# NetForge

## What This Is

NetForge is a multi-tenant SaaS platform for small-to-medium ISP operations management. It gives ISP owners full visibility into billing, payments, expenses, inventory, technician work, and accounting — replacing the patchwork of spreadsheets and manual tracking that most small ISPs rely on. Each ISP that signs up gets a fully isolated tenant with role-based access for admin, office staff, collectors, technicians, and subscribers.

## Core Value

ISP owners can see exactly where their money is — who owes what, what's been collected, what's been spent, and what the business actually looks like financially — in real time.

## Requirements

### Validated

(None yet — ship to validate)

### Active

- [ ] Multi-tenant architecture with fully isolated data per ISP
- [ ] Role-based access: Admin, Office Staff, Collector, Technician, Client
- [ ] Subscriber management (registration, plan assignment, status tracking)
- [ ] Billing system supporting monthly subscriptions (prepaid and postpaid)
- [ ] Payment collection tracking (door-to-door cash and online payments)
- [ ] Collector management with balance visibility per collector
- [ ] Client portal: view bills/balance, pay online, submit tickets, view plan details
- [ ] Ticketing system where client issues become job orders for technicians
- [ ] Job order management with assignment and completion tracking
- [ ] Technician compensation tracking (fixed rate per job type and monthly salary)
- [ ] Inventory management for network hardware (routers, ONUs, cables, connectors, splitters)
- [ ] Asset management tracking deployed equipment per subscriber
- [ ] Expense tracking and categorization
- [ ] Full accounting: balance sheet, income statement, journal entries
- [ ] Dashboard with cash flow visibility and key operational metrics

### Out of Scope

- Mobile native app — web-first, responsive design for mobile access
- Real-time network monitoring (SNMP/bandwidth) — separate concern, not business operations
- Automated billing integration with payment gateways — v1 tracks payments, gateway integration later
- SMS/email blast marketing — not core to operations management
- Multi-currency support — single currency per tenant for v1

## Context

- Born from real pain running an ISP: no visibility into cash flow, payment status, inventory, or technician workload
- Target market: small-to-medium ISPs (under 500 to a few thousand subscribers)
- Collectors go door-to-door collecting cash payments — need to track what they collect and reconcile
- Technicians are commonly paid per job order (fixed rate per job type) but some ISPs use monthly salary
- Customer issues come in via calls/texts, staff manually creates tickets that become job orders
- Network hardware (routers, ONUs, cables, splitters, connectors) is the primary inventory to track
- SaaS model: the owner plans to use it for their own ISP and publish it for other ISPs to subscribe

## Constraints

- **Architecture**: Multi-tenant with strict data isolation between ISPs
- **Accounting**: Must follow double-entry bookkeeping principles for journal entries, balance sheets, income statements
- **Access**: Five distinct roles with different permissions (Admin, Office Staff, Collector, Technician, Client)
- **Billing**: Must support both prepaid (pay before service) and postpaid (pay after service period) models

## Key Decisions

| Decision | Rationale | Outcome |
|----------|-----------|---------|
| Multi-tenant SaaS (not single-tenant) | Plan to publish for other ISPs, not just personal use | — Pending |
| Full double-entry accounting | Owner needs proper books, not just cash tracking | — Pending |
| Web-first (no native mobile) | Faster to ship, responsive design covers mobile needs | — Pending |
| Tech stack TBD | Will be determined during research phase | — Pending |

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*Last updated: 2026-03-04 after initialization*