OctagonIt

Distribution management ERP

One web-based system for purchasing, stock, sales, deliveries, tax invoices and finance in a distribution business.

About the project

Client
Vajira Hardware, Homagama
Industry
Cement and building-materials distribution
Status
Phase one delivered

A distribution business runs on thin margins and fast-moving stock. Every bag that leaves the yard has to be ordered, received, stored, sold, loaded onto a lorry, delivered, invoiced and paid for. When those steps live in separate spreadsheets, notebooks and accounting packages, stock goes missing, invoices are missed, customers go over their credit limits and nobody sees the real financial position until month-end.

We built a custom ERP for Vajira Hardware’s cement and building-materials distribution business that connects the whole cycle, from the supplier’s purchase order to the customer’s final payment. Every transaction updates stock, receivables, payables and the dashboards as it happens.

Problems we solved

  • Problem

    Stock was hard to track across several warehouses and yards.

    How the system handles it

    Live stock per location, with every unit traced back to the delivery it arrived on.

  • Problem

    Customers could go over their credit limits.

    How the system handles it

    Sales orders check the credit limit live. Exceptions go to a manager as an override request.

  • Problem

    Invoices were sometimes raised late or for goods that never arrived.

    How the system handles it

    An invoice opens as soon as a delivery is marked delivered, capped at the quantity actually delivered.

  • Problem

    Tax invoices had to follow IRD VAT rules and still print on the office dot-matrix printers.

    How the system handles it

    IRD-format tax invoices with VAT, date of supply and proper numbering, plus dot-matrix print layouts.

  • Problem

    Price changes and stock corrections needed management control without slowing work down.

    How the system handles it

    Approval workflows for price edits, stock adjustments, returns, expenses and credit overrides.

  • Problem

    Cheque payments, bounced cheques and outstanding balances were reconciled by hand.

    How the system handles it

    Customer and supplier payments with bounce reversals, reallocation, advance payments and ageing reports.

Features

Purchasing & suppliers

Purchase orders with vehicle and driver details, full or partial goods received notes, supplier credit terms and payments with due dates calculated automatically.

Inventory & warehousing

Stock across warehouses, shops and yards, batch traceability, FIFO allocation, transfers, approved adjustments, price history and 12 inventory reports with CSV export.

Sales & customers

Credit limits, credit days, VAT registration and loyalty tiers, sales orders with stock reservation, returns and credit notes, and a monthly price reconciliation report.

Delivery & fleet

Delivery notes from sales orders, company and hired vehicles with drivers, a delivery schedule, active trips, in-transit stock, damage handling and proof of delivery.

Tax invoicing & documents

IRD-format VAT tax invoices, PDF documents on the company letterhead, dot-matrix layouts and time-limited links for sharing documents on WhatsApp.

Finance

Receivables and payables with ageing, bank accounts and reconciliation, expenses with approval, and a dashboard with cash flow and a six-month trend.

People & security

Admin, manager, sales, driver and viewer roles, employee records, company settings and a full audit trail of who changed what and when.

Business rules built in

The system follows the company’s own rules instead of only recording data.

ControlWhat it prevents
Credit-limit check with manager overrideBad debt from over-extended customers
Invoice capped at delivered quantityBilling for goods that never arrived
FIFO batch allocationOld stock left unsold
Approvals for prices, adjustments, expenses, returns and creditUnauthorised discounts, write-offs and spending
Controlled transaction datesBack-dating and future-dating
Invoices locked once paidChanges to settled transactions

Built to be reliable

  • 210 automated tests covering orders, deliveries, invoicing, payments and stock
  • One shared counter for document numbers: 50 simultaneous requests produced no duplicates
  • Payment balances updated safely, so two payments on one invoice never overwrite each other
  • Known dependency vulnerabilities reduced from 11 to 0 before launch

Built with: React, TypeScript, Node.js, Express, Prisma, PostgreSQL, Docker and a CI/CD pipeline with separate development, staging and production environments.

Who it suits

  • Cement and building-materials distributors
  • Wholesalers
  • FMCG distributors
  • Any business that buys, stores, delivers and invoices goods

Book a demo

Run a distribution business? We can show you the system working and talk through how it would fit your stock, deliveries and approvals.

Contact us for a demo