NovaStar ERP

1 Business Units & Verticals

What are these? Business Units are the companies under NovaStar (like "NovaStar Tech" and "Zenith Solutions"). Verticals are the 4 ways NovaStar earns money.

When to add: Only when a new company or business line is created. These are already set up for you.

2 Vendors & Expense Heads

What are these? Vendors are companies we buy from (suppliers). Expense Heads are categories for our spending.

Expense categories explained:

• DIRECT — Costs directly related to earning revenue (device parts, service costs)
• INDIRECT — Business costs not tied to a specific sale (office rent, phone bills)
• ADMIN — Administrative costs (salaries, legal fees, accounting)
• ASSET — Buying equipment/assets (laptops for renting out). These don't count as regular expenses

3 Products & Services

What are these? The items and services NovaStar sells or rents. Each has an HSN/SAC code (government tax code) and a GST percentage.

4 Clients & Client Locations

What are these? Clients are the companies or people who pay us. Client Locations are their office/delivery addresses.

After adding a client, add their Locations (if they have offices in multiple cities):

5 Client Verticals

What is this? This links a Client to the Verticals they use. A client might rent devices AND buy products — so they'd be linked to 2 verticals.

How to add:

• Click Client Verticals in the sidebar
• Click Add New
• Select the Client (dropdown) and the Vertical (dropdown)
• Status = ACTIVE

🧾 Invoices

What it shows: Every bill NovaStar has sent to clients — invoice number, date, client name, vertical, net amount, amount received, outstanding balance, and payment status (PAID / PARTIAL / DUE / HOLD).

Why it matters:

• Revenue recognition — An invoice is proof that NovaStar has earned money. Until an invoice is raised, revenue doesn't exist on paper.
• GST compliance — Every invoice must be filed in GST returns. Missing or incorrect invoices attract penalties from the tax department.
• Cash collection tracking — The gap between "billed" and "received" shows how much money is stuck with clients.

Business implication: If invoices are not raised on time, the company appears to have lower revenue than it actually earns. Late invoicing also means late payments — clients won't pay if they haven't received a bill. The MD uses this screen to check: "Have we billed everyone we should have billed this month?"

⏳ Receivables

What it shows: Money that clients owe NovaStar, sorted by how old the unpaid invoice is. Displayed as an ageing chart (0-30 days, 31-60, 61-90, 90+ days) and a detailed table of overdue invoices.

Why it matters:

• Cash is king — Revenue on paper means nothing if clients don't actually pay. Receivables shows the real picture.
• Ageing = urgency — An invoice overdue by 30 days is normal. One overdue by 90+ days is a red flag — the client may be in trouble or disputing the bill.
• Working capital — The more money stuck in receivables, the less cash NovaStar has to pay its own expenses, salaries, and vendors.

Business implication: This is the MD's early warning system. If the 90+ days bucket keeps growing, it means NovaStar has a collection problem. The MD can decide to: stop further work for that client until they pay, escalate to senior contacts, or negotiate a payment plan. Ignoring ageing receivables leads to bad debts — money that's never recovered.

📋 Contracts

What it shows: All active contracts with clients — contract number, client name, vertical, billing amount, billing frequency, current contract quarter, and validity period.

Why it matters:

• Predictable revenue — Contracts represent committed future income. If NovaStar has 16 active contracts, the MD knows there's a guaranteed revenue stream.
• Billing triggers — Each contract has a billing frequency (monthly, quarterly, yearly). The admin team must raise invoices according to schedule.
• Renewal tracking — When a contract is nearing its end date, someone must follow up for renewal. Losing a contract means losing recurring revenue.

Business implication: Contracts are the backbone of Device Rentals, AMC, and many Product Supply deals. Missing a billing cycle means delayed revenue. If a contract expires without renewal, that client's revenue drops to zero. The MD uses this screen to answer: "How many contracts are active? Which ones are expiring soon? Are we billing on schedule?"

💸 Expenses

What it shows: All money NovaStar spends — broken down by vertical (horizontal bar chart), by category (donut chart showing DIRECT / INDIRECT / ADMIN), and a detailed table with GST breakup.

Why it matters:

• Profitability control — Revenue is vanity, profit is sanity. High revenue with high expenses means the company isn't making money.
• Vertical-level P&L — Knowing that Device Rentals costs ₹7.8L but earns ₹34.5L tells the MD which verticals are profitable and which need attention.
• GST input credit — GST paid on expenses can be claimed back against GST collected on sales. Missing expense entries means losing this credit — real money lost.
• Category insights — If ADMIN expenses are growing faster than revenue, the company is becoming bloated. DIRECT expenses should grow proportionally with revenue.

Business implication: The MD watches the expense-to-revenue ratio closely. A healthy company keeps expenses at 20-30% of revenue. If expenses creep toward 40-50%, margins shrink and the company has less cash to invest or pay dividends. This screen answers: "Where is our money going? Are we spending too much on any vertical? Is overhead growing out of control?"

↕️ Cash Flow

What it shows: The simplest and most important view — total money IN (collections from clients) vs total money OUT (all expenses including GST), and the Net Cash Position (the difference).

Why it matters:

• Survival metric — A company can survive losses on paper, but it cannot survive running out of cash. Cash flow is the lifeline.
• Inflow vs Outflow gap — If collections are ₹1.75 Cr but expenses are ₹28.7 L, the company has a healthy ₹1.46 Cr cash surplus. If outflows exceed inflows, the company is burning cash.
• Timing matters — Even if clients owe NovaStar ₹50L, if they haven't paid yet, that money doesn't count as cash. Cash flow only reflects actual money received.

