User Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Owned by Jenn Ferreris
Last updated: Nov 22, 2023 by Jenn Ferreris
15 min read

Accessing Decision Logic

I get a warning or error message trying to access my Decision Logic website:

  • Check the URL or call support to validate that the URL is correct. All customer sites must start with https://www.mydlweb.com/clientsitename

  • Make sure you have the latest Java updates installed.

  • Update your Internet Explorer to the latest version compatible with your Windows Operating System.

  • Check your Internet options > browsing history > settings > temp files > set to check for newer versions of stored pages 'renew every time I visit the page".

  • Clear browsing history temp Internet files, options>browsing history>settings>temp files> delete the browsing history.

  • After all the above have been confirmed, close the browser and try again.

  • Contact support for additional assistance.

 

Forgot my Password

I don't know my password to get into Decision Logic (desktop or mobile app):

I don't know my password to get into the Decision Logic Employee Central App:

  • You will want to select the Forgot Password link to receive an email where you can reset the password for your account.

 

Supply Chain Reporting COGS (V5)

Please click on the link above to be redirected to an additional article.

 

COGS has missing sales data

If sales data is not reporting to the Cost of Goods Sold report, that is typically caused by inventory being posted before Decision Logic received all sales data for the week via your POS Integration. Re-posting inventory should populate missing sales in the Cost of Goods Sold report.

The steps below can help resolve the issue. 

  1. Check the missing files report or the DSR (Daily sales Report) to ensure all sales appear for the week.

  2. Go to Inventory Home.

  3. Open the last inventory by clicking the 3-dot menu and selecting Open.

  4. Once the inventory is opened, walk through the Enter and Review process to Post the inventory.

 

Posting inventory will cause an auto COGS update to run for that current week, therefore you will not need to run DL Update for COGS. 

 

If the steps above do not solve the issue, please check your COGS Maintenance to ensure COGS Maintenance Category Sections have Departments assigned to each section the way you are expecting.

 

How is the COGS quantity calculated?

For Example, your bid file has an Inventory Multiplier of 25 pounds per case of Chicken Breasts. You inventory 220 pounds of Chicken Breast and 68 poundes of Chicken Marinated.

The COGS report will take the inventory count for the raw product, plus the quantity included in prepped items, and divide it by the Inventory Multiplier (which in this case is 25) to get the converted Case Quantity:

You also can find the total quantity on your IvA report which shows:

Chicken, Breasts at 220 pounds, plus Chicken Marinated 68 pounds, divided by the Inventory Multiplier, equals the converted Case Quantity.

(220 + 68) / 25 = 11.52 Qty

 

My reporting does not look correct. What should I do?

You will want to verify that the received date on your orders is correct and fall into the week you are expecting them to report in. 

Next, you should review your COGS report and determine what ingredient on the report looks inaccurate.

Then you will want to go to Maintenance > Product > Ingredient Management > search for the item > hover over the line item and right-click with your mouse > select Mapping Info > and review the price and bid file mapping. Make any bid file corrections if needed and run a DL Update for the COGS for the current week.

If the bid file price is different than the price on your COGS report, then we can run a COGS update for you.

If the Case conversion is not correct, we can run a COGS update for you.

If you need a COGS update, you will need to provide all of the following information: the Ingredient, the Distributor, the DC Item #, what looks incorrect, what changes were made (to the bid file, if any), what locations to include, and what date to update back to.

 

What price does the Cost of Goods Sold report use?

This depends on what accounting method the customer uses. Check COGS Maintenance to see the accounting method then see below for explanations of each.

 

The cost of my item is inflated. How do I research to fix this?

Start by researching the last orders received. Were they done correctly by qty and price? If not, edit the order or bid file, and run the COGS update for the current week. Historical changes will need to be submitted to development for COGS update requests. 

 

Market or FIFO Accounting Method

Market Value

Where does COGS pull price using Market Value?

  • Last ordered, also known as last 'received' price in Decision Logic.

