Managing Inventory Items

The Inventory Lookup screen gives you access to information regarding a specific raw material item or prep item. You can edit the settings for each item to efficiently manage your inventory.

To view the Inventory Lookup screen, click Item Lookup on the Inventory Switchboard.

Viewing and Editing Items

To view and edit an item, select an item from the table in the Inventory Lookup screen and click Lookup. Like other tables, you can sort and search as described in Sorting and Searching for Information. Clicking Lookup brings up the Item Lookup screen, explained in the following sections.

Item Lookup screen – General tab

The General tab shows the basic unit information about the inventory item.

 

•	Conversion Unit — is a list of all units assigned to the item. Units available can include purchase units, inventory counting units, and recipe units. Click the drop-down arrow to view other unit conversions for this item (e.g., purchase units or recipe units).

•	To Standard — is the number of Standard Units per Conversion Unit. For example, if an item’s Conversion Unit is ‘Case=150 EA,’ and the Standard Unit is ‘Box=25 EA,’ then the To Standard value would be 6 (25 x 6 = 150).

•	Standard Unit — is the unit of measure that is used for reporting purposes. Inventory and purchases can be entered in any defined unit. However, when it is displayed on any report the standard units are used.

•	Current On Hand — count is the theoretical on-hand inventory figure, measured in Standard Units. MenuLink Client calculates this figure based on your last inventory + purchases – amount you have sold.

•	Usage Per Factor — is the multiple used for calculating a recommended order quantity when the Order by Usage Per Factor method is used. This value updates dynamically, as inventory and purchases are entered to give the most current Usage Per Factor for the item.

Item Lookup screen – Inventory tab

The Inventory tab defines information related to the physical inventory for the item. You can select which inventory list(s) the item should exist in, whether or not you can post a waste amount for the item, the inventory unit(s) that you can use to count the item, and the location(s) where you can count the item.

•	Last Inventory Business Date — Displays the last date inventory was entered for this item.

•	Category Allowed Variance % — Typically set up by your systems administrator, this variance percentage can be set to apply to the item category or at the item level.

•	Inventory Flags: Waste — Determines if you can enter spoilage quantities for the item on the Spoilage and Loss screen.

•	Inventory Lists — Establishes the inventory cycles to which you can assign the item.

•	Inventory Units — Identifies the count unit upon which the quantities for this item are based, as entered in Aloha Quick Count. These units are managed by the system administrator.

•	Locations — Defines the areas in which the inventory is held. The ‘Seq’ column indicates what order the item is displayed on the list. Multiple location assignments are possible.

Item Lookup screen – Purchases tab

The Purchases tab defines the order price, par levels, ordering method, and ordering units for the item.

•	Current Order Price/ Current Invoice Price — Lists the most recent price associated with the item on a purchase order. This field is typically not available for edit.

•	Current Invoice Price — Lists the most current price of the item entered on an invoice. This field is typically not available for edit.

•	Current Order Units — Defines what unit the item is ordered by. This field is typically not available for edit.

•	Current Invoice Units — Defines what unit the item is invoiced by. Typically, this is the same unit as Current Order Units. This field is typically not available for edit.

•	Order By — Determines what ordering method MenuLink Client uses to calculate recommended ordering amounts.

•	Par Level — is the amount that you need to have on hand until the next time you receive an order. The Par method suggests your order by taking into account the Par Levels, open POs and Theoretical On-Hand amount.

•	Forecasting — uses the Forecasted Sales Mix to calculate what is needed for the selected days to give you the required amount needed.

•	Usage per Factor — is based on the standard unit and calculates what was used based on your prior days back and then multiplies usage by the configured Usage factor.

•	Par Units — Determines what unit is used to define the par levels.

•	Par Levels — Defines the number of par units that should be considered on the day that the order is to be submitted to a vendor.

•	Purchasable — Makes the item available for order. If this is cleared, most fields in this tab cannot be edited.

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Taxable — Indicates the item is taxable. This is typically defined by your System Administrator, but can be modified by store level users. When an invoice is entered into MenuLink Client and sales tax is entered, any items that are taxable have a portion of the sales tax amount allocated to the item’s assigned category.

•	Show for all Vendors on Order by Vendor — Indicates the item will appear in the list of purchasable items on the order by vendor add item screen for all vendors assigned to the item, regardless of the Primary Vendor check box in the Vendors tab.

•	Required to Order — Indicates the item will need to be ordered every time a purchase order for the vendor that is assigned to the item is created. This is typically managed by your system administrator to ensure that key items are ordered.

•	Quantity to Order — Indicates the amount that can be ordered and is based on the Quantity to Order Units.

•	Quantity to Order Units — Indicates the units by which the item is to be ordered.

•	Purchase Units — Identifies the unit used for ordering the item, and the unit used when receiving the item on an invoice.

Item Lookup screen – Vendors tab

The Vendors tab defines information regarding the vendors you can order the item from.

Note: You may be restricted from editing these options. Contact your system administrator for more information.

•	Vendor Name — Identifies the vendor.

•	Vendor Code — The vendor’s item number used to identify the item (this is not the same as the MenuLink Client item ID).

•	Receive Price — The price paid for the item, based on the receiving unit and is updated as invoices are entered in MenuLink.

•	Order Unit — Determines the unit for ordering the item from this vendor. The available units to choose are based on what was define in the Purchase Units area of the Purchase Tab.

•	Receive Unit — Determines the unit for receiving the item from this vendor. The available units to choose are based on what was define in the Purchase Units area of the Purchase Tab.

•	Price Locked — Locks the Receive Price. This is typically used if this item is purchased on a contract and the price is not updated through the invoice screen.

•	PO Sequence — Defines where the item appears on the purchase order worksheet. If more than one item has the same PO Sequence, MenuLink Client sorts the items alphabetically.

•	Display on PO — Marks this vendor as the preferred vendor for the item.

•	Suggest on PO — Designates the primary purchase units for an item from a vendor. This check box is used to designate the preferred purchase units when there are multiple case packs available for the same item.

•	Exclude/ Delete — The Delete check box is available only for vendor information you have defined. Since making purchases from vendors is considered historical information, it is highly recommended that you use the Excl check box (Exclude) rather than Delete.

Item Lookup screen – Cost History tab

The Cost History tab shows how the cost has changed for the item over time. MenuLink Client creates an entry each time the purchase (invoice) price for the item changes. (To see a complete history of purchases, see the Purchase History screen.) The User # -Name field shows the User ID and name of the user who entered the change.