Business implication: The MD checks this to decide: "Can we afford to buy new equipment? Can we hire more staff? Should we chase collections more aggressively?" A negative net cash position means the company needs to either speed up collections or slow down spending. Banks and investors also look at cash flow to assess the company's health.

📟 Assets & Rentals

What it shows: Three things: (1) Asset status donut — how many devices are RENTED, IN STOCK, UNDER REPAIR, or REPLACED. (2) Monthly rental revenue trend. (3) Rental totals — subtotal, GST, and total invoice value from device rentals.

Why it matters:

• Asset utilisation — Devices sitting in stock earn zero revenue. The more devices rented out, the better the return on investment. An ideal ratio is 80%+ rented.
• Revenue visibility — Rental revenue is recurring and predictable. The monthly trend shows if the rental business is growing or stagnating.
• Maintenance planning — Devices under repair need replacement planning. If too many devices are under repair, rental revenue will drop because there aren't enough devices to rent.
• Replacement cycle — Devices have a lifespan. Tracking replaced devices helps plan future ASSET purchases.

Business implication: Device Rentals is a capital-intensive vertical — NovaStar buys devices upfront and earns back the investment over months of rental income. The MD uses this screen to track ROI: "How quickly are we recovering our device investment? Do we need to buy more devices to meet demand? Are too many devices sitting idle?" A growing rental revenue trend with high utilisation is a sign of a healthy rental business.

💼 Commission Business

What it shows: Monthly commission income earned from facilitating client orders. The chart shows NovaStar's 10% commission — the net amount NovaStar keeps from each transaction.

How commission works:

• A client needs to place an order or convert cash to online payment
• NovaStar facilitates the transaction (total order value e.g. ₹75 L)
• 90% goes to the client/supplier as payout
• NovaStar keeps 10% as commission (e.g. ₹7.5 L)

Why it matters:

• Zero-capital revenue — Unlike Device Rentals (where NovaStar buys devices upfront), commission business requires no capital investment. Pure profit.
• Volume-driven — Commission income is low-margin (10%) but can be very high-volume. ₹9 Cr in transactions = ₹90 L commission income.
• Client relationship indicator — Clients use NovaStar for commission transactions only if they trust NovaStar. Growing commission business = deepening client relationships.

Business implication: The MD uses this to track: "Is our commission volume growing month over month? Which clients are driving the most commission business? Should we invest more in this vertical since it's capital-free?" Commission business is also a pipeline for other verticals — clients who start with commission often move to Device Rentals or Product Supplies later.

💰 Receipts & Collections

What it shows: Every payment received from clients. Each receipt is mapped to specific invoices through Receipt Allocations (receipt_invoice_map).

Why it matters:

• Closes the loop — An invoice says "client owes us ₹X". A receipt says "client paid us ₹Y". Without receipts, the system thinks all invoices are unpaid.
• TDS tracking — When clients deduct TDS before paying, the receipt allocation captures both the net amount received and TDS deducted. This is critical for tax filing.
• Partial payments — A client might pay an invoice in 2-3 instalments. Each instalment is a separate receipt mapped to the same invoice.

Business implication: Missing receipt entries make the dashboard show inflated receivables (money owed). This gives the MD a wrong picture — they might chase a client for payment that's already been received. Always record receipts immediately when payment hits the bank.

📋 Purchase Orders

What it shows: Written orders from clients confirming they want to buy from NovaStar. POs are the legal backing for invoices.

Why it matters:

• Legal protection — A PO is a client's written commitment. If a client disputes an invoice, the PO is proof they agreed to the purchase.
• Revenue pipeline — Open POs represent confirmed future revenue. The MD can forecast based on PO values.
• Audit trail — Auditors check that every invoice has a corresponding PO or contract. Missing POs raise red flags.

🏦 Bank Transactions

What it shows: Every debit and credit in NovaStar's bank account — used for bank reconciliation.

Why it matters:

• Reconciliation — Matching bank entries with invoices, receipts, and expenses ensures nothing is missing or duplicated.
• Fraud detection — Unexplained debits or credits in the bank statement need investigation.
• Audit compliance — Auditors compare the ERP's records with bank statements. If they don't match, it's a finding.

📜 TDS Ledger

What it shows: Tax Deducted at Source by clients when they pay NovaStar. Tracks the TDS amount, financial year, and whether the TDS certificate has been received.

Why it matters:

• Tax credit — TDS deducted by clients is a credit against NovaStar's income tax. If we don't track and claim it, NovaStar pays tax twice on the same income.
• Certificate collection — Clients must issue Form 16A (TDS certificate). Without this certificate, NovaStar cannot claim the credit while filing taxes.
• Financial year tracking — TDS must be claimed in the correct financial year. Missed claims expire.

Business implication: Every quarter, follow up with clients who have deducted TDS but haven't sent the certificate. Uncollected TDS certificates = money lost forever. The MD reviews this before tax filing season (March/September).

Complete Setup Checklist — Master Data (One-time / Occasional)

Daily / Weekly Transactions — Finance & Admin Work

These are the tables the admin/finance team uses regularly. Data entered here drives all the dashboard charts and reports.

Glossary — Terms You'll See