Alongside the Dashboard, SeroBooks has three snapshot screens, each answering one question a list or a financial statement does not answer quickly:
- Sales Analytics — what sells, who buys, and at what hour and on which day.
- Inventory Health — what is wrong with your stock: out, low, negative or about to expire.
- Cash Flow — the money that actually moved in and out, day by day, with a running total.
All three are on Reports ▸ Snapshots. They are working views, not formal reports: for figures to file or give your accountant, use the reports named in each section.
Sales Analytics
Reports ▸ Snapshots ▸ Sales Analytics
The top of the screen
| Item | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Revenue | The total of every invoice in the period, including tax. |
| Invoices | How many invoices that is. |
| Average sale | Revenue divided by invoices. |
| 7 d, 30 d, 90 d | The period: the last 7, 30 or 90 days ending today. 30 d is selected when the screen opens. |
| Refresh | Loads the period again. |
Only completed invoices count. Estimates, drafts and open sales orders are never revenue.
The four views
Choose a view with the chips under the figures.
Top products — the fifty items with the highest sales in the period:
| Column | Meaning |
|---|---|
| # | Rank. |
| Product | The item (and its variation, when it has one). |
| Qty sold | Total quantity on invoices. |
| Times sold | How many invoice lines it appeared on. |
| Revenue | Quantity × the price charged, including tax. |
| Share | That revenue as a percentage of the period's revenue. |
Double-click a row (or select it and press Enter) to open the item's history, with its stock, sales and purchases. See An item's history and drill-down.
Top customers — the fifty customers who spent most:
| Column | Meaning |
|---|---|
| # | Rank. |
| Customer | The customer; sales to no named customer are grouped as Walk-In Customer. |
| Invoices | How many invoices they had in the period. |
| Spent | The total of those invoices. |
| Average | Spent divided by invoices. |
| Share | Their share of the period's revenue. |
Double-click a customer (or select the row and press Enter) to open their ledger. Walk-In Customer has no ledger to open. See A customer's ledger and balance.
Busiest hours — Revenue by hour of day: one bar for each hour from 00:00 to 23:00, with the amount and the number of invoices (N inv). The busiest hour is in bold and in the darker colour. Useful for deciding when to have people available to take orders.
Busiest days — Revenue by day of week: one bar for each day, Monday to Sunday, with the amount and the invoice count.
Hours and days come from each invoice's date and time.
Partial data
A very busy period can hold more invoices than the screen loads at once. When that happens a Partial data pill appears on the right. Hover over it: the figures are then a minimum, not a total. Choose a shorter period for exact figures, or use the Sales reports, which have no such limit — see Sales reports.
Inventory Health
Reports ▸ Snapshots ▸ Inventory Health
Inventory Health checks every item you sell against its live quantity on hand and sorts out the ones with a problem.
The top of the screen
| Item | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Out of stock | Items at exactly zero on hand. Each one is a sale you cannot make. |
| Below reorder | Items above zero but at or below their reorder point. |
| Negative | Items with less than zero on hand. |
| Expiring value | The value of lots expiring in the next 30 days (only for companies that track expiry dates). |
| Stock stale | Appears in red when live quantities have stopped updating; hover over it for the reason. The lists may be out of date until it clears. |
| Refresh | Reads the item list and quantities again. |
The views
Choose a view with the chips (each shows its count). Negative shows a red dot whenever any item is negative, whichever view you are on.
On the right, the screen says which stock it is counting: All locations, or At and the location this computer is set to.
Out of stock, Below reorder and Negative list items in the same columns, lowest quantity first:
| Column | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Item | The item (and variation). |
| Category | Its category, or — when it has none. |
| SKU | Its SKU. |
| On hand | Quantity on hand: red when negative, amber when zero. |
| Reorder at | The item's reorder point, or — when none is set. |
| Value | On hand × the item's selling price including tax. |
Double-click a row (or select it and press Enter) to open the item's history.
- Services and items you do not track stock for never appear.
- Items marked not for sale are left out.
- An item with no reorder point set never appears under Below reorder. When the list is empty the screen reminds you: Set alert quantities on products to get early warning here. See Reorder Levels.
Negative stock is always a data problem: a sale that sold more than you had, goods that arrived but were never received into SeroBooks, or a wrong adjustment. The Negative view shows a red banner saying so. Fix it by receiving the missing goods (Receive Items) or by raising the count with Adjust Quantity/Value on Hand at what the goods cost.
Expiring soon lists lots expiring in the next 30 days:
| Column | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Item | The item. |
| Batch | The lot number. |
| Expires | The expiry date. |
| Days left | A pill: Expired, or the days left (highlighted when 7 or fewer). |
| Qty | Quantity still available in that lot. |
| At risk | The value of that quantity. |
It stays empty unless your company tracks expiry dates. See Lot numbers and expiry.
Cash Flow
Reports ▸ Snapshots ▸ Cash Flow
Cash Flow counts money that actually moved — payments received and made — not invoices and bills raised. An invoice on credit is income but it is not cash, and this screen is where the difference shows.
The top of the screen
| Item | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Money in | Payments received in the period. |
| Money out | Payments made in the period. |
| Net | Money in less money out, marked positive or negative. |
| 7 d, 30 d, 90 d | The period, ending today. 30 d is selected when the screen opens. |
| Refresh | Loads the period again. |
What counts as in and out
| Money in | Money out |
|---|---|
| Customer payments on invoices | Payments on bills |
| Refunds you receive from vendors on vendor credits | Expenses and cheques you record |
| Refunds you give customers |
Each payment is counted on its payment date. Transfers between your own accounts, deposits and general journal entries are not payments and are not counted here.
The day table
Newest day first; only days with a payment appear.
| Column | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Date | The day. |
| (bars) | A green bar for money in and a red bar for money out, to the same scale, so a day where outgoings swamped takings stands out. |
| In | Money in that day (green). |
| Out | Money out that day (red). |
| Net | In less out (red when negative). |
| Running | The running total of Net from the first day of the period (red when negative). |
By payment method
The panel on the right splits the period by the payment method recorded on each payment, with In and Out for each. A large cheque figure means money that may still have to clear. Nothing settled yet appears when the period has no payments.
The footnote under the table repeats the rule: Counts payments that settled, not invoices raised — an invoice on credit is revenue, not cash.
Permissions
Each snapshot is its own screen under Dashboard in the permission tree (Sales Analytics, Inventory Health, Cash Flow). A role without one of them does not see it. See Roles and permissions explained.
Common problems
Sales Analytics revenue is different from the Profit & Loss. Sales Analytics adds up invoice totals including tax, by invoice date. The Profit & Loss shows income before tax from the ledger. Both are right; they answer different questions.
Inventory Health shows nothing, or far fewer items than I have. Quantities load from the live stock service. If Stock stale is showing, wait for it to clear and click Refresh.
Cash Flow's Net does not match the change in my bank balance. Cash Flow counts only payments on invoices, bills, credits and expenses. Transfers, deposits of other money, loan payments entered as journal entries and bank charges entered as journal entries are not included. Use the account's register for the full picture.