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Getting Started with Inventory

Jenny Vaughn
Updated

OK, you're ready to take Inventory with MarginEdge.  Great! 

With [me], you can easily:

  • decide what products to inventory, and how to count them
  • create and organize and print one or multiple count sheets
  • enter counts in ME, either at a PC or directly on an iPad as you take inventory in the restaurant

InventoryGuide.png

*Scroll to the bottom to download a PDF guide
to walk you through taking you first [me] inventory*

 

 

Before you get started, here are some things to know:

1.  "Inventories" vs "Count Sheets"

In ME, "Count Sheets" are the customized lists of products/recipes you will use when counting your inventory.  

"Inventories" are the results of your counts.   These are the numbers and dollar values from any date on which you took inventory, regardless of what count sheet(s) you used. 

More reading: What's the difference between "count sheets" and "inventories"?

 

2.  Products you want to inventory

For any Product or Recipe in ME, you first decide do i want to inventory this?   This is a yes/no decision. For those Products that mark as yes (you DO want to inventory it) you then must choose which count sheet(s) should contain those Products. Bonus: you can also inventory your recipes! 

 

3.  Automatic Inventory Prices

Inventory prices are set automatically based on the last purchase price of each product on the count sheet.  If you haven't bought a product since using ME but want to inventory it, the price can be entered manually.

 

4.  When finished, CLOSE your Inventories.

Once you start a count in ME, it will remain "open" (shown with a "Saved" status in ME) until you close it.  It will then display a "Closed" status.   You can select any Closed inventory to view final counts as well as changes in product values from last inventory to current inventory. You generally need two closed inventories to display accurate reporting.

 

5.  Use only ONE Count Sheet at a time!  

For any specific count sheet, you can have only one person entering counts at a time.  Don't let two people enter counts in the same sheet at the same time or they will overwrite each other's work.   If you want more than one person to enter counts, split your inventory into multiple count sheets. 

 

6.  Specify how you count.

If you are a Restaurant Admin, you will be able to specify how you count each product.  When you count using different units than you purchase, we will make the conversion automatically (when possible), but if it's not obvious we will ask you for help with the conversion. 

Example:  You buy Swiss Cheese by the 10lb case and you count it by the pound.  We'll handle the price conversion (1 Pound is 1/10th of a Case.  Genius on our part, right?!) However, if you count Swiss Cheese by the "pack", we'll ask you how many "packs" are in a 10lb case.   

Bonus: if you want to be able to count it multiple ways, you can do that too! 

 

Now for more details, you can snag the PDF manual at the bottom or go ahead and dive in here: