PriceMate
Pricing Made Easy
Figure 1 - The relationship between
the pages of the program.
The sections in grey are edited as sub-pages on other pages.
The most important relationships are that Products are made from Ingredients which can have their own Sub Ingredients and Ingredients are supplied by Companies through Orders and Invoices.
PriceMate
The program is designed to allow small manufacturing retailers (Butchers, Bakers, Restaurants, etc.) to calculate retail pricing and generate ingredient lists and nutrition information from the ingredients which make up each product. Any change in the price or composition of any ingredient will update all products automatically. Ingredients can also have their own list of ingredients. Many products can use the same ingredient in different proportions; this allows parts of an ingredient to be sold at different prices (e.g. cuts of meat from a carcass).
When you start the program it will take up the full screen and you will have this menu appear at the top of the screen.
All parts of the program are accessed from this menu, The five buttons on the right are the main parts and the other 10 buttons are for the less used parts of the program. When you click on a button a page will appear allowing the different types of data to be accessed or printed out (Reports).
The relationship between pages can be seen in Figure 1 (The parts in grey are sub- pages). The lines indicate that data in one page is linked to data in the other, Normally the smaller boxes are referred to by the bigger boxes data.
It is important to know that all the relationships between data use the 'ID' number of the page not any descriptive fields. This means changing the description of a Record will NOT change where it is used. E.g. Changing the name of an ingredient from 'beef mince' to 'pork mince' will not change its use in 'Beef burgers' to 'Pork Burgers'. You have to go to 'Pork Burgers' and change the ingredient to different one 'pork mince'. You cannot change the ID number of a record.
Each page of the program allows you edit, add or delete a single record at a time. A record is the collection of information about an entity (e.g. one product or ingredient).
Example Page
All pages have the same basic format, with a title showing which page is active, with a filter box alongside. Below this is a list of records for this page. Then is the section where you can edit the details of the record. Finally there are buttons to navigate around the program along with any special buttons for each page.
The Filter is a box for entering a word or words to filter the list of records in the list below. When you type in the box the list shows only lines which contain the word(s) you have entered. So if you type 'Butter' then only items which have 'butter' in their text will be shown. The Clear button clears the filter and shows all records again.
To show and edit the details for a record just click on it in the list. Remember if the record you want is not shown ensure the filter is cleared. The height of this box will vary with the height of the program window.
The selected record will be shown in the next section of the page. In this section you can change many values relating to the record.
The Undo button does what it says, if you have not changed record then changes you have made to the current record are reversed. New will create a new record, if necessary asking questions to find what you want. '▲' and '▼' buttons will navigate up and down through the list of records at the top of the page, changing the current record accordingly. Finally the 'O' will return you to the previous record you were editing even if this was on a different page. This is useful when you use the 'jump' function (explained below).
Nearly all interaction with the data is through a few types of 'controls' on each page.
In each page description there is a section listing all of the controls on the page, with a description of what it used for. Their names will be in this style.
Here are examples of the most common controls and how to use them.
This is a 'Text Box' and is the most common control, in these boxes you just type the value you want. The box will check the value is a valid one and show an error message if it is incorrect (the error normally tells you what is wrong [e.g. putting letters into a number box like 'abc' in a price box]). Some text boxes which have a darker background are not editable (marked as Locked in the descriptions).
To select text in a box you place the cursor before the required text and either
• Press and hold the left mouse button while moving the mouse over the required text then release the button.
• Hold down the shift key and use the cursor keys to move over the desired text.
This is a 'Combo Box' which is a text box with extra features. It is mostly used to refer to data on a related page (as shown by the lines in Figure 1), this example allows you to choose the 'Price Group' for a product (Price groups are explained later). Each of these boxes has a list of values you can enter into them which can be seen if you press the arrow button (or Alt key and down arrow key).
The drop down list may also show additional information to help you choose the value to use. You select a value by either typing the beginning of the value you want (the rest of the first matching value will be presented highlighted) or you can click on value in the list. If the list is long or you can't remember what a value is called then you can click the middle button of the mouse and a search box will appear over the top of the combo box.
This box will filter the list by the text you type into it (like the filter at the top of the page) matching any part of the list against your typing (example - if you typed 'cake' then the list in this box would only show 'Cakes' and 'Cream Cakes'). This will help you find something where you don't know exactly what you want. To select a value :- click on it and click OK, press the Enter Key or double click on the value.
