Guide

How to use TumaRecords

Send normal WhatsApp messages about your money. This page shows what to send, what the bot does with it, and every command it understands.

Open TumaRecords on WhatsApp

Getting started

Open WhatsApp and send Hi to the TumaRecords number. You do not need to sign up first.
You can also start with a real entry. Your first message is recorded straight away.
The bot asks your name once. Reply with it, for example Mary Wanjiku, or just carry on recording.

Every message gets one short reply that says exactly what was saved.

Sales and expenses

Write what happened and the amount, the way you would tell a friend.

Sold items 5000
Sold 3 bags of maize 4500
Nimenunua stock ya 12k
Paid rent 5000
Nimeuza sukuma mia tano kwa mpesa

Several in one message

Put up to five entries in one message. The bot saves each one and lists them in its reply.

Sold maize 3000 and bought fuel 500

Amounts

Write amounts any common way: 5k is KSh 5,000, 1.5m is KSh 1,500,000, 2,500/= is KSh 2,500, 300 bob is KSh 300, mia tano is KSh 500, elfu mbili is KSh 2,000. "5 bags @800 each" is saved as KSh 4,000.

Dates

With no date, the entry is for today. To record an earlier day, say so.

Sold tomatoes 2000 yesterday
Jana nilinunua mafuta 800
Paid wages 6000 on 3 Oct

More than one shop

If you have more than one shop (outlet), name it in the message. Send outlets to see your shops.

Paid rent 25000 Westlands
Kisumu shop sales 7000

When the bot asks you something

The bot never guesses. If a message is not clear, it saves nothing and asks a short question with an example.

A number on its own, like 5000: it asks whether it was a Sale or an Expense. Send it again with a word: Sold goods 5000.
No amount, like Sold maize: it asks how much. Send Sold maize 3000.
Big amounts. An entry above KSh 1,000,000 is not saved until you reply YES. Reply NO to cancel. Ndio, sawa and hapana work too.

Debts and repayments

The bot keeps a list of who owes you and who you owe. A debt on goods is not a Sale or Expense until money moves.

You sold on credit Owes you

John owes me 2000 for maize
Sold on credit to Wanjiku 1200

Saved as "John owes you KSh 2,000". It becomes a Sale when John pays.

You bought on credit You owe

I owe Kamau 3000 for flour
Bought stock 8000 on credit from Kamau

Saved as "You owe Kamau KSh 3,000". It becomes a Stock Expense when you pay.

You lent cash Owes you

Lent Peter 3000
Nimekopesha Juma 1500

Saved as "Peter owes you KSh 3,000". The cash that left is recorded too, but not as an Expense.

You borrowed cash You owe

Got loan 50000 from Sacco
I borrowed 10k from Jane

Saved as "You owe Sacco KSh 50,000". The cash that came in is recorded too, but not as a Sale.

When money is paid back

John paid me 1000
Paid Kamau 3000

The payment goes to that person's oldest debt first. The reply tells you what is left, or says "Fully paid."
Money received for a credit sale is counted as a Sale. Money you pay for stock bought on credit is counted as a Stock Expense. Loan repayments are recorded but are not Sales or Expenses.
If someone pays more than they owe, the full amount is still saved and the reply tells you the extra.
Name not found: if nobody by that name has an open debt, the money is saved as a normal Sale (received) or Expense (paid), with the person's name, so it is never lost.
More than one match: if the name fits more than one person (for example "John" when you have John Mwangi and John Otieno), nothing is saved and the bot asks you to send it again with the full name.

Send owed, owing or loans to see your debts.

M-Pesa messages

Forward the M-Pesa confirmation SMS to the bot, or copy and paste it. The date, the amount and the full name come from the SMS.

What each kind of M-Pesa SMS is saved as
The SMS says	Saved as
You received money	Sale
You sent money, paid a till or a paybill	Expense (KPLC and water bills go to Utilities)
You bought airtime	Expense, Airtime & data
You withdrew or deposited cash	Moving your own money: not a Sale or Expense
A reversal, or an SMS the bot cannot read	Nothing. The bot asks you to type the entry.

