The Retired Military Personnel Association looks after retired servicemen through membership, financial help, seasonal food distribution and other services. Al Jawad Software House shaped Odoo around that work, in Arabic first, so staff handle members, requests and letters in one place and members can reach them by phone.
The business
An association does not trade. It serves. Its daily work is registering members, hearing requests, deciding fairly and writing official letters. Decisions about people need care, so a person always makes them.
Where the work gets hard
Requests follow a procedure. A request for help is looked at in terms of the family, its income and its expenses, and the committee gives its view. Staff work in Arabic, so the system must too.
Letters need a number and an approver. An outgoing letter is reviewed, approved and issued with an official number.
Members want things simple. Asking for a service should not mean learning a complicated app.
What we implemented
A member registry that staff can maintain
Members, service requests, aid cases and seasonal food-aid cases each have their own records, reached from one screen where staff search or start something new.
Approval steps are set up as a table: for each kind of request, who approves and in what order. The next approver is told, and the association can change the routes itself.
An aid case moves from draft to submitted, then approved or rejected, and finally to paid out. Odoo works out the family's position from what staff enter. The committee's recommendation is recorded in words, and people decide.
Official letters
Outgoing letters are reviewed by administrative affairs and approved by the general manager. Each issued letter gets an official number, and the printed copy carries the letterhead and stamp.
Emirates ID from the card
Staff photograph the card. Odoo reads the machine-readable strip and checks it is valid. The English name comes from the front of the card, and staff type the Arabic name.
A portal members can use from their phone
The portal opens in Arabic, with English one tap away. Each screen asks for one thing, in large text.
Members sign in with their membership or Emirates ID number and a short PIN. An existing member claims an account by confirming details the association holds. A newcomer sends a membership application.
To ask for a service, a member presses the microphone and speaks. The voice message goes straight onto the request. Documents are photographed with the phone camera. The portal can sit on the home screen like an app.
Requests reach staff in their usual screens, marked as coming from the portal. Members can follow them and update contact details. Staff can reset a PIN or suspend an account.
Cheques and vouchers
Finance tracks cheques, including post-dated ones, from registration to clearing or return. Cheques and vouchers print on UAE bank layouts.
How the work gets easier
| The usual way | With the new process |
|---|---|
| Members are kept in separate files | One Arabic registry for members, requests and aid cases |
| Approval depends on who remembers to forward a request | Each step is assigned, and the next approver is told |
| Letters are numbered and stamped by hand | Odoo numbers the letter and prints it with letterhead and stamp |
| Identity details are retyped from the card | Staff photograph the card and Odoo reads it |
| Members visit or call to ask for a service | Members ask from their phone, by voice if they prefer |
The result is less retyping and chasing, and a clear record of who approved what.
