What is Hands-Free Receiving?
The Challenge:
All restaurant inventory control systems require inventory item line details from invoices to be entered into their system. This detail includes the item name, the quantity received, the pack size, the pack price, and the item code for each inventory item on each new invoice. This process is referred to in COGS-Well as "Receiving".
When entering Receiving, any new vendors or new items require additional effort because they need to be added to your database. When a vendor substitutes an item, the substitute item is normally a new item that needs to be added to the database. When pack costs change (which for many items is frequently), the cost needs to be updated.
Every inventory item on an invoice needs to be entered. If Receiving is done manually, it is a time-consuming process that is very prone to error. It can easily take a manager or administrator several hours per week per restaurant to enter and maintain invoice Receiving.
The Solution - "Hands-Free Receiving":
COGS-Well has solved the Receiving challenge by fully automating the Receiving process. We have eliminated the need for manual entry of invoices. We have also eliminated the need to manually add new vendors or new items to your database. We created "Hands-Free Receiving" by using a combination of innovative technology and specialized customer services as explained below:
Innovative Technology:
COGS-Well capitalizes on "OCR" (Optical Character Recognition) technology to convert invoice images into digital data. Customers scan and upload invoices. The invoice data, complete with all of the inventory item details, is then automatically converted and imported into Receiving. An invoice image is included for reference purposes.
COGS-Well's invoice scanning system is named "Invoice+". COGS-Well can also import invoices with item details from Ottimate's AP Automation system. For vendors that offer EDI (Electronic Data Interchange), COGS-Well can directly import invoices (please note that EDI vendors do not include an invoice image in their export).
COGS-Well uses a unique form of intelligent technology named Standard Packaging Definitions to automatically assign a standard pack size and to assign and configure count units and recipe units for every new inventory item. This technology completely eliminates the need for customers to manually add new inventory items to their database.
Specialized Customer Services:
Some vendor invoices do not include all of the details for an item such as the pack size. Other invoices may have item information that can't be read due to smudges or wrinkles. And OCR data conversion is not perfectly accurate. In short, technology alone is subject to omissions and errors.
To address omissions and errors, and ensure the accuracy of invoices, COGS-Well uses a team of auditors to deliver our Receiving Audit Service.
The Receiving Auditors are alerted every time a customer receives a new inventory item or when the pack cost changes significantly. The auditors will then verify or correct the imported and assigned item information for customers. COGS-Well's Receiving Audit Service is unique to COGS-Well, it saves time, it increases accuracy, and best of all it is free!
Summary:
COGS-Well's technology eliminates the requirement for manual entry of invoices regardless of the vendor. This benefit saves a restaurant manager or clerical person several hours per week per restaurant. It also increases accuracy. Imported invoices can, optionally, be exported to accounts payable as well.
COGS-Well's auditors maintain the vendor and inventory item database for our customers. This benefit saves a restaurant manager or system administrator a few hours per week per restaurant and it significantly increases accuracy.
Hands-Free Receiving is unique to COGS-Well. We are not aware of any competitor that offers this service or does so for free. We launched COGS-Well to make inventory control easier for restaurant operators and Hands-Free Receiving delivers on our mission.