Start here and follow a complete business workflow
Choose the right guide and confirm preparation results and safe recovery
Use this handbook to choose the right guide, prepare your company and understand when a task is finished. The linked chapters explain the relevant fields and controls. Start with the business event, not with a journal that happens to produce the desired balance.
Choose your starting point
If you are a new user, begin with navigation and company context, then the guide for your assigned duty. If you administer a subscription workspace, start with user administration and company setup. If the company already exists, review its setup; do not create another company simply to follow an example.
A tenant is your subscription workspace. Its Tenant Administrator manages authorised users and access within that workspace. A company has its own accounting records; a location is an operating unit within that company. Administrator access and ownership of subscription billing are different responsibilities.
Prepare a new company in dependency order
- Confirm authorised access, the legal company identity, functional currency and reporting/cutover requirements. Use Create a company for the company, primary location and mandatory starter-chart choice. The starter business model is used once, not saved as a company attribute.
- Review the account hierarchy and GL controls. Confirm system accounts, posting destinations, precision, dated exchange rates and open accounting dates. Do not assume that selecting a starter chart completes every module's account mappings.
- Add secondary locations, assign appropriate access and prepare cash and bank accounts. Check company, location and currency relationships before choosing them on transactions.
- Prepare customers/vendors, approved tax codes and any required country electronic-invoicing profiles. An identity, tax code and authority connection serve different purposes.
- For stock, prepare inventory policies and posting groups, items/prices and warehouses/bins. Complete tracking and opening-stock design before using stocked purchases, sales, manufacturing or POS.
- Configure the specialist module you will use: purchasing, manufacturing, POS, assets or HR/payroll. Keep the setup record separate from its first transaction.
- Reconcile approved opening balances. Agree which subsidiary records create control balances so the same amount is not loaded twice through both a module and a manual GL journal.
Use synthetic data in an approved training company when learning a consequential action. Saving, posting, approving, importing and reversing can change records even if the example amount is small.
Complete the checks before every transaction
| Check | What to confirm | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Company and location | Read Current Company and the document's own Location | A correct amount in the wrong company or branch is still an error |
| Source and identity | Identify the customer/vendor/item/employee and actual source document | Similar names or typed lookup text are not the selected record |
| Dates | Distinguish transaction/event date, ledger date and any due/service dates | Accounting cutoff, ageing and operational timing can differ |
| Currency and precision | Review transaction currency, functional amounts, rate direction and displayed totals | A balanced foreign entry can still use the wrong currency or rate |
| Quantities and tracking | Review UOM, warehouse, bin, lot, serial and expiry as applicable | Item-level stock does not establish that the required tracked identity is available |
| Authority and evidence | Confirm your duty, approval route and required support | A visible button or saved attachment is not business approval |
| Existing record | Search for the event/reference before a retry | A timeout can occur after a save succeeded |
Follow the right operational journey
| Business event | Read in this order | Completion evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Sell a service and collect cash | Service invoice/receipt fields, tax, bank reconciliation | Saved invoice/receipt, application and remaining open balance, posted accounting and bank evidence; a receipt alone is not invoice application |
| Quote and fulfil a stocked sale | Leads and quotes, orders and stocked invoices, inventory reconciliation | Accepted commercial terms where needed, remaining order quantity, invoice, actual stock allocation/movement, customer balance and GL; fiscal state checked separately |
| Purchase stock and pay the vendor | Purchasing policy, orders/receipts, vendor invoices/payments | Approved order when required, received/accepted quantities, matching evidence, GRNI/payable, payment application, residual amount and bank reconciliation |
| Adjust or transfer stock | Movement guide, conditional tracking | Source/destination identities, accepted saved quantities, completed costing/journals and consistent dated valuation |
| Produce finished goods | Manufacturing setup, batch transactions | Actual consumption, output/loss, quality release, WIP/completion journals and inventory cost trail |
| Sell through a cashier terminal | POS setup, checkout/returns/close | Saved ticket, tender evidence, receipt/fiscal state, stock/COGS, session cash/card reconciliation and separately confirmed external settlement |
