Do I need a supplier for an own vehicle?

No. Supplier is only asked for when Ownership Type is Market. Fuel stations and workshops are also suppliers, but you add those when you first need them.

Is a driver the same as an employee?

Yes. Drivers are employees with Employee Type Driver. The Drivers menu is a filtered view of People › Employees.

Docs · Getting started · How-to

Add your first vehicle, driver and customer

You will have one vehicle, one driver and one customer saved with the minimum fields, so the first booking can be created without stopping to add records half-way.

Open NShine ERP All docs

A booking needs three things to pick from: a vehicle, a driver and a paying customer. Each lives in its own master list and is added once. Everything you record later, from fuel to invoices, hangs off these records, so get them in first.

The order matters. A market vehicle asks for its supplier, so suppliers come before market vehicles. A driver with a salary type asks nothing of the others. A customer needs only a name, state and country to save. Add the customer, then the driver, then the vehicle, and the booking form will have every dropdown filled.

Before You Start

Settings › Company is complete and a Financial Year is active.
If the first vehicle is a market vehicle, the truck owner exists under People › Suppliers with Supplier Type Truck Owner.
Vehicle types and other dropdown lists you want to use exist under Settings › Dropdown Values; the defaults are enough to start.

Steps

Open Customers and click Add. Enter Customer Name, State and Country. Add TRN, Email and Phone if you have them; they print on the LR and invoice.
Fill Credit Info if the customer has an agreed credit period or limit, then save. Leave Opening Balance empty for a brand-new customer. Use it only for a balance carried in from your old books.
Open Drivers and click Add. Enter First Name, Joining Date and Employee Type (Driver). Set Phone if the driver will use the mobile app; the OTP goes to that number.
Choose the Salary Type and, if trips are paid per trip, the Trip Based Salary Type and amount, then save. These feed trip pay and payroll later; they can be changed on the record at any time.
Open Vehicles and click Add. Enter Vehicle number, pick the Vehicle Type and set Ownership Type to Own or Market.
For a market vehicle, pick the Supplier. Supplier pay on bookings and the supplier invoice both use this link.
Enter Fuel Type, Expected Mileage and Current Odometer Reading, keep Is Active ticked and save. Expected Mileage drives the fuel-efficiency buckets on the dashboard; the odometer is the starting point for distance on fuel entries and maintenance reminders.

Minimum fields on each form

Form	Fields to fill now	Fill later if needed
Customers › Add	Customer Name, State, Country	TRN, Email, Phone, RCM Applicable, Address, Credit Period, Credit Limit, Opening Balance
Drivers › Add	First Name, Joining Date, Employee Type, Phone	Salary Type and amount, Trip Based Salary Type and amount, Enable Mobile App, Bank Info, Emergency Contact Details
Vehicles › Add	Vehicle number, Vehicle Type, Ownership Type, Supplier (market only), Is Active	Year, Vehicle Make, Model, Fuel Type, Expected Mileage, VIN, Registration Expiry Date, Current Odometer Reading, Trailer, Other layouts

What This Changes

The customer gets a ledger under Books › Chart Of Accounts in Account Receivables, and appears in the Paying Customer, Consigner and Consignee lists on the booking form.
The driver appears in the Driver list on bookings and in Payroll › People; the Drivers KPIs Active Drivers and Amount to Pay include them.
The vehicle appears in the Vehicle list on bookings, in Live Tracking and under every Vehicles sub-screen; the dashboard Active Vehicles tile counts it.
A market vehicle carries its supplier onto each booking, so the booking list shows the Supplier column filled.

Tips

Field labels on the customer form can be renamed per tenant, so if your screen says something other than TRN, it is the same tax registration field.
Have many records? Skip the forms and use AI › AI Data Import for customers, suppliers, vehicles and drivers in one go.
Documents (insurance, permits, licence, identity documents) are uploaded from the record’s Documents tab after saving, not on the Add form.

Frequently asked questions

Need Help?

Chat with the NShine ERP support team on WhatsApp at +91 79950 87755, or ask from inside the app. Last checked 9 November 2026 against app.nshineerp.com.