The last function of combo boxes is if you double click (press the left mouse button twice in quick succession) you will 'Jump' to the page and record being referred to. If no record is selected then you will Jump to new record. In the example above you will open the Price Group page and select the 'Butchery'record.
The next control is the 'Check box' 
(The small white box).These controls
allow only two states 'checked' (with a tick in the box) or 'unchecked'.
Checked normally means 'Yes', 'True' or 'Do it'. In the example a checked box
indicates that the product is discontinued and therefore will not appear in any
lists or printouts.
This part of a form is a 'Tab Strip'. Each Tab changes the display in the section below to show data relating to its title. This allows grouping of controls on a Tab and stop you having to scroll up and down a long page. If a reference is made to Tab 'Supplied By' it means select the named tab.
This is a 'Sub page' which is a small page having data from another page which is related to the main page. In this example it shows the 'Ingredients' and their associated data for a Product (They are the pages in grey in Figure 1). All the controls on the Sub Page behave in the same way as on the Main page.
To delete a line from a sub-page click on the grey box on left of the line and press the 'Del' key on the keyboard, you will be asked to confirm the deletion.
There may be a few circumstances where deleting a complete record is sensible, to do this you click on the grey bar on the left of the record and press 'Del'. The important thing to remember with deleting a complete record is that other pages records will be deleted as well (In Figure 1 the arrows show the related records which will be deleted). Sometimes you will not be able to delete a record until you have deleted the related records manually. E.g. you can't delete a 'Price Group' while any Products are using it.
On this page you have a list of settings which affect the behaviour of the program. After changing a setting it is advisable to exit the program and restart it to make sure the change affects all parts of the program. During the rest of the document all settings names are displayed in this style.
Variable Name of the Setting (Locked)
Contents Value of the setting
Description Information to assist choosing a value for the setting (Locked)
DisplayAdditives - Changes how the program displays additives (E-Numbers) in ingredient lists. As an example Monosodium Glutamate is E300 so you could display 'E300 Monosodium Glutamate' (Both), 'Monosodium Glutamate' (Text) or just 'E300' (Number).
RoundDown0 & RoundDown0Over - changes if retail prices have prices ending in 0 rounded down to 9 (see Price Groups - page 9).
This page is for changing the rates at which VAT is charged. If the government changes any of the standard rates you only need to change the relevant entry on this page and all prices which depend on it will be updated.
This means you can change the standard rate from say 20% to 25% in one edit and immediately reprint all affected price tickets from the Reports page.
Description Descriptive words used when referring to this rate
Rate Percentage of VAT to apply to this rate.
This is the list of notifiable allergens which have to be shown on ingredients lists. It should not be necessary to edit this list unless a new allergen is added by the government. On the Ingredients page you can link each Ingredient to one or more Allergens.
Description Name of the allergen
This page links actual picture files (in the Images directory) to a 'ID' and a descriptive name. You can have any real picture assigned to any 'ID' and change them at any time.
Thus you can change the 'Header' picture on all your printouts to a new picture by selecting the record, clicking on the picture name in the list on the right and click 'Change Picture'.
Description Name used to refer to this picture.
File Name The actual file name of the picture (Locked)
Change Picture Button - sets the file name to the selected picture.
Available Pictures A list of all the pictures in the Images directory.
Refresh List Refreshes the list to show any changes in the images directory.
The price groups are used for two related functions in respect of the retail price of a product. Each price group can be assigned too many different products and is used to generate so uniformity in prices across a related group of products. E.g. all 'Muffins' have the same price or all 'Bread' prices are round to the nearest 10p
Description Describes this group
Retail Price Rounding Affects the retail price by rounding it up to the specified multiplier. E.g. Selecting 'to nearest 25p' will make the retail price end in either 0, 25, 50 or 75p. If RoundDown0 is Yes and the last digit would be 0 (i.e. a multiple of 10) then if the price is more than RoundDown0Over then the price will be reduced by 1p. Thus £1.50 become £1.49 etc. This system is not active when rounding to 5p or 1p.
Group Retail Price is set to a value (which will be rounded by the rounding rule selected) then this price will apply to all products in this group irrespective of their cost prices or Profit Group's. So if the group 'Cream Cakes' has a price of £0.75 then all products which have this group will have a retail price of 75p. Changing the group price will update all of the products simultaneously.
All products need to make a profit, but different types of products need different margins. Profit groups allow you to assign a minimum Profit on Return (POR) to each product and to group these POR's by product group.
