Before you start implementation, let’s get familiar with the terminology that is used and some basic concepts in DiERP.
Basic Concepts
Company
This represents the Company records for which DiERP is setup. With this same setup, you can create multiple Company records, each representing a different legal entity. The accounting for each Company will be different, but they will share the Customer, Supplier and Item records.
Setup > Company
Customer
Represents a customer. A Customer can be an individual or an organization. You can create multiple Contacts and Addresses for each Customer.
Selling > Customer
Supplier
Represents a supplier of goods or services. Your telephone company is a Supplier, so is your raw materials Supplier. Again, a Supplier can be an individual or an organization and has multiple Contacts and Addresses.
Buying > Supplier
Item
A Product, sub-product or Service that is either bought, sold or manufactured and is uniquely identified.
Stock > Item
Account
An Account is a heading under which financial and business transactions are carried on. Examples of accounts are “Debtors”, “Creditors”, “VAT Payable”, “Travel Expenses”, “Sales”, “Share Capital”, etc. DiERP keeps track of your customers’ and suppliers’ balances in the background, so you don’t need to create dedicated Accounts for them.
Accounting > Chart of Accounts
Address
An address represents the location details of a Customer or Supplier. These can be of different locations such as Head Office, Factory, Warehouse, Shop etc.
Selling > Address
Contact
An individual Contact belongs to a Customer or Supplier or is just an independent. A Contact has a name and contact details like email and phone number.
Selling > Contact
Communication
A list of all Communication with a Contact or Lead. All emails sent from the system are added to the Communication table.
Support > Communication
Price List
A Price List is a place where different rate plans can be stored. It’s a name you give to a set of Item Prices stored under a particular List.
Selling > Price List
Buying > Price List
Accounting
Fiscal Year
Represents a Financial Year or Accounting Year. You can operate multiple Fiscal Years at the same time. Each Fiscal Year has a start date and an end date and transactions can only be recorded in this period. When you “close” a fiscal year, it’s balances are transferred as “opening” balances for the next fiscal year.
Setup > Company > Fiscal Year
Cost Center
A Cost Center is like an Account, but the only difference is that its structure represents your business more closely than an Account. For example, in your Chart of Accounts, you can separate your expenses by their type (i.e., travel, marketing, etc.). In your Chart of Cost Centers, you can separate them by product line or business group (e.g., online sales, retail sales, etc.).
Accounting > Chart of Cost Centers
Journal Entry
A document that contains General Ledger (GL) entries and the sum of Debits and Credits of those entries is the same. In ERPNext you can update Payments, Returns, etc., using Journal Entries.
Accounting > Journal Entry
Sales Invoice
A bill sent to Customers for delivery of Items (goods or services).
Accounting > Sales Invoice
Purchase Invoice
A bill sent by a Supplier for delivery of Items (goods or services).
Accounting > Purchase Invoice
Currency
DiERP allows you to book transactions in multiple currencies. There is only one currency for your book of accounts though. While posting your Invoices with payments in different currencies, the amount is converted to the default currency by the specified conversion rate.
Setup > Currency
Selling
Customer Group
A classification of Customers, usually based on market segment.
Selling > Setup > Customer Group
Lead
A person who could be a future source of business. A Lead may generate Opportunities. (from: “may lead to a sale”).
CRM > Lead
Opportunity
A potential sale. (from: “opportunity for a business”).
CRM > Opportunity
Quotation
Customer’s request to price an item or service.
Selling > Quotation
Sales Order
A note confirming the terms of delivery and price of an Item (product or service) by the Customer. Deliveries, Work Orders and Invoices are made on basis of Sales Orders.
Selling > Sales Order
Territory
A geographical area classification for sales management. You can set targets for Territories and each sale is linked to a Territory.
Selling > Setup > Territory
Sales Partner
A third party distributer / dealer / affiliate / commission agent who sells the company’s products usually for a commission.
Selling > Setup > Sales Partner
Sales Person
Someone who pitches to the Customer and closes deals. You can set targets for Sales Persons and tag them in transactions.
Selling > Setup > Sales Person
Buying
Purchase Order
A contract given to a Supplier to deliver the specified Items at the specified cost, quantity, dates and other terms.
Buying > Purchase Order
Material Request
A request made by a system User, or automatically generated by ERPNext based on reorder level or projected quantity in Production Plan for purchasing a set of Items.
Buying > Material Request
Stock (Inventory)
Warehouse
A logical Warehouse against which stock entries are made.
Stock > Warehouse
Stock Entry
Material transfer from a Warehouse, to a Warehouse or from one Warehouse to another.
Stock > Stock Entry
Delivery Note
A list of Items with quantities for shipment. A Delivery Note will reduce the stock of Items for the Warehouse from where you ship. A Delivery Note is usually made against a Sales Order.
Stock > Delivery Note
Purchase Receipt
A note stating that a particular set of Items were received from the Supplier, most likely against a Purchase Order.
Stock > Purchase Receipt
Serial Number
A unique number given to a particular unit of an Item.
Stock > Serial Number
Batch
A number given to a group of units of a particular Item that may be purchased or manufactured in a group.
Stock > Batch
Stock Ledger Entry
A unified table for all material movement from one warehouse to another. This is the table that is updated when a Stock Entry, Delivery Note, Purchase Receipt, and Sales Invoice (POS) is made.
Stock Reconciliation
Update Stock of multiple Items from a spreadsheet (CSV) file.
Stock > Stock Reconciliation
