---
title: "Core concepts"
description: "The vocabulary Requiply uses, defined in one place: item group, SKU, unit, booking, client, service, deposit, subrental, pricing tier, workflow, permission group, and client portal."
canonical_url: "https://requiply.com/docs/en/guides/get-started/core-concepts"
---
# Core concepts

> The vocabulary Requiply uses, defined in one place: item group, SKU, unit, booking, client, service, deposit, subrental, pricing tier, workflow, permission group, and client portal.

These are the words Requiply uses across the app and throughout this documentation. Each one links to the page that explains it in full.

## Item group

An **item group** represents one type of product you rent out. It can hold a single physical thing or many identical ones that customers think of as the same product.

For example, **Rode PSA-1** is an item group. If your warehouse has three Rode PSA-1 microphone arms, all three belong to that one group, because a customer booking "a Rode PSA-1" does not care which of the three they get.

Item groups keep the catalog clean: you publish one product rather than three near-identical listings, and Requiply works out how many are free on any given date. See [Add item](https://requiply.com/docs/en/guides/inventory/add-item).

## Item, unit, and SKU

An **item** is one physical thing in your warehouse: a single microphone arm, one van, one cabin. The documentation and the app also call this a **unit**, especially in [pickup and return checklists](https://requiply.com/docs/en/guides/bookings/checklists) and when scanning barcodes. Item and unit mean the same thing.

Every item belongs to an item group, and each one is tracked separately. That is what lets Requiply say one Rode PSA-1 is out on a booking while another is available and a third is under maintenance, each with its own status, serial number, and repair history.

**Both levels carry a SKU**, and they are different identifiers:

<table>
<thead>
  <tr>
    <th>
      
    </th>
    
    <th>
      What it identifies
    </th>
    
    <th>
      Example
    </th>
  </tr>
</thead>

<tbody>
  <tr>
    <td>
      <strong>
        Item group SKU
      </strong>
    </td>
    
    <td>
      The product as a whole
    </td>
    
    <td>
      <code>
        RODE-PSA-1
      </code>
    </td>
  </tr>
  
  <tr>
    <td>
      <strong>
        Item SKU
      </strong>
    </td>
    
    <td>
      One physical unit of it
    </td>
    
    <td>
      <code>
        RODE-PSA-1-1
      </code>
      
      , <code>
        RODE-PSA-1-2
      </code>
    </td>
  </tr>
</tbody>
</table>

Requiply generates both automatically and you can edit either. A **serial number** is different again: that is the manufacturer's own number for the unit, stored alongside the item SKU and never used to identify it inside Requiply. See [Manage inventory](https://requiply.com/docs/en/guides/inventory/manage).

## Booking

A **booking** is one rental: a client, a pickup date and a return date, the items and services they are taking, and what they owe for it. Creating a booking is what reserves the stock, so nobody else can take the same units for overlapping dates.

Your team creates bookings inside Requiply on [Add booking](https://requiply.com/docs/en/guides/bookings/add-booking), and customers can create them for themselves on the [client portal](https://requiply.com/docs/en/guides/online-booking). In the API and in some older screens a booking is still called a *reservation*; it is the same record.

## Booking status

A **status** is the stage a booking has reached, such as *New*, *In Progress*, or *Completed*. Statuses decide whether a booking holds stock, whether a checklist has to be completed first, and whether it counts as active, completed, or cancelled in reports. Every organization starts with seven statuses and can rename, recolor, add, and delete them, and decide the transitions between them. See [Booking statuses](https://requiply.com/docs/en/guides/settings/bookings/statuses).

## Client

A **client** is one of your customers: their contact details, rental history, what they owe, any discount they get, and any custom fields you have added. See [Clients](https://requiply.com/docs/en/guides/clients).

## Service

A **service** is something chargeable that is not a physical rental item, such as delivery, collection, setup, cleaning, or an operator's time. Services are added to a booking alongside items and appear on the invoice. See [Services](https://requiply.com/docs/en/guides/services).

## Deposit

A **deposit** is a refundable amount you hold against damage, loss, or late return. It is charged with the booking, kept separate from revenue in reports, and refunded in full or in part once the equipment is back. See [Deposits](https://requiply.com/docs/en/guides/settings/bookings/deposits).

## Subrental

A **subrental** is equipment you do not own, hired in from a supplier to fulfil a booking. Requiply tracks what the supplier charges you and what you charge the customer, so the profit on hired-in gear is visible. See [Subrentals](https://requiply.com/docs/en/guides/bookings/subrentals).

## Sale and equipment for sale

**Equipment for sale** is a product you sell instead of renting, such as a memory card or a battery pack. It has a flat price and a **stock count** instead of units, and never appears in availability. A **sale** records goods sold, either on its own with its own payment or on a booking, where the booking's invoice collects it. Both need [Sales](https://requiply.com/docs/en/guides/sales) switched on.

## Pricing tier

A **pricing tier** makes an item cheaper per day the longer it is rented, by charging a percentage of the base price for each duration range. It reacts to the length of the rental only, not to the calendar. See [Pricing tiers](https://requiply.com/docs/en/guides/settings/pricing/pricing-tiers).

## Pricing discount

A **pricing discount** is a percentage attached to one client, so that customer automatically pays less on every booking. There are no voucher or coupon codes in Requiply. See [Pricing discounts](https://requiply.com/docs/en/guides/settings/pricing/pricing-discounts).

## Custom field

A **custom field** stores something Requiply does not track by default, such as a passport number on a client or a purchase date on an item. You create the field, then choose which records it applies to. See [Entity fields](https://requiply.com/docs/en/guides/settings/fields/entity-fields).

## Workflow

A **workflow** is an automation: when something happens to a booking, and your conditions match, Requiply sends an email or message or updates the booking, without anyone remembering to do it. See [Workflows](https://requiply.com/docs/en/guides/automations/workflows).

## Permission group

A **permission group** is a named set of permissions that you assign people to, rather than ticking the same boxes for every new hire. It decides which pages and actions each team member can reach. See [Permission groups](https://requiply.com/docs/en/guides/settings/organization/accounts/permission-groups).

## Location

A **location** is a place you operate from: a branch, warehouse, shop, pickup point, or service area. Locations supply the address and directions shown on bookings, invoices, and to customers. See [Locations](https://requiply.com/docs/en/guides/settings/organization/locations).

## Client portal

The **client portal** is your customer-facing rental website at `portal.requiply.com/<your code>`. It uses your organization details, catalog, pricing, and booking rules so customers can browse what you offer, book it themselves, and sign in afterwards to follow, pay for, or cancel a booking. See [Client portal](https://requiply.com/docs/en/guides/online-booking).

## Organization

An **organization** is your workspace: one business, with its own catalog, clients, bookings, team, currency, and subscription. Everything you create lives inside it, and the people you invite all work in the same one.


## Sitemap

See the full [sitemap](https://requiply.com/docs/sitemap.md) for all pages.