Description Describes this group
Required POR The minimum POR for this group
Markup Markup needed to give the POR (Locked)
When you sell a product you sell it in a specific size or multiple of a size. This page allow you to define these sizes and their relationships to a nominal unit weight (normally 1Kg). There are two main types of unit, those relating to weights and those to pre-packed products. Those for weight are given a multiplier to convert the unit weight into them. For pre-packed products set the multiplier to 1.
The multiplier is calculated by taking the desired unit size and dividing by the unit size. So for 'per 100g ' you take 0.1/1 = 0.1 as the multiplier.
Unit Name for the unit - displayed on price tickets etc.
Unit Multiplier Factor to convert units
For those products which are packaged for the consumer to cook at home, cooking instructions on the label may be required. This page allows the creation of suitable instructions.
Description Short name to refer to this set of instructions
Instructions Text of the required instructions. If you highlight a word or words a menu will appear which allows you to change the formatting of the text. It is advised that you don't change the font size - as this will disrupt printing on labels
Click to add °C... When clicked a degree sign and the letter C will be appended to the instructions. (If you need Fahrenheit then just delete the C and type F)
This page deals with all the companies which are supplying or manufacturing the ingredients you use.
Company Name The name of the company
Description More info about the company
Address 1 & 2 First two line of the address
Town Name of the town
Postcode Postcode of the company
Account No The account number for your account with the company
Website The company's website
Wholesaler Tick if this company supplies ingredients to you.
Manufacturer Tick if this company manufactures ingredients.
Charges by Unit Tick if this company only sell in units
Orders List of orders placed with the company (newest first) (Locked) If the 'Date Sent' is blank then the order is open for new ingredients to be added.
Invoices A list of invoices received from the company (Newest first) (Locked)
This tab contains a sub page which lists the ingredients this company supplies. You can add or edit ingredients and add the ingredient to an order for the company.
Ingredient A combo box allowing you to select an ingredient for this company to supply. If you select a new ingredient the other controls will be set with default values.
Suppliers Description What the supplier describes this ingredient as.
Wastage Any wastage caused by preparing this ingredient from the form you buy it in and the form you use it in. e.g. peeling onions will cause wastage. Used to calculate the cost per unit of the ingredient.
Order Code Their order code
Unit of Sale A description of the size of the unit (box, case, bag etc)
Unit Size A numerical value of the description above. If you are selling any product which uses this ingredient by weight then this must be the weight of the Unit of Sale.
Since both vales are related if you only change one you will be asked if this was intended.
Add to Order Button to add this ingredient to an order. You will be asked for a quantity to order in 'Units of Sale' (this can have decimal places if the supplier allows). If you have an open order then it will be added to this, otherwise a new order will be started. If it is already present on an open order then you can change the quantity on order.
Categories allow you to group products and ingredients into families of related items. Categories are arranged in family trees with parent and child categories. The category of 'Butchery.Turkey.Joints' is the child of 'Butchery.Turkey' which is in turn the child of 'Butchery'. Changing a parent's description will cause all its descendants to change.
The main use for categories is when producing reports, they allow the report to be restricted to a sub set of the full report.
An important Category has the ID of 1 and is called 'Virtual Ingredient'. This category is assigned to those ingredients which are defined only because they are sub-ingredients in a manufactured product (defined so that ingredient list is complete).
Parent category... Combo box to select any parent you want for this category.
Description The description for this level of the category
Display As Shows the full name of the category tree
Category is used for Two check boxes to assign this category to the lists of categories visible on the Products and Ingredients pages.
You can assign a Logo (a small picture) to a category. This will be used on package labels where there is room for a list of suitable logos. As an example if you are a member of a trade body (e.g. Butchers Q Guild) you could assign their logo to all 'Butchery' categories (You only need to assign it to the Parent of the tree).
Logo This show any currently assigned Logo and its Name
Set Logo Assigns the selected logo from the list to this category.
Delete Logo Removes the current logo.
Picture List A list of the available Pictures
Edit Picture List Opens the Pictures page to allow editing of the list.
This tab shows lists of the products and ingredients which have this category assigned to them. Double clicking an item will jump to the appropriate page.
Products are the items you sell to your customers, the customer facing part of the program and all the controls on this page are to do with this interaction. Most of the information that the customer see's is on this page. All products must have one or more ingredients (you only buy Ingredients not Products), these set the cost price of the product.
This product is discontinued Tick this if you are no longer selling this product. This will cause the product to disappear from most reports. Most of the controls on the page will disappear as they no longer usable.
Description Two lines of description for the product. Generally the first line will be displayed in a larger font than the second.
