FnB Live: Creating Products

Overview

This article shows how to create Products in FnB, and provides best practice guidance for future-proofing them, making it easier to add new supplier relationships and edit purchase order quantities. Organisations are encouraged to establish systematic patterns and rules for the creating and naming of Products to improve their searchability and reduce duplicates.

It is important to only add Products to Sites that actually need them. Otherwise, Sites' stock tally sheets will be greatly increased.

Before Creating a New Product

• Search the Master Product List to see if the Product already exists
• Do not type the complete name of the Product into the Product Name field in case it was misspelt when originally created, so the first few letters will do - see Fig.1

Fig.1 - Searching for an existing Product in the Master Product List

If the Product already exists then a supplier relationship can be added to it if required.

• To do this, select the Product, go to the Suppliers tab and select + Add Supplier

Fig.2 - Adding a supplier relationship to an already existing Product

• If the Product does not exist then move on to the next steps

Creating a New Product

• To create a new {roduct, expand the Master Product List and select + Add New Product

Fig.3 - Expanding the Master Product List

A pop-up window will appear, where details can be added. Mandatory fields are marked in red.

Fig.4 - Details for a new Product - mandatory fields marked in red

Product Details

• Enter the Product Name
  • The best practice is to keep the name consistent with what suppliers use in their invoices and with similar Products already in the system, especially if they follow a pattern. For example, Apple- Granny Smith, Apple- Golden Delicious, etc
• The Unit Size should ideally be entered to the smallest practical measurement - this will be the stock counting measurement and also the default measurement size. Example - Bag 1 kg

Stock counting sizes should be consistent, as the smallest practical unit of measurement is always used when counting.

• Chose the applicable VAT rate - refer to an invoice to see what rate that particular Product uses
• Use the magnifying glass icon to select the Product's Category

Fig.5 - Entering mandatory Product details

• If the Product should not affect the GP/COS then tick the Do NOT use as Ingredient and Exclude from GP calc boxes

Not ticking these boxes when needed could artificially inflate the COS.

Purchasing Details

• Under 'Purchasing Details', select a Supplier from the drop-down menu

Fig.6 - Using the Supplier drop-down

Although the rest of the fields under 'Purchasing Details' are not mandatory, it is strongly recommended that they are populated before orders are placed with that supplier.

• The Supplier Product Code is the code that the supplier puts on the Invoice to identify that specific Product. Not all suppliers use product codes so it is possible to make one up, as long as it is unique per-Product, per-supplier
• The Purchase Order Quantity for the Product is defined by the supplier
• The Purchase Order Cost Price and Cost Price per Individual Unit are in relation to the Purchase Order Quantity and Unit Size respectively
• Baker’s Dozen enables 'retros' to be managed when placing an order for certain agreed quantities. The retro amount will have been previously agreed with the supplier before being set up. When a Purchase Order is placed, if the agreed quantity is used then the system will automatically add the Free Qty to the order and also add it to the pending Delivery Note

Fig.7 - Entering Purchasing Details

Issuing

• To allow transferring and stock counting of this particular Product in different units of measurement, tick Use Alternative Issuing Unit - this does not add an alternative ordering size to the Product
• When all necessary fields are completed select Step 2

Fig.8 - 'Issuing' fields

• Review all details. If any changes are required, select Back and make them
• To confirm all details, select Finish

Fig.9 - Reviewing details and selecting Back or Finish

The new Product will then exist and can be added to Site, copied, or entered into a Menu Item.

Once the Product Exists

If more than one supplier can offer the Product, the supplier relationship must be updated.

Further guidance can be found here: FnB Live: Changing a Supplier Relationship for Products at Site

This will mean that the Product can be purchased from more than one supplier but will only show on the stock sheet once.