Process dashboard
The Process dashboard is owned by the Process agent. It is the most varied module in thola — what "process" means for a retail store is different from a services agency is different from a manufacturer. The dashboard adapts: it shows you only the metrics relevant to your industry.
What it tracks (by industry)
Retail / POS
| Metric | What it is |
|---|---|
| Stock levels | Units in stock by SKU, with low-stock alerts. |
| Stock turn | How many times stock cycles per year. |
| Shrinkage | Discrepancy between expected and actual stock. |
| Average bill value | Mean order value at the counter. |
| Lines per bill | Items per transaction. |
| Counter reconciliation | % of shifts that reconciled on time. |
Services
| Metric | What it is |
|---|---|
| Cycle time | Median time from order start to delivery. |
| On-time delivery | % of projects delivered by promised date. |
| Utilisation | Billable hours / total hours, per person. |
| Defect / rework rate | % of projects requiring rework after delivery. |
Manufacturing
| Metric | What it is |
|---|---|
| Production capacity | Units / hour, with current utilisation. |
| Defect rate | % of units failing QC. |
| Material yield | Output / input material. |
| Downtime | Hours lost to equipment / supply issues. |
| Purchase savings | Realised savings vs. previous quarter's PO prices. |
The set is determined by your industry setting at company setup. You can override under Settings → Process → Active metrics.
What data the Process agent needs
For retail: bills, inventory, PO history. Mostly comes for free if you use thola POS.
For services: project plans with start/end dates, time logs, defect/rework tickets.
For manufacturing: production logs, QC results, PO records, downtime logs.
If you don't yet log any of this, the Process agent will offer to set up a lightweight log — a 1-minute end-of-day form your operator fills in, and the dashboard fills from that.
How the Process score is calculated
The score weights vary by industry, but the structure is always:
- Throughput (30–40%) — are you producing/serving fast enough
- Quality (25–35%) — are defects/rework under control
- Efficiency (15–25%) — output per unit of input
- Discipline (15–25%) — are you actually running the process you say you run
The "discipline" piece is what catches most businesses off guard. You can have great throughput and quality and still score poorly because half your shifts don't reconcile or a third of your projects don't get logged. Doing the work matters; recording the work matters too.
Talking to the Process agent
| You say | What happens |
|---|---|
| "Which SKUs are low on stock?" | Lists items below reorder point. |
| "Create a PO for the low-stock items." | Drafts a Purchase Order, asks you to pick vendor and confirm. |
| "What's our defect rate this month?" | Shows defect rate and the top 3 contributing causes. |
| "Why is cycle time up?" | Diagnoses with a few candidate explanations. |
| "Schedule a stock audit next Saturday." | Creates a recurring task with reminders. |
| "Reconcile yesterday's POS." | Compares system stock with what got billed and shows the gap. |
Inventory & Purchase Orders
If you run inventory through thola, the Process module is your home. The flow:
- Products — SKUs with cost, price, reorder point, lead time.
- Stock movements — every sale, every receipt, every adjustment is logged.
- POs — when stock falls below reorder, the Process agent suggests a PO.
- Receive — when stock arrives, you receive it against the PO; thola reconciles quantities and flags discrepancies.
The Inventory & PO Agentic design lives in our backend docs; for the user side, the most important pattern is: suggested → drafted → confirmed. The Process agent never auto-issues a PO. It always asks.
Stock alerts
Three alert types, in order of severity:
- 🟢 Reorder hint — stock approaching reorder point.
- 🟡 Below reorder — stock below reorder point; a PO should be drafted.
- 🔴 Stockout imminent — current sell-through rate predicts a stockout in < 48 hours.
Stockout flags surface in the Overall dashboard as Red Flags.
Cycle time, the right way
Cycle time is median, not mean. A single eight-week project shouldn't make your whole quarter look slow. The dashboard shows:
- Median cycle time (the headline)
- Distribution chart (the truth)
- 90th percentile (the long-tail)
If your 90th percentile is more than 3× your median, you have a process problem hiding inside an OK average. The Process agent will surface this as a Medium Red Flag.
Common questions
My business doesn't fit retail / services / manufacturing cleanly. Pick the one that's closest, then turn on / off metrics manually under Settings → Process → Active metrics. The score will adapt.
Can I track multiple branches? Yes — Settings → Workspace → Branches. Each metric is computed per branch, then rolled up. Branch managers see only their branch; admins see all.
How does this connect to thola POS on mobile? Every bill rung at the POS counter creates a stock movement. The Process dashboard shows it within seconds (online) or after reconnection (offline). See Mobile → POS.
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