Help & documentation

How to use the platform, end to end

New here, or showing someone the ropes?

Take the guided tour for a 2-minute walk through the whole system, or read the documentation below — there's a section for every part of the platform, written in plain English.

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How the whole system fits together Customers Quotes Sales Orders Dispatch Requirements Run Purchasing Jobs & Work Orders Inventory Stocktake Traceability Scheduling Reports Website Stock

How the whole system fits together

Here's the big picture. A job flows along one path — from a customer asking for a price, all the way to a finished manifold you can trace back to the billet. Every page in the sidebar is just one stop on this path. The dashboard is the live summary of all of it.

  1. 1

    1 · Quote

    A customer asks for a price. You build a quote in Quotes and send it to them.

  2. 2

    2 · Sales order

    They say yes. The quote becomes a sales order (the 'To order' button) — a confirmed job on your books.

  3. 3

    3 · Activate

    You press Activate on that order. This switches it on, so the system starts planning the parts for it.

  4. 4

    4 · Requirements Run

    The system works out everything the order needs — breaking each manifold down into its parts and raw billet — and tells you exactly what to BUY and what to MAKE.

  5. 5

    5 · Buy → Receive

    For bought-in parts it raises purchase orders to your suppliers. When the boxes arrive you 'Receive goods' and they go into stock.

  6. 6

    6 · Make → Cost

    For parts you machine yourself it raises work orders. You log time against each stage, so the real material + labour cost is captured.

  7. 7

    7 · Dispatch → Trace

    The finished manifold is dispatched to the customer, and its entire history is recorded in Traceability — every batch, every stage, forever.

Your accounts stay in MYOB — invoices and supplier bills sync across automatically, so nothing's entered twice. Follow the whole path with 'Take the tour' on this page, or jump to any stop from the sidebar.

Customers

Your customer list — workshops, trade accounts and retail. Each one has a code (e.g. POW001) so you can find them fast and avoid duplicates when an order or quote goes through.

  1. 1

    Find anyone fast

    Search by customer code OR name. Filter by type (workshop / trade / retail). Every list exports to Excel and prints.

  2. 2

    Open a customer

    Click a name for their full record — contact details, address, payment terms and their complete order history.

  3. 3

    Add or edit

    Use 'New customer' to add one, or edit details on their page. You can also start a new quote for them straight from their record.

Buttons & statuses

Customer code
A short code like POW001 — first letters of the name plus a number. Search by code or name so the same customer is never entered twice.
New quote
Starts a quote with this customer already selected.
Customers picked here flow onto quotes, sales orders, dispatch dockets and (via MYOB) invoices.

Quotes

This is where a customer inquiry becomes a priced quote — quick enough for the front desk, without pulling you off the tools. It's the very start of the path.

  1. 1

    Build a quote

    Pick the customer, add products from your catalogue — the description and price fill in automatically. Save it and it gets a number. The total adds up as you go.

  2. 2

    Send it, track the reply

    Mark it Sent once it's gone to the customer. When they come back with a yes, set it to Accepted. You can download a Quote PDF to send them.

  3. 3

    Turn it into an order

    Press 'To order' and the quote becomes a sales order — every line copied across, nothing re-typed. That's the hand-off from selling to doing.

What the statuses & buttons mean

Draft
Still being put together — not sent to the customer yet.
Sent
The quote has gone to the customer; you're waiting on their answer.
Accepted
The customer said yes — it's ready to become an order.
Quote PDF
Downloads a branded quote you can send the customer.
To order
Creates a sales order from this quote and marks the quote 'Converted'. Use it the moment a customer commits.
A converted quote shows up in Sales Orders as a new order, ready to activate.

Sales Orders

Your order book — every confirmed customer order in one place. This page holds the single most important switch in the system: Activate. Until you press it, an order just sits here; once you do, the whole supply chain springs into action.

  1. 1

    An order lands here

    Either created directly, or made from an accepted quote with 'To order'. It starts as Open — saved, but parked.

  2. 2

    Activate it

    When the job is really going ahead, press Activate. The order flips from Open to Activated, and its parts become 'live demand' the system will plan for.

  3. 3

    Now it drives everything

    The Requirements Run only looks at Activated orders. So activating is what tells the system to go buy or make the parts for this job.

  4. 4

    Through to fulfilled

    As work starts it shows 'In fulfilment'; once you record the dispatch it becomes Fulfilled. Click any order number to open its full detail page.

What 'Activate' actually does

Open
The order is saved but parked — it is NOT driving any purchasing or making yet.
Activate
Switches the order on. From this moment its parts count in the Requirements Run, so the system knows to buy or make them.
Activated
Live. The order's parts are now included in the Requirements Run, purchasing and work orders.
In fulfilment
Work has started — a work order for this order is in progress.
Fulfilled
Built and dispatched to the customer.
Return
Records a return against a dispatched order — store the MYOB credit-note reference here.
Activate → it appears in the Requirements Run → you BUY the parts (Purchasing) and MAKE the parts (Jobs) → record the Dispatch → the invoice syncs to MYOB.

