ERPNext for Bid and Performance Securities: Rays Technologies

The business

Rays Technologies imports medical equipment and sells it to hospitals and public institutions, mostly through tenders, from Lahore. Its sister company, Raab Scientific Solutions, runs as a second company in the same ERPNext.

What had to work in one system

Each bid needs a bid security, and each award a performance security. Both are put up as a CDR, pay order or bank guarantee, made out to the procuring agency, which is often not the customer that gets invoiced. The money is tied up until the agency releases it, in parts or in full, and sometimes it is forfeited.

The accounts show the cash leaving. They don't show which tender it secures, which agency holds it, whether it has been released, or whether the released amount has come back yet. Finance needed that per agency, next to the invoices the same agency owes.

What we built

Everything except the tender securities, the receivables report and a few Rays-specific fields and prints is standard ERPNext, configured for how Rays works. See how an ERPNext implementation runs.

1. Tender securities on the ledger: a custom app takes each security through request, payment (the instrument is issued), release and receipt. Each step posts to the general ledger. A release can be partial or full, and a forfeited security is booked as an expense.
2. Released is not repaid: the receivable runs in two stages. A security the agency has released but not yet paid back stays outstanding on that tender client's ledger until the receipt is booked, so nothing is counted as recovered before the money is in the bank.
3. Expiry, due dates and reminders: each security carries its expiry and due dates, and reminders go to the assigned employees so they follow up before an instrument lapses.
4. Every security tied to its tender: the sales person, the tender reference and the LOI or purchase order sit on the security record. Instrument numbers are unique, so the same CDR or guarantee can't be entered twice.
5. Receivables by territory: an accounts receivable report grouped by territory shows trade invoices and tender securities, with instrument and tender reference, in one view, so finance sees what each agency owes and what it holds.
6. Approvals: journal entries, sales invoices and payments go from the accounts user to the accounts manager before they post.
7. Pakistan tax details: STRN alongside NTN on customers, suppliers and the company, and FBR digital invoicing from the sales invoice.
8. Items and prints: item codes built from the brand and item group, and a sales order print with HS codes and the customer's PO number.

Data migration

Masters and opening balances came across before go-live. The existing register of open securities was loaded through opening entries, so every instrument out with an agency was on the ledger from day one, and bulk actions for payments, releases and receipts keep the register current without entering each one by hand.

Result

1. Every bid and performance security is on the ledger from issue to repayment, per tender client.
2. One receivables view per territory, invoices and securities together.
3. Expiry and due dates on every security, with reminders to the assigned employees to follow up.