How it works
A shift, start to finish
Seven steps. An attendant does five of them at the pump on a phone; a manager does the last two.
The workflow
Nothing to learn that a forecourt does not already do
These are the steps a station already works through on paper. CRA Sentinel does the arithmetic and keeps the record.
01
Set the forecourt up once
A station, its pumps, a nozzle for each totaliser, the fuels you sell and what they cost today. If you tell us what a meter reads when you add it, the very first shift is checked against something real.
02
Start a shift
One station, one trading day, one shift slot. The same shift cannot be opened twice, which is the structural reason two attendants cannot each file their own version of the night.
03
Enter the meters
Opening and closing for every nozzle. The opening is prefilled from the last finalized closing — editable, because meters are sometimes genuinely different, and any difference is flagged the moment it is typed.
04
Record what came in
Cash, POS, transfers, credit, vouchers, mobile money, other. A running total as you go.
05
Record what went out
Each expense with a category, a description, a receipt, and one question that decides everything: was it paid out of this shift's takings, or separately by the company?
06
Read the difference
Expected against accounted, to the cent, in a word and a colour. Balanced, short, or over.
07
Finalize
Every reading present, every closing at or above its opening, every price recorded, every meter discrepancy explained. Then the shift locks.
What it looks like
One shift, reconciled
Every figure below is what the software computes from the readings above it.
Lekki Station · Morning shift · 20 Sep
| Nozzle | Fuel | Litres | Expected |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pump 1 · Nozzle 1 | Petrol | 550.000 | ₦522,500.00 |
| Pump 1 · Nozzle 2 | Diesel | 310.500 | ₦366,390.00 |
| Pump 2 · Nozzle 1 | Petrol | 612.250 | ₦581,637.50 |
- Expected sales
- ₦1,470,527.50
- Cash counted
- ₦700,000.00
- POS / card
- ₦720,527.50
- Expenses paid from sales
- ₦15,000.00
- Accounted
- ₦1,435,527.50
The state is said in a word as well as a colour, everywhere it appears. A forecourt is read in sunlight, on a cracked phone, by people who may not distinguish red from green.
When a meter moves
A totaliser that was replaced is not a shortage
It happens. The product has a recorded way through it rather than leaving somebody to edit a number until the difference goes away.
- A manager records a meter reset with the reading before, the reading after, and a reason.
- Nothing already recorded is edited or deleted — the last closing reading stays exactly as it was.
- The next shift's opening reading is checked against the new base instead.
- The reset is in the audit trail with the manager's name on it, which is the point.