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Operator Time & Labor Productivity Tracking — Per-operator start/stop on work orders with idle-time reasons, labor-cost roll- — 1/1Illustrative preview

Per-operator start/stop on work orders with idle-time reasons,

labor-cost roll-up into MO cost, and productivity KPIs. Built for Odoo 17/18/19.

What is Operator Time & Labor Productivity Tracking?

Per-operator start/stop on work orders with idle-time reasons, labor-cost roll-up into MO cost, and productivity KPIs. Built for Odoo 17/18/19. Built to order by ECOSIRE for Odoo 17, 18, 19 — indicative price from $999.00 USD; request a quote for a scoped proposal.

Key Features

Per-operator Start / Pause / Resume / Stop directly on `mrp.workorder`, so labor time is attributed to a named `hr.employee`, not just to the work order's elapsed clock.
Mandatory idle-reason capture on every pause — material wait, machine down, quality hold, changeover, break, meeting — driven by a configurable `operator.idle.reason` model you can extend without code.
Productive-vs-idle time split per log line via `@api.depends` computed fields, giving a true utilization figure instead of a single lumped duration.
Labor-cost roll-up that aggregates operator hours × rate up through the work order to `mrp.production`, so each Manufacturing Order carries its real direct-labor cost.
Configurable labor rates — flat company rate, per-work-center rate, or per-employee / per-grade rate — resolved at posting time and stored on the log for auditability.
Multi-operator on one operation: several `operator.time.log` records can attach to the same work order, correctly costing shared assemblies and operator-plus-helper setups.
OWL kiosk / tablet view for the shop floor: badge-in, big Start/Stop buttons, reason picker, and current-operator status — designed for gloved fingers and touch screens.
Operator productivity & efficiency KPIs: productive hours vs. paid hours, output-per-hour, and efficiency % surfaced in Odoo pivot and graph views.
Idle-time Pareto analysis by reason, work center, shift, and operator, so you can attack the biggest sources of lost labor first.
Shift-aware time capture that maps punches to the correct shift/date even across midnight, using your defined shift calendar.
QWeb labor-cost report per MO / product / operator, printable and emailable, with productive vs. idle breakdown and cost.
Automated actions (`ir.cron` / automated rules) that flag work orders exceeding an idle-ratio threshold or operators left clocked-in past shift end.
Security via `ir.model.access.csv` plus record rules — operators see and edit only their own open logs; supervisors and plant managers see the whole floor.
Analytics-ready: cost lines can post to Odoo Analytic Accounts, and all data is exposed over JSON-RPC/XML-RPC for Power BI, Grafana, or an external MES.
Data-integrity guards: overlap prevention (an operator can't be productive on two orders at once), auto-close of forgotten sessions, and rounding rules you define.

Built to order, done for you

No DIY setup — a working app, built, installed and supported by ECOSIRE.

  1. 1

    You order

    Start with a one-time build price. We scope it with you at kickoff.

  2. 2

    We build & install

    ECOSIRE builds, configures and installs it on your Odoo.

  3. 3

    Go live + support

    You go live in about one working week, with two weeks of go-live support. Defects in the code we deliver are fixed free of charge.

Technical Specifications

Odoo Compatibility
Odoo 17, Odoo 18, Odoo 19
Editions
Enterprise & Community
License
Licence confirmation required
Python Requirement
Python 3.10+
Database
PostgreSQL 12+

About this Product

Odoo's core Manufacturing app records how long a work order stays "in progress" — but it can't tell you which operator did the work, how much of that time was genuinely productive versus idle, why the idle time happened, or what the direct labor actually cost. When two or three operators share one operation, or when a worker pauses for a material shortage or a machine jam, the native productivity log flattens everything into a single elapsed duration. Plant managers are then left costing direct labor from timesheets, spreadsheets, and guesswork.

Operator Time & Labor Productivity Tracking is a build-to-order Odoo module that ECOSIRE designs, builds, installs, and supports specifically for your shop floor. It extends mrp.workorder and the shift-floor tablet/kiosk view so every operator can start, pause, and stop their own labor against a work order — capturing productive time, idle time, and a mandatory reason for every stoppage. Those durations roll up through the ORM into the manufacturing order's real labor cost, and feed a set of productivity, efficiency, and idle-analysis dashboards that give plant managers a defensible, per-operator view of where their labor hours and labor dollars actually go.

Because this is a purpose-built module and not a generic app-store download, we model it around your operations: your work-center hierarchy, your shift patterns, your idle-reason taxonomy, your labor rates (flat, per-work-center, or per-employee-grade), and your reporting cadence. The result is delivered as clean, upgradeable Odoo code — new models with @api.depends computed fields, ir.model.access.csv and record rules for operator-vs-manager visibility, XML/OWL kiosk views, QWeb labor-cost reports, and JSON-RPC/XML-RPC endpoints if you need to feed the data to Power BI or an MES.

