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ERP Suite Overview

The ERP layer adds what a business system needs once it stops being a database with forms on it: a ledger that is the system of record, stock that cannot drift, documents with an enforced lifecycle, projects that bill, and the arithmetic underneath all of it.

Where to find it

Architect Panel → ERP - Setup:

  • ERP Bindings — point each engine at your datastores
  • Legal Entities — the companies your data is filed under

It works against your datastores

The engines do not ship their own customer table, product table or invoice table. They work against the datastores you designed, with your column names, through a mapping called a binding.

The stock engine does not need a table called Products; it needs telling which of your datastores plays the item role. You keep the data model you built for your business and gain the behaviour — which is why adopting a module rarely means migrating anything.

Five sections, roughly seventy screens

  • ERP - Setup — Legal Entities, ERP Bindings, Entity Permissions, Document Types, Document Conversion Map, Documents, Calculated Fields, ERP Custom Fields, PunchOut Suppliers.
  • ERP - Finance — Ledger, Chart of Accounts, Journals, Accounting Periods, Tax Codes, Posting Rules, Exchange Rates, Intercompany Rules, Allocations, and the accounting and bank feed screens.
  • ERP - Operations — Stock with its movements, balances, lots, genealogy, locations, policies and cost layers; Structures and standard costs; Demand and Supply; Assets, meters, depreciation, maintenance, inspections and non-conformances.
  • ERP - Projects & Time — Projects & Time, Work Breakdown, Project Budgets, Billing Plans, Rate Cards, Time Entries, Timesheets, Expenses, Absence, Resource Capacity.
  • ERP - Trading & Analytics — Pricing, Price Lists, Price Rules, Commission Schemes, EDI and its partners, transports, maps, messages and control numbers, AS2 Certificates, Analytics with Measures, Dimensions, Reports and Report Schedules.

Consoles and lists

Two kinds of screen appear, and knowing which you are on saves confusion.

  • Consoles — purpose-built screens: Ledger, Stock, Structures, Projects & Time, Pricing, EDI, Analytics, Asset Register, Documents, Feed Queue, PunchOut Suppliers. This is where you do the work.
  • Lists — the underlying datastores in the generic editor. This is where you configure, correct and inspect. A console shows the position; the list behind it shows every row.

Adopt only what you need

The modules are separate. A professional services firm might use Projects & Time, Documents and Finance and never open Operations. A distributor might use Operations, Pricing, Documents and EDI and have no projects at all. An unused section costs nothing — and Platform Modules can hide it entirely.

Worked example — deciding what to turn on

A manufacturer adopting ERP starts with Setup (entities and bindings), then Operations for stock and structures, then Finance once stock movements need to post. Projects, EDI and Pricing come later as they are needed. Each step is usable on its own, and nothing forces the next.

Recommendations

  • Do Legal Entities and ERP Bindings first. Every other module assumes both.
  • Adopt one module at a time and run it properly before starting the next.
  • Hide the sections you will not use with Platform Modules, so the panel stays navigable.
  • Read the background tasks article early — several modules do nothing visible until a task is enabled.