Introduction

Parties are people or groups that interact with OpenBoxes. This interaction can be active, like a user that logs into the system to do work, or passive, like an organization that is referenced in certain fields but does actively engage with the system. There are four types of parties in OpenBoxes:

• People/Persons: A person record is a reference to particular person who interacts with OpenBoxes directly or indirectly. Persons are used in OpenBoxes in several different ways. They can be used simply as a reference, to note to users in the system that a particular person is responsible for work outside the system. Or they can be used to enable automated email notifications of certain transactions. The most common use of person records is as recipients in stock movements. Users can enter a particular person in a stock movement who should be notified when the shipment arrives. Depending on your system configuration, this can simply be an FYI; for example reminding the OpenBoxes user to call the in charge for surgery when surgical equipment arrives. Or it can be set up to send an email directly to the in-charge notifying them of the receipt.

• Users: Users are people who have access to log into OpenBoxes. Different users have different permissions, and these permissions can also be defined by location. Users are a special type of person in OpenBoxes: all users are automatically available as people and do not need to be added twice.

• Organizations: Organizations are companies, governments, or other entities that interact directly or indirectly with OpenBoxes. The organization represents the financial entity, and is associated with one or more locations, which represent a physical office or warehouse. Understanding organizations is essential to using the Purchase Order feature, because organizations define the financial entities that are referenced in purchasing and invoicing.

• Locations: Locations represent physical spaces where goods are shipped, received, or stored. All transactions within OpenBoxes must be associated with a location. Some locations have the ability to manage inventory, which allows users to log in, view inventory, and make transactions. Other locations can be referenced as origins or destinations, but cannot track inventory. There are multiple levels of locations; within a depot location, there are also locations representing individual bins or zones.

Each party type is a key building block of an instance in OpenBoxes. When configuring a new OpenBoxes instance, it is important to ensure you understand how you want to structure each party type and how they interact with each other.