source: DESIGN @ f09f636

Design of Remit
===============

Remit aims to be a general system for managing MIT student group finances.  The
name comes from "MIT" and the term "remit": One core piece of functionality is
generating the documentation required to make SAFO remit money to students.

Core functionality objectives
-----------------------------

* Self-service reimbursement request submission --- individual members
  should be able to request reimbursement through a web interface, providing
  (almost?) all of the data required to generate a voucher
* Allow multi-stage approval processes --- e.g., a committee chair approves
  a reimbursement request and then the group treasurer approves the request
* Integrate with budgeting, for example by notifying the treasurer before
  approving a request for more money than remains in an account
* Allow printing of vouchers
* Support basic reporting
* Allow import and export in useful formats (e.g., CSV)

Basic financial support (finance_core)
--------------------------------------

finance_core provides a basic double-entry bookkeeping system.

It includes the following core models:
* BudgetArea, representing an account
* BudgetTerm, representing a financial period
* Transaction, representing a transaction
* LineItem, representing a line item within a transaction

This module uses the Treebeard project
(http://docs.tabo.pe/django-treebeard/tip/) to implement a tree of BudgetAreas.

Basic request and voucher workflow (vouchers)
---------------------------------------------

vouchers provides the core of the request/voucher workflow.

It includes the following core models:
* ReimbursementRequest, representing a single request
* Voucher, representing a single generated voucher

This package also currently includes the import_budget script, designed to
take a budget spreadsheet and committee list like the UA has and automatically
input it into the system. The script should probably be moved out into a new
"tools" project or the like.