The Site Information function contains several tabs and fields which configure the FOOD-TRAK system for various behaviors in the Site. The window contains 3 tabs: General, Settings and Perpetual Inventory.
The General tab contains store name, e-mail address for internal contact, postal and telephone information as well as the path to a company logo.
The Settings tab contains special information about your company's accounting method, price and quantity sold variances, the default Profit Center, your Freight and Sales Tax account numbers, whether or not to force distributions on invoices and automatic inventory location assignment settings.
The Perpetual Inventory tab contains a means of scheduling the Perpetual Inventory Engine. To add or edit any of the information appearing in Site Information, click into the field and type the appropriate information; or tick the box to enable an option.
Print
This button will produce a report containing the information that appears on all tabs of the Site Information window. The report will be scheduled and you can check to see if it is finished by clicking Tasks at the top of any FOOD-TRAK page. You will be prompted to save the settings before the report is generated.
General Tab
Current Store
This first field contains the name of the database you are using. It is the method FOOD-TRAK uses to identify your Site.
Store Name
Your actual Store Name should appear in this field once you have set it up as the name of your Site. This field may also be used to change the name of the store in lieu of performing this procedure within Site Manager.
Address, City, State
Click into these fields and type the address, city and 2-letter postal code for the state in which your store is located. The address is displayed on Purchase Orders that need to be shipped to the site.
Postal Code
Click into the field and type the ZIP or other postal code in the space provided.
Phone
Enter the store's phone number including the area code.
Path to Logo
This field contains the location of the graphic file containing the company logo for the site. It is important to know that the logo file must reside on the network on which FOOD-TRAK is running. This field should contain the physical path of the graphic file on the server. Click the browse button to the right of the field to browse Windows Explorer to locate the graphic file.
Site ID
The Site ID field is specific to some FOOD-TRAK Vendor interfaces. Some FOOD-TRAK interfaces use this field to make data import possible. Unless you have specific instructions to enter information into this field (which will accompany a particular interface), please do not enter anything into it.
SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) Mail Settings
To provide more flexibility and granularity when sending FOOD-TRAK forms and reports to e-mail recipients, the site-level SMTP configuration feature in Site Administration > General > Site Information has been created. The General tab includes fields to enable the user to configure a unique SMTP (E-Mail server) to send outbound messages from a particular FOOD-TRAK site containing form and report attachments.
This site-level SMTP configuration exists in addition to the global system SMTP settings in effect for all sites in your FOOD-TRAK system. The system-level settings can be found on the FOOD-TRAK application server/workstation at Start > Programs > FOOD-TRAK > FOOD-TRAK System Management > Email tab. SMTP configuration settings at the system level will be used if there are no site-specific settings for a given site.
In a multi-company environment as the FOOD-TRAK Hosted system is, the subject field in the outgoing e-mail message will contain the company name followed by ‘FOOD-TRAK Report’.
Field descriptions involved in configuring your site to use an SMTP server to send reports to e-mail recipients:
The Email Address field represents the sender address if there is no e-mail address associated with the FOOD-TRAK user account currently logged in.
If the user account logged in has an e-mail address configured, that will be the sender address.
Server Address – Simple Mail Transfer Protocol server. Enter the hostname/FQDN or IP Address of the server/service handling outgoing e-mail routing.
Port – TCP port number your SMTP server is listening on. Default for SMTP protocol is 25.
Authentication:
Mode – Type of authentication required by the SMTP server.
User – User name of account configured for authentication.
Password – Password of the account configured for authentication.
Settings Tab
Current Store
This first field contains the name of the database file you are using. It is the method FOOD-TRAK uses to identify your Site. If you have more than one Site established, you can switch between the present Site and the others by selecting another Site from the drop-down list to display its specific Company Information.
Accounting Method
In this field, select an Accounting Method from the drop-down list of three methods: Last Cost, First In/First Out (FIFO) or Average Cost. We recommend that once the Accounting Method is selected it should not be changed because it will affect the accuracy of reports. If the accounting method needs to be changed, at least change it after an accounting period is complete or at best change it at the beginning of a fiscal year.
There are three generally accepted accounting methods to value inventory: Last Cost, FIFO (First-In First-Out), and Average Cost. To select an accounting method, access the drop-down list from the Accounting Method and select the appropriate method. Most accountants agree that FIFO is the preferred method for food service operations.
Site Wide vs Profit Center Valuation
Once the valuation method is set (FIFO, Last Cost, etc.), you can choose to value inventory at a Profit Center level or at a Site-wide level. The Profit Center valuation option will be selected by default, because valuation by Profit Center is a more accurate representation of true value, and therefore preferable in most cases. In cases where keeping separate track of valuation by profit center is not desired, the Site-wide valuation option is provided.