Retail Price Current retail price including any VAT. This price is rounded by the Price Group selection.
Copy as an Ingredient Copies all relevant information from the current product to make a new ingredient, including the ingredients and nutrition data.
Duplicate as new prod... Copies the current product to a new product.
Controls for the selection of most links to other pages.
Retail Unit Select the correct Retail Unit.
Price Group Select the desired Price Group
Actual POR This is calculated from the Cost and Retail Prices
Vat Select the correct VAT Rate
Profit Group Select the desire profit margin
Category Choose a category
Barcode If you want a product to Barcode on it's label then enter one here. Double clicking a blank barcode will generate a suitable one from either the till code if present or the product ID.
Till Code Displayed on Tickets to allow staff to sell the product.
Cooking Instructions If the product needs cooking choose suitable instructions
Cost Price The cost price calculated from all the ingredients.
Cost Price changed When the cost changed last e.g. when an ingredient last increased in price.
Details last changed When any other part of the product's record changed
On both the Products and Ingredients pages you will see references to processed (retail) values and raw values. They are used in different calculations but are related by the loss of weight when the product is processed (cooking etc.), the program assumes the cause of the weight loss is water drying out from the ingredients. If this is not the case for a particular product you can't use the automatic calculations.
The Raw Weight of the product along with the Raw % value from the ingredients are used to calculate the cost of the product from the sum of weight x Raw% x ingredient cost (Ingredients are priced per unit).
The processed weight and Proc % from the ingredients is used calculate the nutritional values of the product. They are different because if you declare any nutrition values in your shop they have to reflect the product 'as it is bought' by the customer. Don't worry if the nutrition values of the ingredients are correct then you just need to tick the Automatically update check box and the program will do the calculations.
This tab shows the controls relating to how the product is made. If the product is actually just bought in then you will have just one ingredient and probably at 100% usage. The sub page has a line for each ingredient.
Retail Weight The weight of the product as sold to the customer in Kg's. If it is unknown or irrelevant than set to 1 and ensure the Ingredient(s) reflect the size of the product.
Display weight on ... Tick this if you want the Retail Weight to be shown on product labels.
Is weight approximate Tick this if there is variation in the weight and the weight will have 'Approx.' or 'Approximate' appended to it.
Raw Weight The weight of the product before any processing
% Loss Calculated from the Retail and raw weights (you can enter a manual value if you want)
Automatically update... If ticked then any change in % Loss will cause the Proc % of the ingredients to be recalculated.
Display These Ingred... Tick to display the ingredients list for this product on appropriate labels.
Ingredient Select an appropriate Ingredient
Raw % The percentage of the product made up of this ingredient. It does not have to be <=100%, in fact you could set it to 200% to use 2 of an ingredient (especially if the ingredient is not weighed). If you set this value to a negative value then this ingredient will be ignored when doing any calculations, but it will appear in ingredients list without the minus sign. The minus sign is ignored when the order is set so -20% is higher than 10%.
Proc % % after processing
Show % Tick to give the percentage of this ingredient in ingredient lists
Show Ing Tick to show the ingredient in the ingredient list (untick to hide the ingredient. e.g. for a Cake case or Pie foil)
Weight If you have an existing recipe which uses weights then enter the weight of each ingredient in this column. When all are entered Click the Calculate % from Weights button to generate all the Raw % values.
QUID If the ingredient is a effected by the 'quantitative ingredient declarations' law (i.e. it is named in the product description) then tick this box and the Proc % will be declared on labels.
Calculate % from Weights Click to use the weights to calculate Raw % for each ingredient.
There is no requirement for the Raw % or Proc % to add up to 100%.
Each product can have one main picture (e.g. a photo of the product) and any number of Logos assigned to it.
Picture List Shows the available pictures, when a picture is selected it I shown alongside.
Edit Picture List Click to Jump to the Pictures Page.
Set Main Set the Main picture to the selected one.
UnSet Main Remove current main picture
Logos for this Prod... List of logos assigned to the product.
Add Logo Add the currently selected picture to the Logo list.
Remove Logo Click on a logo in the list then click this button to remove it from the list.
Category Logos List of Logos which have been inherited from the Category.
These logos will also... Tick this to prevent the category logos appearing on this product.
This tab shows the nutritional data for the product as values in 100g of product not for the portion size (this will be calculated when necessary). These are normally derived from the ingredients, but if you know this will be incorrect (e.g. a cut of meat from a carcass) then you should tick the override box and enter the correct values. Controls on the tab are locked unless the override check box is selected. When displaying nutrition data on labels it is commonly given for a 100g sample and a portion of the product (especially in the front of pack summary).
