Getting Started with Vendra

When you first log into Vendra, you land on an empty system that is ready to be configured for your business. This guide walks you through every setup step in order — from creating your account and entering your company details through to configuring your chart of accounts, setting up products, connecting your POS terminal, and completing your first test sale. Follow these steps once and your system will be correctly structured for day-to-day operation.

Step 1 — Creating your account and logging in

Go to vendraapp.com and click Get Started. Enter your name, email address, and a strong password. You will receive a confirmation email — click the link to activate your account. Once activated, navigate to your Vendra URL and log in using your email and password.

If your organization enforces two-factor authentication, you will be prompted to set up a TOTP authenticator app (Google Authenticator, Authy, or any compatible app) on your first login. Scan the QR code shown on screen, enter the six-digit code to confirm, and two-factor authentication is active. Every subsequent login will require both your password and a fresh code from the app.

Step 2 — Configuring your company profile

Before doing anything else, complete your company profile. Go to Settings from the left sidebar, then navigate to General Settings. Find the Companies section and click Configure Document Layout (or go to Settings → Users & Companies → Companies and click your company name).

Fields to complete

• Company name — The legal trading name that appears on all invoices, receipts, and purchase orders.
• Country — Your operating country. This selection determines which chart of accounts template is loaded and which tax rates are pre-configured. Vendra includes localization for over 90 countries.
• Currency — The base currency for all financial transactions. For Kenya this is KES (Kenyan Shilling). You can activate additional currencies later for multi-currency invoicing.
• Company logo — Upload a square PNG with a transparent background. This logo appears on all printed and emailed documents.
• VAT / Tax registration number — Your KRA PIN or equivalent tax ID. This prints on VAT receipts and is required for tax compliance.
• Address, phone, and email — These appear in the footer of all customer-facing documents.
• Fiscal year start — Set the start month of your financial year. For most Kenyan businesses this is January, but adapt to your circumstances.

Document layout

While in the document layout screen, choose a layout style (Classic, Clean, or Boxed), select a font, and set a header color that matches your brand. Enter any footer text you want on printed documents — typically your bank account details or terms of payment. Click Save and use the Preview button to see a sample invoice with your settings applied.

Step 3 — Understanding the main dashboard

The Vendra home dashboard is a collection of widgets that surface important information from all modules. When you first open it, it may appear empty until you add widgets from the individual reporting views. The main navigation consists of:

• Left sidebar — Lists every installed app. The active app is highlighted. Click any name to switch modules.
• Top navigation bar — Shows the menus and sub-menus specific to the currently open module.
• Top-right area — Displays notifications (bell icon), pending activities (clock icon), the active company name, and your user avatar.
• Grid icon (top-left) — Opens the full app switcher so you can jump to any module from anywhere in the system.

If your organization operates multiple companies under one Vendra subscription, click the company name in the top-right to open the company switcher. You can activate multiple companies simultaneously — data visible to you will then span all active companies, which is useful for group-level reporting.

Step 4 — Chart of accounts

Vendra automatically loads a country-specific chart of accounts when you set your company country. For Kenya, the l10n_ke localization installs a KRA-compliant chart of accounts with pre-configured accounts for assets, liabilities, equity, income, and expenses. You do not need to build it from scratch.

To review and customize it, go to Accounting → Configuration → Chart of Accounts. The chart is organized in a hierarchy:

• 1xx — Assets (cash, bank, accounts receivable, inventory, fixed assets)
• 2xx — Liabilities (accounts payable, VAT payable, loans)
• 3xx — Equity (share capital, retained earnings)
• 4xx — Income (sales revenue, other income)
• 5xx — Cost of Goods Sold
• 6xx — Operating Expenses (salaries, rent, utilities)

For most businesses, the default chart is sufficient. You may want to add specific accounts for your industry — for example, a separate income account for each product category, or dedicated expense accounts for specific cost types. To add an account, click New in the Chart of Accounts view and fill in the account code, name, account type, and default tax.

Step 5 — Configuring taxes and tax groups

Go to Accounting → Configuration → Taxes to see all configured tax rates. Each tax record shows:

• Tax name — Descriptive label (e.g., "VAT 16%")
• Tax type — Sales or Purchase
• Tax computation — Fixed amount, percentage of price, or percentage of other taxes
• Amount — The rate (16 for 16%)
• Price included — Whether the displayed price already includes tax (tax-inclusive) or whether tax is added on top (tax-exclusive)
• Tax account — The chart of accounts code where collected tax is posted

Tax groups control how taxes are displayed and grouped on invoices and VAT reports. Go to Accounting → Configuration → Tax Groups to see the default groupings. In Kenya, you will typically have a single "VAT 16%" group. If you deal with zero-rated or exempt goods, these should be separate tax rates assigned to their own tax group.

Fiscal positions allow you to automatically remap taxes for specific customer or vendor categories — for example, applying zero VAT to export customers. Go to Accounting → Configuration → Fiscal Positions to set these up if relevant to your operations.

Step 6 — Adding product categories

Product categories help organize your catalog for reporting, pricing rules, and inventory routing. Before adding products, create your category structure. Go to Inventory → Configuration → Product Categories (or Sales → Configuration → Product Categories).

A well-structured category tree for a retail business might look like:

• All / Beverages / Soft Drinks
• All / Beverages / Water
• All / Dairy / Milk
• All / Dairy / Yoghurt
• All / Household / Cleaning Products
• All / Food / Dry Goods

Each category carries a costing method (Average Cost, Standard Cost, or FIFO), which determines how inventory is valued when goods are received and sold. For most retail businesses, Average Cost is the simplest starting point. FIFO is recommended if you sell products with expiry dates and need precise cost tracking per batch.

