Glossary

A plain-language A–Z of the words you'll meet in Wattle Clinic - both the vet ones and the app ones. Each entry is one or two sentences, with a link to the section that explains it in full.

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A

Account balance - The total a client owes you (or that you owe them), across all their invoices and payments. A positive balance means they owe money; a negative balance means they're in credit. See Clients.

Allocation - Deciding which invoice a payment pays off. When a client pays, Wattle "allocates" the money to one or more invoices; unallocated money sits as credit on their account. See Taking payments.

Appointment - A booked time slot for a patient with a staff member. Appointments move through statuses (scheduled, checked-in, in-progress, completed). See The schedule.

Archive - Hiding a record from everyday lists without deleting it. Archived things still exist and can be brought back - unlike deleting, which is permanent. See "Archive vs delete" below.

Archive vs delete - Archive tucks a record out of sight but keeps it (reversible, safe). Delete removes it for good (permanent - use with care). When in doubt, archive. See Patients and Clients.

Audit log - A permanent, read-only record of who changed what and when, kept for compliance. You can filter and export it but never edit it. See The audit log.

B

Breadcrumb - The little trail of links near the top of a page (for example Clients › Jane Smith › Bella) showing where you are and letting you click back up. See The lay of the land.

C

Catalogue - Your price list: every service, product, and medication you can charge for, with its price. American spelling "catalog" may appear in code, but the screen says catalogue. See The catalogue & prices.

Charge - A single billable line - one service or item added to a patient's visit (for example "Consultation" or "Vaccine"). Charges gather up and become an invoice. See Charges vs invoices.

Charge vs invoice - A charge is one line of work or product; an invoice is the finished bill that groups charges together for a client to pay. You add charges during a visit; they roll up into an invoice. See Charges vs invoices.

Cheque - A paper payment method (the Australian spelling of "check"). One of the payment types you can record. See Taking payments.

Command palette (⌘K) - A quick-search box you open with ⌘K (Mac) or Ctrl+K (Windows) to jump to any screen or action by typing. A shortcut for confident users; you never have to use it. See Keyboard shortcuts.

Consult / consultation - A single patient visit where the vet or nurse records notes, vitals and charges. The app labels it visit, but "consult" means the same thing. See The consult.

Controlled drug - A medicine the law tracks tightly because of its potential for misuse - Schedule 8 (and some Schedule 4) drugs. These must be recorded in the controlled-drug register. See The Schedule 8 register.

Credit - Money a client has paid that isn't yet attached to an invoice - it sits on their account and can pay future bills. Shown as a negative account balance. See Taking payments.

Credit note - A numbered CRN- document that reverses an invoice the client has already been sent or has paid, without changing the original. Dated today, so the reversal lands in the current period and the month the invoice was issued in is left alone - which is what the ATO asks for, and required above $75. Puts the amount on the client's account as credit; a refund is a separate step. Moves money only: it doesn't return stock or touch the controlled-drug register. See Invoices.

D

Dashboard - Your home screen after signing in: today's appointments, pending invoices, and key numbers at a glance. See The dashboard.

Delete - Permanently removing a record. Unlike archive, this can't be undone, so the app usually asks you to confirm. See "Archive vs delete" above.

Dialog - A small window that pops up over the page to ask for something or confirm an action (for example "Take payment"). The page behind it dims; finish or close the dialog to carry on. See How the app talks to you.

Dispensing fee - A small charge added when you supply medication, covering the work of preparing and handing it over. It appears as its own line on the bill. See The catalogue & prices.

Draft - A record you're still working on that hasn't been locked in yet - most often a draft invoice or estimate. Drafts are fully editable and can be deleted. See Invoices.

E

Estimate - A quote you give a client before doing work, so they know the likely cost. It can be turned into an invoice later. See Estimates.

Export - Downloading your data as a file (CSV or JSON) to keep, back up, or move elsewhere. See Exporting & backing up your data.

F

Feature flag - A switch that turns a feature on or off for your clinic. Some features are optional and only appear when the flag is on - that's why your screens may differ from a colleague's. See Settings - a guided tour.