Energy The energy content in kJ (kilo Joules) not kcal (kilo calories).
Protein The protein content in g per 100g
Carbohydrates The Carbohydrates content in g per 100g
of which Sugars The Sugar content in g per 100g (must be less or equal to Carbohydrates value)
Fat The Fat content in g per 100g
of which Saturated The Saturated Fat content in g per 100g (must be less or equal to Fat value)
Salt The Salt content in g per 100g. You can enter the sodium value in its box and the Salt value will be calculated.
Override Tick here to force the program to use the values on this page instead of those derived from the ingredients.
Select values ... When you click on this button a new form will open (see page 26 for details) and you can select nutrition values from the Governments list of food compositions.
Portions The number parts you expect the consumer to divide the product into when serving it.
Portion Description If this is blank then the Description will be used when describing a portion.
Portion by Weight Tick to show portion size as a weight
Portion by Fraction Tick to show portion size as a fraction of the product. E.g. 1/10th
Portion will Display As This box shows you the result of the four portion controls.
This tab gives you a place to enter a longer description of the product, which can be used on labels or information sheets.
If you select a word or words in the blurb a menu will
appear which allows you to change the formatting of the text. It is advised
that you don't change the font size or name (it becomes fixed at this size and
font) - as this will disrupt printing on labels. If you want to revert the
colour to normal select 'Automatic' as the colour.
The Ingredients are the stuff you purchase from your suppliers to make the products to sell to your customers. Like products they came have their own ingredients, which in turn can have ingredients of their own... The costs of all products depend on the costs of their ingredients, which are set when you purchase them or are derived from their own ingredients.
There are four main types of ingredients.
1. A composite of other ingredients (i.e. a recipe or part of one)
2. Manufactured or natural ingredients you purchase in the form you use it. E.g. a cake mix, a spice or a vegetable. This can have ingredients but they are virtual and are just used to provide an ingredients list.
3. A virtual ingredient, which has a Description but no other data except a possible list of sub-ingredients. Virtual Ingredients are only used to provide an ingredients list for manufactured products. Virtual ingredients have a Category of 'Virtual Ingredient'.
4. A statutory additive with an 'E Number'. These have all been defined in the list and have a Description starting with 'A.E' followed by their number and name. You can change how these appear in ingredients list with the Setting DisplayAdditives.
Description The name of the ingredient used inside the program and can include info to differentiate it from similar ingredients.
Display As This is the name that's included in ingredients lists i.e. what you want the customer to see it called.
Cost per unit This is the cost for a single unit of this ingredient, the unit will be Kg if it is Weighed otherwise it will for single instance. This value is normally calculated by the program from either the invoiced value or from it's sub-ingredients. The invoiced value will never reduce the cost, so if you need to reduce the cost then double-click the mouse in the box and it will become editable. Remember if this a composite ingredient or you get an invoice with a higher value then the calculated value will replace the manually entered one.
Vat Select the Vat rate which applies to this ingredient
Category Select the appropriate category. The category 'Virtual Ingredient' is for type 3 ingredients and the category 'Additives' is for type 4 ingredients. Any ingredients with these categories are sorted to the end of selection list at the top of the page.
This Ing. is Manufactured Check this box to tell the program to ignore any sub-ingredients when calculating costs and nutrients.
Is this Ing. Weighed Select Yes or No as appropriate, most ingredients are weighed. Mostly decorative or packaging items are not weighed. E.g. Pie foils, muffin wraps or kebab skewers.
Manufacturer The company that makes this ingredient. Informative only.
Details Last Updated... The date and time a change was made to this ingredient.
List of sub-ingredients which make up this ingredient.
Weight before proc. The weight of the product before processing in Kg's.
Weight after proc. The weight of the product after any processing
Processing Loss Calculated from the before and after weights (you can enter a manual value if you want)
Automatically update... If ticked then any change in Process Loss will cause the Proc % of the ingredients to be recalculated.
Ingredient Select an appropriate Ingredient
Raw % The percentage of the product made up of this ingredient. It does not have to be <=100%, in fact you could set it to 200% to use 2 of an ingredient (especially if the ingredient is not weighed). If you set this value to a negative value then this ingredient will be ignored when doing any calculations, but it will appear in ingredients list without the minus sign. The minus sign is ignored when the order is set so -20% is higher than 10%.
