivalent of a phantom BOM? A kit. A kit BoM is exploded into its components when it is sold or used, so it behaves like a phantom assembly.

Does Odoo have an MRP run like SAP? Not as a single batch transaction. Odoo uses reordering rules, routes and a scheduler, plus a Replenishment report for planners to review. The optional Master Production Schedule supports longer-term planning against forecast.

How does Odoo handle standard costing and variances? Odoo supports Standard, AVCO and FIFO costing. It compares the expected MO cost with the real cost. It does not have SAP’s variance categories, so plan your management reporting early.

Can Odoo post work in progress (WIP)? Yes. Odoo 19 can post a WIP accounting entry from a manufacturing order to WIP and WIP overhead accounts, with an automatic reversal.

What does SAP QM map to in Odoo? Odoo Quality. Inspection plans become quality control points, and inspections become quality checks such as pass-fail, measure or photo checks.