What is the Initial Setup Process?
Overview:
COGS-Well is unique because we do your Initial System Setup, including your inventory database, for you. This will save you a significant amount of time and resources versus building your inventory database yourself. This article will review the steps the COGS-Support team follows for an Initial System Setup.
Phase I - Initial System Setup:
The Initial Setup includes your Company, GL Accounts, Sites (locations), System Administrators, Inventory Departments and categories, Vendors, and your Inventory Item database. It also includes setting up the required integration for invoice collection from Plate IQ, Invoice+, and/or your EDI vendors.
Once your historical invoice data, or vendor order guides, are available to our support team, they will typically complete your Initial System Setup in a few days. It is not unusual for a new COGS-Well customer to sign up on Monday and take their first inventory count on Friday of the same week.
When we finish your Initial Setup, we will contact you and provide you with credentials for accessing and logging into COGS-Well. We also send you links to sign up for our Training Classes. The Steps involved in the Initial Setup Process are below:
Step #1 - New Company Setup:
COGS-Well Support sets up your company based on the information collected in the exhibits of our Software Services Agreement (SSA). This setup includes 1) your company, 2) your sites (locations), and your system administrators. This information can be viewed, edited, or expanded via the features in your Company Settings.
Step #2 - Historical Invoices or Order Guide Import:
Established Restaurants: Our definition of "Established" is that your restaurant or restaurants have been open for at least 60 days. For established restaurants, COGS-Well will import historical invoices (typically at least 60 days) to create your Vendor and Inventory Item databases.
New Restaurants: If your restaurant is new, then if your vendors can provide order guides for the items you will be purchasing from them, we can import their order guides (instead of invoices) to create your Vendor and Inventory Item databases. We will also need a list of your Food and Beverage General Ledger (GL) Accounts. Our setup team will send you information on Order Guides.
Plate IQ Customers: Please note that we need system credentials from Plate IQ to access your APIs and import your invoices. Receiving your credentials from Plate IQ typically takes 1 to 2 business days. If you have already been using Plate IQ, then we can import your historical invoices immediately.
If you are new to Plate IQ, then you should scan 60-90 days of historical invoices when you start using Plate IQ (they can be flagged as already paid invoices). Plate IQ provides us with your General Ledger (GL) Accounts. Please note that invoices must be approved in Plate IQ for COGS-Well to import them.
Invoice+ Customers: If you are using COGS-Well's Invoice+ scanning system, then we first require your General Ledger (GL) Accounts so we can set up Invoice+ and your Inventory Categories.
After receiving your GL Accounts, we will send you an email address for uploading scanned invoices. We request you send images for 60 to 90 days of historical food and beverage vendor invoices. Please see this article if you would like more information on scanning with Invoice+.
Step #3 - Inventory Department and Category Setup:
Once invoices or order guides have been imported COGS-Well will set up your Inventory Departments and Inventory Categories for you based on your chart of accounts.
If you do not have GL accounts for Categories (examples are meat, produce, dairy, etc.), then we have an industry standard that we utilize. Please click this link if you would like more information on Departments and Categories.
Step #4 - Starting Inventory Item Database Setup:
Starting Inventory Item Database: Inventory control and recipe management systems require more information than can be imported from a vendor invoice. The item name, item code, pack size, and pack cost on an invoice only provide a start on the information needed for each inventory item.
Inventory items In an inventory control system need to be assigned a cost category and a count status. They also need a count unit configuration (so you can count partial pack sizes), and a recipe unit configuration (so you can use it as an ingredient in recipes).
COGS-Well Adds Inventory Information For You: COGS-Well is unique in that we will provide a cost category, counting status, standard pack size, count unit configuration, and recipe unit configuration for each inventory item for you. We use a combination of unique technology and human auditors to accomplish this. This service will save you significant time and effort - both upfront and ongoing.
