Inventory management

To improve usability, we have revised the navigation structure, which will be published soon. As part of this update, some terms have been adjusted and navigation items reorganized. This entry already uses the updated navigation structure. For more information about the new navigation, please refer to this overview.

What Inventory management provides an overview of goods consumption and allows goods orders and goods receipts to be managed efficiently. Where Admin: Inventory management.

1. Overview

Inventory management is a powerful tool for gaining an overview of goods consumption and managing goods orders and goods receipts. As a rule, the cost of goods used is around 25 % - 30 %. The number of unreported cases is higher for many companies because they do not standardize the use of goods in the kitchen, do not monitor consumption and cannot keep track of shrinkage due to theft. The loss can be enormous without them realizing it. The introduction of inventory management is a time-consuming process and must be implemented with discipline in order to be successful. The good thing is that you can start in small steps and improve little by little. For example, start with easy-to-count items such as drinks and ice cream and then work your way up to the more complex products.  

2. Store and global store settings

It is important that the corresponding country is entered when creating the client, otherwise the sales price and the cost of goods sold will not be calculated correctly.

Under "Global settings", you will find the section "Global store settings" settings. Within this section, navigate to "Other settings". There, in the area titled "Master data settings for items, goods management and accounting", you can configure if the cost of goods sold should be displayed. If the option "Show cost of sale" is activated, the cost of goods sold for an item is displayed in the relevant places, e.g. in the item prices.

In "Store management" under "Stores", you must activate the inventory booking in the "Settings" section in the "Stock and goods management" area for inventory management to work. You can also decide whether the posting is made immediately or after the cash register has been closed. You can also automatically set items in the cash register, webshop etc. to "sold out" if the stock is below zero. An important point for the cost of sales valuation is the method for stock valuation. Here you can choose between two options: calculating the stock level using the current purchase prices that were specified when you last ordered goods, or a mixed price from the historical values. The mixed price is calculated as follows: Old price * old stock + new price * new stock / new total stock.

 

3. Suppliers

The easiest way to set up inventory management is to create suppliers. You can access the "Supplier" item via the main item "Inventory management". Click on "Add supplier" at the top left. Enter the company data and decide whether the data should be sent to the supplier electronically via email or interface. This allows you to select the file type agreed with the supplier, which can be sent to the email address stored in the contact. If this is the case, all suppliers except TransGourmet will receive an email with a CSV containing the order.    

In the "Payment and delivery conditions" section, you can enter the standard payment and delivery terms. You can enter the standard contact in the "Contacts" section. You can also customize these for different stores in the "Store settings" section. Here you can also specify whether the order should be sent electronically.

4. Storage places

In the next step, you should create your storage places. This will make it much easier for you to count your items during stocktaking. The navigation item "Storage places" is also located in the main item "Inventory management". Now click on the "Add storage place" button. Give the storage location a name and click on "Save and continue editing". Now you can even add a new sub-storage or shelf to determine even more precisely where the item is located. When you are finished, click on "Save".

5. Item creation

The most demanding part is the item creation. We differentiate between sales items, toppings, raw materials, menus and credits.

It is important to note that allergens and nutritional values can only be added to raw materials. Raw materials are bundled in recipes and then assigned to sales items.

The sum of the prices of the raw materials used then gives the purchase price for the sales item, an important key figure. The division of the cost price by the net sales price is the cost of goods sold (key figure).

It is important that all recipe ingredients as well as packaging, napkins and the like are taken into account.

 

Allergens, ingredients etc. can also be transferred from the raw material to the sales item. Allergens and basic prices must be stored for the webshop.

 

Now let's start creating your first raw material. To do this, go to "Item management" and then to "Item". Click on the plus sign "+" for "Add item" at the top left. Enter a number for the item that makes it easy for you to identify the raw material. Also enter a name. Now scroll down, deactivate the "Sales item" button and activate the "Update storage" and "Ingredient" (raw material) buttons. You still have a "Local sourcing" button, which you should activate if you have several stores or a franchise system and the store operators can also buy the raw material locally, e.g. from wholesalers. Then save the item and edit it again. You can now click on the "Storage" section. Here you first enter the minimum stock level. The most important step is to enter the stock sizes. For the "Unit per stock size", use a unit that is easy for you to count, e.g. kilograms or liters, which also allows you to count opened packaging or packaging with different content sizes. Then enter the content of the unit, e.g. 1000, and enter another unit of content, e.g. grams. This information should always correspond to the smallest unit, as this will make it easier for you to compile the recipes. You will soon see how it all works together.