| Acquire or depreciate an asset | Asset setup, asset transactions | One capitalisation route, register/ledger, applied depreciation, posted journals and any disposal clearing/settlement |
| Run payroll and settle obligations | HR setup, payroll transactions, AP payments | Approved inputs/calculation, posted payroll/AP, all relevant remaining balances and payment evidence; HR Paid alone is not full settlement |
| Record an accrual or correction | Journals and close, approvals | Balanced saved journal, required decision, POSTED state, source/correction references and appropriate report dates |
| Reconcile and close | Worked bank reconciliation, Balance Sheet Review, schedule templates, period close | Same-cutoff supported balances, explained differences, independent review and an authorised saved closed-through date |
Find the remaining specialist references
| Task | Guide | Important boundary |
|---|---|---|
| Record import/export evidence | Trade references | Reference utilisation and realization do not themselves settle a bank or certify customs compliance |
| Ask a question or save a shortcut | RavenView and shortcuts | Read-only answers and navigation do not save or approve transactions |
| Run a report | Reporting Center, individual parameters | Completed output must match company, date, currency, location and dataset grain |
| Import a file | Import workflow, exact template columns | Validate, commit, downstream posting and reconciliation are separate stages |
| Work with country/tracking conditions | Conditional controls, electronic invoicing | Required screens depend on the actual configuration; queued/exported is not authority accepted |
| Use a partner login | Partner portal | A contact sees only its enabled business-account scope, not the tenant administration workspace |
| Review a colleague's request | Approvals and audit | Decide on the current document/version, then check downstream processing |
Understand what each state proves
| State or action | What it establishes | What it does not establish |
|---|---|---|
| Saved / Draft | A record has been retained in its current workflow state | Approval, stock/cost processing, ledger posting or payment |
| Validated | The stated checks accepted the proposed file/input | A committed import or financial result |
| Submitted / Pending | A request awaits its applicable next stage | An approval decision or completed posting |
| Approved | The relevant authorised decision was recorded | Completed background work, bank settlement or fiscal acceptance |
| Queued / Processing | Work has been requested or is running | Successful final processing |
| Posted | The relevant accounting stage completed for that record | Complete subsidiary reconciliation, bank settlement or legal/fiscal acceptance |
| Exported / Downloaded / Printed | An output was produced or obtained | External delivery, authority acceptance or payment |
| Accepted | The applicable authority/document acceptance evidence exists | Collection of a receivable or settlement of a refund |
| Paid | A module-specific payment state | Necessarily zero remaining balance across every linked invoice; check the module guide |
| Closed | The applicable order/session/period control is closed | Cancellation of history or proof that every account was reconciled |
Use the figures and field references
Read a field's entry rule, example and implication together. Required fields can depend on earlier choices. Locked or calculated values should be checked, not forced into hidden inputs. Search and select the actual lookup result. A filter narrows the current display; it does not necessarily change the saved transaction.
Figures labelled Illustrative training screen or Illustrative training reference explain the arrangement with fictional data. They are not your company's records. Match the visible labels and selected state in your own authorised screen rather than copying an example's identity, amount, rate or tax treatment.
Confirm the result before leaving the task
Record the generated document number and reopen it from the appropriate list. Check its saved header and complete lines, approval/posting/operational state and linked records. Compare a relevant report using the same scope and cutoff. For a master record, verify the saved values and availability; do not expect a financial journal merely because a master was created.
For an illustrative invoice of USD 1,000 and an applied receipt of USD 600, the residual is USD 400 before other authorised credits, tax or FX effects. The bank receipt, invoice application and customer's remaining balance are three related checks, not interchangeable evidence. Do not change the invoice to USD 600 to make it look paid.
Recover without creating duplicates
- Retain the company, location, record/reference, approximate time and displayed message. Do not include passwords, OTPs, full card details or unnecessary personal data in a support request.
- Search the relevant list and open the existing record before retrying Save, Confirm, Commit, Post or Reverse. A page error does not prove that a preceding write failed.
- Correct editable preparation through the supported form. For a posted or dependent record, use the originating module's authorised correction path and review later applications, stock, approvals, periods and fiscal references.