The M-Pesa fee, when there is one, is saved as its own Expense (M-Pesa & bank charges).
The same SMS forwarded twice is only saved once. The bot tells you it was already saved.
Type a note in the same message as the SMS, such as "for maize", and it is saved as the description.

Money that is not profit

Some money moves without being a Sale or an Expense. The bot records it but keeps it out of Sales, Expenses and Profit.

Taking money for home use: Took 2000 for home use Nimetoa 1000 ya nyumbani
Putting your own money in: Added 20000 of my savings to the business Nimeongeza mtaji 10000
Bank and M-Pesa moves: Deposited 10000 to bank Withdrew 5000 Top up float 2000
Loans you give or get: see Debts and repayments.

In a summary, money for home use, money you put in, and loans show on separate lines, "Other money in" and "Other money out". Bank deposits, withdrawals and float top-ups are not counted anywhere in the totals.

Commands

Send the command as a message on its own. Capitals and a leading "/" do not matter. Words in brackets are optional.

summary [period]: Sales, Expenses and Profit. Without a period it shows this month. Period: today, yesterday, week or month (or leo, jana, wiki, mwezi).
sales [period]: Your Sales total and how many. Without a period it shows today.
expenses [period]: Your Expenses total and how many. Without a period it shows today.
profit [period]: Sales minus Expenses. Without a period it shows this month.
balance: Where you stand this month: Sales, Expenses, Profit, what people owe you and what you owe.
recent [number]: Your last entries, for example recent 10.
top: Your five biggest kinds of Expense this month, and where most of your Sales come from.
compare: This month against the same number of days last month.
categories: The categories your entries use.
outlets: Your shops (outlets).
loans: All open debts: who owes you and who you owe. debts does the same.
owed: People who owe you, and how much.
owing: People you owe, and how much.
status: Your account: name, number of entries, last entry, open debts and language.
receipt: The full details of your last entry.
undo: Delete your last entry (asks for YES first). delete does the same.
edit last <amount>: Change the amount of your last Sale or Expense, for example edit last 4000 (asks for YES first).
repeat: Save your last entry again.
export report: Get a report of your records as a file on WhatsApp.
cancel: Stop a question the bot is waiting on, for example a YES for a big amount.
help: A short how-to. menu and start do the same.
examples: Everything you can send, in one message.

Examples: summary week sales yesterday profit jana recent 10

Fixing mistakes

undo deletes your last entry: a Sale, an Expense, a debt or a repayment. The bot shows what it will delete and waits for YES. Undoing a repayment puts the amount owed back to what it was.
edit last 4000 changes the amount of your last Sale or Expense to KSh 4,000, after you reply YES.
Wrong date or wrong words? Send undo, then send the entry again correctly.

Asking in plain words

You do not have to remember commands. Ask a question and the bot answers with the same numbers.

How much did I sell today?
What is my profit this month?
Who owes me money?

Language

Write in English, Swahili or Sheng, or mix them. When you write in Swahili the bot replies in Swahili; write in English and it replies in English.

What the bot cannot read

Photos, voice notes, documents and stickers cannot be saved. The bot replies asking you to type it instead, for example Sold maize 3000.

The website

Everything you send on WhatsApp also shows on the website. Create an account, then add the WhatsApp number you text from on your Profile page.

Home: Sales, Expenses and Profit at a glance, what people owe you and what you owe, and your latest entries.
Transactions: Every Sale and Expense. Search, filter, add, edit or delete, and download as Excel or PDF.
Reports: Sales, Expenses and Profit over time, by category and by shop, with a download.
Loans: Who owes you and who you owe. Record a payment or mark a debt as paid.
Outlets: Add and rename your shops.
Messages: Your WhatsApp messages and the bot's replies.
Profile: Your name, email, password and WhatsApp numbers.

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