Proc % % after processing
Show % Tick to give the percentage of this ingredient in ingredient lists
Show Ing Tick to show the ingredient in the ingredient list (untick to hide the ingredient. e.g. for a Cake case or Pie foil)
Weight If you have an existing recipe which uses weights then enter the weight of each ingredient in this column. When all are entered Click the Calculate % from Weights button to generate all the Raw % values.
QUID If the ingredient is a effected by the 'quantitative ingredient declarations' law (i.e. it is named in the product description) then tick this box and the Proc % will be declared on labels.
Calculate % from Weights Click to use the weights to calculate Raw% for each ingredient.
There is no requirement for the Raw % or Proc % to add up to 100%.
This tab contains a sub page which lists the ingredients this company supplies. You can add or edit ingredients and add the ingredient to an order for the company.
Supplier Name A combo box allowing you to select an supplier for this ingredient. If you select a new supplier the other controls will be set with default values.
Suppliers Description What the supplier describes this ingredient as.
Wastage Any wastage caused by preparing this ingredient from the form you buy it in and the form you use it in. e.g. peeling onions will cause wastage. Used to calculate the cost per unit of the ingredient.
Order Code Their order code
Unit of Sale A description of the size of the unit (box, case, bag etc)
Unit Size A numerical value of the description above. If you are selling any product which uses this ingredient by weight then this must be the weight of the Unit of Sale.
Since both vales are related if you only change one you will be asked if this was intended.
Add to Order Button to add this ingredient to an order. You will be asked for a quantity to order in 'Units of Sale' (this can have decimal places if the supplier allows). If you have an open order then it will be added to this, otherwise a new order will be started. If it is already present on an open order then you can change the quantity on order.
Orders List of orders placed for this ingredient (newest first). If the 'Date Sent' is blank then the order is open and you can edit the quantity ordered.
This tab shows any allergens present in the ingredient and the nutritional data for the ingredient as values in grams per 100g of the Ingredient. Controls on the tab are locked if the ingredient has sub-ingredients but is not marked as manufactured or the override check box is selected.
Energy The energy content in kJ (kilo Joules) not kcal (kilo calories).
Protein The protein content in g per 100g
Carbohydrates The Carbohydrates content in g per 100g
of which Sugars The Sugar content in g per 100g (must be less or equal to Carbohydrates value)
Fat The Fat content in g per 100g
of which Saturated The Saturated Fat content in g per 100g (must be less or equal to Fat value)
Salt The Salt content in g per 100g. You can enter the sodium value in its box and the Salt value will be calculated.
Override Tick here to force the program to use the values on this page instead of those derived from the sub-ingredients.
Select values ... When you click on this button a new form will open (see below for details) and you can select nutrition values from the Governments list of food composition.
This page show you a LONG list of foods with their nutrition values. To help narrow down the list you can enter something into the filter box (like normal pages) and/or you can select categories and sub categories from the combo boxes at the top. When you select the first category level (left hand box) the available sub categories in the next level will reflect this. Some categories have 3 levels. The example shows raw pork products.
When you have chosen suitable values press Transfer Values to copy the values and return to the ingredients page. Cancel will return without copying values.
This tab shows lists of the products and ingredients which use this ingredient.
Double clicking an item will jump to the appropriate page.
This page allows the viewing, editing and printing of orders for your suppliers. Only new orders or those who have not been sent can be edited. An order is sent when there is a date in the Order Sent box.
When creating a new order, you must select the supplier from the company list before adding ingredients to the order.
Company Select the company for this order
Order Created Date when you started writing the order
Order Sent When you sent the order to the supplier.
Print Pops up a Preview of the order, if it is O.K. then press Ctl-P on the keyboard or right-click the mouse and select print from the menu.
It's Been Sent Fills in the Order Sent date to Todays date (if empty).
Product Select a product from this supplier to order.
Qty Enter or edit the quantity to order.
Unit of Sale A description of the size of the unit (box, case, bag etc). If you change this you will be asked for an updated value for the 'Unit Size'. Changes to this value will be used for any future orders as well.
Order Code The suppliers order code for this product. Changes to this value will be used for any future orders as well.
Invoiced Tells you if you have received an invoice for this order line yet.
This page deals with invoices for goods ordered from your suppliers. This is the primary method of setting the cost price for the Ingredients.
When you receive an invoice click on the New button, this will bring up a page to choose the
supplier and which orders are being invoiced.
