Inventory Management

1. Basics

To maintain complete control over your inventory, it is essential to regularly perform inventory receiving and counting tasks in order to keep your inventory balance up tp date at all times. Establishing good routines for these activities has numerous benefits, including better control over wastage and the overall value of your stock.

In the Munu Inventory Management System, the structure and composition of each item play a crucial role in successfully maintaining control over every single item. An item’s foundation lies in its base unit, which is often determined by the minimum quantity at which the product can be sold or easily sold. For example, spirits are typically measured in centiliters (cl), while wine is measured by the bottle. Consequently, a glass would be a fraction of a bottle, and a shot would be a specific quantity of a particular spirit.

Furthermore, an item is further categorized into packaging and purchasing units, which can be adjusted as needed. Unlike the base unit, the packaging and purchasing units can be modified, making them particularly useful for inventory receiving and counting purposes in addition to the base unit. It is important to note that once the base unit is set for an item, it cannot be changed after its creation.

1.1 Inventory - Items

An overview of the items available in the product catalog can be obtained by going to Inventory Management (1) and Items (2).

The items displayed in this overview are centrally managed, but it is possible to access various parameters by clicking on the item name.

The fields inside the red square in the image above can be used to set(fields marked with * is mandatory fields):

1. Item name*
2. Item group*
3. Vendor*
4. EPD - Item number
5. EAN - Barcode for the item
6. Warehouse note, if you want to write where the item is located in the warehouse.
7. Minimum quantity in base units - a value used in connection with item order suggestions.
8. Ideal quantity in base units - a value used in connection with item ordering suggestions.
9. Counting frequency - the default is monthly.
10. Favorite items for receiving. If it is an item that is frequently received, this can be set to YES for easier operation during receiving.

Defining “packaging three”

To simplify counting and inventory receiving, different packinging sizes for an item can be defined on each individual item. Base unit (1) is set during creation and cannot be change, since this is the foundation or currency of the spesific item. Packanging unit (2) in picture above is used to define bottle size to enable the posibility to easily count full bottles of spirits instead of needing to calculate the amount of centiliter in a bottle and multiply. Purchase unit (3) can be set to one if this is usually ordered in packaging unit size, but can also be used to e.g define how many bottle a box contains.

1.2 Inventory - Counting

After selecting the desired counting frequency, it is possible to generate an inventory count list for the items available in your warehouse. This can be done in the Munu Cloud Portal under the Inventory Management Section (1) and Inventory Counting (2).

From this screen, you can see all the previous counts that have been started and completed, allowing you to review previous count lists if needed. To start a new inventory count, click on the button in the top rights corner (3).

In the window that appears (below) after starting a new inventory count, you will be asked to specify the type of count to be conducted.

1. Select the type of count frequency you want to start with - the default is to choose monthly counting, as the items described above are by default defined as monthly count frequency.

2. If you want a complete list of all items, choose “all items”. For example, if you want to perform control counts of items marked as favourite items, you can use the “favourite items” filter, and only those items will appear on the list. The last option is “no items”, which will give you an empty count list where you can individually search for the item you want to count.

3. Name the count - for example “Month - Year”.

4. The comment field can be used for additional information, such as who conducted the count.

5. Finish by clicking “create inventory count”.

   Based on the choices made in the previous screen, an inventory count list will be generated. See example below. **

In the column marked in red for “quantity counted”, you enter the number counted for the different items. Remember to fill in all fields, as the counted value multiplied by the unit price is the base for the inventory value. Note the column to the left of this (packaging note), where it describes the packaging of the item. For items where packaging and purchasing unit are specified in addition to the base unit, you will have multiple lines for the same item. For example, for a Coca Cola bottle, you will have it in pieces and in boxes, allowing you to specify the number of bottles and the number of cases of cola for easier counting. Remember to save periodically while counting to avoid losing data. If you want to have a paper count list and then enter the values into the system afterwards, you can use the “print button” (1) in the top right corner. If an item is missing the count list, you can search for items and manually add them to the list by using the “search item” (2) in the top left corner.

