Chapter 1 — Introduction and core concepts

1.1 What TOSS ERP is

TOSS ERP is a single web-based business system. One sign-in gives a company access to accounting, stock, sales, purchasing, manufacturing, human resources, a point of sale, project management and — for education customers — a complete school management system.

The design principle throughout is that one action updates everything it should update. Confirming a sales order reserves stock. Validating a delivery relieves that stock and values it. Posting the invoice writes the journal entry. Nobody re-keys the same figure into a second system.

You reach the product through a normal web browser. There is nothing to install on a desktop. There is an optional mobile app, described in Chapter 22, which installs from the browser rather than an app store.

1.2 How a workspace is organised

Workspace  (your company's private space, on its own web address)
  │
  ├── Company            one or more legal entities / branches
  │     ├── Departments
  │     └── Designations
  │
  ├── Users              people who sign in
  │     └── Roles        bundles of permissions given to users
  │
  └── Apps               the modules switched on for your subscription
        ├── Accounting        ├── Human Resources
        ├── Sales             ├── Project Management
        ├── Purchase          ├── School Management
        ├── Inventory         ├── Point of Sale
        ├── Warehouse (WMS)   ├── Help Desk
        ├── Manufacturing     ├── Merchandising
        ├── Partners          ├── CCTV Monitor
        ├── Gate Pass         └── Public website

Workspace. Everything your company enters lives in its own database, on its own web address (for example acme.toss-erp.com). No other customer's data is stored in it and no other customer can reach it.

Company. Inside a workspace you may run one company or several. Larger customers create a main company plus branch companies. Documents, accounts and employees all belong to a company.

Apps. Only the modules included in your subscription appear on the home screen. If an app you expect is missing, see Chapter 26 — an administrator can request that it be switched on.

1.3 Vocabulary you will meet everywhere

1.4 The document lifecycle, in general

Almost every document in the system follows the same three-stage life:

   Draft  ──────►  Confirmed / Posted  ──────►  Done / Locked
     │                     │                          │
     │                     │                          └── historical record,
     │                     │                              reversal only
     │                     └── affects stock and/or the ledger
     └── editable, affects nothing

The practical consequences are worth learning once, because they apply everywhere:

• A draft can be edited or deleted. Nothing has happened yet.
• Posting is the commitment point. After it, the figures are in the ledger.
• You do not delete a posted document. You reverse it, which writes an equal and opposite entry and leaves both visible. This is what auditors expect and what the system enforces.
• Locked periods refuse new postings. If accounting has closed a month, a document dated inside it will be rejected with a clear message. See Chapter 12, section on lock dates.

1.5 Who this manual is for

1.6 A note on the order of setup

If you are configuring a workspace from nothing, the order below avoids the most common dead ends. Each step depends on the ones above it.

1. Company              → Chapter 3
2. Users and roles      → Chapter 4
3. Chart of accounts    → Chapter 12  (load a country template)
4. Partners             → Chapter 5
5. Items and warehouses → Chapter 8
6. Journals and taxes   → Chapter 12
7. Opening balances     → Chapter 12
8. Everything else

The single most common setup mistake is entering transactions before the chart of accounts exists. Sales and purchase documents post to accounts; without them, posting fails.