About ForgeERP
What this system is, what it does, and why it's built the way it is — in plain language.
ForgeERP runs a manufacturing business from end to end. Selling, buying, making, storing, and accounting all live in one system instead of a stack of separate spreadsheets and tools. Because everything lives in one place, doing something in one spot updates everywhere else on its own — and the right person signs off at each step.
“ERP” stands for Enterprise Resource Planning — industry shorthand for the single system a company uses to run its day-to-day operations.
Developer & API reference
The full REST API, documented endpoint by endpoint.
Every screen in this app is built on the same REST API — 182 endpoints across all modules, described by an OpenAPI 3.1 specification. Authentication is JWT bearer tokens, errors follow RFC 7807, and every list is paginated and sorted the same way.
Data model
The database schema, as one diagram.
The full schema as an entity-relationship diagram — every table across all modules and how they relate, owned by versioned Flyway migrations (V1–V42) and validated at boot. Open it full screen to pan and zoom.
What it replaces
The difference an ERP makes, in a sentence each.
Sales in one spreadsheet, stock in another, accounts in a third. People re-type the same numbers between them and chase approvals over email. Mistakes creep in, and no one is quite sure which number is the right one.
One system. Enter something once and it flows everywhere — stock, production, and the accounts update themselves. Every change is tracked, and the right person signs off at each step, so the numbers stay trustworthy.
Follow one order through the business
The whole system is one connected flow. Here it is, start to finish.
- 1
A customer places an order
A salesperson records an order for, say, 10 finished units. The system immediately sets aside — reserves — 10 units of stock so they can't be promised to anyone else.
- 2
Short on stock? Make more
If there aren't 10 in the warehouse, the system flags the gap and a planner schedules a production run to build the rest.
- 3
Production follows the recipe
Each product has a recipe — its bill of materials. Starting a run automatically takes the exact parts it needs out of the store, so stock stays accurate without anyone re-typing it.
- 4
Quality gets the last word
Finished units go into a quality hold — not sellable yet. Only after an inspector passes them do they become stock you can ship.
- 5
Buy what's missing
If raw materials run low, a buyer raises a purchase order and a manager approves it. When the goods arrive they're received into the store and stock goes up.
- 6
Ship it
When the units are ready, they're dispatched to the customer and the reserved stock leaves the warehouse.
- 7
Invoice, collect, and the books update themselves
An invoice goes out with the right tax worked out. When the customer pays, that's recorded too — and the matching accounting entries are written automatically, always in balance.
The big ideas
Four things that make it an ERP, not five separate apps.
It's one system, not many
Do something once and it shows up everywhere. No copying numbers between a sales sheet, a stock sheet, and an accounts sheet.
Everyone has their lane
People can only see and do what their job allows — a buyer raises orders, a manager approves them. Like keys that open only certain doors.
Nothing is ever erased
Stock and money changes are recorded like a bank statement: you add a new line, you never rub one out. So you can always trace exactly what happened.
The books always balance
Every amount is recorded on two sides at once — where it came from and where it went — so the accounts can never quietly drift out of balance.
The modules
Each area of the business, and what lives inside it.
Master data
The shared catalogue everything else points back to — what you sell, what you build with, and where you keep it.
Products · Materials · Categories · Units · Warehouses
Design & engineering
The drawings and the recipe for each product. A design is reviewed and released before anything can be built from it.
Design documents · Bills of materials (BOM)
Procurement
Buying materials from suppliers: raise a purchase order, a manager approves it, then receive the goods into stock with a printable receipt.
Suppliers · Purchase orders · Goods receipts
Inventory
Live stock per warehouse, kept as a full history of every movement in and out — so a number can always be traced and is never quietly overwritten.
Stock levels · Stock movements
Manufacturing
Turning materials into finished goods. A production run uses up its materials, the output waits on a quality hold, and only a pass becomes sellable stock.
Production orders · Work centers · Quality checks · Maintenance
Sales & CRM
Winning and fulfilling customer demand. Confirming an order reserves the stock for it; dispatching a delivery ships from that reservation.
Customers · Quotations · Sales orders · Deliveries
Finance
Accounting that writes itself from the work above, so the books always balance — including Indian GST and TDS on invoices and payments.
Chart of accounts · Journal entries · Invoices · Payments · Tax
HR
The light people-and-org layer: who works here and which team they sit in.
Departments · Employees
Security & access
FoundationEvery action is permission-checked. Roles bundle up permissions, and sensitive steps are split between people — whoever raises a document can't approve their own.
Users · Roles · 33 permissions
Attachments
FoundationFiles attach to any record — drawings, supplier documents, inspection photos. The files live in secure storage; the database just remembers where they are.
Drawings · PO documents · Inspection photos
Who uses it
Different jobs see and do different things — the permission system, in everyday terms.
Salesperson
Quotes customers and takes their orders.
Buyer & procurement manager
Buys materials; the manager approves the spend.
Production planner
Decides what gets made, and when.
Machine operator
Runs the jobs on the shop floor.
Quality inspector
Passes or fails what's been made.
Storekeeper & warehouse manager
Receives goods and keeps stock right.
Accountant & finance manager
Handle invoices, payments, and the books.
HR staff
Manage people and departments.
Administrator
Sets up users and who is allowed to do what.
Words you'll hear
A quick plain-English guide to the jargon.
- Bill of materials (BOM)
- The recipe for a product: the list of parts and quantities needed to make one.
- Stock ledger
- A running record of everything that moves in and out of the warehouse — like a bank statement for goods.
- Reserved stock
- Stock set aside for a confirmed order so it can't be sold to anyone else.
- Quality hold
- Newly made goods parked to one side until an inspector approves them for sale.
- Double-entry
- The accounting method where every amount is recorded on two sides, so the books always balance.
- GST / TDS
- Indian taxes the system works out automatically on invoices and payments.
- Maker-checker
- One person creates a document and a different person approves it — a built-in second pair of eyes.
- Purchase order (PO)
- A formal request to a supplier to buy materials at agreed prices.
Under the hood
The engineering that keeps it correct — for the technically curious.
Permission-based access
Every endpoint requires a specific permission, enforced on the server — the UI only mirrors it.
Nothing is silently overwritten
Stock and accounting are append-only ledgers: you record a movement, you never rewrite a number.
The books always balance
Double-entry with the debits-equal-credits rule enforced both in the service and by a database constraint.
Safe under concurrency
Optimistic locking and atomic no-negative-stock guards, so two people acting at once can't corrupt a total.
Schema you can trust
The database schema is owned by versioned migrations and validated at boot — it never drifts.
Consistent REST
Uniform pagination, sorting, and RFC 7807 error responses across every one of the modules.