Tips

Importing the Sales Data directly from your POS system on a daily basis can give you almost up to the minute Inventory counts.

Sales Entry – Import from POS System

CostGuard has a feature that allows you to import your Sales Data directly from your POS System.  This feature will connect the two programs, allowing you to capture data from the POS to deplete Inventory. To use this feature, you need to purchase the optional POS interface from CostGuard.  For more information on purchasing the interface, visit www.costguard.com.

 

Before you can start, you need to create a menu with all of your dishes included in CostGuard.  For more information on how to do this, click here.  You also need to create PLU for each dish.  For more information on how to create PLU, click here.  You also need to tell CostGuard about your POS system and the location of its files.   For more information on Sales Setup, click here.

1.       Click Sales, click Sales Mix.  A blank Sales Mix screen will appear.

2.       Click the  at the end of Menu Name.  The Menu pop-up screen will appear.  Use the search function or the scroll bar to find your menu.  Make sure that the  button appears to the left of the menu.  Click Select.  All recipes attached to this menu will appear in the bottom part of the screen.

The fastest way to enter the Sales Data is to create a menu based on the meal period with all of the dishes included.  For more information on menus, click here.

3.       Today’s Date is in the next field.  If this is the date you wish to use, then skip to the next step.  If you need to change the date, click the  arrow and the calendar pop-up menu will appear. 

To change the date, use the   arrows to change the Month and the Year.  The single arrow will move forward or backwards one month.  The double arrow will move forward or backwards one year.  Use your cursor to change the date highlighted.  When finished with the date, click  to change it.

4.       Use your cursor to move to the Comment field.  Use this as a note to explain Sales Volume. 

Some suggested notes include holidays such as Valentines Day or New Years, weather related such as very snowy or rainy, or any other detail that will help explain unusual Sales for that day.  You can leave this blank if desired.

5.       After you complete the import, CostGuard will calculate the Total Quantity, Total Cost, Total Sales, and Total Food Cost Percentage.

For more information on how these fields are calculated, click here.

6.       Click the  button at the bottom of the Screen.  A pop-up menu will appear confirming your Import File.  If this is the correct one, click OK.

If you click Select, a browser pop-up window will appear allowing you to look for the file.  If you need to search each day, or the wrong file is appearing, or no file is appearing, then you need to check your setup configurations.  For more information on Setup, click here.

 

7.       CostGuard will now import your sales figures.  The Sales Data at the top of the Screen is calculated.  If the import was successful, all of the Quantity Sold Fields will be filled.

8.       If your POS system has a PLU that CostGuard cannot find, then an Error pop-up will appear.  Click Print to Print the report, and then click OK to acknowledge it.

This report shows items in your POS system that are not in CostGuard.  In some circumstances, the POS PLU is for a non-inventory item such as additional labor costs, or cake cutting fee that you may charge a customer, but not necessarily track in CostGuard.  In other cases, this error message is alerting you that the PLU of menu items are not matching up in the two systems.  Click OK to acknowledge the error, then suspend the transaction by clicking the  button.  Find and fix the PLU discrepancies, later you can use the other sales entry method to account for the sales.  For more information on entering Sales by PLU number, click here.

 

9.       If CostGuard has a dish with a PLU, but the POS system has no record of it, then the Quantity Sold field will be blank after the import.

If you have a dish that is no longer on the menu delete it from the menu file for Sales.  You will still have the Recipe, but it will no longer show up on the Sales Mix.  For more information on how to delete a Recipe from the Menu, click here.

10.   When the Import is finished, and any errors fixed, click the    button to save the Sales Data.  CostGuard will deplete the Inventory used and save the data for Sales Reports.

11.   Now that the Sales information is in, you can run a report, or you can use the information to analyze your operations with the “Winners and Losers” Report. 

Winners and Losers report shows the popularity and profitability of each dish.  If you would like to read more about this, click here.

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