Key Concepts and Terminologies
Before exploring ERPNext implementation, it is important to understand its basic concepts and vocabulary:
Core Entities:
Company:
The legal entity for which ERPNext is configured. Several companies can be handled in the same setup with shared customer, supplier, and item records but independent accounting.
Customer:
A person or business buying goods or services. Several contacts and addresses can be linked to a single customer.
Supplier:
A person or business offering goods or services. Similar to customers, suppliers may have several contacts and addresses.
Item:
A product, sub-product, or service purchased, sold, or produced, uniquely represented within the system.
Account:
An account type within which financial transactions are reported, e.g., "Sales," "Expenses," or "Assets."
Address:
Location information related to a customer or supplier, e.g., headquarters, factories, or warehouses.
Contact:
A person associated with a supplier or customer, with dedicated contact information such as phone number and email.
Communication:
History of communication with contacts or leads, such as emails dispatched through the system.
Price List:
A list of product prices under a given rate plan, to be used in buying and selling.
Accounting:
Fiscal Year:
Specifies the accounting year with a beginning and end date, within which transactions are entered.
Cost Center:
An organizational division where costs are monitored, i.e., departments or projects.
Journal Entry:
An accounting entry for financial transactions that hit accounts, keeping debits and credits in balance.
Sales Invoice:
An invoice sent to customers for goods or services delivered.
Purchase Invoice:
An invoice received from suppliers for goods or services supplied.
Currency:
ERPNext uses various currencies, converting transactions into the default currency with rates defined.
Sales and CRM
Customer Group:
Classification of customers on the basis of market segments or other factors.
Lead:
A prospective customer who has expressed interest in your service or product.
Opportunity:
A prospective sales opportunity from a lead.
Quotation:
Written declaration of prices of goods or services quoted to a customer.
Sales Order:
Sale confirmation, stating the terms and conditions as agreed with the customer.
Territory:
Geographical categorization applied to sales management and target setting.
Sales Partner:
Third-party companies such as distributors or agents who resell your products, typically on a commission basis.
Sales Person:
Someone who sells products or services, with targets and monitoring.
Purchasing:
Purchase Order:
A formal order to a supplier for provision of items at specified terms.
Material Request:
An internal order for procurement of some items, either manual or automatically created.
Inventory Management
Warehouse:
Storage facility for inventory, used in stock transactions.
Stock Entry:
Captures movement of stock between warehouses or changes in inventory.
Delivery Note:
Captures the despatch of goods to customers, lowering stock levels accordingly.
Purchase Receipt:
Records the receipt of goods from suppliers, usually associated with a purchase order.
Serial Number:
A distinct code assigned to separate units of an item.
Batch:
A collection of items manufactured or bought together, labeled with a batch number.
Stock Ledger Entry:
Complete record of all stock transactions within the system.
Stock Reconciliation:
Reconciles stock levels against physical counts, usually utilizing CSV imports.
Quality Inspection:
Records the inspection of items for quality checking when received or prior to despatch.
Item Group:
Item grouping into categories for improved organization.
Human Resources
Employee:
Records information of individuals working with the company, current or former.
Leave Application:
Records requests for leave, along with approvals or rejections.
Leave Type:
Specifies different types of leave, i.e., sick leave or vacation.
Payroll Entry:
Enables the generation of salary slips for a group of employees.
Salary Slip:
Records the monthly salary given to an employee.
Salary Structure:
Specifies the breakdown of an employee's salary, i.e., earnings and deductions.
Appraisal:
Assesses an employee's performance for a particular duration.
Appraisal Template:
Determines the criteria and weightage for performance assessments.
Attendance:
Records employee attendance or absence on specified dates.
Manufacturing
Bill of Materials (BOM):
Enumerates the parts and operations involved in producing an item.
Workstation:
Specialized area where a particular production operation is carried out.
Work Order:
Directs production of a certain amount
Production Planning Tool
Automatically generate Work Orders and Purchase Requests based on open Sales Orders within a specified time frame. It saves you time and ensures your production is in order.
Blog Post
A brief article that appears in the "Blog" page of your site. It's authored using the ERPNext website module. "Blog" is an abbreviation of "Web Log"—a location to post updates, tips, or tales.
Web Page
An individual page on your site that exists independently with its own web address (URL), developed with ERPNext.
Setup & Customization
Custom Field:
Need to include additional information on a form? A Custom Field allows you to include additional input fields on any form or table.
Global Defaults:
You can define system-wide default values—such as default currency, company, or fiscal year—that are applicable across ERPNext here.
Print Heading:
Desire to alter the printed title of a document? This is used to print titles such as "Proposal" or "Pro Forma Invoice" instead of the default (such as "Quotation").
Terms and Conditions
These are your standard contract terms used within sales and purchase documents. Once defined, they automatically print when printing documents such as Sales Orders or Purchase Invoices.
Unit of Measure (UOM)
This indicates the way an item's quantity is measured—such as Kilogram (Kg), Number (No.), Pair, Packet, etc.