Migrate from Exsalerate to Odoo CRM

Exsalerate's flat Account is the central entity carrying both company-level data and embedded contact data. We split this into Odoo res.partner records: the Account name and address fields become a res.partner with partner_type = 'company' (or address_type = 'contact' for the primary company contact), and any secondary contacts within the Account become separate res.partner records linked via parent_id to the company partner. The Account-Contact relationship maps to the parent_id lookup in Odoo. We preserve Exsalerate's account owner as a Many2one field on the partner record, resolving Exsalerate user email to an Odoo User record before import.

Exsalerate Contacts associated to an Account migrate to Odoo res.partner with parent_id pointing to the Account's company partner record. Contact role (decision-maker, influencer, billing, technical) is stored as a custom field on res.partner since Odoo does not have a native contact-role attribute. Email, phone, mobile, job title, and department fields map directly. We run duplicate detection on email address before import to avoid creating duplicate res.partner records where Exsalerate has already deduplicated.

Exsalerate Opportunities map to Odoo crm.lead records with type = 'opportunity'. Stage name maps to Odoo's stage_id with probability recalculated to Odoo's 0-100 scale; Exsalerate's colour-coded stage tiles do not have a native Odoo equivalent, so stage colour metadata is stored as a custom char field on the crm.lead record. Expected close date, deal value, and owner migrate directly. Exsalerate's deal name maps to crm.lead name, and the Account lookup maps to the resolved res.partner record.

Exsalerate Pipelines map to Odoo crm.team (Sales Teams). We create one crm.team per Exsalerate Pipeline, preserving the Pipeline name as the team name. Exsalerate Pipeline Stages are then configured as crm.stage records within that team context, with stage order and colour metadata preserved. Note that Exsalerate's per-pipeline stage sequence is modelled as Odoo's global stage sequence with team-based filtering; we document any pipeline-specific stage logic that requires Odoo Studio or custom code to replicate.

Each Exsalerate Pipeline Stage label becomes an Odoo crm.stage record within the corresponding crm.team. Stage probability from Exsalerate maps to Odoo's stage_id probability field (integer 0-100). Exsalerate's colour coding on stages (which drives visual pipeline tile display) is stored as a custom field stage_color on the crm.stage record. Stage-level automation triggers in Exsalerate do not migrate — we document them in the automation inventory for rebuild in Odoo Studio or a custom Python module.

Exsalerate's colour-coded activity tiles represent tasks and follow-up reminders. We map these to Odoo mail.activity records (or ir.model.data Task records if the Project module is installed). The tile colour encoding (which signals urgency and context in Exsalerate) is captured as a custom char field activity_tile_color on the mail.activity record. Due date, status (complete/overdue), and owner migrate directly. Activity tiles that represent meetings or calls map to mail.activity with activity_type_id set to 'meeting' or 'call' respectively.

Exsalerate Email Activities associated to Accounts or Contacts migrate as Odoo mail.message records with message_type = 'email'. Subject, body (plain text), timestamp, sender (author_id resolved to res.partner), and recipient partner_ids are preserved. Attachments migrate as ir.attachment records linked via res_id/res_model to the parent crm.lead or res.partner. Email threading relationships from Exsalerate are not guaranteed to be preserved as Odoo inherits threading via the mail.message parent_id field if the source system exposes this reference; otherwise, threaded context is documented in the migration notes.

Exsalerate custom fields on Accounts, Contacts, and Opportunities are pre-created as custom fields in Odoo via Odoo Studio before migration begins. We map field types at migration time: Exsalerate picklist values become Odoo selection fields with equivalent option values; date fields normalise to Odoo's datetime format; numeric fields map to float or monetary fields as appropriate. Any Exsalerate custom field that has no Odoo equivalent (e.g., multi-select without a natural selection field) is stored as a char field with the raw value and flagged for the admin to re-evaluate post-migration.

Exsalerate user accounts map to Odoo res.users records. We create a user mapping table during scoping using email as the lookup key. Inactive Exsalerate users are mapped to inactive res.users with the original Exsalerate Owner name stored in a custom field for reconciliation. Active users are provisioned by the customer's Odoo admin before migration resumes because OwnerId references on crm.lead and res.partner are required at import time. Users with no Exsalerate email (system-generated owners) are mapped to a migration service account flagged for admin reassignment post-import.

Exsalerate allows WorkflowMax quotes to be imported as Opportunities with a cross-reference to the originating WorkflowMax job or quote. This reference is an Exsalerate custom attribute that has no native Odoo equivalent. We store the WorkflowMax quote/job ID in a custom char field x_workflowmax_ref on the crm.lead and document the original Exsalerate field name and value in the migration record. Since WorkflowMax is not an Odoo product, customers using WorkflowMax post-migration will need to re-establish this cross-reference manually in Odoo or via a custom integration.

Exsalerate stores Xero customer IDs, invoice sync status, and comparative sales data on Account records (e.g., last invoiced date, overdue invoice flags, MTD/YTD sales comparatives). We migrate the Xero customer reference ID as a custom char field x_xero_contact_id on res.partner. The comparative financial data (MTD, YTD, last-12-months sales figures surfaced in Exsalerate's Account Management Dashboard) does not map to a standard Odoo CRM field — we store it in a custom text or float field and flag it for the admin to evaluate whether Odoo's Accounting module can replicate the same view from live data.

Exsalerate uses tags and categories to segment Accounts and Contacts (e.g., industry classification, account tier, team assignment). We map these to Odoo res.partner.category records (Tags in the UI) and create a tag_assignment table linking partner IDs to the resolved category IDs. Tags with no Odoo equivalent are stored as a custom char field and flagged for the admin to create as formal Odoo tags post-migration.

Exsalerate logs engagement history (calls, emails, meetings, notes) against Accounts and Contacts. We map calls to mail.activity with activity_type_id = 'call', preserving call duration and disposition as custom fields. Meeting records map to mail.activity with activity_type_id = 'meeting' and the original timestamp as activity_date_deadline. Email logs map to mail.message with message_type = 'email' linked to the parent res.partner or crm.lead. Note that Odoo's activity timeline is shared across CRM and Project — if the customer also uses Odoo Project, migrated activities appear in both contexts, which may require a tag-based filter to maintain Exsalerate's account-activity-only view.

Exsalerate does not have a separate Lead object — all prospects are managed as Accounts with a status flag or pipeline assignment. If the customer has records in Exsalerate that represent unqualified prospects (not yet converted to active Accounts), we import them as Odoo crm.lead with type = 'lead' rather than type = 'opportunity'. The Exsalerate Account name becomes the crm.lead contact_name, and any contact details on the Account map to the lead's email and phone fields. This ensures unqualified prospects enter Odoo's standard lead qualification workflow rather than appearing in the sales pipeline directly.

Exsalerate allows file attachments on Accounts, Contacts, and Opportunities. We migrate these as Odoo ir.attachment records linked via res_model and res_id to the corresponding crm.lead or res.partner. Files are exported from Exsalerate as binary blobs or file URLs, validated for file type and size, and re-uploaded during the Odoo import phase. Files exceeding Odoo's default 25MB attachment limit are flagged for the admin to store in an external document management system (Odoo Documents or a linked cloud storage service).