System Overview

 

Overview

Nebula Accounting Internet is a simple accounting system that was built for two primary purposes. First, to act as a back-end accounting system for an integrated on-line E-Commerce / Accounting System, and Second, to act as a simple accounting platform that developers and consultants can use as a base to build their own more complex Accounting System / Integrated Accounting & E-Commerce on top of. 

 

Accounting Functions

The Nebula Accounting On-Line handles all of the basic accounting functions of a product based e-commerce site, including a simple General Ledger, Receivables System, Payables System, and numerous set-up options. There is a help file for each screen in the system that describes the purpose of that screen and how to use it to process it's intended accounting function. Please review this information to become familiar with how the accounting system works.

 

E-Commerce Functions

The Nebula Accounting On-Line program automatically and dynamically generates a shopping cart from the information in it's database. For more information about the use and the set-up of the shopping cart, please see the Shopping Cart help topic in the left frame. 

 

Security Functions

The system comes with very basic username / password authorization built into the system. The usernames and passwords can be maintained thought the user form in the setup section of the accounting system. This is just a basic system that we put into place to that you have a starting point from which to implement your own security system.

 

Understanding the Order Cycle

In Nebula Accounting On-Line, orders enter the system either through the shopping cart or through manual entry. In both cases, they are subject to further processing before fulfillment, they need to be Billed, Picked, Shipped and then Invoiced..

Billed -> Picked -> Shipped -> Invoiced

After an order comes to the system and is allocated to inventory, it needs to be Billed. Once an order is billed, it is cleared for picking and shipping. To bill an order, use the Bill Order entry in the left frame, (under Receivables), simply click the check box at the right of the order and key in the credit card approval number that comes back from your merchant processor. Once you have processed all of your orders, click on the Submit button.

If you were to set-up the system for automatic credit card processing, this is the screen you would want to 'hook' into for batch credit card processing. If you wanted to do single processing, the place for the interface would be in the shopping cart.

At this stage, the order will have the following flags set: 

Billed:Yes  Picked:No Shipped:No Invoiced:No

After you have billed the orders and have assigned an approval number for each of them, it is time to pick them. Use the Pick Order entry in the left frame (under Receivables). To pick an order, just click the check box at it’s right. If you are satisfied with your selection, click on the Submit button. 

If you wanted to add pick tickets of other special shipping reports, this would be the place to add them. There are no pick tickets currently in the system, this is something that you would have to add custom, but we provide this place to add that functionality.

At this stage, the order will have the following flags set:

Billed:Yes  Picked:Yes Shipped:No Invoiced:No

To ship orders, select the Ship Orders entry in the left frame (under receivables). There are two screens here, Manual Ship and Automatic Shipping. For manual shipping, a list of the picked orders will appear in on the screen with a place for a tracking number and a box that marks the transaction as shipped. The automatic shipping screen provides two fields, one for order number and one for tracking number. It is meant to be used with a bar code scanner and custom printed labels. First scan the order number into the order number field, and the tracking number for that order number in the field next to it. When you have scanned all of the days packages hot the submit button to process them.

The tracking number that you enter into these forms are saved with that order and are available for viewing by the customer in the order status / history screen in the shopping cart for automatic customer service.

At this stage, the order will have the following flags set:

Billed:Yes  Picked:Yes Shipped:Yes Invoiced:No

Once the orders are shipped, they must be invoiced. Select the Invoice Orders entry in the left frame (under Receivables) This process will invoice any shipped order.