Finalise - Locking in an invoice (or visit) so it becomes the official record and can be paid. A finalised invoice isn't editable in the normal way - but you can unfinalise if you need to fix something. See Invoices.

G

GST - Goods and Services Tax, the 10% Australian tax shown on invoices where it applies. Wattle works it out for you. See Invoices.

I

Invoice - The bill for a client: a grouped set of charges they need to pay. It starts as a draft, then you finalise it. See Invoices.

K

Kinde - The service that handles signing in securely. You log in through it; you don't need to think about it beyond that. See Signing in.

L

Ledger - The running record of every charge, payment, and credit on a client's account, used to work out their balance. See Charges vs invoices.

Lock screen - The full-screen PIN prompt that appears when a signed-in computer sits untouched for a while (15/30/60 minutes, clinic-wide). You stay signed in - your PIN puts you straight back where you were. See Your PIN & the lock screen.

N

Notification - A business alert (overdue invoice, bounced email, product news) shown under the bell icon in the top bar. See Notifications.

O

Onboarding - The one-time guided setup you go through the first time you sign in, before reaching the clinic. See The complete setup.

P

Patient - An animal in your care. Each patient is linked to a client (their owner). See Patients.

Payment - Money received from a client, recorded against their account and allocated to invoices. See Taking payments.

Pending (S8) - A controlled-drug movement captured during billing that's waiting for a vet to finalise it into the register. Until sign-off it can be edited or discarded. See The Schedule 8 register.

PIN - Your personal 4-digit code, set at first sign-in. It unlocks the lock screen, and that is all it does. (Until September 2026 it also signed controlled-drug register entries; being signed in does that now.) Forgotten PINs are reset from Settings → Team. See Your PIN & the lock screen.

R

Reconcile / reconciliation - Counting the physical stock of a controlled drug and matching it against what the register says you should have, to catch any discrepancy. See The Schedule 8 register.

Role - What a team member is, as opposed to what they're allowed to do (that's Permissions). Wattle has four: Vet (clinical work, and the only role that may sign off a Schedule 8 entry), Practice Manager (runs the clinic and its settings), Nurse (the clinical day-to-day, including capturing Schedule 8 for a vet to sign), and Staff (front-desk day-to-day). A vet is not an administrator by default - management access is a permission, granted per role or per person in Settings → Roles & Permissions. There used to be an Admin role; it was retired because it confused the two ideas. See Team & permissions.

S

Schedule 8 / S8 - The legal category for the most tightly controlled drugs, which must be recorded in a controlled-drug register. See The Schedule 8 register.

S4D - Schedule 4 (Appendix D) - prescription drugs that need extra record-keeping, sitting a step below S8 in control. See The Schedule 8 register.

Sent - A flag on an invoice showing you've sent it to the client. Binary (Sent / Not sent) and separate from payment - an invoice can be paid but not sent, or sent but unpaid. Emailing the invoice sets it for you; Mark as sent sets it by hand for post and counter. See Invoices.

Sheet - A panel that slides in from the side of the screen for longer forms and multi-step jobs (like booking an appointment). Like a dialog, but roomier. See How the app talks to you.

Sidebar - The menu down the left side that takes you to the main sections (Schedule, Patients, Clients, Billing, and so on). See The lay of the land.

Stock check - A formal count of controlled-drug stock recorded in the register, sometimes done "blind" (without seeing the expected number first). Wattle used to call this a stocktake, and the word still turns up in a couple of places, notably the Stocktake due reminder. Same thing. See The Schedule 8 register.

T

Toast - A small message that slides in briefly (usually bottom of screen) to confirm something happened - "Invoice saved" - then fades away. You don't need to dismiss it. See How the app talks to you.

U

Unfinalise - Reopening a finalised invoice or visit so you can make a correction, then finalising it again. The safe way to fix a locked record. See Invoices.

V

Visit - What the app calls a consult: a single patient appointment record with notes, vitals and charges. See The consult.

Void - Cancelling a finalised invoice so it no longer counts, while keeping a record that it existed. Available only while the invoice is still unsent and unpaid; once it has been emailed or paid you raise a credit note instead. Unlike deleting a draft, a void leaves a trace. See Invoices.

W

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