Managing and Cleansing Existing Data
The key with cleaning the data in the system is organisation and an understanding of how things are connected to each other. When learning about creating menu items, the starting point are Suppliers, then Products, then batches and finally Menu items. Therefore, to delete a supplier the reverse must happen, starting with Menu items, then Batches, then products and finally suppliers. The same must be considered for all areas when archiving, for example if a batch is to be archived then consideration must be given to what other batches or menu items it could be contained in.
Menu Items
- All menu items should be reviewed and their recipes updated where applicable. This will aid with deciding what needs to be archived and what needs to be kept.
- Any old or unused menu items should be archived from site(s) first.
- Once archived from site, menu archives can be created in Enterprise in the Menu Archive tab and menu items can then be archived in Enterprise.
Batch Items
- All batch items should be reviewed and their recipes updated where applicable, this will aid with deciding what needs to be archived and what needs to be kept.
- Any old or unused batch items should be archived from site first.
- Once archived from site batch items should be archived in Enterprise.
Note: if it is not possible to archive a batch, it is likely it is counted in stock at site, has sales against it in a menu item or is on another batch. Looking at recipe usage will help manage this. Putting 'DO NOT COUNT' in the name will help also.
Products
- The product list should be reviewed and any old suppliers should be deleted from the products. This ensures two things, one that the right suppliers are available when ordering and also that the correct allocated suppliers are at sites.
- Ensure that all product details are correct and up to date, e.g. have a product code, price, UOM etc.
- Some products will only require archiving at site so do this first. This may be the case when there are products no longer needed at one site but still be required at other sites.
- Any old or unused products in the group can then be mass archived in Enterprise, removing the products from all sites.
Note: if it is not possible to archive a product it is likely that it is being counted in stock at site, is in a batch recipe or has sales against it in a menu item. Putting 'DO NOT COUNT' in the name will help with this, scheduling the product for archive will make it unavailable for ordering and once there is a Zero against it in the next stock count, it will automatically archive.
Suppliers
- The list of suppliers should be reviewed to make sure all the shipping information correct and up to date.
- Any old suppliers should be archived; this can only be completed as long as there are no product relationships.
- The suppliers should be removed from site first then archived in Enterprise.
Note: if it is not possible to archive a supplier, it is likely because it has a relation with a product(s) and/or has pending deliveries against it at site. Deleting any deliveries that never came, approving those that did in the current period or deleting the relationships it has with products will help.
Users
- The User list should be reviewed and any old users should be archived. There should be no restrictions when archiving users.
Site level
- Delete any old pending documentation i.e. pending deliveries that never came, site transfers etc.
- Ensure each site is in the correct stock period.
- If a site needs to be deleted, all menu items, batches and products need to be archived from site first.
- Fourth can delete any old sites as long as the above is completed. Note, the historic sales and purchase reports will not be deleted when this happens.
Managing & Cleansing Data Going Forward
The key with managing data in the system is to regularly check and update it. Continually added new items to the system with very little archiving, often causes confusion and can extend the time needed to place orders, count stock and build batches and menu items. This in turn this will have a negative effect on the COS and will breed a mistrust of the system.
Tips
- Using a key to identify required information or changes to items can be beneficial when organising what needs to be updated or archived. For example, using the sign ^ might mean that the items recipe requires reviewing or % may mean that this item is to be archived. Do not to use * as this will bring back all items.
- Use the product categories and Menu Groups as a way of grouping items that may have a short life. For example if there is a spring special menu, create a group called Spring Specials and when autumn arrives these items will need to be archived.
- Use the scheduled data changes to update items for the future.
- When planning on archiving products that still have stock, make them unavailable for ordering by scheduling them for archive and write DO NOT ORDER in the product name. As soon as there is zero stock of this item the system will immediately archive the products.
- Regularly check recipes to ensure they are correct and up to date, this can aid with removing old batches and products.
- When creating new items always double-check to see if it exists already in the system NB do not type the whole word into the system. For example if creating chicken soup batch, search for chic or sou and the system will bring back all batches with these letters in them.
- When possible, fix the menu for a period of time and plan updates to coincide with the beginning of a new stock period.
- When possible, fix the product cost prices and creation of new products with updates to coincide with the beginning of a new stock period.
- Use the stock count to help with understanding which items may need to be removed.
- Limit the number of users that have access to Enterprise, more users tend to cause more mess.
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