Follow the connections behind the answer.
Connected records
Trace the relationships between orders, receipts, invoices and the evidence around them. Use the connections when a question spans several records.
Which receipts support this supplier invoice?
How Cobalt ERP fits together
Shared by all customers, kept up to date by us, and holding none of your data. It maps Cobalt ERP’s modules, record types, features, permissions, actions, screens and expected processes, and how they depend on each other. It is what lets the system find the right feature, check what a change would affect and report what is covered.
How your business connects
Your records, mapped. Companies, accounts and cost centres; customers, suppliers, staff and contracts; products, bills of materials, batches, warehouses and locations; quotes, orders, deliveries, receipts, invoices and payments; works orders, service cases, assets and tickets, and how they all link up.
Where an answer came from
The trail from a record or document, through the rule or forecast that used it, to the finding or suggestion it produced, and on to the decision a person actually made. It is how “why did it say that?” can still be answered six months later.
Follow the links, and skip what doesn’t matter.
The map of your business is why a question about a supplier can reach the orders that depend on it without anyone linking them by hand. You can only follow links your permissions allow. Often its most useful job is ruling things out, so the rest of Cobalt ERP Intelligence doesn’t waste time on records that don’t matter.
Which receipts belong to this invoice?
The connection matters because the purchase arrived in two deliveries.
Connected recordsIllustrative records| Record | Connected to | Quantity |
|---|---|---|
| INV-7734 | PO-1047 | 100 invoiced |
| GRN-0821 | PO-1047 · line 1 | 60 received |
| GRN-0839 | PO-1047 · line 1 | 36 received |
The linked receipts cover 96 of the 100 invoiced units.
The graph identifies the related records. Matching rules calculate the four-unit difference for review.
- Named links — supplier supplies part, part used in bill of materials, bill makes product, product reserved for sales order, order sent in shipment, shipment billed on invoice, invoice settled by payment.
- Knock-on effects — what depends on this, and what is affected if it is late.
- Context for the rest of the system — the right records as they were at the time for forecasts, the right group for pattern finding, and the right options for planning.
- Where a figure came from — from a number on screen back to the records behind it.
- Skipping what doesn’t matter — ruling out unrelated records early is the cheapest speed gain in the system, because the quickest work is work that never has to run.
A map of your records, never a replacement for them.
The map doesn’t own the links in it. Your records do. It can be rebuilt from them at any time, and if the two disagree, the map is wrong. So nothing reads a balance or a permission from the map. Links the system worked out for itself are kept apart from links your records state, so a guess can never pass as a fact.
Whenever the answer depends on what is connected to what.
- “Which customers are affected if this supplier is late?” — supplier to part to bill of materials to product to order to customer, in one go.
- “What breaks if we change this?” — everything in Cobalt ERP that depends on it.
- “Where did this figure come from?” — the trail back to the records behind it.
- “Is this the same customer as that one?” — a likely match, with the reasons for it.
- “What else does this contract cover?” — found by following the links, without reading the file again.
Frequently asked questions.
Do I need a graph database for this?
No. What makes the map useful is that every link is clearly defined, traceable, dated and limited by permissions. How it is stored is a detail we handle for you.
Can the map be wrong?
It can fall behind, which is why it can always be rebuilt and is never treated as the final word. If the map and your records disagree, your records are right and the map is rebuilt.
What is the difference between a stated link and a guessed one?
A stated link comes straight from your records: this invoice settles that order. A guessed link is one the system worked out. They are stored separately and never merged, so a guess can’t be mistaken for a fact.
Does the map show me records I’m not allowed to see?
No. What you can follow is limited by your permissions, and those are checked live each time rather than taken from the map.
Try it on your own records.
Book a demo and ask it a real question about your business. Every answer shows how it was worked out and which records it used.
Book a demo