eBLOCK and Odoo: Digitizing Education

eBLOCK Formación is an online platform offering classes and preparation courses for civil service exams and university degrees, featuring various course formats, online learning, customized courses, pre-recorded classes, and much more. Focused on excellence, they offer a wide range of course topics and online classes that are recorded for later viewing, allowing students to balance their studies with their daily lives.

Before they started working with Odoo three years ago, the entire business was managed using Excel spreadsheets, and they didn’t have a website. This approach presented several challenges and needs. For starters, they needed a website and an online store — both essential for expanding their training offerings.

Furthermore, they needed more agile customer management, as well as clear traceability of all their information. A change in accounting was also necessary, since they had previously managed it using Excel and it was time to transition to an ERP system, thereby enjoying the benefits of a fully integrated system. 

Finally, with all the legislative changes, the need arose to track employee attendance, so it was also necessary to have a system capable of managing time tracking through time clocks.

For all these reasons, they began searching for systems that could meet these needs. At first, they found separate solutions, but these had the drawback of requiring them to manage information across different platforms. They then began looking into ERP systems and discovered Odoo.

Once they had chosen the ERP, they decided to work with WaysIt, an official Odoo Silver-level partner. Together with the partner, they began planning the system’s implementation, setting timelines and scheduling training sessions. They opted to follow the Quickstart methodology, which involves a phased implementation, focusing primarily on the most critical areas and then adding the modules that are less critical to daily operations.

In this way, they prioritized the implementation of the Accounting, CRM, and Sales modules. This enabled more efficient and traceable management of all the company’s financial activity, as well as the management of prospective students and their accounts, allowing them to offer better service and centralize this information within a single tool.

With the implementation plan in place, they began working closely with WaysIt. It was a straightforward and well-defined process; they started with accounting and sales, enabling them to begin using Odoo in these areas.

“The process was easy and guided by our partner WaysIt, who set the implementation timeline and scheduled the training sessions.”

 

Thus, they implemented the system step by step, accompanied by training sessions for employees. Each year they have implemented different modules, with the most recent ones being Attendance, Documents, and Sign.

Implementations, even when perfectly planned, always encounter some obstacles. In eBLOCK’s case, it was the heavy workload they face in their day-to-day operations. This heavy workload slowed down the implementation process somewhat; however, thanks to their collaboration with WaysIt, they were able to successfully complete the implementation.

Today, with the majority of the applications implemented and the team now accustomed to working with the new system, they have seen a significant improvement in the efficiency of their day-to-day operations and in data traceability.

On the other hand, they see the most significant changes in process automation, the digitization of their activities, and the website. Thanks to all of this, they’ve been able to save time on tasks they used to do manually or with Excel spreadsheets.

That’s why they recommend Odoo for both small businesses and freelancers, highlighting the value of such a comprehensive ERP system at an affordable price. They also highlight the ability to automate processes and streamline operations.

Furthermore, they highly value the improvements made each year with new versions, as this allows them to adapt, evolve, and stay ahead of the curve.

“A solution this comprehensive — one that encompasses various solutions across different areas of a business — is far more affordable than the alternatives on the market.”