  • Enter Order or Enter Manual Receive.

    • Exception FDA will only extend bid file prices when Enter Order is used. Manual receives at this site will always use the last received price. When price changes are requested make sure to instruct the user to follow the Enter Order > Receive order process to see updated prices in COGS.

FIFO

See our FIFO Customer Knowledge Base article for detailed information.

 

IvA Formula

IvA (Ideal versus Actual) is calculated using recipe units for all prepped and raw ingredients inventoried then converted back into inventory units based on bid file multipliers.

  • Beginning Inventory + Purchases - Ending Inventory = Actual Usage

  • Actual Usage - Ideal Usage = Variance 

 

TvA Formula

Theoretical versus Actual.

 

Reports do not show the same cost

  • Menu Profitability will show the Plate Cost using the market price and multipliers as of the end of the query window.

  • COGS will show the FIFO Case Price.

  • Plate Cost will show the Plate Cost using the current market price and multipliers.

  • Menu Maintenance > Menu Items > Recipe will show Plate Cost using the current market price and multipliers.

The four reports will never line up exactly because they're using different calculations for reporting cost.

 

COGS Price

What price does the Cost of Goods Sold report use?

  • This depends on what accounting method the customer uses. Check COGS Maintenance to see the accounting method then read explanations (above) of each.

The cost of my item is inflated. How do I research to fix this?

  • Start by researching the last orders received. Were they done correctly by qty and price? If not, edit the order or bid file, and run the COGS update for the current week. Historical changes will need to be submitted to development for COGS update requests. 

 

COGS can use either a Market value method or a FIFO Accounting Method, please see for additional information on these two options.

Table of Contents

 

 

Sales or Cash Accountability is wrong

My Sales, Cash Accountability, or Cash O/S do not reconcile with my Point of Sale sales report.

  • Use a single day to start with and collect your POS Daily Sales Report. Compare that report to the DSR (or End of Day) in Decision Logic to identify where the discrepancy is and note the amount of the difference.

  • Validate which of the following do not match and gather the amount from your POS, Decision Logic, and the difference between the two:

    • Gross Sales

    • Net Sales

    • Voids

    • Comps

    • Discounts

    • Payments

    • Gifts Sold

    • Taxes

    • Are the Paid Ins and Outs entered?

    • Are the Deposits entered into Decision Logic?

    • Are the Deposits entered with accuracy?

 

Discount is not Reporting 

Use detailed reports from your POS to identify the missing reduction and add it to POS Admin under the appropriate POS Mapping category. The ID will report going forward. If you want historical reporting, then sales will need to be resent from the UDT to ensure the data is picked up. For some customers, you will need to clear the sales on the End of Day Process page and then rerun UDT.

 

Sales do not match the Point of Sale Reporting

My Sales in Decision Logic are different than my POS sales report. How do I correct this?

  • If your sales are off, then it is missing a menu item and you will want to add it to Menu Maintenance > enter the POS ID to the Menu set tab. If your company has Recipe Book enabled on your site, then you will want to check that it has been added to Recipe Book so inventory for that recipe depletes.

 

Inventory Prices are Missing

  • If you have recently began using Decision Logic, you will want to start ordering and receiving Invoices before taking inventory to get prices to populate on your Inventory.  Receiving purchases in Decision Logic is how the inventory gets its price, and you will want to do this if you expect to see prices on your 1st inventory. Otherwise, you won't see prices until you 2nd inventory after you start receiving purchases in the system. You can do that 3 ways:



 

Unassigned Invoice Items

I have several items on an invoice that are showing as 'unassigned.' How do I correct this in Decision Logic before Exporting my Invoices?

  • Accounts can be assigned to invoice items under PPC Exports using the Unknown button. Check weekly or bi-weekly for items that came through on invoices that at the time did not have an account category assigned by navigating to Exports > Admin > Accounting > PPC Invoices. From here you will want to select the parameters and the ‘unknown’ button which will give you a list of invoice items with an unassigned account at the time received. From the results, select the account from the drop-down list to assign accounts to these items.