Step #5 - Ongoing Invoice Import:
As part of the initial interfacing with your invoice sources, we also set up an ongoing automated invoice import process that launches four times per day and looks for new invoices. This "Invoice Collection" process is fully automated and can be scheduled to be more or less frequent if requested.
Plate IQ and Invoice+: As long as you continue to scan and upload new invoices to Plate IQ or Invoice+, they will automatically be collected and processed in your COGS-Well system.
EDI (Vendor Integration): COGS-Well can import invoices from vendors who can export invoices and make them available to COGS-Well (examples are US Foods, Sysco, Shamrock, and Performance Food Group). This capability is frequently referenced as "EDI".
Please be aware that most EDI vendors require customer approval forms and their process of setting you and COGS-Well up in their system can take several weeks. If you have requested EDI with one or more vendors, the COGS-Well Setup Team will guide you through the process.
Fintech: Fintech has EDI capability for sending COGS-Well invoices. Please note that in addition to taking several weeks to set up, Fintech cannot export historical invoices and Fintech's invoice export is several days after you receive the deliveries. If you have requested EDI with Fintech, the COGS-Well Setup Team will guide you through the process.
Receiving Audit Service: To make sure your inventory item configurations are complete and accurate, COGS-Well uses human auditors to provide a Receiving Audit Service, This audit is done for all of the inventory items in your initial setup as well as on an ongoing basis for new invoices. The Receiving Audit Service is included as part of our monthly service fee.
Summary - Initial System Setup: As indicated above, COGS-Well does your Initial System Setup for you, including building your inventory item database, complete with standard pack size, and counting unit and recipe unit configurations. Our mission when we first designed our software was to make your Initial Setup fast, easy, and economical.
Phase II - POS Interface and Sales Setup:
POS Interface Setup starts with an interface with your POS system. We then set up your Sales Departments, Sales Categories, and the Sales Item database based on the information from your POS system.
Different POS systems require different setup processes and most require you to provide us with some level of added information. Our Setup Team will contact you with added information.
When we finish your POS interface Setup, we will notify you. You will also see your daily and weekly sales information displayed on your Dashboard. We typically start working on your POS interface while we are also working on your Initial Setup. The Steps involved in the POS Interface and Sales Setup Process are below:
Step #1 - POS Interface Setup:
We are typically either interfacing with older POS systems like Aloha, Micros, or Positouch that utilize a server at each restaurant; or newer POS systems like Toast, Revel, Clover, and Upserve that are cloud-based.
Cloud-based POS systems can usually be set up very quickly provided you or your POS vendor provides us with credentials to access your POS database. We can also typically do multiple locations all at the same time on cloud-based POS systems.
Server-based POS systems take longer because someone on your team needs to access the POS server at each restaurant to enable the communication software and provide our support team access to each POS server. Older Aloha POS systems, for example, can require a series of requests and quite a bit of time to get NCR to approve and provide credentials.
Step #2 - Import the Daily Sales Mix from your POS System:
Initial POS Interface: When we first interface with your POS system, we capture your Sales Departments, Sales Categories, and Sales Items (menu items) and add them to your COGS-Well database so you don't have to enter any of this information manually.
We also capture the sales mix (how many times each sales item was sold today and at what price). For some POS systems, we also collect the modifier transactions as they can be used in COGS-Well to create more accurate theoretical inventory cost and usage.
Ongoing POS Sales Mix Import: As part of interfacing with your POS system, we set up an automated import process that launches once per day at the end of the day and collects your sales mix. This "POS collection process" is fully automated and can be scheduled to be more or less frequent if desired.
Summary:
COGS-Well takes a significant bite out of the normal setup time and effort required for restaurant inventory systems by doing most of the initial setup for you and typically doing so in a week or less.
Please click this link to learn What You Should Do After Initial Setup is complete.
Please click this link to learn how to Obtain Benefits Quickly after your initial setup is complete.
If you have questions or other needs, please don't hesitate to reach out to the Support Center at suppor@cogs-well.com.