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قصّة نجاح · CASE STUDY

Customizing the Saudi HR Suite for Al-Butain Agricultural Cooperative

We built a suite of custom modules on top of Odoo 18 to digitize HR, inventory, custody, and vouchers for BACA — a multi-activity cooperative based in Qassim. A fully Arabic, 100% Saudi-compliant system integrated across every department.

Client: BACA Location: Qassim · Buraidah Platform: Odoo 18 Enterprise Modules: 6 custom
About the Client

Meet BACA

BACA

Al-Butain Agricultural Cooperative Association

الجمعية التعاونية الزراعية بالبطين

A leading agricultural cooperative based in Buraidah, Qassim region — established to serve farmers and agricultural investors. BACA operates an integrated network of multiple commercial branches and factories across a network of warehouses — combining farming, manufacturing, storage, and retail.

SectorAgriculture & Manufacturing
LocationQassim · Buraidah
Websitebaca.org.sa
PlatformOdoo 18 Enterprise
An Integrated Network of Activities

BACA's Activities Managed by the System

A unique mix of operations combining farming, manufacturing, storage, and retail. We connected all of these activities into a unified Odoo 18 system.

🥬

Vegetables

Fresh Produce

Dedicated branch for fresh produce and agricultural goods.

🍽️

Food City

Supermarket

Full-service supermarket with diverse food categories.

🌴

Dates Factory

Manufacturing

Dates manufacturing with full packaging services.

💧

Distilled Water

Bottling Plant

Distilled water production and bottling facility.

🛒

Al-Sheeb

Retail Outlet

General retail outlet serving the local community.

🏬

Main Outlet

Flagship Store

The cooperative's main outlet with diverse offerings.

⚖️

Weighing Station

Member Services

Crop weighing and registration for member farmers.

❄️

Cold & Frozen Storage

Specialty Storage

Refrigerated and frozen storage for crops.

🍬

Confectionery

Sweets

Sweets and processed-food manufacturing.

Problem & Solution

Why BACA Needed Custom Solutions

A cooperative with highly diverse activities, multiple branches, and intense daily operations — each department with its own workflow. Standard Odoo wasn't enough — we built customizations that speak the cooperative's language and comply with Saudi regulations.

9+
Branches & Activities
14+
Connected Warehouses
47
Custom Modules
100%
Saudi-System Compliance
The Framework

Challenge · Solution · Impact

⚠️

The Challenge

  • Unusual diversity in activities (farming + manufacturing + storage + retail).
  • Daily internal transfers between 14 warehouses with no unified oversight.
  • No HR suite compatible with GOSI and Saudi labor regulations.
  • Assets and custody moving between employees without accounting tracking.
  • Daily receipt/payment vouchers needing instant journal entries.
🛠️

The Solution

  • Developed and deployed 47 custom modules on top of Odoo 18 Enterprise.
  • Each module solves a specific problem in daily operations.
  • Full integration between custom modules and standard system.
  • Electronic approval workflows replacing paper and signatures.
  • Automatic journal entries for every financial operation.
✅

The Impact

  • All transactions in one system instead of scattered Excel/paper.
  • Every journal entry auto-generated — zero balance errors.
  • Real-time tracking of every custody, loan, warning, document.
  • Smart alerts for document expiry and upcoming installment dues.
  • Ready reports with BACA's official identity at the click of a button.
Project Journey · 5 Phases

How We Built BACA's System Step by Step

Not built overnight — engineered in phases by the Line ERP team led by Eng. Ahmed Shehata. The project went through 5 sequential phases, each building on the last until we reached today's complete system.

1

Core Odoo 18 Enterprise Foundation

Phase One

We started by deploying and configuring the core infrastructure for Odoo 18 Enterprise — installing and tuning the essential apps that cover all of BACA's departments. Saudi chart of accounts customization, 14 warehouse setup, 6 POS locations configuration, linking employees to departments, and enabling Approvals & Documents.

  • Accounting — Saudi CoA, VAT 15% taxes, journals
  • Inventory — 14 warehouses with detailed settings
  • Purchase — full procurement cycle from request to payment
  • Manufacturing — production orders for dates and water factories
  • Employees & Contacts management
  • Point of Sale — 6 POS locations ready to operate
  • Sales — full B2B sales cycle
  • Documents — archiving and file sharing
  • Rental & Approvals
15+
Core Apps
14
Warehouses
6
POS Locations
2

Core Custom Modules

Phase Two

Once the foundation was stable, the Line ERP team developed 6 custom modules from scratch, tailored to BACA's specifications after deep study of their unique daily needs.