- Recheck the saved correction and downstream balances. A manual GL journal does not fix stock identities, customer/vendor open documents, asset history, payroll or authority documents.
If the screen, status or balance remains inconsistent, stop the consequential action and ask the responsible administrator/accountant or support to review the identified record. Never use a duplicate transaction or unexplained balancing journal to hide the problem.
Use a task guide and its field reference together
An overview explains setup and the module's purpose. A transaction guide explains what to do with a business event. A field reference explains the selected control; it is not a replacement for the surrounding sequence. Start with the operational journey above, then use the matching field section as you enter the record.
For example, preparing a bank master belongs in Cash and bank. Matching a real statement belongs in Worked bank reconciliation. Selecting an account in a reporting filter belongs in Individual report parameters. These activities can use the same bank identity without performing the same action.
Interpret fields before entering values
| What the screen shows | How to use it | What to check afterwards |
|---|---|---|
| Required or conditionally required field | Complete it when the selected country, item, policy or state requires it; a blank example is not permission to omit it | Read the field-level error and the selected condition; do not fill an unrelated value simply to pass validation |
| Search or lookup | Type to find candidates, then choose the intended result | Confirm its actual code/name and company/location; typed text alone may not select a record |
| Default | Review the proposed value for this business event | Changing a master default is not correction of previously saved transactions |
| Locked or generated value | Read it and verify the context; do not force a hidden identity | Retain the saved record number and inspect the supported correction route if the context is wrong |
| Percentage, quantity or rate | Identify the unit, direction and basis before entering the number | Ten percent, ten units and a rate of ten have different meanings; check the resulting amounts |
| Remove, Cancel, Unmatch or Reverse | Read the task-specific consequence before choosing it | Removing a preparation row, leaving unsaved work, unlinking a match and correcting accounting are not the same action |
Understand the accounting vocabulary
| Term | Plain-language meaning |
|---|---|
| GL | General ledger: the accounting record organised by posting account |
| Reporting account and sub-account | The reporting classification and posting detail whose combination is used on entries |
| AR / AP | Customer receivables / vendor or other payables; reconcile their open documents to the control accounts |
| GRN / GRNI | Goods receipt record / goods received but not yet invoiced accrual |
| UOM | Unit of measure; quantities in different units are not directly additive |
| WIP / CWIP | Manufacturing work in progress / capital work in progress for assets; distinct processes |
| COGS | Cost of goods sold, separate from sales revenue and collected cash |
| NBV | Net book value: the asset's applicable carrying value after accumulated depreciation and other supported movements |
| Functional currency | The company's accounting currency; separate from a document's transaction currency |
| FX | Foreign exchange; review currency units, rate direction and functional carrying amounts |
| Open item / application | An unsettled document balance / the link that allocates a receipt, payment or eligible credit |
| Unapplied receipt or payment | Cash recorded but not yet fully allocated to eligible documents; it may be an intentional customer deposit or supplier advance |
| Reconciliation | Comparison of the same-scope balance with independent support, with differences explained and resolved |
| Grain | What one report row represents, such as one invoice or one line; repeated header totals must not be summed as line amounts |
| Gross / net / residual | Amount before the stated deduction / amount after it / balance still outstanding; check which deduction and currency apply |
| Clearing account | Temporary accounting destination connecting stages; an unexplained residual needs investigation, not a plug |
| Apply / filter | In payments, Apply allocates cash or credit; in a report, Apply can refresh filters. Read the screen context before acting |
| As of / from-to | A point-in-time cutoff / a range of activity; these answer different questions |
Find help and continue
Use Search all guides in the documentation sidebar for a field, task or term; use Find a section to narrow the current chapter. The highlighted chapter and Current chapter label show where you are. Documentation search and the application's own record search are different tools.
Use RavenView where assigned for read-only assistance, and consult the guide library for your task. Your organisation's access, accounting and approval policies still apply.
Data-loading prerequisites and limits for Getting started and RavenView
Start with the business setup map and prerequisite checklist before a bulk load. The shared import procedure explains Validate, Commit Import, job recovery and safe retry.
Continue with the Imports documents and common controls bulk guidance.