Task-Level Cost Tracking
Required Permissions
Project > User or higher to set analytic accounts on tasks. Timesheets > User: all timesheets or higher to view analytic distribution on timesheets.
What this does
By default, Odoo tracks all time logged in a project against a single analytic account — the one set on the project. This means you can see total costs per project, but you can't break it down by job or task within that project.
With task-level analytics, you can assign a different analytic account to individual tasks. Time logged against that task will be tracked to its own account, giving you per-job profitability within a single project.
How projects and analytic accounts work
When you create a new project, Odoo automatically creates an analytic account with the same name and links it to the project. You can see this on the project's Settings tab under Analytic Account.
This project-level account is the default. Any timesheet logged in the project will use this account unless the task specifies something different.
Setting an analytic account on a task
- Open the task
- Find the Analytic Account field (in the left column of the form)
- Select an existing analytic account, or create a new one
If the field is blank, timesheets on that task use the project's default account. If you set an account, timesheets on that task use the task's account instead.
What happens when you change it
If you change the analytic account on a task that already has timesheets:
- Unvalidated timesheets update automatically to the new account
- Validated timesheets stay on the old account — they're locked
This means you can fix a miscategorized task without worrying about rewriting approved history.
When to use this
Use task-level analytics when you need to track costs at a finer level than the project. Common examples:
- A project covers multiple client engagements — each task gets the client's analytic account
- You want to compare profitability across different job types within the same project
- A single project has tasks billed to different cost centers
If every task in a project uses the same account, you don't need to set anything — the project default handles it.
Tips
- Every project must have an analytic account to log timesheets. Odoo creates one automatically when you create a project, so this is rarely an issue. If you somehow end up without one, Odoo will block timesheet entry until it's set.
- Every employee should have an Hourly Cost set (Employees > [Employee] > Settings tab > Hourly Cost). Without it, time is tracked in hours but with a $0 value — the hours show up in reports but with no dollar amount.
- Clearing a task's analytic account doesn't delete the timesheets — it just moves them back to the project's default account.