  • Saudi HR Suite (GOSI, WPS, warnings, Saudi contracts)
  • Executive dashboard for top management
  • Internal transfer approval workflow between 14 warehouses
  • Multi-scrap for perishable products
  • Daily receipt & payment vouchers with auto journal entries
  • Employee cash custody management
6
Custom Modules
100%
Built From Scratch
Arabic
Full RTL UI
3

Advanced Financial Reports Suite

Phase Three

The financial manager and board needed professional financial reports beyond what the system offers by default. We designed a complete suite of advanced financial reports, with an engine for building custom reports (Management Information System).

  • Trial Balance, General Ledger, Aged Partner Balance, Open Items
  • MIS engine for building Income Statement and Balance Sheet without code
  • Ready templates: Income Statement, Balance Sheet, Cash Flow
  • Annual budgets with variance reports
  • VAT balance report ready for regulators
  • Excel export for all large reports
+13
Report Modules
90%
Faster Reporting
PDF + XLSX
Export Formats
4

Saudi Governance & Compliance

Phase Four

The cooperative is subject to oversight by ZATCA and the Ministry of Human Resources. To ensure full compliance, we developed the accounting governance, permission isolation, and data protection suite.

  • General journal sequence with no gaps (ZATCA requirement)
  • Track who posted each entry and when — full Audit Trail
  • Journal restriction: each accountant sees only their journals
  • Warehouse permissions: 14 isolated warehouse keepers
  • Prevent cancellation of reconciled entries — protect reconciliations
  • POS enhancements for 6 POS locations (Z Report, analytics, protection)
  • Saudi invoice template ZATCA Phase 1 compliant
  • Link entries to purchase/sales/stock documents
+16
Governance Modules
100%
ZATCA Compliant
Zero
Tampering Possible
5

Identity Unification & UX

Phase Five

The final phase: UI customizations and user experience improvements, with unifying the identity of all 47 modules under Line ERP standards. The system became visually and logically coherent from all angles.

  • Informational banners on the accounting dashboard
  • Per-user menu customization (hide what they don't need)
  • Unified template for invoice, vouchers, payslip with same header/footer
  • Unified identity for all 47 modules under Ahmed Shehata brand
  • Comprehensive technical and operational documentation + training guide
  • Periodic database maintenance and cleanup
+12
UI Customizations
47
Unified Identity
316
Total Installed
Core Module Stories

The 6 Modules That Made The Difference

Each module is a complete story: the problem BACA suffered from before it, the solution provided by the Line ERP team, how to use it practically, and the actual benefit achieved.

👥

Saudi HR Suite

Ahmed_shehata_ERP_HR
01 / 06
⚠️ Before

HR was scattered between Excel and paper files. Computing payroll for employees took a full week, with recurring errors in GOSI calculations, forgotten Iqama and license renewals. Warnings were scattered paper records, and employee files had no unified central location.

✅ After

Complete Saudi HR suite with 17 data models, 459 fields, 24 menus: comprehensive employee file, Saudi-style contracts, automatic payroll with correct GOSI, monthly installment loans, document expiry alerts, gradient warnings, and full integration with accounting (auto payroll journal entry).

🎯 How to Use — Monthly Payroll Cycle
  1. Go to HR → Employees to add or update employee data
  2. Create employment contract from Payroll tab with Saudi salary structure
  3. Generate monthly payslip from Payroll → Payslips — system computes GOSI automatically
  4. Approve and post — journal entry and WPS file generated simultaneously
  5. Print payslips with custom BACA branded template
✨

Reduce payroll preparation time from a full week to under one hour, with 100% compliance with Saudi labor law and GOSI, and zero errors in insurance calculations.

📊

Executive Dashboard

Ahmed_shehata_Dashboard
02 / 06
⚠️ Before

Top management and the board waited for manual monthly reports prepared by the accountant — delayed decisions, no real-time view of sales, cash, inventory, employees, and expenses.

✅ After

Custom interactive dashboard pulling data from all system departments on one page. 7 ready time filters: today, yesterday, week, month, last month, year, custom.