Step 7 — Adding your first products

Go to Inventory → Products → Products and click New to create a product. The key fields to complete:

Product variants

If a product comes in multiple sizes, colors, or flavors, use product variants rather than creating separate products. Go to Sales → Configuration → Settings and enable Variants. Then on the product form, go to the Attributes & Variants tab and add attributes (e.g., Size: 250ml, 500ml, 1L). Vendra generates one variant per combination automatically, each with its own barcode and price.

Setting up barcode ranges

If you generate your own barcodes for loose or weighed products, configure a barcode nomenclature. Go to Inventory → Configuration → Barcode Nomenclatures. Define a prefix for price-embedded barcodes (used in butcheries and delis where the barcode encodes both product ID and weight/price). The POS scanner reads these barcodes and extracts the price or weight automatically.

Step 8 — Adding employees and contracts

Go to Employees → Employees and click New to create employee records. At minimum, complete:

• Full name, job position, and department
• Work email and phone
• Manager (for organizational chart accuracy)
• Working schedule (Full Time, Part Time, or custom)
• POS PIN — found in the HR Settings tab. This four-to-six digit PIN is what cashiers use to log into POS terminals when the system is configured for employee-level session security.

If you plan to run payroll, you also need to create a contract for each employee. From the employee record, click the Contracts button in the top bar. Set the contract start date, wage (basic monthly salary), and salary structure. The salary structure defines all the lines that appear on the payslip — basic pay, allowances, and statutory deductions.

Step 9 — Connecting payment methods

Payment methods determine which payment options are available at the POS and how each one posts to accounting. Go to Point of Sale → Configuration → Payment Methods to review or add methods.

The default installation includes:

• Cash — Posts to the Cash journal. The POS closing screen reconciles this against the physical drawer count.
• Bank Transfer — For customers who pay by direct transfer.
• M-Pesa (manual) — Cashier confirms payment manually after the customer shows the M-Pesa confirmation SMS.
• M-Pesa STK Push — Automatic. The POS sends a push notification to the customer's phone. Payment is confirmed electronically when the customer enters their PIN. No manual confirmation needed.

To activate M-Pesa STK Push, you need your Safaricom API credentials (Consumer Key, Consumer Secret, Business Short Code, and Passkey). These are obtained from the Safaricom Developer Portal after registering as a Daraja API user. Enter these credentials in Settings → Integrations → M-Pesa.

Step 10 — Configuring your POS terminal

Go to Point of Sale → Configuration → Point of Sales. You will see the default Shop terminal. Click on it to configure it for your business.

Key terminal settings

• Payment methods — Select which payment methods are active on this terminal (Cash, M-Pesa STK Push, etc.).
• Sales journal — The accounting journal where POS revenue is posted. Usually a dedicated POS Sales journal.
• Warehouse — Which warehouse's stock is deducted when this terminal makes a sale.
• Fiscal position — Apply a fiscal position if this terminal serves a specific customer type (e.g., VAT-exempt).
• Receipt and invoice settings — Enable VAT receipts (pos_vat_receipts) to print the VAT registration number and tax breakdown on every receipt. Enable automatic printing if you have a connected receipt printer.
• Inventory — Turn on real-time stock control (pos_stock_control) so the POS deducts inventory immediately on each sale. This is strongly recommended for accurate stock levels.
• Discounts — Enable pos_discount_amount to allow cashiers to apply discounts. Set the maximum discount percentage a cashier can apply without manager override.
• Employee security — Enable pos_financial_security to require cashiers to log in with their employee PIN before opening or operating a session.

Connected hardware

If you have a receipt printer (Epson or compatible), connect it via the IoT box or direct IP connection. Go to Configuration → Connected Devices on the terminal settings and add the printer. For barcode scanners, most USB scanners work plug-and-play — the POS registers any barcode input as a product search automatically.

Step 11 — Making your first test sale

With your company profile, products, and POS terminal configured, you are ready to process a test transaction.

Understanding the module layout

Once you complete the initial setup, your day-to-day workflow in Vendra flows across several interconnected modules. Here is how they relate to each other:

• Point of Sale — Front-line sales at the physical till. Every sale automatically updates inventory and creates accounting entries.
• Inventory — Tracks all stock movements: receipts from suppliers, sales out to customers, internal transfers, and adjustments.
• Purchase — Creates purchase orders to suppliers. When goods arrive, the receipt is processed in Inventory. The supplier bill is matched in Accounting.
• Sales — Manages quotations and sales orders for wholesale or credit customers. Invoices are created from confirmed orders.
• Accounting — The financial system. All other modules post transactions here automatically. Your job in Accounting is to reconcile bank statements and review reports.
• Employees / Payroll — Manages staff records, contracts, leave, and monthly payslips.

Next steps after initial setup

Once the foundation is in place, the most common next steps are:

• Import your full product catalog via CSV if you have more than a handful of products (Settings → Technical → Import)
• Set up reorder rules for each product so the system automatically generates purchase orders when stock falls low
• Configure pricelists if you have different pricing for wholesale versus retail customers
• Set up your supplier records in the Purchase module with their payment terms and lead times
• Invite additional users and set their permission levels in Settings → Users
• Connect your business bank account in Accounting → Configuration → Add Bank Account for bank reconciliation