These settings will allow you to determine the scope that the system should use when calculating the inventory value of an item. Site-wide valuation will consider transactions on a global level without regard to profit center specific transactions (e.g. purchases). Profit-center valuation will consider profit center specific transactions in determining the inventory value of an item within that profit center.
The following example shows the difference between methods: If a company using the last cost valuation method purchases tomatoes by the case into profit center A at $X, and the next day purchases tomatoes into profit center B at price $Y; if an inventory extension report was run the following day and there were no further purchases, the system would value the tomatoes in profit center A at price $X and the tomatoes in profit center B at price $Y using the default (profit center valuation) method. However, if the site-wide valuation method is used, the system would value the tomatoes in both profit centers at price $Y because this was the last price paid on the most recent purchase transaction (invoice) site-wide.
Once you select the accounting method, it is recommended that it not be changed. To do so is not a good idea from an accounting nor tax standpoint; and in FOOD-TRAK, changing the accounting method can result in inaccurate inventory extensions and other values.
Example
Suppose we have a beginning inventory of 10 units for an item at $10.00, and an ending inventory of 25 units. There are two purchases made for 15 and 20 units at $11.00 and $12.00, respectively. The following describes the effects of each accounting method:
FIFO
FIFO determines the value-per-unit by taking the remaining inventory against purchases of the item from the most recent to the oldest and if need be against beginning inventory until all the stock has been valued. FIFO assumes that the remaining inventory was purchased last.
In the example, to calculate the valuation of the 25 units, add the 20 units at $12.00 and 5 of the fifteen units at $11.00 for a valuation of $295.00 and an average valuation per unit of $11.80. Because the ending inventory was 25, the assumption from the example above is the 10 units at beginning inventory valued at $10 were already used and not on the shelf at the end of the period leaving only 5 of the 15 purchased first at $11.00 and all 20 units purchased at $12.00 left at the end of the period.
Last Cost
The last cost method assumes the value of the inventory is the last price paid for the item. Each unit for the ending inventory in the example is valued at the last cost of $12.00 giving a valuation of $300.00 for all 25 units at the end of the period.
Average Cost
Average cost defines its beginning inventory period definition point depending upon what inventory valuation option is selected.
Site Wide Valuation - The last Site Wide Full inventory form completed prior to the current date. To qualify, the Site Wide inventory form must be marked as Full. This single inventory form is referred to as a fully qualified, site-wide full inventory.
Profit Center Valuation - The last Profit Center Full inventory form completed prior to the current date serves as the beginning inventory starting point. To qualify, the Profit Center inventory form/s must be marked as Full. In a system with multiple Profit Centers, a qualified, full, site-wide inventory serving as the beginning inventory consists of all of the Profit Center or Misc. inventory forms to have counted all Profit Center locations at the same date and time. This is generally accomplished by linking the full inventory forms creating a single point in time when all of the items in all Profit Center locations were counted.
Average cost multiplies the beginning inventory by the cost at the time of the inventory. Then multiplies each purchase quantity by the cost of that purchase. Adding these quantities and then dividing by the sum of the beginning inventory quantities and the purchased quantities.
Example Average Cost calculation:
The total cost for the 45 units is $505.00 giving an average per unit cost of $11.22 and an ending inventory valuation of $280.50.
(10 * $10.00) + (15 * $11.00) + (20 * $12.00) = $505.00 / 45 = $11.22
Ending Inventory of 25 units multiplied by Avg Cost of 11.22 yields an ending inventory valuation of $280.50.
Price Variance
Price Variance aids in detecting data entry errors and alerts the user to unusual fluctuations in the price of an item.
Set this field to a percentage of price increase (or decrease) you deem deserves attention. FOOD-TRAK will alert a user entering an invoice if the price of an item fluctuates more than this percentage over/under the last price paid. Enter the percentage as a whole number (no need to enter % symbol or enter as a decimal number). Additionally, this percentage is set as the default variance percentage in the report options when running the Price Exception report.
Quantity Sold Variance
Quantity Sold Variance aids in detecting data entry errors as well as alerting the user to the fact that a particular product sold more or less than the percentage set in this field. For example, the Quantity Sold Variance is set to 10%, if on a particular evening you sold 12% more of the product than normal, FOOD-TRAK would alert you.
Force Default Profit Center
This field establishes a default Profit Center so if you do not assign a Profit Center to an item as it relates to its sale, the system will utilize the profit center set here.