You start by choosing a supplier with the combo box, you can only choose suppliers who have some sent orders in the last 90 days (this period is set by the box at the bottom of the form). When the supplier is selected a list of the sent orders which currently un-invoiced lines will appear. Normally you will no need to change this, but if you have old orders (i.e. where delivery was delayed) and the invoice in hand does not cover them - you should deselect them from the list.
When the selection is correct press Create an Invoice.
The main page will now have an invoice with lines for all the selected orders.
You can now check the lines on the printed invoice with those on the screen. If any of lines on the screen have no equivalent line on the invoice then you can delete that line by selecting the grey box on the left of the line and pressing the 'Del' key. If any of the details have changed you should edit them. If you change the 'Unit of Sale' you will be asked for a new 'Unit Size'. If the unit price changes by more than 10% a confirmation will be asked for.
When a change in either the size or price results in an increase in the cost of an ingredient then all products which use this ingredient will have their retail prices increased (subject to the 'Retail Rounding' applied to the product).
This section of the manual will show you how to create a product and calculate all the necessary percentages.
As your products are hand-made there will be variations in the sizes of parts of the product as well as the whole product, so when following this procedure you should measure using a reasonable number of products together and then divide down to get an average. E.g. weigh 10 products together then divide the weight by 10. It is best to use 10 units as this is the easiest to divide (move the decimal one place to the left e.g. 7.654Kg becomes 0.765Kg) and is big enough sample to give a good average. If are not making ten of something then obviously use the number you are making. If you can't fit 10 items on the scale then weigh them in batches and add up the weights.
Processing losses mostly occur when you cook something.
When doing calculations on ingredients made in bulk like the filling of a pie use a cooking container which will fit on your scales and which along with the ingredient is within the range of the scales. E.g. scales weigh up to 20Kg, pot weighs 3Kg and contents weighing 16Kg is O.K.
Here is how to work out an example product - a Family size Steak and Kidney Pie. This is made in the following parts/steps.
1. Pie Filling
1.1. Steak and Kidney
1.1.1. Steak
1.1.2. Kidney
1.1.3. Water
1.1.4. Cooking
1.2. Gravy
1.2.1. Gravy Mix
1.2.2. Corn Flour
1.2.3. Water
2. Pastry
2.1. Flour
2.2. Fat
2.3. Salt
2.4. Water
3. Egg Wash
4. Foil Tray
5. Cooking
Let's expand these steps. If at any step the record has already been defined the use the existing record (as long as it is exactly the same).
1. Pie Filling
1.1. Steak and Kidney
1.1.1. Steak
We need to create the ingredient for Steak. Go to Ingredients Page and click New. Enter 'Steak Pie Meat' into Description and 'Beef Steak' into Display it As (this is shown on ingredients), then select a suitable Category. Next on the Sub Ingredients Tab choose 'Beef Side' as the Ingredient then enter a suitable percentage in Raw% (This sets the cost of the Steak - choose a value similar to other equivalent cuts) and un-tick 'Show Ing' as we don't want this to appear on the ingredients list. You should have a record like this ...
If you want the give your customers nutrition information (which you must if you pre-pack products) then you need to select the Nutrition Tab and fill in values. You will need to tick the Tick to override box to allow you to enter values. The values for common foods can be selected from approved government data by clicking on Select from Government Data (see page 26). Another good source is the Websites of the main supermarkets. Data on manufactured products is available from the manufacturer and maybe on the packaging.
1.1.2. Kidney
And the same again for kidney...
1.1.3. Water
You will need an ingredient record for water
Water is of course nearly free J (£1.42 for 1000 Kg or 0.14p per Kg currently in Norfolk)
1.1.4. Cooking
Following your recipe and weigh out some steak and write this weight down (e.g. 10Kg), add to the cooking container, do the same with the Kidney. Measure the amount of water added (in litres or weight). Now weigh the complete cooking pot with contents. E.g.
Steak 10Kg
Kidney 3Kg
Water 3 litres
Complete pot 19.3Kg (i.e. pot weighs 3.3Kg)
Now cook the filling as specified. Weigh the pot after cooking. Start a New ingredient. Enter 'Steak and Kidney Pie Meat' in the Description and 'Steak and Kidney' in the Display it as box. In the sub-ingredients enter the three ingredients we created above (don't set any percentages). The law requires that if a food is named in products description it must have its percentage declared on the label, thus we need to tick the box QUID for the Steak and for the Kidney. In the weight box for each ingredient enter the weights you recorded above. Click on Calculate % from weights, this will set the percentages. Next enter the weight of the complete pot before cooking in the Weight Before Processing box and the weight after cooking into the Weight After Processing box, this will calculate the loss of water during cooking (and if Auto Update is ticked will update the processed % of the ingredients).