    • Inventoried Items

      • If the item is an inventoried item you will want to navigate to the Distributor Bid File for this item and set up the DC item# to be mapped to an ingredient. The account will update based on the account assigned for the ingredient under maintenance > ingredient management. 

    • Non- Inventoried items

      • Items without accounts can also be assigned via the bid file. Navigate to the Distributor Bid file for this item and set up the dc item# to be mapped to an accounting category.

 

Finalizing Invoices

How do I edit a Finalized Invoice?

  • You can edit the total amount of an invoice through Invoice History even if the Invoice has been finalized. You will want to make sure after adjusting the total in Decision Logic, that you also adjust the totals in your accounting software.

  • Start by locating your invoice in Invoice history and select “edit”.  You will edit both the Invoice total and/or the Date of the invoice.

  • Ensure the total balances to 0.00 before posting.

 

Labor does not match my POS report

  • Use a single day to start with and collect your POS Daily Sales Report. Compare that report to the DSR (or End of Day) in Decision Logic to identify where the discrepancy is and note the amount of the difference and which category it is in.

  • Validate which of the following do not match. You will need to gather the amount from your POS, Decision Logic, and the difference between the two:

    • Total Labor Hours

    • Total Labor Dollars

    • Specific Job Codes

  • Looking at the difference between those two amounts, can you determine if there is a missing job code? If there is a missing job code, that can be added to POS Admin with the POS ID.

  • You will also want to confirm that the Labor Types assigned to FOH and BOH match what is set up in the POS. Those can be updated in Labor Type Maintenance. In most circumstances, you will need Admin access permissions to review most of this information. If you are not an Admin you can follow up with the Admin, District Manager, Area Manager, or your corporate office. 

 

How can I research variance issues?

When reviewing variance reporting it is best to research as soon as possible after an inventory is recorded and entered into Decision Logic. 

When users find items with a large variance take the following steps to help find a solution:

  • Find high variance items in Decision Logic.

  • Confirm both beginning inventory and ending inventory values are correct.

  • Review purchases to be sure all product was received at the correct quantities and price.

  • Review ideal usage to be sure all product is depleting at the correct quantities.

    • Reminder: ideal usage is calculated directly from product mix reporting that is pulled from the POS System. Depletion quantities are entered into menu maintenance in Decision Logic.

  • If all data entered into Decision Logic is correct, and all values are depleting properly take into consideration the following:

    • over portioning

    • under portioning

    • theft

    • waste issues

 

Why is my Actual Usage higher than Ideal usage resulting in a large variance in units and $?

A large variance indicates either there is an issue with the data that was entered into Decision Logic on one or more of the major data points, or that the stores are over-portioning, incorrectly handling the product, or incorrectly entering inventory and receives.

After validating the data is correct with the steps below, if a large variance persists this is a strong indication of the need for store training on controlling the product prep methods, recording purchasing, and inventorying.

  • Are inventory and purchases entered correctly from the entry pages?

  • Are the inventoried and purchased qty converting using the correct multipliers from the Bid File?

  • Is the Bid File set up properly?

 

To solve data issues:

  • Correct any errors in Inventory or Orders Received.

  • Run Updates from DL Updates web page for IvA and TvA on both the beginning and ending inventory weeks.

  • Run COGS update for the current week to address bid file changes at the purchases level for the current week only

 

Why is my Ideal Usage higher than my Actual Usage? 

  • Check that recipe portions are set up to deplete the correct quantity of the ingredient used in the recipe for the menu item.

  • Verify that the quantity sold matches the quantity sold from the POS.  Qty sold can be incorrect if you have a store on two menu sets where the menu item exists on both sets. A menu item should only exist on 1 menu set for the store.

  • Navigate to Menu Maintenance to edit menu item.

