Consulting · October 2026 – January 2027
LabHacker Maceió: free-software management system with Odoo
Implementation of a Portuguese-language, open-source management system for a Brazilian digital-culture laboratory, plus fundraising consulting.
LabHacker is the Brazilian Laboratory of Digital Culture, a civil-society organisation working in digital culture. Its team runs projects, events, courses and a shop, and needed one place for minutes, approvals, reimbursements, contracts and fundraising, without paying per-user licences or depending on a proprietary vendor.
My proposal was a free-software management system in Portuguese, built on Odoo Community and the Odoo Community Association (OCA) modules, with custom development only where nothing existed.
What the engagement covers
- Needs workshop and module map. Each need raised by the team was mapped to a native Odoo app, an OCA module, a custom module or a second phase, so that scope stayed honest about what the free edition does and does not include.
- Server and security. Odoo 19 in containers, automatic HTTPS, daily backups with retention, closed public sign-up, role-based access (board, coordination, finance, communication, staff, externals) and a closed, invitation-only sign-up.
- Brazilian non-profit accounting. A chart of accounts for non-profits following ITG 2002, with withholding-tax rules, bank reconciliation and fixed-asset depreciation from OCA.
- Custom modules, each built as a lean first version the team actually uses:
- Minutes: decisions become tasks with owner and deadline, and people are notified by e-mail and chat
- Approvals: a single queue for communication, purchases and contracts
- Batch expenses with OCR: upload receipts, review, send for approval
- Contracts with parties, value, term and expiry alerts
- Fundraising CRM: funder, amount requested, counterpart, deadlines, reporting duties
- Travel requests with compared quotes
- Attendance: time recording rules adapted for a non-profit team
- Documentation. A 41-page user manual inside the system’s own knowledge base, written for non-technical staff.
- Fundraising consulting, running alongside the implementation, so that the new CRM and the lab’s funding strategy are built together.
Approach
Open source by default, small increments, and documentation as a deliverable. The system is designed so that LabHacker can keep, host, audit and extend it without me.