Force Distributions
This is an option for users who want to distribute purchase amounts to G/L Accounts or who need to export invoices to an A/P program. If you do not wish to force distributions, leave this box unchecked. Enabling this option requires the total payable of each invoice to equal the total calculated from each line item in addition to requiring each line item on the invoice to have a GL Account associated with it. Essentially, the invoice totals and GL Account distribution totals need to match to the penny otherwise the invoice cannot be completed.
Auto Distribution Limit
Invoice forms with 4 decimal places in line item cost fields routinely have a penny difference between the Total Payable and the Total Calculated. This is due to how the vendor rounded their extension totals vs. how FOOD-TRAK rounds the extended prices and totals them for the Calculated total value. In order to automate invoice adjustment prior to completion the following feature, field and business rules have been implemented. You may enter a threshold/limit currency value for automatic rounding.
If the Force Distribution check box is checked, users will be able to enter a currency value into the Auto Distribution Limit field (such as .01). This value represents the highest an invoice variance between Total Payable and Total Calculated can be where an automatic adjustment will occur to the GL Account distributions on an invoice.
The business logic/rules will have FOOD-TRAK® allocate this ‘allowable’ variance amount to the GL Account distribution which has the highest dollar amount on an invoice. The assumption being the majority of the invoice total distributes to this GL Account, therefore the penny variance will automatically be included in this GL distribution total as well.
If users prefer not to have the system auto-allocate to the largest GL distribution, they would not enter any value in the Site Information field leaving it as a default of 0.00. This scenario would require manual allocation of that typical penny rounding difference on invoices.
Displaying Costs on Routing Slips (Enterprise Procurement module)
Some organizations utilize Routing Slips as purely packing slips and choose not to make the costs of the items transferred or received known to the receiving entity. A configuration option in Site Information enables a site to show or hide cost information on Routing Slips according to their policy.
Site Administration > General > Site Information > Settings tab > Prices on Routing Slips check box. Place a check mark in this box if the site should display costs on Routing Slips.
Freight Account
Select a special G/L Account from the list of available G/L Accounts or create a new one to become a default account for Freight charges. By selecting an account for Freight, when a dollar value is entered into the Freight field on the header of an invoice, upon completion of that invoice, that dollar amount is distributed to the selected Freight GL Account.
Sales Tax Account
Many businesses will choose not to include Sales Tax in their invoice totals; but those who do will need to make a default setting so that they will not need to manually enter Sales Tax information in order to make their invoices balance. Businesses having vendors in different tax regions would probably want to utilize this setting. By selecting an account for Sales Tax when a dollar value is entered into the Sales Tax field on the header of an invoice, upon completion of that invoice, that dollar amount is distributed to the selected Sales Tax GL Account.
Data Entry Forms Output Format
This is a system-wide setting controlling the output format when a user prints directly from any data entry form or form selection screen. To change the default output format from 'FOOD-TRAK Report Viewer' which requires an ActiveX plug-in to be installed in your web browser to PDF, change this setting to 'PDF'
Auto Inventory Location Assignment Options
These options, when enabled, auto-populate the assigned locations on Inventory Information tab in Item Editor if they are present on various data entry forms.
Automatically assign items to inventoried locations -An item is counted in a particular location on an Inventory form where it has never before been counted.
Automatically assign items to location they are received into. - An item is purchased into a particular location on an Invoice form. This purchase location on the invoice is added to the assigned inventory locations when the invoice form is completed.
Automatically assign items to location they are transferred from/to. -An item is transferred to or from a particular location on an Internal or External Transfer form. These locations are added to the assigned inventory locations when the transfer form is completed.
Implication Scope
If a sales transaction occurred in a Profit Center / Location which did not have sufficient inventory of the recipe sold or the recipe’s ingredients, the system could create an implied transfer of ingredient item/s from a completely different Profit Center to the selling Profit Center location. A boundary is implemented at the Profit Center level preventing stock from crossing into other Profit Centers to obtain its required inventory.
This setting controls whether implied transactions (transfers and production) are allowed to occur for all Profit Centers in a site (Site Wide) or whether specific Profit Centers (Profit Center Only) can have implications disabled. If you select Site Wide, to control the setting at the individual Profit Center level, navigate to the Profit Centers editor and edit the properties.
Time Zone
A Time Zone configuration option can be configured per site. Historically, FOOD-TRAK® has displayed the current date/time of the application server on Data Entry forms. This was problematic for users who are utilizing the application in a Software as a Service (SaaS)® 'cloud’ environment. The application server may not be physically located in their local time zone.
