Minzani User Guide

What is Item List, and do I need to use it?

Item List is entirely optional — a business that just uses the ledger never has to touch it. If you sell physical stock (sugar, rice, soap, anything measured by count, weight, or volume), it lets you track how much you have on hand, automatically reduce it when you record a sale, and top it up when you restock — all while feeding the exact same ledger and Profit vs Loss you already use.

How do I add an item to track?

From Item List → Add item (Owner/Admin only), give it a name, a unit, and optionally a category, a reorder level, a starting quantity, and a unit price. Leave SKU/barcode blank and Minzani assigns a unique one automatically — or type your own if the product already has a real manufacturer barcode you want to scan. It's ready to sell and restock immediately.

What units can I track stock in?

Piece, Kilogram, Gram, Litre, or Millilitre — or Custom, if you'd rather label it yourself (e.g. "box", "bag", "dozen"). An item sold by the Piece only accepts whole-number quantities on a sale, restock, or transfer; the others accept fractional amounts (e.g. 2.5 kg).

How do I record a sale?

From Item List → Record a sale (or the same button at the top of the Ledger page), search for the item by typing part of its name or category, pick the quantity sold, and the amount you actually received. The amount isn't calculated from a fixed per-unit price — you enter what was actually paid, since prices are often negotiated. This creates an ordinary receipt in that day's ledger and reduces the item's stock by the quantity sold. The item is entirely optional — leave it blank to just record a plain receipt with nothing to do with stock.

How do I restock an item?

From Item List → Record a restock, search for the item, pick the quantity received, and the amount you paid for it. This creates an expenditure in that day's ledger — categorized under whatever category you've assigned the item to, or "Cost of Goods/Supplies" if you haven't set one — and adds the quantity to the item's stock. The Cost Price shown on the item's row updates to this restock's per-unit cost automatically. Once you've picked an item, the Category field switches from a dropdown to a read-only line showing that resolved category — there's nothing left to choose, since it's already determined by the item.

What's the difference between "Record a restock" and "Record expenditure"?

Both create an expenditure in the ledger — Record a restock is the version with the item/quantity fields for stock you're topping up; Record expenditure is the lean, plain version with no item at all, for an expense that has nothing to do with tracked stock (rent, wages, and so on). Between the two, Record a sale/Record a restock are actually the same page you can switch tabs on — Record expenditure is the one page that never shows the item section.

How do I set an item's starting stock, or add stock without a purchase?

When adding a new item, there's a "Starting quantity" field for whatever you already have on hand. Later, editing an existing item offers an "Add to current quantity" field for the same purpose — a stocktake correction, stock you had before adopting Minzani, anything not tied to an actual purchase. Neither one touches the ledger; only Record a restock does that.

How does Item List connect to my ledger and Profit vs Loss?

Directly, with nothing extra to configure. A sale is just a receipt; a restock is just an expenditure under the item's own category (or "Cost of Goods/Supplies" if it doesn't have one) — the same categories Profit vs Loss already breaks spending down by. Your restock spending shows up there exactly like any other expenditure you'd typed in by hand.

I have deposit/expenditure approval turned on — when does stock actually move?

Not until the linked receipt or expenditure is confirmed — same rule as everywhere else in Minzani: an unconfirmed entry doesn't count yet. If a sale needs deposit approval, the item's stock stays exactly where it was until someone confirms that deposit; once confirmed, the stock updates immediately.

What is a low-stock alert?

Set a "Reorder level" on an item (in Add/Edit item) and Owner/Admin, Bookkeeper, and Accountant get an in-app notification the moment its stock drops to or below that number. You're only notified once when it first crosses the line, not again on every sale after that — so it doesn't get spammy while you're waiting to restock.

Can I use a barcode scanner?

Yes — any ordinary USB or Bluetooth barcode scanner works, no setup needed. Every item has a SKU/barcode to scan — either one you typed in yourself (a real manufacturer barcode) or the one Minzani generated automatically when you left it blank. On Record a Sale/Restock, scan (or type the code and press Enter) into the "Scan or type barcode" field — the matching item is selected automatically. A camera-based scan straight from your phone isn't built yet.

What does an item's Category do?

It's the same category list your ledger's expenditures already use (Rent, Utilities, Cost of Goods/Supplies, and anything else you've added) — one categorization system, not a separate one just for items. Assign a category to an item and every restock of it is automatically categorized that way in the ledger and in Profit vs Loss, instead of always defaulting to "Cost of Goods/Supplies." You can manage your category list from Item List → Categories. On Record a restock, once you've picked an item you won't see a category dropdown at all — just the resolved category shown as text, since picking one manually would be redundant.

What's the difference between Cost Price and Selling Price?

Cost Price is what you most recently paid per unit — worked out automatically from your last restock's amount and quantity once you've restocked at least once. Before that, it falls back to the "Cost price" you can optionally type on the item form (Add or Edit item) — the instant a real restock happens, that always takes over and the typed-in value stops being used, even if you edit it again later. Cost Total is Cost Price × current quantity, always calculated, never entered directly. Both show as "—" only for an item with neither a restock nor a manually-set Cost price yet.

Selling Price is different: it's a plain "what you plan to charge per unit" field you type in yourself on the item form, always editable, never overridden by anything. It's purely a reference for you — Record a Sale still always asks for the actual amount received on every sale, since prices are often negotiated, so this never gets auto-filled in or checked against what you actually charged. Selling Total is Selling Price × current quantity. When both a Cost Price and a Selling Price are set, the item's edit page also shows a suggested margin — the difference between the two, as an amount and a percentage of Selling Price.

What are suppliers for?

From Item List → Suppliers, keep a simple list of who you buy stock from — name, phone, email, notes. Tag a restock with one to build a restock history per supplier automatically; give an item a "default supplier" and it's pre-selected (still changeable) every time you restock that item. There's no purchase-order or invoice matching — just a record of who a restock came from.

Can I track stock in more than one place?

Yes, if you need to — from Item List → Locations. Most businesses never create one and see nothing extra: with zero or one location, Record a Sale/Restock never even shows a location field. Add a second location and it appears, so every sale and restock says which location it happened at, and an item's edit page shows its stock broken down by location.

How do I move stock between locations?

From Item List → Transfer stock between locations (only reachable once you have at least two). Pick the item, quantity, and the two locations — it moves stock from one to the other with no ledger impact at all, since no money changes hands in an internal transfer.

Who can manage items, suppliers, and locations? Who can record sales and restocks?

Adding, editing, or deactivating an item, supplier, or location is Owner/Admin only — the same tier as Categories. Recording a sale, a restock, or a transfer is open to anyone who can already record ledger entries: Owner/Admin, Bookkeeper/Accountant, and Bursar.