Glossary

Each word names one thing, the same in the app and in these docs. Words for building on Continual, such as operations and queries, are in Developers.

A

Acting for: Whom Continual works for: a member today, and Coming, a position. It has that member's or position's access, and its own authority decides what needs a yes. See People and access.

Account: In Finance, a ledger account, such as Bank or Revenue, or a customer or vendor account. The account you sign in with is your user.

Action: A named change, such as Issue invoice. Creating, editing, and deleting are Actions too, and every change to a record is one. See Records.

Activity: A record's history on its Activity tab: every change, who made it, for whom, and why, with the comments about it. See Activity.

Actor: Who acts: a member or a service account. Every change names its actor. See People and access.

Adopt: Coming. To make a change Continual held your own, so it runs as yours, under your limits and every control.

App: The records, Actions, roles, skills, and metrics for one area of the business, such as Sales or Finance, that your organization installs. See Apps.

Approval: A change held until a reviewer approves or declines it. See Approvals.

Archived: A record put away instead of deleted, because other records still name it. Lists leave it out.

Authority limit: Coming. How much an actor, agent or person, may do without review, such as paying up to 5,000. See Approvals.

B

Balance: The sum of a ledger's entries up to a moment, such as cash today or open deals on Monday.

Book: One legal entity's books for a ledger, in one currency, such as its US GAAP books. Each entry balances within its book. See Books.

Business superintelligence: An intelligence that knows the whole business, works in its world model, and runs and grows the business with its team. It is what Continual is building. See Why Continual.

Business world model: Your business as Continual models it: its records, ledgers, history, access, and goals. It is live, because the work happens in it. See How it fits together.

C

Comment: A post under a record, which anyone who can read the record can read. See Posts and the Feed.

Condition: A fact Continual concludes about a record, such as Ready or Overdue. You never set one.

Connection: An outside account linked to Continual, such as a Gmail mailbox.

Continual: The AI-native operating system for business, and its always-on agent, which has the same name in the app. See Continual's agent.

Control: A business rule that holds a change for review, whoever makes it, such as large invoices needing an admin. See Approvals.

Control account: A ledger account, such as accounts receivable, that only invoices and payments post to, so its balance always agrees with the customers behind it.

D

Debit, credit: The two sides of every financial entry, always equal. Assets and expenses grow with debits; liabilities, equity, and revenue grow with credits. See Ledgers and money.

Document: A record that becomes final, such as a quote, an invoice, or a payment. It is a draft until its own Action finalizes it. See Documents.

Draft: A Document not yet finalized. It changes freely and has no number.

E

Entity: A legal entity of your organization, with its own currency and its own books. Coming: the documents that post live under it.

Entry: One movement in a ledger: how much, along which details, when it counts, and who made it. Entries are only ever added.

F

Feed: Coming. A stream of stories Continual writes about what matters across the business. See Posts and the Feed.

Finalize: To make a Document final with its own Action, such as Issue invoice. Finalizing numbers it, locks it, and posts what it records to the ledger.

G

Goal: Coming. A metric with a target and an owner, and optionally the larger goal it serves. See Metrics and goals.

H

Handle: A readable name for a record that isn't numbered, such as a company's web domain.

L

Ledger: A running tally kept as entries that are only ever added. A financial ledger, such as the general ledger, counts money in double entry; a statistical ledger counts records by status. See Ledgers and money.

Lock date: The date through which a book is closed; entries dated on or before it are refused.

M

Member: A person in your organization. See People and access.

Metric: A named sum of a ledger, such as pipeline or win rate, read over any period. It opens to the records behind it. See Metrics and goals.

N

Number: A short name a record's type gives it, such as DEAL-7 or INV-US-12. Documents are numbered when finalized, with no gaps; other records when created.

O

Object: A kind of record that changes whenever the facts change, such as a company or a deal. The other kind is a Document.

On behalf of: See Acting for.

Open item: What a customer still owes on an invoice, kept open until a payment settles it.

Organization: Your business in Continual. Everything in it belongs to it.

Owner: Who answers for a record. Today, whoever starts a project is its Owner. Coming: the position that answers for a team or a project, to which approvals and problems escalate.

P

Parent: The record another lives under, such as a task's project. Records form one tree under your organization, and roles reach down it.

Policy: Today's setting for autonomy and controls: which changes need a yes, or are refused. See Approvals.

Position: Coming. A job in a team, such as AP manager, held by one or many people, Continual, or equipment. It holds roles and authority limits. See People and access.

Post: Anything written for others to read, once: a message, a comment, or a story. Only its author can take it back. See Posts and the Feed.

Post to a ledger: To write a Document's entries into a ledger, as finalizing does.

Private: A place, such as a project or your own work, that roles from above do not reach into.

Project: Work with an outcome and an owner, made of tasks. See Projects.

R

Reaction: An emoji on a message or a comment, one per person per post.

Record: One thing your business knows, such as the company Northstar Robotics or invoice INV-US-12. See Records.

Reference: A record pointing at another, such as an invoice naming its customer. It works both ways.

Reversal: Entries equal and opposite to an earlier set, which correct a final Document without changing it.

Reviewer: Whoever decides an approval. Today, a person with the approver role; Coming, any holder of the reviewer position with enough authority, a person or an agent. See Approvals.

Role: A set of permissions, given to a member at one place and reaching the records under it. Coming: roles given to positions and teams too. See People and access.

S

Service account: An actor that is not a person, such as Continual's agent or an integration. It holds only the roles an admin gives it.

Skill: A kind of work an app teaches Continual, such as Finance's Bookkeeping.

Status: Where a record is in its life, such as a deal's Qualified or an invoice's Issued. Deals show it as Stage. See Records.

T

Team: Coming. The positions that work together, holding their work and settings; your organization is the top team. See People and access.

Task: Planned work in a project, with a duration and the tasks it waits for. A task is not a to-do. See Projects.

Thread: A private conversation with Continual, about anything or about one to-do. See Threads.

Timer, watch: What wakes Continual besides your messages: a timer at a set time, a watch when a record changes. Continual sets both for you.

Title: What a record is about, such as an invoice's customer. It never repeats the number.

To-do: A request for one person to act on one record, or to decide an approval. See To-dos.

U

User: Your sign-in, which can belong to several organizations. In each, you are a member.

V

Void: To cancel a final Document, such as an invoice, which reverses what it posted and keeps its number.