VendorTransport: Importing Order Guides  

Tips

For more information on how Vendor Transport works, and which Vendors it works with, click here

VendorTransport has two different places where you can import information from your wholesalers.  You can import Order Guides and you can import receipts or invoices.  You can export orders to their computer system.

 

When you import information from the wholesaler to CostGuard, it is available in all of the different parts of the program.  This section shows how to import the Order Guide.  Order Guides are lists of items and their prices from a Vendor. When you import your Order Guide, you have the option to change the pricing on the Inventory Items. 

 

Importing an Order Guide is a quick way to add items to CostGuard.  If you purchase most of your items from one Vendor, you can add all of your inventory items with just a few keystrokes.  Use this method if you have VendorTransport.  Later, you can go back and use another method to add additional items.  For more information on the five different ways to add Inventory items, click here.

 

Do you multi-source to more than one broadline distributor? If this describes your situation, use VendorTransport with the company that supplies you with the majority of your inventory items.  Import their order guide.  To capture the bids from the second vendor, add the second vendor to the ordering tab of each ingredient.  For more information on this tab, click here.  Then, you can still use the Bid or the Receipt function to capture their prices.  If you order the same items from different vendors and  import order guides from them, you risk duplicating items as vendors call the products by different names.  For example, one vendor may call an item “Ketchup” while another one labels it “catsup.”  This may result in duplicate items in your database.

 

To Import an Order Guide

Most kitchens need to import an order guide, and then update it on a regular basis to reflect the price changes.  Once an Order Guide is imported, CostGuard will automatically update prices in subsequent imports if you enable that option.

 

Before you can import an order guide, open your Vendor’s ordering program, and follow their directions to save or export the order guide. to a file on your computer.  If you receive order guide updates from email, save the update file.  If you are receiving and importing daily Order Guides, name the files with today’s date.  Close or minimize the Vendor’s program based on their recommendation.  Next, you need to import the Order Guide into CostGuard.

 

1.       To import the Order Guide, Click Inventory, Click Inventory Manager

Click the  button.

2.       The VendorTransport (Import Item) popup will appear.  Click Select and find your import file from the Vendor.

You will download this file from the vendor with their prices.  Another popup will appear showing your files.  Click on the down arrow at the end of the Look in field to move between directories.  You may need to click the down arrow at the end of File Types and switch to “all files” to list all files in the directory.  When you find the file, highlight it, and click Open.  You will return to the main Import screen.

3.       Use your mouse to move to the Import Format.  Click the  button.  Find your vendor’s format; highlight it and hit enter.  Move your mouse to the Vendor Field.  Click the  button, and find the Vendor.  Highlight it and hit enter. 

If we have an interface for this vendor, CostGuard will translate their order guide for you.  Some distributors use unique terms in their program, which we will pick up.  If you do not see your Vendor, please contact us, so we can determine which format you need to use.  See the last step, below, for information on how to use the CostGuard Standard format.

4.       If the items that you purchase from this Vendor are stored in one location, such as a Dairy Vendor with your milk, butter, and cheese deliveries, then move your cursor to the Location field.  Click the  button, and find the Location such as Walk-in Refrigerator.  Highlight it and hit enter.

If you are importing an order guide from a broadline Vendor, you may want to edit the Inventory Items after the import to add the Locations.

5.       Click the  button.  CostGuard will provide a preview of the import.

All of the items on the order guide are in the middle window.  Using the cursor or the scroll bar, go through the list.  Click the box to the left of the items that you want to import into CostGuard. If you do not see any item names, then you may have selected the wrong file or the wrong import file type.

 

6.       Before the final Import, you can check the boxes at the bottom of the window.  You can check the box labeled “Update with new item numbers from this Vendor” and “Update Item Price (in addition to bid price)”

“Update with new item numbers from this Vendor” will add all of the Vendor item codes to Inventory Item.  Check this feature, as when you import future order guides, CostGuard will look for the item number.  This feature will let you change the name of the Item in CostGuard to reflect what you call it, matching your Inventory Naming scheme.  For example, matching by Item number means that you can change “Tea Iced Auto Brew Fltr Pouch” to “Ice Tea, Brew Pouch” in CostGuard and future updates will capture the price changes.  If the Vendor changes the item code number, but the brand and the name is the same, then CostGuard will update the item code number.

Click the second box “Update Item Price” means that this import will save the Item pricing as the current item price (in addition to saving it as a bid). Your recipes and subsequent inventory transactions (such as counts, receipts, etc.) will reflect this new price. Click this box, and import your Order Guide on a weekly basis to capture your bids electronically.

7.       Click the third box “Ignore new items” and CostGuard will not import new items from this vendor. So if your vendor can only send you ALL their items, instead of just your order guide, this will only process matching items.

8.       Click the  button to finish the Import.  Depending on how many items you have, it may take a few minutes.

When the Import is finished, you can print the Report by clicking the  button.  This will give you a printout of the file you imported.  You can save it by clicking the  button.  This will allow you to keep the information as a separate file. 

9.       If nothing happens, or you have an error message, double check the Import Format to see if it matches your file. 

You can also try importing the file as CostGuard text or as an ASCII file.  If the order guide is a spreadsheet, then use the CG-XL feature.  For more information, click here.

10.   CostGuard will list any problems with the import in the bottom window.  Fix the errors.  You can then import the affected items again.

11.   After importing the Inventory items, you may want to edit them.  To edit an item, click Inventory Manager and find the item.  Click Edit.  The Inventory Item Main Tab will appear.

From this screen, you can edit or add information to the Inventory Item.  You can change the name, location, prep station, units, and add other Vendors.  For more information on how to edit an Inventory Item, click here.

12.   Special note for the CostGuard Standard file format: make sure that it is a comma delimited file.  Double quote characters should surround all Character fields such as the item name (“).

Numeric fields do not need the quotes, but if that is how the vendor sends the data, it will still work.  The file must contain the following fields in this order:  Item Name, Case Description, Pack Size, Packs Per Case, Case Cost, Item Code, Pack Description, and Group Name.  If your vendor does not provide all the fields listed, then your file should contain a “” placeholder for the missing field(s).

 

If you would like to return to the Enter a New Inventory Item, click here.

If you would like to continue in the main tutorial, click here.

If you would like to go to the next section in VendorTransport, importing Receipts, click here.

If you would like to return to the Bid section, click here.