Dispatch

Record what's gone out the door. When an order is built and ready, you log the shipment here — the carrier, the tracking number — and print a delivery docket to go with it.

  1. 1

    Record a shipment

    Press 'Record shipment', pick the activated order, choose the carrier (TNT, StarTrack, Australia Post or direct), add the tracking number and ship date.

  2. 2

    It fulfils the order

    Recording a dispatch automatically moves that sales order to Fulfilled, so your order book stays accurate.

  3. 3

    Print the docket

    Each dispatch has a 'Docket PDF' — a delivery docket with the ship-to address and the line items, ready to drop in the box.

Buttons & statuses

Record shipment
Logs a dispatch against an order — carrier, tracking and date — and marks the order Fulfilled.
Docket PDF
A printable delivery docket for the shipment, with the customer's address and what's in the box.
Dispatch reads from your activated Sales Orders; recording one fulfils the order and feeds the invoice that syncs to MYOB.

Requirements Run

The engine room. It reads every Activated sales order, works out every part needed to fulfil them, checks what you already have, and hands you a simple to-do list: what to buy, and what to make. This is the link that's missing today between what you sell and what you have to order.

  1. 1

    Demand from orders AND work orders

    Every activated sales order and every open work order (including manual stock builds) drives demand — broken down through each kit, right down to raw billet.

  2. 2

    Committed to — see exactly why

    Each line shows what it's committed to: the sales order, the work order, or the minimum-hold buffer. Tick the filters or pick a specific order to see only what you need for it.

  3. 3

    Netted against on hand AND on order

    It subtracts what's on the shelf and what's already on a PO or work order, so you never double-order. You only ever buy or make the true shortfall.

  4. 4

    BUY or MAKE — one click

    Tick the parts to purchase → grouped POs with a ready-to-send email. For parts you machine, raise a work order straight to the workshop.

Columns & filters

Committed to
The sales order(s) / work order(s) that need this part. SO- = a sale, WO- = a build.
On order
Quantity already on a purchase order (buy) or already on a work order (make) — so it's not counted as short.
Sales orders / Work orders / Min hold
Tick to filter the list — e.g. only what's needed for sales orders, or only the minimum-hold top-ups.
Purchase orders go to Purchasing; work orders go to Jobs. Both trace back to the orders that triggered them.

Purchasing

Every purchase order in one place. POs are raised for you from the Requirements Run — this is where you track them and book the goods in when they turn up.

  1. 1

    POs arrive here automatically

    When you generate purchase orders from the Requirements Run, they land here grouped by supplier, each with its lines and total.

  2. 2

    Email the supplier

    Each PO carries a drafted email and a PO PDF, so it goes out in one click.

  3. 3

    Receive the goods

    When the delivery arrives, press 'Receive goods'. Stock goes up and a traceable lot is created — with the supplier's batch number recorded against it.

Statuses & buttons

Sent
PO has gone to the supplier; you're awaiting delivery.
ETA flag
Each open PO shows days to its expected date — green while there's time, amber as it nears, red when it's overdue so you can chase the supplier.
Receive goods
Books the delivery in: on-hand stock increases and a traceable lot is created for it.
Bill to MYOB
Pushes the supplier bill to MYOB once goods are received — so your accounts payable stays in MYOB.
Receiving a PO feeds Inventory (stock up) and Traceability (a new lot you can follow into finished manifolds); the supplier bill syncs to MYOB.

Jobs & Work Orders

Where the making happens. A work order is a job to build something in-house — raised from the Requirements Run — and this is where you watch it progress and capture what it costs.

  1. 1

    Two ways to raise a job

    From the Requirements Run (to fulfil a sale), or hit 'New work order' here to build to stock — a manual job that raises the requirements for its parts underneath it.

  2. 2

    Open a job for the full detail

    Click a work order to see its stages (tick them off as you go), the costed materials, time logged, and its documents.

  3. 3

    Documents travel with the job

    Drawings and setup sheets held on the item code are copied into the work order when it's raised — open them, mark them up, and the mark-ups save against that job.

  4. 4

    Log time, get true cost

    'Log time' pre-fills from the item's standard machine/setup time — adjust and save. Material + labour = the real cost of every manifold. Print a Traveller PDF for the shop floor.

Buttons & statuses

New work order
Raise a manual build-to-stock job (not tied to a sale). It still creates the requirements for the parts it needs.
Log time
Records hours against a stage — pre-filled from the item's standard time — and adds to the job's labour cost.
Traveller PDF
A shop-floor run-sheet: the operations to tick off, the kit to gather, and a sign-off.
Work orders are raised in the Requirements Run or here, appear on the two-machine Schedule, build the units in Traceability, and feed back to their sales order.