After all the counted values have been entered in the list, the count is completed by clicking on “end count” (3) in the top left corner, and the counted value becomes the opening balance in the inventory. Note that the time and date the count was started is the time the value is recorded as the balance for the respective items. For printing and summarizing the count, which can be used for easier overview and submission to counting, you can click on the “print button” in the top right corner, as indicated by the red arrow in the image below.

This will display a list of all completed counts, and you can select (1) which one you want to print and finish with “print” (2). An excel file with the summarized quantity and value per item group will be downloaded.

1.3 Inventory - receiving

To keep the inventory value updated during the month, one needs to record when items are received on-site. This is done to avoid having negative stock and to have better control over the goods received during the month for reconciliation with incoming invoices and packaging slips.

By going to “inventory management” (1) and then “receipt of goods/varemottak” (2), you will see an overview of all receipts of goods received that have been completed in the system. Int the top right corner, you will find a button to start a “new receipt of goods/varemottak” (3).

In the dialogue window that appears (below), you select the time of receipt of the items (2) and choose what the goods receipt list should contain, with the following options:

1. No items - a typical choice if you want to build the goods receipt based on the content of the packaging slips using the “search items” function as described in the inventory count section.
2. Favorite items - will only show a list marked as “favourite” for for the selected supplier.
3. Ordered - is used if the item ordering suggestion functionality is being used. The basis for the goods receipt will be based on the order suggestions.
4. All items - if you want a complete list of all items for selected suppliers.

Finish by clicking “create” (3).

If you choose “A” (no items) and use the search item function to “build” your own list of items for the goods received, after clicking on search item (indicated by the red arrow), you will see a window like the one below.

Here you select the item by finding the relevant item in the item name field (1). Once the item is selected, the different packaging options for receiving the item will be displayed (2). The base unit will always be available for receiving. Note that in parentheses for the other packaging options, it indicated how many base units are in each of them. Continue with save and continue 3) to add more items, or save and close if you have finished registering the items and quantities. After clicking save and close, you will be taken to to the overview of the goods receipt for review and verification before finalizing the goods receipt by clicking “end goods receipt/avslutt varemottak”.

Only when the goods receipt is completed will the value of the quantity you have recorded as received be added to your inventory at the specified time of the goods receipt.

2.1 Making a recipe

If article consists of several items and you want the right amount deducted from your inventory you need to create a recipe. Recipe is a way to define more than one item and quantity used, e.g a cocktail. To create a recipe go to “Lagerstyring”(1) - “Oppskrift”(2) and “Opprett ny”(3) to create a new recipe.

In dialog for creating recipe, start by giving the recipe a name(1). Continue to add lines equal to the amount of items used in the recipe by pressing “Legg til rad”(2). By default the first line is automatically added. Select the line you want to add item in purple column for “Vare”(3) and press the icon displayed to search.

After item is selected the baseunit for the item will be visible in column “Unit” and you define the quantity used in column for “Kvantitet”(4). After all items are added, finish off creation by pressing “Lagre endringer”(5).

💡 Cost price for recipe is automatically calculated based on quantity and unit price for the items added so double check the values to have correct cost price.

2.2 Connecting item/receipe to article

To be able to have Munu Portal calculating expected inventory the recipes and items need to be connected to the respective articles sold. This is done by going to “Artikler” (1) and selecting the article you want to connect to an item/recipe.

Within the article selected, select Inventory tab (2) to go to the inventory section. Activate connection to inventory be selecting Yes/No (3) and then selecting the type (marked in red).

• Purchased - single items
• Produced - combination of several items to produce another single item, e.g a sauce
• Recipe - combination of different items to deduct quantity of serveral items for every sale

When connecting to a purchased item, select the item from the "Item" dropdown list. All fields, except for quantity, will be automatically filled in with information from the item. The quantity defined is the number of base units that will be deducted from your inventory for every sale. For example, selling a bottle of wine will deduct a quantity of 1, while selling a glass of the same wine will deduct a quantity of 0.2, assuming 5 glasses per bottle.

When selecting a recipe, a dropdown list will appear. From this list, you can select the recipe you wish to connect. Inventory deductions will be based on the quantity defined for each item, as specified in the previous step.