Business software glossary

Selling and payments

POS (point of sale)

The screen where a sale is completed. A POS records what was sold, takes the payment, and prints or sends the receipt. When it is part of a full system rather than a standalone box, the same action also reduces stock and files the sale in the client's history. The POS buyer's guide

Cashier system

The everyday name for a POS plus its cash-handling side: opening and closing a shift, counting the drawer, recording refunds, and reconciling cash against card and wallet payments at close.

Invoice

The document stating what was sold, at what price, what tax applies, what was paid, and what is still owed. An invoice is a legal record, which is why editing one should always leave a trace.

VAT

Value added tax, charged on the price of goods and services. A proper receipt separates the taxable amount from the exempt amount, so the total can be audited rather than taken on trust.

E-invoicing

Submitting invoices to the tax authority electronically instead of on paper. A system that is e-invoicing ready already stores the fields the authority asks for, so compliance becomes a setting rather than a rebuild.

Deposit

A part payment taken when the booking is made and applied against the final bill. Deposits are the single most effective tool against no-shows, because the client now has something at stake.

Installment plan

Splitting one bill into scheduled payments, common for treatment courses and long programmes. The system should track paid, due, and overdue for you, without a side list in a notebook.

Bookings and clients

Booking system

Software that holds your calendar and lets clients reserve a time. It knows each service's duration, which staff can perform it, and which rooms or equipment it needs, so it only ever offers slots that are genuinely free. The booking system guide

Online booking page

A public page with your own link where clients pick a service, a time, and a staff member without calling you. It works around the clock, and for most service businesses it is the largest single source of after-hours bookings.

No-show

A booked client who neither arrives nor cancels, so the slot is lost with no revenue. Automatic reminders and deposits are the two standard defenses. How to cut no-shows

CRM (customer relationship management)

The part of the system that stores who your clients are and everything that has happened with them: visits, spend, balances, preferences, notes, and files. A good CRM is what makes a second visit feel personal.

Client file

One record per client holding their whole history. In a clinic it also carries clinical notes, prescriptions, and lab results. In a salon it carries formulas and preferences. In a law firm it carries matters and hearing dates.

Membership

A recurring subscription giving a client access or benefits for a period, such as a gym month or a clinic care plan. Memberships turn one-off visits into predictable monthly revenue.

Package

A block of sessions bought up front and drawn down over time, such as ten training sessions or six treatments. The system should show how many remain and warn you when the balance is nearly spent.

Loyalty points

Points earned on spend and redeemed against future purchases. Loyalty only works when the balance is visible to the client and redeeming it at the counter takes one tap.

Gift voucher

A prepaid value sold to one person and redeemed by another. A voucher is cash received before the service is delivered, so it needs its own liability tracking rather than being logged as an ordinary sale.

Stock and suppliers

Inventory

The live count of what you hold. Real inventory rises on a purchase, falls on a sale, and falls again when a service consumes materials, so the number on screen matches the number on the shelf.

SKU

Stock keeping unit: the unique code for one exact sellable item. A shirt in medium and the same shirt in large are two SKUs, which is what lets a system tell you that medium is gone while large is piled up.

Variant

One version of a product differing by size, color, volume, or a similar attribute. Variants share a product name, but each carries its own stock count, barcode, and sometimes its own price.

Purchase order

The record of what you ordered from a supplier, at what cost, and what actually arrived. Receiving a purchase order is what should raise your stock, and it is also what gives you a true cost price for profit reporting.

Low-stock alert

A per-item threshold that warns you before something runs out, rather than after a client has already been turned away.

Team and operations

Commission

The share a staff member earns from what they sell or perform. Rules vary by service, product, or target, and calculating them by hand at month end is one of the most common causes of payroll disputes.

Shift

A defined working period for a person or a cash drawer. Shifts are what let you say who was on the floor when a sale happened and who is accountable for the till at close.

Roles and permissions

Rules controlling what each user can see and do. Set correctly, a receptionist runs the calendar without ever seeing profit margins or being able to delete an invoice.

Multi-branch

Running more than one location from one account. Done properly it means consolidated reports across branches, stock visible per location, and staff and schedules belonging to the branch they work in.

Software and data

SaaS

Software as a service. You subscribe and use it in a browser instead of buying a licence and running a server, so updates, backups, and security patches arrive without you doing anything.

Data export

Getting your own records out in a standard file such as CSV or Excel. The ability to export whenever you like is the practical test of whether your data really belongs to you.

Two-factor authentication

A second proof of identity, usually a code, on top of the password. It is the cheapest meaningful protection against a stolen password reaching your client records. Our security posture

Audit log

An immutable record of who did what and when. When a price is changed or an invoice is voided, the audit log is what turns an argument into a fact.

Co-pilot

An assistant built into the software that works from your live business data, answers in plain language, and prepares work you review and confirm, rather than answering from a generic help article. What is Gigx

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