# Products

The Products screen allows to you add and amend products for a particular client.

Code is a unique 5-character code which is required for every product. It can consist of letters or numbers.

Description is a 50-character description of the product. It can consist of any characters with the exception of single or double quotes.

Vintage is a 4-digit year indicating the vintage of the product, typically wines.

Bin Number is a 5-character code representing the bin number that has been used to store this product. Typically this is only applicable to the wine products. It can consist of any characters with the exception of single or double quotes.
You will be able to use the bin number as an alternative to the product code when entering stock data.

Size Code is a reference to one of the sizes defined in the Sizes table. Click on the down-arrow or type a letter 'd' to see a list of size codes available.
The three grey columns are for information only. You cannot change them on this screen.

Section is a reference to one of the sections defined in the Sections table. Click on the down-arrow or type a letter 'd' to see a list of the sections available.

SubSection is a reference to one of the sub-sections defined in the Sub-Sections table. Click on the down-arrow or type a letter 'd' to see a list of the sub-sections available.
It allows you to assign a product to a group within a section, e.g. Malts (within Spirits)

Cost This is the cost (exclusive of VAT) of the item. It would be the cost of a single bottle of spirits, a gallon of draught beer or a dozen bottles of juices.

Return Deposit allows you to define a product as a return deposit, e.g. Small Bottle, for baby juices. To do this, enter CONT in the column.
It also allows you to specify which return deposit product is appropriate for a given product, e.g. The Return Deposit column should show CA101 for Holsten Pils.
When you have set up your products and return deposits, the stock report and summary report will show you not just the quantity/value of the empty stock you have counted but it will add on the full stock, giving you a more accurate stock valuation.

Wastage You can define a wastage percentage, particularly for draught beers, and have an allowance calculated for you automatically. The calculation is based on the consumption figure for the product, the wastage factor and the retail price.
It is not essential to use this option. Frequently, your customer will have kept accurate figures for each product.

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The New Product button allows you to add a product and type in all its associated stock and price details at the same time. Select the correct section and optionally sub-section, and the program will give you the next available product code that corresponds with other products in that section/sub-section. You can manually amend the product code to be whatever you want. If you have chosen a 'Master Outlet', there is a tick box option to indicate whether the Master outlet will be checked. An auto-generated product code will not conflict with the Master. If you type one in that does conflict, you'll be warned. Continue on and type in the description and all other appropriate data for the product. You don't have to add data in all boxes - it can be amended later on. The product weights and barcodes are for use with StockMate and weighing scales. Click on the Add Product button to add it and you will be returned to the Section box ready to type in the details for the next product to add. The product you added will automatically be configured as a Live product. If the outlet is a multi-bar, you have the option to define where the product is made Live. The selling price and stock levels will only be applied to Bar 1. Click on the Close button to return to the Products screen.

To Delete a Product, click in any of the boxes on the line for that product and then click on either the Delete Record icon at the top of the screen. To delete a number of products, click on the Delete Products button and you'll be given a screen where you can select which products you want to delete. Then click on the Delete button. You will not be able to delete any products that have got any stock levels, e.g. purchases/credits/transfers, or if they are included in a recipe.

The Import Product button allows you to copy a product from another outlet. Click on the outlet list to show the outlets, select the relevant outlet and then click OK.
You'll then be given a screen where you can select which products you want to import. Tick the ones you want and optionally put in figures for the counted stock, cost price and selling price. Then click on the Add button. The products will then be added into the current outlet and they will be automatically configured as a Live products.

The Export Product button allows you to copy a product to another outlet or group of outlets. Click in the product you want to export and then click on the Export Product Button. Select either a specific outlet, All Outlets or one of the available groups and then click OK. The product will then be added into the other outlet. It will be automatically configured as a Live product.

There is a drop-down list of options at the top-right of the window. Click on the list and it will drop down automatically and then you can select the option you want. Each option has a Control-Key alternative so you can use the keyboard instead of using the drop-down list.

To generate a Suppliers by Product report, click on the required product and press Control-F4 A notepad window will be displayed as shown on the right. |

To Copy a Product, click in any of the boxes on the line for that product and the press Control-F5 (the control key and the function key F5).

The New Product screen, as shown above, will be displayed and all of the details will be included.

You should now change any other boxes as appropriate, e.g. description, then click Add Product.

To Find a Product press F8 (the function key F8). You will be prompted to type in the characters or numbers you wish to find. You will be able to find product code, description, cost, etc. Type them in and press Enter. If the product found is not the one you want, you can find the next occurrence of the characters by pressing F9. You will not be prompted for the characters and the next product found will be highlighted. To return to the previous product that matches, press F10. |

The Auto-Generate Vintage option can be useful if you have specified a vintage year as either the last two characters or the last four characters of the product description, e.g. "Shiraz 06" or "Chardonnay 2004". If so, this option will remove the year from the description and put it in the Vintage column. The option works on the current section so, if you only want it to apply to wines, click in any product in the wines section and then select the option from the drop-down list. You will be prompted to confirm that you want to continue.

The Auto-Generate Bin Number option can be useful if you have specified a bin number at the start of the product description, e.g. "18 Shiraz" or "25 Chardonnay". If so, this option will remove the bin number from the description and put it in the Bin Number column. The option works on the current section so, if you only want it to apply to wines, click in any product in the wines section and then select the option from the drop-down list. You will be prompted to confirm that you want to continue.

The Duplicate Bin Number Report is a useful check to see that you haven't assigned the same bin number to different products. |

The Change Size Codes option is useful if you need to switch spirits between 25ml and 35ml shots. Select the option and you'll be prompted to type in the number of the size code you want to change. Then you'll have to type in the new size code, and finally confirm that you want the changes to be made. If you confirm, all products using the old size code will be modified to use the new size code.

You can view the products in another outlet by pressing Control-X or by selecting the option from the drop-down list. You will need to select the outlet whose products you want to display. A search-screen window will be displayed as shown on the right.

Scroll up and down the list and click on Close to exit.

The Down after Enter button makes for easy use of a numeric keypad. Whilst you can use the down-arrow key to move down to the next product, it is often easier to press Enter. Click on the button to change mode and click on it again to change back to move across after pressing the Enter key.

The Report button displays a list of all products in the database which you can print out. You can use this report as a crib-sheet for finding the codes of products.

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