Each site can have a unique time zone parameter set. This time will be used on Data Entry forms for the transaction, default filter, modified and deleted date/time as well as in the Task Queue Manager screen denoting the date/time tasks were scheduled and completed. After making the change to the desired time zone it is not necessary to log out and back into FOOD-TRAK® for the change to take effect.
Perpetual Inventory Tab
Perpetual Inventory Limit
In an effort to dramatically increase processing speed for perpetual inventory reports, a Perpetual Inventory Limit field has been added to the Settings tab in Company Information. Clients enter the number of days they would like to keep perpetual inventory system-calculated implications. The system calculates and uses implications to try to more accurately determine location-specific quantities. For example, if sales occur that require food from a location where not enough of a particular food item exists, the system will IMPLY a transfer from another location to get it there. This implied transfer is not an actual transfer and is therefore not used for accounting reports; but it is calculated by the system to try to make a more accurate guess at location level inventory. In some operations, the system creates tens of thousands of records for these implied transactions. Such a large volume of data can make the system very slow when processing reports which require perpetual inventory numbers. This value defaults to 0, meaning the system will not delete any implications. By entering a limit to the number of days the system goes back when calculating perpetual values, significant time can be saved when running these reports. Once set, the system "rolls up" the perpetual inventory to the cutoff date and deletes the implications it created prior to that date. Not only does this process speed up the report run times, but very little accuracy is lost in most cases. For clients who take full, site wide monthly inventories, no accuracy is lost unless the number of days is set to less than a month, since the system would only have gone back to the previous physical inventory in any event to make the calculations. We recommend clients set this value to 90 days or less depending on the frequency of their physical inventories and length of processing time. The number can be changed at any time.
This implication information is stored for use in all Control reports that offer estimated on-hand information by location or by location group. All implications prior to the selected cut-off date will be processed, if necessary, and deleted when the Perpetual Inventory Engine next executes. This setting does not impact existing transactional information in the Site. Nor does it impact any information on Accounting reports, since all hard transactions (inventory, transfers, sales, waste and purchases) are stored indefinitely and are not affected by this setting.
Automatic Inventory Location Assignment options
FOOD-TRAK has the ability to assign items to locations when various actions happen. Under the Settings tab in Company Information select under which circumstances you’d like the system to automatically assign locations. The available options are:
Automatically assign items to inventoried locations. (results from adding item to location on inventory form) Automatically assign items to the locations they are received into. (results from designating an item to a particular purchase location on an invoice
Automatically assign items to locations they are transferred from/to. (results from specifying a To location for an item on a transfer)
These items that are automatically assigned will show up on the system generated inventory forms. To prevent items being automatically assigned, deselect any or all of the options in Company Information.
Perpetual Inventory Engine
This is structured much like the Task Scheduler, which is used mainly to run FOOD-TRAK reports at specific times. As it pertains to this function, however, the scheduler sets the time and frequency for running the perpetual inventory engine, thus calculating the on-hand amounts. If the Perpetual Inventory Limit field has a value other than 0 set in Company Information, PIE will "roll up" the perpetual inventory to the cutoff date, and deletes the implications created prior to that date. By entering a limit to the number of days the system goes back when calculating perpetual values, significant time can be saved when running reports using location-level processing. Execution Statistics tell you the date and time a perpetual inventory calculation was last performed.
Pressing the Execute Now button allows you to schedule the engine to run on the application server.
Set Schedule enables you to set the time when perpetual inventory engine will be run. This allows you to set up an automatic task. To enable this utility, place a check in the box that reads Repeat Every. Click the button that best suits your needs. You can run an inventory every 5 hours, for example by clicking the Hour(s) option and typing a 5 into the field next to that button. Similarly, you can run inventory every 3 days by clicking the Day(s) option and tying a 3 into that field. Note: In order for the Set Schedule button to be enabled, the Perpetual Inventory Engine Service must be installed on a computer accessible to the FOOD-TRAK application. Best Practice - Install the PIE Service on the database (SQL) server.
FOOD-TRAK employs a recipe costing 'on-the-fly' recalculation approach. In an effort to increase the speed and performance of the system, this means the Perpetual Inventory Engine does NOT update the cost of every recipe in the database each time it is executed manually or on a scheduled basis. FOOD-TRAK will display the current cost of a recipe in appropriate situations. There are a number of transactions and user activities which trigger the immediate cost recalculation of a recipe including:
A note of clarification related to viewing recipe costs on the Item Selection screen: When a user accesses Database, Elements, Items or Recipes and then selects a view which includes cost (e.g. Recipes Only: Name and Cost) not all of the recipes displayed on the screen will have their costs recalculated to current. Rather the recipes will display with the last calculated cost triggered by one of the events in the list above and the date and time stamp of that recalculation.