Vendors

Overview:

Vendors are your suppliers for the inventory items you purchase. A vendor will be created in COGS-Well for any invoice you import.  For your initial system setup, Vendors are typically imported as part of your invoice collection and they are initially set up by COGS-Well support.  

Things to know!

• This feature will only be accessible and visible to users who are given access to it.
• As part of your initial setup, COGS-Well support will set up your Vendors by importing them from either your accounting system or your vendor invoice system (such as Plate IQ). 
• When an invoice from a new vendor is imported, a new vendor will be automatically added to your database.  You will be notified of a new Vendor on the COGS-Well Dashboard so you can validate the new vendor. 
• Vendors can be set up to receive orders via email. 
• Vendors with EDI capability can be set up to receive orders into their system electronically.

Add or Edit Vendors:

To add, review, edit, or delete vendors, use the Sidebar to navigate to the Manage Vendors menu option and then select Vendors from the submenu. Upon selection, a "Find Grid" similar to the one below will display a listing of all of your Vendors: 

To add a new Vendor, select the "+ Add" button. To view or edit an existing Vendor, click the "Edit" button in the row of the Vendor Name you wish to edit. To delete a Vendor, click the "Delete" button in the row of the Vendor Name that you wish to delete.

Each column in the above display has a search function that enables you to search within that field. A global search option is at the top of the display. 

The Add button at the top middle of the Find Grid is used to add a new Vendor that has not already been set up in your database. Clicking on this button will take you to the add Vendor criteria display.

This is an Export button and it is located to the right of the “+” (“add new item”) button. This button will export all of the recipe items in your database to an Excel spreadsheet.  The spreadsheet will appear on the bottom left of your display. Click on the spreadsheet to access it.

Vendor Tab:

If you select to add or edit a Vendor, you will land on the Vendor tab for General Information and Settings and a screen like the one below will display:

General Column: 

Vendor Name: The Vendor Name, Address. Phone Numbers, and Representative Information.  Only fields with an asterisk are required. 

Vendor Code: If you are importing orders that you placed in a Vendor's system, or exporting orders to a Vendor's System, the Vendor may require you to include their Vendor Code. When COGS-Well Support sets up a Vendor system interface for you, we usually will take care of entering a Vendor Code if one is required.   

Representative Info: You can optionally enter information about your sales representative for this vendor. 

Settings Column (there are a lot of options in the settings):

Active: The default setting is active indicated by a checkmark. To make a Vendor inactive, click on the box to remove the checkmark. An inactive Vendor can be made active again. 

Due Days: An optional field for entering the number of days that this vendor allows for payment. 

COD Vendor: Click on the box to create a checkmark if this vendor requires cash on delivery.  This field is for reference only unless you are posting receipt invoices from COGS-Well to your accounts payable system.

Use an Alternative Item Code from Plate IQ: This field is only relevant if you are integrating COGS-Well with Plate IQ.  Selecting this option for a Vendor will cause the invoice import Integration with PIQ to ignore the Vendor's SKU and utilize the PIQ Item ID instead.  This option was created for situations where a vendor does not provide SKUs or utilizes the same SKU for multiple different products.

Import Receiving by GL Account: If you do not wish to track the inventory items you purchase from this vendor you can exclude the items and just bring in the cost by Inventory Category when invoices are imported for this vendor. 

Restrict Newly Imported Items to Valid Categories: COGS-Well will normally import and create Inventory Items for every line item on a Vendor's invoice that is imported. In situations where you do not wish to count, order, or track certain inventory items that are on these invoices, this option enables you to avoid having a new inventory item created as a result of invoices from this vendor, if the line item does not have a GL account number that is linked to a Category that has been set up in COGS-Well.  This feature is typically only used when you have a vendor that puts things like discounts, deposits, and returns as line items on invoices.  

Default Imported Items to Count Never: If you want to track the items the inventory items you purchase from this vendor, but they are items that you never want to count (such as a vendor for cleaning supplies), you can default new items to the count never status for this vendor. 

Enable Auto-Validation of imported inventory items: This is a field that is normally only used by COGS-Well Support.  

Use Inventory Item Name when Ordering: The ordering features will default to using the vendor's item name. Check this field if you want to use the inventory item name for this vendor instead.  

Minimum Order Alert Amount: If the vendor has a minimum dollar value that must be ordered, and you want to be alerted if an order does not meet the minimum amount, then enter the vendor's minimum dollar amount here. 

Ignore Receipt Prices when Ordering: The COGS-Well Order Worksheet and Enter New Order functions will default to the last invoice receipt price for each Item unless you enable this feature. If you are using COGS-Well for ordering and want to ignore the last price from this Vendor, click on this box to create a checkmark.