Inventory

Everything you hold, in one list — stocked parts, raw billet, the sub-parts you make, and non-stock services. It's the stock level the Requirements Run checks against.

  1. 1

    Know what's on hand

    On-hand quantity, unit cost and value for every item. Search or filter by category, or by make vs buy.

  2. 2

    Make, buy, or both

    Every item is flagged as something you make, something you buy, or either. Manufactured items also carry a standard setup + machine time that pre-fills Log Time on a job.

  3. 3

    Minimum hold & reorder point

    Keep a buffer on the shelf with minimum hold, and set a reorder point to trigger restocking. Anything short is flagged and pulled into the Requirements Run.

Buttons & statuses

Make / Buy / Both
Whether you manufacture the item, purchase it, or can do either — filterable.
Min hold
The buffer you never want to drop below. Reorder point is the level that triggers restocking.
Stock here goes UP when you Receive goods in Purchasing, and is what the Requirements Run nets demand against. Use Stocktake to set opening balances in one go.

Stocktake

Count the shelf and set the numbers in one go. Use it once to load your opening stock at go-live, and again any time you do a periodic count.

  1. 1

    Enter counted quantities

    Each item shows its current on-hand. Type the counted figure beside it — search or filter to find things fast.

  2. 2

    Save the count

    Saving overwrites on-hand with what you counted. Only changed rows are updated, so you can do it in passes.

  3. 3

    Everything stays in step

    The new levels flow straight into Inventory and the Requirements Run.

Buttons & statuses

Save stocktake
Writes your counted quantities to Inventory as the new on-hand. Use it for opening stock or a periodic count.
Stocktake writes directly to Inventory — the same stock the Requirements Run plans against.

Traceability

Full build history for every manifold — back to the billet. This is the capability you won't leave Accentis without, and it's built right in.

  1. 1

    Pick a finished serial

    Every manifold gets a serial (e.g. TNC-0039). Select one to see its complete genealogy.

  2. 2

    See the whole build

    Which billet heat-lot it was cut from, which injector batch went in, which supplier PO each part came from, who machined it and when — stage by stage, with the job cost.

  3. 3

    Reverse it for recall

    Switch to 'Material recall', pick an incoming lot, and instantly see every finished unit it went into — so a flagged supplier batch is never a guessing game.

Lots come in through Purchasing (Receive goods); units are built in Jobs. Traceability stitches the whole history together.

Scheduling

Queue jobs, estimate the time, and see what's on the bench and what's next — the production picture in one view. The Gantt you could never get working in Accentis.

  1. 1

    Production timeline

    A Gantt of your work orders: scheduled jobs in blue, queued jobs as planned slots, with a marker for today.

  2. 2

    Two machines, drag to plan

    Two lanes — CNC 1 and CNC 2 — since you can run two jobs at once. Drag a job to re-order it, or drop it on the other machine to move it across.

  3. 3

    Finished jobs drop off

    Once a work order is complete it leaves the board, so you're only ever looking at what's still to do.

Buttons & statuses

Drag a job
Re-order jobs within a machine, or move a job between CNC 1 and CNC 2 — the new plan saves instantly.
Jobs land here automatically when work orders are raised in the Requirements Run or built to stock in Jobs.

Reports

The numbers behind the business — sales over time, who's buying, and every stock movement — all filterable and exportable to Excel or print.

  1. 1

    Sales over time

    Invoiced revenue by month across the financial year, with the year-to-date total at a glance.

  2. 2

    Sales by customer

    Every customer's orders, units, total value, what's paid and what's still outstanding. Filter by state, search, and export.

  3. 3

    Stock movement history

    A running ledger of what came in (goods receipts, finished work orders) and what went out (dispatches), with the reference for each.

Buttons & statuses

Excel
Downloads the table exactly as filtered — opens straight into Excel or Google Sheets.
Print
A clean printable version of the current table, filters and all.
Reports read from your live data — sales orders, invoices, goods receipts and dispatches — so the figures are always current.

Website Stock

A preview of what your public website could show — your products with a LIVE in-stock count, pushed straight from this system. No more customers emailing to ask if something's on the shelf.

  1. 1

    Live availability

    Each product shows how many are in stock right now (green) or 'made to order' (amber) — driven by the on-hand numbers in Inventory.

  2. 2

    Updates by itself

    Finish a build and the count goes up; ship an order and it goes down. The website always reflects reality.

  3. 3

    Your branding

    This mirrors your Squarespace look — we can feed your existing site, or build the storefront into the system so it's all one place.

Stock here comes from Inventory; it rises when you complete work orders and falls when orders ship.

Every page also has a How this works button (top right) for help on just that screen.