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AWRA Glossary & Business Dictionary
Use this glossary to understand the common AWRA terms used across inventory, assets, procurement, sales, POS, finance, workflows, integrations, and support. The definitions are written for everyday users, so teams can speak the same language when requesting help, reviewing reports, approving work, or training new staff.
How to use this page: Search the help center for the term, then open the related module guide if you need steps. For example, use this page to understand what an RFQ is, then open the Procurement guide to learn how RFQs move through AWRA.
Organization Terms
| Term | Plain-Language Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Organization | Your organization workspace in AWRA. Your users, records, settings, subscriptions, branches, warehouses, vendors, customers, and reports belong to this workspace. | Harvey LLC has its own AWRA organization separate from another company. |
| Branch | A business unit, store, office, site, department, or operating location within your organization. | Nairobi HQ and Mombasa Store can be separate branches. |
| Warehouse | A place where stock is stored, counted, transferred, received, picked, or issued. A warehouse can be a depot, stock room, store back office, vehicle store, or controlled storage area. | Main Warehouse holds bulk stock while Retail Store holds sellable stock. |
| Bin / Location | A smaller storage position inside a warehouse, such as a shelf, aisle, rack, zone, room, cage, or slot. | Item A is in Main Warehouse, Aisle 2, Shelf B. |
| Role | A named access profile that controls what a user can see or do in AWRA. | An Inventory User may receive stock, while a Finance User may view invoices and payments. |
| Approver | A person assigned to review and approve or reject a request, adjustment, purchase, transfer, payment, or workflow task. | A department manager approves a procurement request before it becomes a purchase order. |
Inventory & Asset Terms
| Term | Plain-Language Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Item | A product, supply, spare part, SKU, raw material, finished good, or consumable that your organization tracks in inventory. | Printer paper, phone chargers, bottled water, motor oil, or a finished product. |
| Stock Movement | Any activity that changes stock quantity, location, or availability. | Receiving, transfer, POS sale, return, checkout, check-in, count, or adjustment. |
| Adjustment | A controlled change made to correct stock after a count, damage, loss, discovery, expiry, or correction. | Reducing stock by 2 after confirming two units were damaged. |
| Transfer | Moving stock from one warehouse, branch, location, or store to another. | Moving 50 units from Main Warehouse to Retail Store. |
| Reorder Point | The stock level that warns the team it may be time to replenish. | When gloves fall below 20 boxes, AWRA can flag them for review. |
| Asset | A company-owned item that is tracked for assignment, movement, maintenance, audit, or disposal rather than simple sale or consumption. | Laptop, scanner, printer, vehicle, tool, furniture, or equipment. |
| Custodian | The person, department, branch, warehouse, or team responsible for an asset. | A laptop may be assigned to Jane as its custodian. |
| Variance | The difference between the quantity AWRA expects and the quantity physically counted or confirmed. | AWRA shows 100 units, but the count finds 96 units. |
Procurement Terms
| Term | Plain-Language Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Procurement Request | A request from a user or department asking the organization to buy goods or services. | A warehouse lead requests more packing materials. |
| RFQ | Request for quotation. A document sent to suppliers asking for price, availability, delivery timeline, terms, and other details. | Three vendors receive an RFQ for 500 safety helmets. |
| Quotation | A supplier response to an RFQ. It usually includes price, tax, quantity, delivery lead time, validity date, and conditions. | Vendor A quotes KES 1,200 per unit with delivery in five days. |
| PO / Purchase Order | A formal buying document sent to a supplier after approval. It tells the supplier what to provide, at what price, and under which terms. | The approved RFQ becomes a PO for the selected vendor. |
| Receiving | The process of confirming that ordered goods arrived and updating stock or procurement status. | The warehouse receives 95 of 100 ordered units and records the short delivery. |
| Landed Cost | The full cost of an item after adding freight, duties, insurance, handling, taxes, and other purchase-related costs. | A product costs KES 1,000 but lands at KES 1,180 after fees and freight. |
Sales, POS & Finance Terms
| Term | Plain-Language Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Customer | A person or organization buying from your organization. | A retail customer, school, hospital, reseller, or corporate buyer. |
| Quotation | In Sales, a quotation is an offer sent to a customer before an invoice or sale is confirmed. | A customer asks for pricing before placing an order. |
| Invoice | A billing document requesting payment from a customer. | An invoice is issued after goods are supplied or a service is delivered. |
| POS | Point of Sale. The screen and process used for counter sales, receipts, returns, shifts, payment recording, and stock deduction. | A cashier completes a walk-in sale using POS. |
| Payment | A recorded amount paid by a customer, organization, or payer against an invoice, sale, subscription, or other charge. | A card payment is applied to a customer invoice. |
| Reconciliation | Comparing two sources to confirm they agree. | Finance compares AWRA sales totals with bank or accounting records. |
Workflow, Operations & Sync Terms
| Term | Plain-Language Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Workflow | A guided process or automation that moves work through steps, checks conditions, assigns tasks, sends notifications, or requests approval. | A purchase request goes to a manager, then finance, then procurement. |
| Workflow Run | One time a workflow starts and moves through its steps. | A stock adjustment starts an approval workflow run. |
| Task | A specific action assigned to a user or team. | Review this quotation or confirm these received goods. |
| Exception | A problem, mismatch, overdue item, failed sync, stock issue, or blocked workflow that needs attention. | A transfer is overdue, or a payment failed. |
| Sync | Keeping AWRA and another connected service aligned by sending or receiving selected records. | Syncing approved invoices to QuickBooks Online. |
| Sync Run | One attempt to sync selected information. | A customer invoice sync succeeds, fails, or waits for missing details. |
| QBO | QuickBooks Online, an accounting system that AWRA can connect with for selected finance records. | Finance checks whether invoices and payments match between AWRA and QBO. |
Terms Users Often Mix Up
| Term Pair | Difference | Where To Learn More |
|---|---|---|
| Branch vs Warehouse | A branch is a business location or unit. A warehouse is a stock-holding place inside or attached to operations. | Branches & Warehouses |
| Request vs Purchase Order | A request asks to buy something. A PO is the formal supplier document after approval. | Request to PO |
| Transfer vs Adjustment | A transfer moves stock between places. An adjustment corrects stock after a verified difference. | Inventory guide |
| Role vs Permission | A role is a group of access rules. A permission is a specific action or visibility rule inside that role. | Permissions Guide |
Support tip: When raising a ticket, include the term, module, record number, branch, warehouse, user, and the action you expected. Clear words make support faster.
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Capture the module, record number, branch or warehouse, user, visible message, and what you expected to happen before contacting support.