Glossary of Terms

Glossary

Plain-language definitions for terms you will encounter in ZN ERP. Organised by domain — jump to the relevant category, or press Ctrl + F to find a specific term.

Accounting & Finance Inventory & Stock GST & Tax HR & Payroll Manufacturing System & Admin Pharma / Healthcare

Accounting & Finance

Account Group

A node in the chart of accounts (e.g. Current Assets, Sundry Debtors). Every ledger belongs to a group.

Adjustment Entry

A journal posted to correct or reclassify a balance without affecting cash or stock.

Bank Reconciliation

Matching ledger entries to a bank statement and flagging differences (unpresented cheques, bank charges, etc.).

Cash Book

The ledger of cash receipts and payments.

Chart of Accounts (COA)

The hierarchical list of all ledgers used by the business.

Closing Stock

Inventory value at the end of a period — used in the trading and P&L account.

Contra Entry

A transfer between two cash / bank accounts (e.g. cash deposited to bank). Does not affect P&L.

Cost Centre

A tag attached to entries so you can report profitability per branch, department or activity.

Creditor

A supplier you owe money to. Maintained under Accounts.

Day Closure

An end-of-day procedure that locks the date so transactions for that date cannot be added or modified.

Debit Note

A document raised by a buyer to reduce a supplier's liability (purchase return).

Debtor

A customer who owes you money.

Financial Year (FY)

The 12-month accounting period (in India, 1 Apr – 31 Mar).

Journal Voucher

A general-purpose accounting entry not classified as cash, bank, sale or purchase.

Ledger

An individual account inside the chart of accounts.

Narration

Free-text description attached to a voucher explaining what the entry is for.

Opening Balance (OB)

The balance carried into a period from the previous one.

Outstanding (OS)

Receivable or payable amount still pending settlement.

P&L

Profit & Loss Account — the summary of income and expense for a period.

Payment Voucher

A document that records money paid out to a supplier or other recipient.

Receipt Voucher

A document that records money received from a customer or other source.

Trial Balance

A list of all ledger balances at a point in time, used to check that debits equal credits.

Voucher

Generic name for any accounting document — receipt, payment, journal, contra, sale, purchase.

Inventory & Stock

Batch

A specific production run of an item, identified by a batch number and usually an expiry date and MRP.

Delivery Challan (DC)

Document accompanying goods in transit when no tax invoice is being raised yet (e.g. job-work, sample, branch transfer).

Form

An item attribute capturing physical form (Tablet, Capsule, Syrup, Bottle, Loose, etc.).

Godown / Warehouse

A named stock-holding location. ZN ERP supports unlimited godowns.

IOC (Inventory On Counter)

Stock at the counter / point of sale, distinct from warehouse stock.

Item

Any sellable, purchasable or consumable unit tracked in stock.

Lot

Synonym for batch; sometimes used for raw materials that do not have an expiry.

Negative Stock

A flag indicating that an item's on-hand quantity has gone below zero — usually caused by a missed receipt or wrong UOM.

Physical Stock Count

Manual count of items in a location, used to reconcile system stock with reality.

Re-Order Point (ROP)

Stock level at which the system flags that an item should be re-ordered.

Stock Adjustment

An entry that adds or removes stock without an invoice (write-off, found stock, sample, etc.).

Stock Transfer

Movement of stock from one location to another — affects both locations but not the company total.

Stock-in-Hand

The currently on-hand quantity of an item at a location.

GST & Tax

B2B

Sales to a GST-registered business — reported with the buyer's GSTIN.

B2C

Sales to a consumer / unregistered party.

Bill of Supply

A document used in place of a tax invoice when the supply is exempt or under composition scheme — no tax is shown.

Cess

Additional GST levied on specific items (tobacco, automobiles, etc.) on top of CGST / SGST / IGST.

CGST

Central Goods & Services Tax — the central component of an intra-state sale.

Composition Scheme

A simplified GST scheme for small businesses with a low flat-rate tax and no input credit.

Credit Note

A document that reduces a customer's liability — used for sales returns or rate corrections.

E-Invoice

An invoice whose details have been registered with the government IRP and stamped with an IRN.

E-Way Bill

An electronic permit required for movement of goods above a threshold value.

GSTIN

Goods & Services Tax Identification Number — 15-character ID for any GST-registered business in India.

GSTR-1

Monthly / quarterly return of outward supplies (sales).

GSTR-2A

Auto-drafted inward supplies statement, used to check input-tax-credit eligibility.

GSTR-3B

Monthly summary return for declaring and paying GST liability.