Now you can assign the suppliers you have created using the "Add supplier" button. This can be as many as you like if you obtain the raw material from different suppliers, for example from the supermarket. Select whether this is your main supplier, select the supplier in the list and create the supplier's standard article number. You can also create the name of the supplier.

This will be used as the default if you do not enter a different price at goods receipt. In the "Delivery units and bundles" area, you can enter two different order sizes if the supplier delivers these. In our example, we will use "piece" as the first size with a "included quantity of this item" of 1000.

This means that the item has 1000 grams. We select "carton" as the second size and 32 as the "included quantity of this item", which means that the carton has 32 pieces. If you now click on "Save", the supplier has been created. Click on "Save" again and you have created your first raw material.

6. Recipes & sales items

As already explained, raw materials must now be grouped into recipes so that they can be assigned to a sales item. To do this, click on "Recipes" in the "Item management" area.  Click on "Add recipes". Give the recipe a name and click on "Save and continue editing". The recipe is saved and jumps to the "Components/Parts" section. You can now select your raw materials here. How you create the recipes is up to you. For example, you can create a basic recipe for the pizza dough, which you can then use in different quantities in different pizzas, or you can create a separate recipe for each product. Recipes can also be packed into recipes, so you have plenty of scope for implementation.

In our case, I create a recipe for a salami pizza. First, I look for the salami that I created earlier as a raw material. I can search for the item number or the name. I select it and can now enter the "Quantity". With the "removable" button, you can specify whether the customer or waiter can deselect this raw material. Click on the "Add" button. The ingredient is then assigned to the recipe, as you can see at the top. The content of the recipe is also visible here, as well as how many kilograms are booked from the stock during the sale. After we have saved, we now add the recipe to the sales item. To do this, click on "Item management" and the sub-category "Item". I then select the sales item "Salami pizza small". If you have not yet created a sales item, please do so. In the item, I go to the "Recipe" section. In the dropdown, I select the recipe I have just created. As the quantity, I enter how often the recipe is in the sales item. This could be 75 grams for a small salami pizza or 2x for a large pizza, i.e. 150 grams. If you activate the "removable" option here, you also have the option of entering a price reduction for the sales item. Then click on "Add" and the recipe is added.

Once you have created all recipes, you can now jump to the "Prices" section. As soon as you have sold the item for the first time, you can see the "Cost of sales" for your different price groups here. This is a good indicator of whether you have created the recipes and raw materials correctly. At the end, click on "Save".

It is also important that you have activated "Update storage" in the item properties for the "Sales item".

Congratulations, you have understood the basics of inventory management. Now get to work and create the remaining items.

7. Ordering goods

By creating suppliers and raw materials, you now also have the option of ordering goods via SIDES. To do this, go to the "Order goods" category in the "Inventory management" area. You can create a new order using the "Order form" button. Select your supplier from the dropdown menu. Under "Desired time of delivery", you can automatically enter the delivery time specified by the supplier when you click on the button. If you do not want the order to be displayed at goods receipt, activate the corresponding option "Do not display at incoming goods". Then click on "Next". You will now be automatically redirected to the order overview. Here you can see all the raw materials that have been created by the supplier. You can filter the list by searching for items, limiting it to a storage or the material group. Now enter the quantity you want to order from the supplier. To do this, you can make entries in the first or second storage size. The price is then generated automatically. When you have finished entering all items, click on "Save". You will then be taken back to the overview. If you want to send the order, click on the button with the shopping bag "Book" to send and book the order. As soon as it has been booked, it will also appear in the order acceptance.

8. Order acceptance

To book a goods receipt, click on "Inventory management", then "Good receipt". To start, click on "Book incoming goods" at the top left. You now have two options. If you have placed your order via SIDES, select the supplier from the dropdown menu. You will then see an overview of all orders. If you have not created an order, you can search for the raw material via the name or the article search and compile your goods receipt. Click on the "+" button to add your goods. When you are finished, click on "End saving and recording". The order will then appear in the list and can be booked by clicking on the button with the dollar sign "Book". The stock level and the storage protocol will then be updated.