How it works under the hood. A dedicated operator.time.log model captures a start timestamp, stop timestamp, operator (hr.employee / res.users), work order, and an activity type (productive vs. idle) with an idle-reason Many2one. Computed fields (@api.depends on the timestamps and rate) derive productive hours, idle hours, and labor cost per log line; these aggregate up to the work order and then to mrp.production so the MO's total cost reflects true direct labor — not a nominal work-center average. Because multiple operator.time.log records can point at the same work order, genuine multi-operator operations (two people on one assembly, an operator plus a helper) are costed correctly instead of double-counting or under-counting a single "in progress" timer.

Operators interact through a stripped-down OWL kiosk screen — badge or select yourself, tap Start, tap Pause and pick a reason (material wait, machine down, quality hold, break, changeover, meeting), tap Resume, tap Done. Managers get server-side reporting: operator efficiency (productive vs. paid hours), utilization by work center and shift, a Pareto of idle reasons, and labor cost per MO / per product / per operator. Automated actions can flag a work order whose idle ratio crosses a threshold, or nudge a supervisor when an operator forgets to clock out.

Every deployment targets Odoo 17, 18, and 19 (Community or Enterprise — we confirm which edition your Manufacturing app runs on and build against it), ships with an install/config guide and operator training, and comes with a support-and-fixes window after go-live. You buy the outcome — a working, documented, supported labor-productivity capability inside your own Odoo — not a zip file you have to integrate yourself.

What you get

  • A complete, installable Odoo module (proper `__manifest__.py`, versioned for your Odoo 17/18/19 target and Community/Enterprise edition) delivered to your repository or as a signed package.
  • Configured idle-reason taxonomy, labor-rate scheme, shift calendar mapping, and idle-threshold rules set up to match your actual shop floor — not left as empty defaults.
  • Security model implemented and documented: `ir.model.access.csv` entries plus record rules for Operator, Supervisor, and Plant Manager groups, mapped to your existing Odoo user groups.
  • Shop-floor kiosk/tablet view (OWL/XML) plus manager dashboards (pivot, graph, Pareto) and a QWeb labor-cost report, all wired into the Manufacturing menu.
  • Written documentation: install & upgrade notes, an admin configuration guide, and a one-page operator cheat-sheet for the kiosk workflow.
  • A live training session (recorded) for operators and for the plant/production management team, run against your own data in a staging or production instance.
  • A post-go-live support-and-fixes window (bug fixes and minor adjustments) with a defined response commitment, plus a documented handover so your team or partner can maintain it.
  • Optional integration hooks delivered on request: JSON-RPC/XML-RPC data feed spec and a sample pull for Power BI / MES / external payroll.

Who this is for

Plant / Production Manager

Owns direct-labor cost and throughput on the floor. Needs to know, per operator and per work center, how many paid hours turned into productive output versus idle time — and why the idle happened — so they can cost jobs accurately, justify headcount, and target the biggest sources of lost labor. This module gives them defensible per-operator numbers instead of timesheet estimates.

Cost Accountant / Controller

Responsible for accurate manufacturing cost. The native MO cost uses nominal work-center rates; this persona needs real direct-labor cost — actual operator hours × real rates — rolled into each Manufacturing Order and, optionally, posted to Analytic Accounts for job-costing and margin analysis.

Shop-Floor Supervisor / Team Lead

Runs the shift and manages the operators. Needs a fast, tablet-friendly way for workers to clock on and off work orders, a live view of who is on what, and instant visibility when someone is idle too long or forgot to clock out — without adding paperwork that slows the line.

Continuous-Improvement / Lean Engineer

Drives OEE and waste reduction. Uses the idle-reason Pareto, efficiency %, and utilization-by-work-center data to find and eliminate the root causes of non-productive labor time — changeover losses, material waits, machine downtime — with real data rather than shop-floor anecdotes.

How Operator Time & Labor Productivity Tracking Compares

CriterionECOSIRECustom BuildCompetitorOdoo Native
Per-operator time attribution (named employee, not just a work-order timer)IncludedPartial supportPartial supportNot included
Mandatory idle-time capture with configurable reason codesIncludedPartial supportPartial supportNot included
Multiple operators costed correctly on one operationIncludedPartial supportNot includedNot included
Real labor cost (operator hours × real rate) rolled into MO costIncludedPartial supportNot includedPartial support
Idle-reason Pareto + efficiency/utilization KPI dashboardsIncludedNot includedPartial supportNot included
Built for YOUR shift calendar, rate scheme & idle taxonomyIncludedIncludedNot includedNot included
Odoo 17/18/19 + Community/Enterprise, upgradeable clean codeIncludedPartial supportPartial supportIncluded
Role-based visibility (operator sees own logs; manager sees floor)IncludedPartial supportPartial supportPartial support
Delivered installed, configured, trained & supportedIncludedNot includedNot includedNot included
JSON-RPC/XML-RPC feed to Power BI / MESIncludedPartial supportNot includedPartial support

Frequently Asked Questions about Operator Time & Labor Productivity Tracking

How long does delivery take, and what happens after I buy?