  • Remove the store from the duplicating menu set.

  • Or remove the menu item from one of the menu sets the store is assigned. 

 

Why is TvA $ significantly off compared to the IvA variance $?

This is typically a result of the TvA report being updated for historical weeks via the DL Updates page before a COGS update was made. The TvA report calculates the price either off FIFO or the Market Value accounting method that is set up for your Cost of Goods Sold calculations. If you change the bid file in a way that impacts how the price extends on a product and do not update COGS for previous weeks, the TvA report will calculate incorrectly as it uses the same prices stored in the COGS report.

Best Practice for updating Historical pricing across all Supply Chain reporting:

 

  • What can I do if I have a Black Screen on my Menu Set tab?

    • This can be corrected by resetting your browser's zoom to 90% on a Windows computer or using cmd + [-] on a Mac.

 

Inventory FAQ

Move an Inventory to a New Date

For example, say you want to move the following inventory dates:

  • 4/30 Inventory to 5/7  Inventory

  • 5/7 Inventory to 5/14 Inventory

  • 5/14 Inventory to 5/21 Inventory

First, you would Delete the Inventory for 5/21/18.

Then move using the Edit option you will want to move the dates going from the most recent to the oldest dates. 

You will want to Move and Post the 14th  on the 21st first, then the 7th Inventory to the 14th, and last you would want to move the 30th to the 7th. 

 

Skipping an Inventory

  • We do not recommend skipping inventory.

  • Even if the store is not going to take an inventory since your inventory calendar includes a reoccurring inventory schedule. The store will still need to go through the process of posting their Inventory with 0 counts. 

  • This will capture the week's worth of sales that are used for calculating the Cost of Goods Sold, TvA, and IvA.

  • After you post your next 'real' inventory with true counts, the stores will need to look at 2 weeks of reporting to see good data.

 

Receiving a Catch Weight Item by the Each Inventory Measure

When the stores receive their catch weight items, have each store send the Decision Logic Admin the information below. These steps are for electronic distributors where the bid files are being updated daily or weekly:

  1. Weight of the catch weight item case (LB)

  2. Count of all the items in the case (EA)

  3. Number of items ÷ case weight = Each per Pound

    1. This is the number that will become the Recipe Multiplier (RMX).

  4. Update the Bid files

    1. Use the number collected (See 3) and update the Bid File with the (See 3) as the RMX.

    2. Repeat for all the different Distributors that are shipping catch weight items.

 

 

How to track a Variety Pack

The best way to accurately track a variety pack is to make a general ingredient to cover all varieties. That ingredient would be used in the recipe. Inventory and Order would be taken using the general ingredient. IVA reporting would be accurate for this general ingredient.

The second option is to have an ingredient for each variety option and then build the recipe to use an average of each one. 

This method is not the best practice because it is less accurate since the recipes pull an average:

 

For example, there is a six-pack with 6 flavor varieties, and you have created 6 ingredients in DL, one for each flavor.

The store received 4 of the variety six-packs.

The bid file Inventory Multiplier could be 6 each, the Recipe Multiplier could be 1 each.

In this scenario, the recipe would have .16 of each variety (1/6=.16 each).

Now let's say the customers have now ordered 4 of the strawberry flavored ones and none of the other flavors.

The IVA would reflect that a percent of all six flavor varieties was used instead of only the strawberry flavor, therefore you lose accuracy.

 

How do I track Non-IvA Fryer Oil?

Fryer oil is best left as a non-iva usage item. You should know how much oil you expect to use in a given inventory period based on these factors:

  1. How much oil it takes to fill the fryers?

  2. How many fryers do you have?

  3. How often do you get "topped off" (oil depletes throughout shifts of heavy use)?

  4. How often are they are filtered?

  5. How often are the fryers changed?

 

If you decide that you do want it to deplete from the IvA inventory, then you can do a couple of things:

  1. Estimate the amount of oil used per menu item. This can vary widely based on the surface area of the food and the cooking time. You would also have to know exactly how much oil their fryers take to understand if you are filling them properly.