Allow Price Changes when Ordering: If you prefer that for this Vendor, the User(s) entering orders not be able to change the price of an item, click the box to create a checkmark. 

Restrict Vendor Delivery Days: You can exclude days of the week for a User entering an order to select the Delivery Date if you check the box next to this field. A tab will be added titled "Delivery Days" where you can select the days to restrict for delivery. To learn more, please click this link to Restrict Vendor Delivery Days - FAQs.

Primary Order Export Type: If for this Vendor, you do not want orders to be exported and sent to the vendor, then select "None" from the drop-down options.  The other options from the drop-down for PDF (with or without costs) and CSV are format options for emailing orders to your vendor. If you select any option other than None, you will be asked to enter an email address for your orders to go to.

Secondary Order Export Type: You can configure a secondary order export type for sending a purchase order. For example, if the Primary Order Export is going to the Sysco FTP site and you want an invoice PDF to go to the Sysco Sales representative, you can configure a secondary export type for a PDF and enter the sales representative's email address.

Order Email Address: This is the address that this vendor wants emailed orders to go to.  Multiple email addresses can be entered separated by a semi-colon ";". 

Preferred Vendor for Ordering: If you are using the Order by Item feature, and you want COGS-Well to assist you in selecting a vendor, then you can flag a vendor to be a Preferred Vendor for Ordering.  The Order by Item feature will then select this Vendor for all Items that this vendor supplies to you.  Please know that you can still override the selected vendor and select a different one in the order-by-item feature. 

Assigned to Sites Tab:

A Vendor can be assigned to all of your Sites or just the ones you specify using the Assigned to Sites tab. This tab will display if you have multiple Sites. An example is shown below: 

Available and Selected: Listed under the Available column are all the Sites that are available to be assigned to this Vendor, but have not been assigned. Listed under the Selected column are all the Sites that have been assigned to this Vendor. To move a Site from one selection to another, check the box by the Site or Sites you want to move and then hit the arrow direction < or > that you want to move them to.

Vendor Groups Tab:

If you have set up Vendor Groups, this tab will be available. It uses the standard dual select box to enable you to select the vendor group or groups that this vendor should be added to.

Available and Selected: Listed under the Available column are all the Vendor Groups that are available to be assigned to this Vendor. Listed under the Selected column are all the Vendor Groups that have been assigned to this Vendor. To move a Group from one selection to another, check the box by the Group or Groups you want to move and then hit the arrow direction < or > that you want to move them to.

Integration Maps tab:

This tab is used by COGS-Well Support to manage your integration with an AP Automation system or a Vendor's ordering system. There is no need to make changes to the information on this tab.

Distribution Centers:

This tab will only show up if COGS-Well support has enabled and set up Distribution Centers for you. There is no need to make changes to the information on this tab.

Ordering Overrides Tab:

If you have multiple sites and a vendor uses unique codes or email addresses for each site, then you can utilize this feature to set up this information for each site.  If you select the Ordering Overrides Tab then you will see a display similar to below: 

Site Customer Code: This is a code that this Vendor uses to identify or reference your Site(s). 

Vendor DC Code: If you are exporting orders to this vendor electronically then this code is used by the vendor to identify the vendor's distribution center. 

Site Access Code: If you are exporting orders to this vendor electronically then this code is used by the vendor to identify your site.  

Vendor email address: This is the unique address for a vendor that a site utilizes to send orders to this vendor. Multiple email addresses can be entered separated by a semi-colon ";".

Delivery Days:

This tab will only display if you check the box to restrict vendor delivery days. When you click on the Delivery Days tab, you will see a schedule for the days of the week. A checkmark under a day means the vendor CAN deliver on that day. To restrict days, you should remove the checkmark. In the example below, Bay Cities Produce can not deliver to Jake's Cafe & Catering on Saturdays and Sundays.

For a more detailed review please click this link to Restrict Vendor Delivery Days - FAQs.

Save, Exit, Merge, Exclude:

The below buttons may all be at the bottom of your add/edit vendor display:

Save - Saves the entry or entries without exiting.

Exit -  Exits without saving any new entries or edits. If you have made changes you will be asked, "Are you Sure"?

Merge Into an Existing Vendor: Occasionally, an AP Automation system like Plate IQ may create a new vendor for a vendor that already exists. This usually happens when the vendor's name on an invoice is slightly different than the name already in the database. If you are sure a vendor is a duplicate then you can merge it into the original vendor. If you are ever in doubt, please contact support@cogs-wel.com.

Exclude this Vendor from Import: If you do not want invoices from this vendor to be imported, then you can exclude it from import. An example might be a vendor that provides paper products and you don't inventory paper. Typically, COGS-Well support manages this option for you.