Five ERP systems. One set of numbers.

Ecostal Group is a fast-growing European energy solutions company and strategic partner to renewable energy professionals. Founded in Belgium in 2008, the Group has evolved from a photovoltaic equipment distributor into an integrated European platform combining the distribution of solar, energy storage, EV charging and smart energy solutions with engineering, construction and maintenance services for complex energy projects.

The business operates across multiple companies and business systems. Odoo is the primary ERP platform for several entities, while other parts of the group run on entirely different ERP solutions. Odoo provides strong operational reporting for day-to-day activity within each of its modules, but Ecostal’s management team needed a much broader business view than any single module, or any single ERP system, could offer.

Some of the business’s biggest reporting challenges included comparing performance across different periods, combining financial and sales information and creating reports that spanned multiple Odoo modules. The single biggest issue, however, was consolidating data from Ecostal’s five different ERP systems across the group. This was all compounded by the need to bring Excel-based information into day-to-day reporting.

“It will always circle back to the issue that we had five different systems and that we needed an overview of everything. The business was spending too much time gathering information and not enough time analysing it.”

Ecostal selected Bmatix’s GBA Odoo, built on a ready-made integration between Odoo and Microsoft Fabric with Power BI. Rather than building a data integration from scratch, Bmatix could quickly create a digital copy of Ecostal’s Odoo environment and make all of its business data available for reporting, significantly reducing implementation time while giving Ecostal far greater flexibility than off-the-shelf Odoo reporting.

With the foundations of the reporting layer already in place, Bmatix was able to build on Ecostal’s existing work. Following a technical workshop to gather system information and access credentials, Bmatix connected to Ecostal’s Odoo environment, built the data platform and was demonstrating reports within days. An integration that could typically take months was up and running in just a few days.

“We had the skeleton of what needed to be done and Bmatix was able to recreate that, but with their implementation. It kept the process both simple and fast.”

The process was also genuinely collaborative. Where Ecostal’s customisations required additional input, Bmatix worked closely with its existing Odoo implementation partner, bringing the right expertise together when needed. For the most part, however, Bmatix was able to work independently with secure access to Ecostal’s Odoo environment, keeping the project moving quickly without adding unnecessary demands on the team.

“Especially since we’re a growing company, we have custom development within Odoo, so things aren’t standard everywhere. Bmatix asked our Odoo partner the right questions directly, it was a good partnership.”

With the data platform in place, Ecostal can now build reports that combine finance, sales, inventory, multiple Odoo modules, multiple companies, other ERP systems and Excel-based information. The reports that have delivered the most value to Ecostal, daily sales and gross margin follow-up, combined finance and sales, multi-warehouse inventory and fast- and slow-moving stock analysis.

“We now have these reports all in one place, rather than as isolated, single-system reports. And as we operate across multiple countries, each with its own regulatory requirements, having one consistent version of the data has simplified reporting against those obligations too.”

The platform will flex as Ecostal’s requirements evolve. Because the underlying data model already exists, Ecostal can create new reports quickly without rebuilding the integration each time.