HSN

Harmonised System of Nomenclature — product classification code used for GST and customs.

IGST

Integrated Goods & Services Tax — charged on inter-state sales.

Input Tax Credit (ITC)

The credit a buyer can claim for GST already paid on purchases.

IRN

Invoice Reference Number returned by the e-invoice portal.

Reverse Charge

Mechanism where the buyer (not the seller) is liable to pay GST on certain supplies.

SAC

Services Accounting Code — like HSN but for services.

SGST

State Goods & Services Tax — the state component of an intra-state sale.

Tax Structure

A named combination of taxes (CGST + SGST + IGST + cess) attached to an item or transaction.

UTGST

Union Territory GST — replaces SGST in union territories without a legislature.

HR & Payroll

Attendance

Record of presence / absence for an employee, used as input to salary processing.

Basic

The core component of salary on which most other components and statutory deductions are calculated.

CTC

Cost To Company — the total employer cost including basic, allowances, employer PF, gratuity, etc.

DA

Dearness Allowance — a cost-of-living component.

Earnings

Components that add to the employee's pay (Basic, HRA, allowances, bonus).

ESI

Employees' State Insurance — a statutory medical / disability scheme.

Gross

Total earnings before deductions.

HRA

House Rent Allowance.

LOP

Loss of Pay — absence days for which no salary is paid.

Net Pay

Salary actually paid out — Gross minus Deductions.

Payroll Run

The monthly process of computing salary for all employees of a payroll group.

PF

Provident Fund — statutory retirement contribution from employee and employer.

Salary Slip

The printable / e-mailable monthly statement issued to each employee.

Salary Structure

The template of components and formulae used to compute an employee's salary.

TDS

Tax Deducted at Source — income tax withheld by the employer and deposited with the government.

Manufacturing

BOM

Bill of Materials — list of raw materials required to make one unit of a finished item.

By-product

A secondary item produced alongside the main finished item (e.g. husk from a milling process).

Finished Goods (FG)

Items that are complete and ready for sale.

Job Card

Shop-floor document instructing what to make, how much and with which materials.

Job Work

Outsourced manufacturing — raw materials sent to a third-party who returns finished goods.

MPL

Manufacturing Plan / Production Order — the document driving production for a finished item.

MRP (planning)

Material Resource Planning — the module that compares demand and supply and suggests what to produce or buy.

MRS

Material Requisition Slip — an internal request for materials from stores to a department.

Production Order

The released, approved instruction to manufacture a specific quantity of a finished item.

Raw Material (RM)

Items consumed in production but not normally sold.

Routing

The sequence of work-centre operations to convert raw material into finished goods.

WIP

Work In Progress — items partially manufactured and not yet finished.

Yield

The actual finished-goods output relative to the planned input — a key efficiency metric.

System & Admin

Access Setting

The screen where user permissions are granted by menu number.

Application Setting

Per-installation configuration — numbering series, default print format, regional, etc.

Backup

A snapshot of the datacenter database that can be restored later.

Datacenter

The named SQL Server database your installation talks to. Multiple are supported (production, test, archive).

Lic Name

The licensed organisation name shown in Xn Licensing — quote this when contacting support.

Location

A branch, counter or warehouse. ZN ERP is multi-location by design.

Login ID

The user identifier used to sign in — distinct from Xn-Talk-ID.

Menu Number

Internal numeric identifier for every screen, used in support and access control.

Numbering Series

A pattern (e.g. INV/2026-27/####) used to auto-generate document numbers.

Role

A named permission set that can be assigned to multiple users.

SSM

SQL Server Manager — ZN ERP's helper utility for starting / stopping SQL and attaching .mdf files.

User

An individual account that signs in to the application.

xMenu

The menu-tree configuration file that drives the Start Menu and access rights.

Xn-Talk

The internal messaging system bundled with ZN ERP — used for chat, broadcast and licence registration.

Pharma / Healthcare

IPD

In-Patient Department — admitted patients, as opposed to OPD.

MRP (retail)

Maximum Retail Price printed on the pack — the upper cap for retail sale.

OP Setup

Module for configuring outpatient workflows (consultation fees, prescription pads, etc.).

OPD / OP

Out-Patient Department — a patient visit without admission.

Pack

The dispensing unit for a medicine (Strip of 10, Bottle of 60 ml, etc.).

Rx

Prescription — the doctor's order list of medicines and procedures.

Schedule H / H1 / X

Drug categories under Indian law with stricter sale-record requirements.

Substitute

An alternate item dispensed when the prescribed one is unavailable; logged for audit.