  2. Weigh the food before and after cooking, then use the difference to note how much oil is used per item. This is problematic though since fried food expels a lot of water in the cooking process so it likely will not be accurate.

  3. Cook one of each fried item and then measure the oil that's left over.

 

If you want to reduce your daily Oil usage, this can be done in a number of ways:

  1. Filter oil on a schedule, we did it twice daily.

  2. Change oil on a schedule. We had four fryers and changed one fry pot on each day M-Th.

  3. Monitor temperature. Keeping the oil at its proper temp for what you are cooking helps reduce overheating the oil.

  4. Monitor equipment. A fryer calibrated to heat oil to 350 but is actually going to 360 can affect food quality and oil quality, requiring more frequent oil changes.

  5. Enforce good habits with staff.

  6. Make sure cooks are filtering on the schedule

  7. Make sure cooks are allowing fryer baskets to drain oil away from food. 10 seconds is a good measure for this.

  8. If the fryers have the setting, you can idle during non-peak times to hold the oil at a lower temperature to reduce damage to oil quality and also reduce gas/power use.

  9. Only use the fryers you need. If you're slow on Mondays and you don't need all 4 fryers, turn one of them off. This doesn't usually go over well, but it's useful if the staff can get on board. 

Line Check FAQ 

ThermoWorks Bluetooth

Recipe Book FAQ

Using a new recipe Measure

Employee Central FAQ

Employee Central Mobile Application

Exception Based Receiving FAQ 

Exception Based Receive

Ingredient Management

Ingredient Management

Manual Receive FAQ

Manual Receive

Profile Maintenance FAQ

Profile Maintenance

POS Admin FAQ

POS Admin

Additional FAQ

Where are Vendors Created?

  • PPC Maintenance

Where are Distributors Created?

  • Distributor Maintenance

Where are the Bid Files Created?

  • Bid File Maintenance

Where are the ingredients created?

  • Ingredient Management

What do inventory sets consist of?

  • Ingredients and Prepped Items

Where are Accounts created?

  • PPC Maintenance

Recipes can consist of what 2 types of items in Decision Logic?

  • Ingredients and Prepped Items

Under Distributors Maintenance: To create invoices from Manual Receive, each Distributor must also have a corresponding what?

  • PPC Vendor

Once Bid Files are made for each Distributor, where do the bid file items need to be placed for store use?

  • Order Guides

Once ingredients and prepped items are created, where do the ingredients need to be placed so that stores can inventory them?

  • Inventory Sets

If a store cannot see an item on their order guide, where would you go in Decision Logic to correct this issue?

  • Maintenance > Product > Order Guides

If a store cannot see an item on its Inventory Guide, where would you go in Decision Logic to correct this issue?

  • Maintenance > Product > Inventory Sets

Where do stores enter their inventory?

  • Inventory Home > Enter Inventory

Where do stores Enter Manual Receive?

  • Ordering Home > Enter Manual Receive

Where do stores organize their Inventory Guide?

  • Inventory Home > Guide Set Up

Where do stores sort their Order Guide?

  • Ordering Home > Order Guide Set Up

Where can you create additional locations for the Order Guide sort?

  • Manage Order Guide Locations

Where can you create additional locations for the Inventory Guide sort?

  • Maintenance > Inventory Locations

Where can stores view, edit or change Orders or Manual Receives after you have posted them?

  • Ordering Home > Order History

Where can stores view, edit or change Invoices after you have posted?

  • Operations > Purchases > Invoices History

Where can anyone open, post, view, edit, or request an Inventory change after posting?

  • Operations > Inventory Home > Inventory History

Where do you add a Menu Item POS ID, Menu Category, and Price?

  • Menu Maintenance

Where do you add Menu Categories for Menu Mix Reporting?

  • Menu Maintenance

 

 

 

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