This is a build-to-order module, not an instant download — nothing is shipped to you at checkout. Typical delivery is one working week depending on scope. After purchase we run a short scoping call to confirm your Odoo version (17, 18 or 19), edition (Community vs. Enterprise), work-center and shift setup, idle-reason list, and labor-rate scheme. We then build the module, install and configure it in a staging instance for your review, adjust based on your feedback, and deploy to production with training. You get a working, documented capability inside your own Odoo — not a raw zip to integrate yourself.

What support and updates do I get after go-live?

Every build includes a post-go-live support-and-fixes window covering bug fixes and minor adjustments, with a defined response commitment agreed at scoping. Because we deliver clean, upgradeable module code (proper manifest, standard ORM patterns, no core hacks), it moves forward with your Odoo point releases; when you migrate across major versions (e.g. 18 to 19) we can quote a version-bump. Ongoing enhancements, extra integrations, or a longer maintenance retainer are available after the initial window — you own the code either way.

Do I need Odoo Enterprise, or does this work on Community?

It works on both. The module extends the standard Manufacturing (`mrp`) app, which exists in Community and Enterprise, so we build against whichever edition and version (17/18/19) you run. We confirm your exact setup during scoping. If a feature you want depends on an Enterprise-only capability, we'll flag it up front rather than assume it.

How does the labor cost actually get into the Manufacturing Order cost?

Each operator session is stored as an `operator.time.log` record with start/stop timestamps, the operator, the work order, and productive-vs-idle status. Computed fields (`@api.depends`) derive hours and cost per log using the labor rate that applies to that operator or work center; those costs aggregate up through the work order to `mrp.production`, so the MO reflects real direct labor. Optionally the cost posts to an Odoo Analytic Account for job-costing. Because logs link to the work order — not a single global timer — multi-operator operations cost correctly.

Can two or three operators work the same operation without breaking the numbers?

Yes — that's a core design goal. Native Odoo runs a single 'in progress' clock per work order, which misrepresents shared work. Here, each operator opens their own `operator.time.log` against the same work order, so a two-person assembly or an operator-plus-helper is costed as the sum of their real hours. The module also prevents one operator from being productive on two orders at the same instant, so hours are never double-counted.

Can we get the data out into Power BI or another system?

Yes. All models are exposed over Odoo's standard JSON-RPC and XML-RPC APIs, so Power BI, Grafana, an external MES, or a payroll system can pull operator hours, idle reasons, efficiency, and labor cost on a schedule. As part of delivery we can provide the endpoint/field spec and a sample query; a fuller custom integration (e.g. a pushed feed or a bespoke connector) can be scoped as an add-on.

Will this conflict with or duplicate Odoo's existing work-order time tracking?

No — it complements it. Odoo's native work-order productivity log (`mrp.workcenter.productivity`) stays intact; this module adds the operator dimension, the mandatory idle-reason capture, real labor-rate costing, and the analytics that core Odoo doesn't provide. We integrate cleanly with the standard work-order lifecycle rather than replacing it, so upgrades and other MRP add-ons keep working.

Request a quote

Operator Time & Labor Productivity Tracking

Per-operator start/stop on work orders with idle-time reasons, labor-cost roll-up into MO cost, and productivity KPIs. Built for Odoo 17/18/19.

  • Per-operator Start / Pause / Resume / Stop directly on `mrp.workorder`, so labor time is attributed to a named `hr.employee`, not just to the work order's elapsed clock.
  • Mandatory idle-reason capture on every pause — material wait, machine down, quality hold, changeover, break, meeting — driven by a configurable `operator.idle.reason` model you can extend without code.
  • Productive-vs-idle time split per log line via `@api.depends` computed fields, giving a true utilization figure instead of a single lumped duration.
  • Labor-cost roll-up that aggregates operator hours × rate up through the work order to `mrp.production`, so each Manufacturing Order carries its real direct-labor cost.

Request a Quotation

Tell us about your Operator Time & Labor Productivity Tracking requirements and we'll send pricing, licensing options and a tailored proposal — usually within one business day.

No payment now. This sends a quote request to our team — we'll follow up by email with pricing and next steps.