 

9. Inventory templates & inventories

Regular stock checks are essential for effective inventory management. It also allows you to identify weak points, such as theft, at an early stage. It is a good idea to count the most important items at least once a week and check the entire stock once a month. To make this as easy as possible, you can create stocktaking templates. To do this, click on "Inventory management", then "Inventory templates". Click on "Add inventory count template" at the top left. Enter a name for the inventory template and click on "Save and continue editing". A button with "Edit item" will appear. Now you can add the raw materials you want to have in your inventory template by clicking on "Edit item". Then click on "Save" and again on "Save". You will then see your inventory template in the overview. Click on "Edit". Now you can also select the suppliers you want to count for.

Now let's carry out an inventory. It's easiest if you have a tablet that you can use to go through the storage. Go to "Inventory management", then "Inventory stocktaking" and click on "Add inventory count". Enter a name and choose between the three options, whether you want to use an inventory template, enter the items individually or count all items in the overview. In our case, I choose the list under "Counting with template" that we have just created. You then have an overview of all items for counting. If you have different storages, you can click to jump to them and count. You can also add free entries when counting. When you are finished, click on "Finish". The inventory is then visible in the overview and can be edited until you click on the "Book" shopping cart button to book the inventory. Once this has been done, the stock and the storage protocol are updated.

10. Waste and promotion

The "Waste and promotion" area rounds off inventory management. Here you can enter when a product or ingredient has to be thrown away or when you give out certain products as promotions. You can find this area under "Inventory management", then "Waste and promo". Click on the "Choose action" button at the top right. You can choose between "Waste", "Promo" (advertising), "Own consumption" and "Other". We create a waste. Then search for the corresponding item in the list. If you select a sales item, all the raw materials contained in the corresponding quantity will be booked out of the stock. Enter the quantity of the loss and click on "Save". The stock is now corrected.

11. Storage protocol

In the storage protocol, you can view all stock movements, from sales and inventories to waste and promotions. You get an overview of your stock and your stock value. The stock log can be found under "Inventory management", then "Storage protocol".

Some of the points mentioned above can be edited via the admin and, depending on approval, in the POS.

12. Stock level

The stock level allows you to keep an eye on your current stock. It is automatically updated when goods are sold or inventories are carried out. You can find the stock level under "Inventory management", then "Stock".

13. Cost of sales

The cost of sales is calculated automatically by the system. If the option "Show cost of sales" is activated in the "Global settings", in the "Global store settings" area under "Other settings", the respective cost of sales per price group is displayed in the "Prices" area for each item in the "Item management". This helps you to check whether the creation of raw materials and recipes is correct, as well as how high your cost of goods is and whether it matches your general cost calculation. 

The total cost of sales is then also displayed in various statistics, e.g. in the store comparison or Insights, or included in the calculation.

• Related Articles

• Store inventory

  What The store inventory can be used to add and manage items that are borrowed to the employee, e.g. for a longer time period, such as clothing, or for a short time period, such as debit card readers, transport boxes or scanners. Where Admin: Store > ...

• Room and table management

  What Rooms and tables can be created for restaurant sales. It is also possible to create and print QR codes for table orders so that customers can place their orders online. Where Admin: Store > Stores > Room and table management. Create tables At ...

• (Auto-)Disposition/Tour management (EN)

  Via the "Driver Terminal" or the "Tour Planning" in SimplyPOS (in combination with the driver app) you can view and manage the tours of orders to be delivered (also on foot!) and additionally potentially receive traffic and/or weather information. In ...

• Stock

  To improve usability, we have revised the navigation structure, which will be published soon. As part of this update, some terms have been adjusted and navigation items reorganized. This entry already uses the updated navigation structure and design. ...

• Overview of the navigation structure

  What We have revised the navigation structure to improve usability. Terms have been adapted, and some navigation items have been moved. Where Admin. 1. Background To make our application even easier and more intuitive for you to use, we have revised ...