Folio Office Management

Complete reference for installing, configuring and running Folio — the self-hosted HR, payroll and office management system built for multi-company organisations.

Live Demo

Try Folio before you buy at folio.cwfms.com. The demo resets automatically — feel free to explore.

Requirements

Installation

1. Purchase and download folio-system.zip from your customer account.
2. Upload and extract to the root of your domain — all files at public_html/ or equivalent, not in a subdirectory.
3. Set directory permissions:

   chmod 775 data/
   chmod 775 uploads/
   chmod 775 backups/
   chmod 775 logs/

4. Visit yourdomain.com/setup/install.php — the First-Run Setup wizard will appear.
5. Complete setup, then activate your license. See sections below.

First-Run Setup

On the first visit, Folio redirects to /setup/install.php. This screen appears once only.

1. Organisation Name — appears in the header, reports, and exported documents.
2. Default Theme — Dark or Light. Users can switch individually.
3. Administrator Account — full name, email and password (min. 8 characters). Store securely.
4. First Company — at least one required. More can be added after login.
5. Click Complete Setup — schema migrations run and you are redirected to login.

After setup, go to Admin → Settings → License to activate your license key.

Roles & Access Control

Folio has four fixed roles. Each user holds exactly one role assigned by the Administrator.

Dashboard

Each role lands on its default dashboard after login. The currency toggle in the header converts all amounts on the fly.

Transactions

The core financial ledger at /transactions.php. Every income or expense movement is recorded here with a full audit trail.

The transaction list supports filtering by company, date range, amount, category and payment method. A running total displays in the selected currency at the bottom.

Companies

Manage legal entities at /admin/companies.php. Supports parent–child structures (holding company → subsidiaries). Inactive companies preserve all data but are hidden from dropdowns and reports.

Employees & HR

Employee Profiles

Full records at /admin/employees.php — name, position, department, salary, hire date, tax ID, and document uploads (IDs, contracts, certificates with category tags and expiry reminders).

Leave Management

• Leave Types — Configurable categories with default allocation days at /hr/leave_types.php
• Leave Requests — Submit and approve at /hr/leave_requests.php. Approval auto-decrements balance.
• Leave Balances — Per-employee, per-type, per-year with carry-over at /hr/leave_balances.php
• Leave Calendar — Visual calendar of all approved leave at /hr/leave_calendar.php

HR Policies

Internal policy documents at /hr/policies.php. Default policies (Code of Conduct, Leave Policy, Remote Work) seeded at install time. Administrators and HR managers can add, edit, or delete policies.

Payroll

Process payroll at /payroll/payroll.php. Each entry covers one employee for one pay period.

Exports

• PDF payslips at /payroll/payslip_pdf.php?id=N
• Payroll Report by company/year — /payroll/payroll_report.php
• Monthly summary and top earners — /payroll/summary.php
• Overview by pay period — /payroll/overview.php

Reports

The Reports Hub at /reports/hub.php consolidates all exports: payroll reports, employee lists (CSV + PDF), and financial summaries — all filterable by company.

Admin Panel

Accessible only to Administrators at /admin/settings.php.

License Activation

Folio requires a license key purchased from cwfms.com. The key is validated against the license API and the result cached locally for 48 hours — no call is made on every page load.

First-Time Activation

1. After setup, navigate to any page — the License Required screen appears if no key is cached.
2. Enter your key in format CWFMS-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX from your purchase email or customer account.
3. Click Activate License. Folio contacts the license server and caches the result for 48 hours.

Managing via Admin

Go to Admin → Settings → License to view status, force re-validation, or clear the cache.

CWFMS Integration

Folio can optionally push payroll expenses to CWFMS automatically when a payroll run is marked as paid — eliminating double entry between the two systems.

Setup

1. In CWFMS: Settings → Integrations → enable API and copy the API key.
2. In Folio: Admin → Settings → CWFMS Integration → enter the CWFMS base URL and API key.
3. Click Test Connection to confirm.
4. In the Company Mapping table, set the CWFMS Company ID for each Folio company (visible in the CWFMS URL when viewing a company).

For CWFMS documentation see the CWFMS Docs →

Currency Conversion

All amounts are stored in their original currency. The header toggle cycles through USD → JMD → KYD → CAD → EUR → GBP and converts all displayed values on the fly — stored values are never modified.

Add currencies via Admin → Settings → Exchange Rates. To add a currency to the toggle cycle, edit the currencies array in includes/header.php.

Security & Best Practices

• Passwords hashed with password_hash() / bcrypt — never stored in plaintext
• Sessions regenerate on login — prevents session fixation attacks
• CSRF tokens validated on every POST request
• .htaccess blocks data/, migrations/, logs/, backups/, setup/ from web access
• uploads/ blocks PHP execution — uploaded files cannot run as scripts
• All SQL via prepared statements — no string interpolation
• File uploads enforce an extension whitelist (PDF, DOC, XLS, JPG, PNG, CSV, ZIP)

Recommended Hardening

• Enable HTTPS — uncomment the redirect rule in .htaccess
• Restrict /admin by IP on public servers
• Use a strong admin password — 16+ characters, mixed case and symbols
• Run daily backups and store a copy off-server

Troubleshooting

Changelog

v1.0.0 — Initial Release

• First standalone release — fully de-branded
• Single consolidated schema (migrate_master_schema.php)
• First-run setup wizard
• License gate with 48-hour local cache — SQLite 3.x compatible
• Optional CWFMS payroll push integration
• Upload extension whitelist and PHP execution block in uploads/
• Self-healing download fallback in CWShop

Also See

Folio and CWFMS are complementary systems — Folio manages your people, CWFMS manages your money.