🎯 How to Use
  1. Go to Accounting → Line Dashboard (appears automatically for authorized users)
  2. Pick the required period from top filter bar with one click
  3. KPIs update in real-time: total sales, receipts, expenses, bank balance, active employees
  4. Click any KPI to drill down to related detail records
⚡

Top management opens the dashboard in the morning and sees the full cooperative status in 5 seconds instead of waiting for next month's report.

📦

Internal Transfer Approval Workflow

Ahmed_shehata_internal_transfer
03 / 06
⚠️ Before

The cooperative executes a high daily volume of internal transfers between 14 warehouses. Every transfer happened without review or approval — large transfers passing silently. Result: inventory chaos and lost accountability.

✅ After

Electronic approval workflow for transfers exceeding a configurable threshold. Small transfers pass directly, large ones require Financial Manager approval with full audit trail.

🎯 How to Use
  1. Warehouse keeper: Inventory → Operations → Internal Transfers creates a new transfer
  2. On save: system computes total value and compares with defined threshold
  3. If exceeds threshold: transfer enters Pending Transfers queue awaiting manager approval
  4. Manager: receives notification, opens transfer, reviews, approves or rejects with reason
  5. Every step is automatically logged in audit trail (full Chatter)
🛡️

100% oversight on large transfers without disrupting daily small transfer operations. Every transfer has a clear documented approval trail — zero subsequent disputes.

♻️

Multi-Scrap with Approval

Ahmed_shehata_multi_scrap
04 / 06
⚠️ Before

The cooperative deals with perishable agricultural and food products — frequent daily scrap operations. Standard system requires a separate scrap operation per product. Result: large time consumption and no oversight on total scrap value.

✅ After

Multi-scrap order combining multiple products in one operation + smart confirmation wizard + approval workflow for high values. Automatic sequential numbering and complete cycle from creation to posting.

🎯 How to Use
  1. Go to Inventory → Operations → Multi-Scrap Orders → New
  2. Add products (e.g., 20 products with different quantities and reasons) in order lines
  3. Confirm the order — system generates automatic sequential number
  4. If total value exceeds threshold: manager approval is requested
  5. After approval: stock is deducted and accounting entry posted for all lines at once
⏱️

Massive time saving for warehouse keepers: scrap 20 products in one operation instead of 20 separate operations — saving 95% of time + oversight on scrap value.

🧾

Receipt & Payment Vouchers

Ahmed_shehata_voucher
05 / 06
⚠️ Before

BACA receives and pays cash daily (customer payments, petty cash, supplier payments). Recording them as journal entries consumes accountant time and exposes system to errors — non-accountant employees can't record directly.

✅ After

Receipt/payment vouchers with 5 separate menus and 2 independent sequences (CV for receipts, PV for payments) and custom PDF print template with BACA official header. Simple interface suitable for any employee.

🎯 How to Use — Example: Collect Payment from Customer
  1. Go to Accounting → Vouchers → Receipt Vouchers → New
  2. Select customer, enter amount, choose payment method (cash/bank/check)
  3. Write reason or linked invoice number in description field
  4. Click Post — system creates balanced journal entry automatically
  5. Print voucher with official template and hand a copy to customer
✍️

Any employee can record receipt/payment voucher without accounting knowledge — and the journal entry is always correct and balanced.

💼

Employee Cash Custody

Ahmed_shehata_custody
06 / 06
⚠️ Before

BACA disburses cash custody to employees for work expenses (materials, maintenance, travel, purchase pickup). Manual tracking is difficult: who received? how much remaining? when to settle? any old pending custody?

✅ After

Integrated custody system with 8 menus and 3 sequences (issue, return, settle). Custody balance shows directly on employee card. Automatic accounting entry + professional print template.

🎯 How to Use — Complete Custody Cycle
  1. Issue Custody: HR → Custody → New Custody Issue, specify employee, amount, reason
  2. Financial manager approves and posts — deducted from bank/cash, added to employee custody balance
  3. Settle Custody: When returning receipts, choose Custody Settlement and attach actual expense invoices
  4. Return Remaining: If amount remains, create custody return voucher to fully clear balance
  5. System prevents new custody issuance to employees with large open balance (configurable)
🎯

Real-time view of custody balance per employee. Zero forgotten or lost custody, with automatic protection from accumulating pending custody at one employee.

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