1.2. Gravy
1.2.1. Gravy Mix
An ingredient for the
gravy mix needs to be created next. Assuming this is bought in ready-made, you
will need an ingredient record where the sub-ingredients are only entered so as
to give the gravy an ingredients list. Start a new ingredient and enter 'Beef
Gravy Mix' into Description (or the name on the
packet) and 'Gravy mix' into Display it As. Next
tick This Product is Manufactured (this tells
the program that any sub-ingredients are virtual [to be ignored for price and
nutrition calculations]). For manufactured products you need to get a list of
ingredients & nutrition values (either from the package or the
manufacturer). Here is an example for a Gravy Mix. You need to enter all of the
ingredients as sub-ingredients for the gravy mix. The program has number of
virtual ingredients already defined as well as all of the E numbered additives.
Start adding the ingredients from the list to the sub-ingredients section by starting to type the ingredient name, if the ingredient already exists you will see it appear in the list (pressing the down arrow will show the list of available ingredients). If there is no match to an existing ingredient complete typing its name and press the Enter key. You will be asked if this is a new ingredient - select Yes and it will be created. Next we need to keep the list in the correct order, so we need to give each ingredient a percentage of decreasing values (e.g. 90, 80, 70 etc.). It is good practice to make all percentages where the real value is unknown negative (e.g. -90%) (This also tells the program to ignore this percentage).
If the ingredients list contains an ingredient followed by brackets around other ingredients (a composite ingredient), you need to create the composite ingredient first - then edit it to add it's sub-ingredients. E.g. Flavour Enhancers (E621,E635). 'Flavour Enhancers' is the composite ingredient and E621 and E635 are the sub-ingredients. Where ingredient is group name for additives put the E numbers is brackets after the group name (there will be lots of different combinations of 'Flavour Enhancers' etc.). So in this example type 'Flavour Enhancers (621,635)' as the name. After you have entered the percentage value, double click the mouse over the name to edit the new ingredient. Add the sub-ingredients and click the 'O' button to return to the main ingredient's page.
If the ingredient list has a declaration of allergens (e.g. 'contains Soya') then make sure the relevant ingredient has this allergen set on it's record (double click the appropriate ingredient name and check the allergen box).
Once the ingredient list
is entered you should have a sub-ingredient list like this ...
Next you need to enter the nutrition values into the nutrition tab. Here are the nutrition values for the example mix. When entering the values make sure you use the column headed 'per 100g'. You should have record looking like this..
That's the record for the gravy mix finished (a bit tedious but necessary)
1.2.2. Corn Flour
A record for corn flour already exists.
1.2.3. Water
If you use some of the meat juices from cooking the meat when you make up the gravy, you need to write down how much water you ADD at this step. The meat juice water is already included in the product.
1.2.4. Making the gravy
Create a new Ingredient 'Beef Pie Gravy' / 'Beef Gravy' and add the ingredients from above, enter their weights and click on Calculate % from weights. E.g.
Gravy Mix 570g
Corn flour 350g
Added water 5litres (plus 1 litre of meat juices)
You should have a record like this ...
2. Pastry
2.1. Flour
Create the ingredient for the flour (if necessary)
2.2. Fat
And the Fat
2.3. Water
Create an ingredient for the pastry entering 'Meat pie pastry'/'Pastry' ,add the above sub-ingredients and the weights you use and calculate %. You should have a record like this ...
3. Egg Wash
This is actually just beaten whole egg, so you need an ingredient for whole egg.
4. Foil Tray
The tray you sell the pie in is part of the complete pie but it does not depend on the weight of the other pie. Create an ingredient for it, but set Is this Ingredient Weighed to No.
5. Making the Pie and cooking it
We can finally create the product! Change to the Products page and Click New. Put 'Steak and Kidney Pie' in the first description and 'Family Size' in the second. Set Retail Unit to 'Each'. If you charge the same price for all of your family size pies then you need to create a price group for them - double click in the Price Group box to open the Price Groups page. Press New and enter 'Family Meat Pies' in the Description and set the rounding to your desired value and the Group Retail Price to the price of the pies. Click 'O'twice to return to the product page. Select the new price group. If you don't want a price group select 'None', then you will need to select or create a suitable Profit Group. Select or create a suitable category. You should have something like this ...
Now select the Product Ingredients Tab and enter the four ingredients we have just defined, don't set any percentages yet.
