When a business upgrades Odoo to a new version, its custom code has to be carried across, and before that, it has to be checked. This piece is about auditing custom code before an Odoo upgrade.
Custom code and the upgrade
An Odoo system that has been customized has custom code: the modules, the customizations, the business has had built. When the business upgrades Odoo to a new version, that custom code does not automatically just work on the new version. A new Odoo version can change things the custom code depends on, and so the custom code may need adjustment, sometimes substantial, to work on the new version. Before the upgrade, then, the custom code has to be understood: what it is, and what it will need. That understanding is what auditing the custom code provides.
What auditing the custom code is
Auditing the custom code before an upgrade is examining the business's customizations to understand what they are and what they will need to work on the new version. The audit looks at the custom code and assesses it against the upgrade: what the custom code does, what it depends on, and, given how the new Odoo version differs, what in the custom code will need adjustment. The audit's output is an understanding of the work the upgrade will require for the custom code.
Why auditing before the upgrade matters
Auditing the custom code before the upgrade matters because it is what lets the upgrade be approached knowingly rather than blindly. An upgrade where the custom code has been audited beforehand is an upgrade the business goes into understanding the work involved, what the custom code will need, how much adjustment, where the difficulty is. An upgrade attempted without auditing the custom code is an upgrade going in blind, where the work the custom code needs is discovered as the upgrade hits it, with surprises, with the difficulty unknown until it is met. Auditing the custom code beforehand turns the custom-code part of an upgrade from an unknown into an understood, planned thing.
The audit and the size of the upgrade
The audit of the custom code is, in large part, what reveals the size of the upgrade. The work in an Odoo version upgrade is, often, dominated by the custom code: the more, and the more heavily, the system has been customized, the more work the custom code part of the upgrade is. The audit reveals that: it shows how much custom code there is, how much it will need, and so how large the upgrade genuinely is. This is why auditing before the upgrade matters for planning, the audit is what lets the business genuinely know the size of the upgrade it is undertaking.
The takeaway
Auditing custom code before an Odoo upgrade is examining the business's customizations to understand what they are and what they will need to work on the new version, before the upgrade is undertaken. It matters because a new Odoo version can change things the custom code depends on, so the custom code may need adjustment, and auditing it beforehand lets the upgrade be approached knowingly, with the work understood, rather than blindly. The audit, in large part, reveals the genuine size of the upgrade, which the custom-code work often dominates. For how we approach Odoo, see our ERP practice.