Core concepts
The objects MeshHistory works with, and the words used for them throughout the app.
Everything in MeshHistory is built out of a small number of objects. Learning these six makes the rest of the interface predictable.
Records
A record is a business object copied from the ERP: a sales order, an invoice, a purchase order, a vendor, a customer, an employee, an inventory item, a vendor bill. Each record carries its source identifiers, so a row in the archive can always be traced back to the object it came from.
A record is in one of two states. Current means it still exists in the source system. Deleted means it no longer does, but the captured copy was retained.
Files
A file is a document copied out of the ERP file store, together with the path it was found at.
Files keep their original folder structure, so a file archived from
/File Cabinet/Documents/Invoices/ is still shown under that path in the archive.
Versions
A version is one captured state of a record or a file. Versions accumulate. Capturing a change adds a version, it does not replace the one before it, which is what makes reading an earlier state back possible.
Both Files and Records show a Versions count so you can see at a glance how much history exists behind a given row.
Connections
A connection is one authorized link to one ERP account. An organization can hold several, and they are listed separately because they can behave differently from each other. Some keep versions on the MeshERP side, some rely on the provider keeping them, and some keep no history at all.
Most list views in the app can be filtered by connection, so you can look at one source at a time.
Storage targets
A storage target is where archived copies are physically written. There is always a default, and an organization can connect additional targets of its own.
Environments
An environment separates one set of captured data from another inside the same organization, and the environment in view is chosen from the switcher at the top of the sidebar. Some allowances, notably database storage, are shared and counted across environments rather than per environment.
How they fit together
A connection reads from one ERP account. What it reads becomes records and files. Every captured change adds a version. The copies are written to a storage target, inside an environment. Retention decides how long the versions are kept.