How do I enter Hot Item Inventory & what does that mean?
This article provides store-level managers directions on entering daily hot item inventory counts using Decision Logic’s platform.
Overview
Inventory is a complete list of all the items or raw materials required to prepare dishes, including food, spices, paper items, cleaning supplies, linens, merchandise, liquor, beverages, etc. Counting inventory helps track the ingredients coming in and out of your restaurant.
Hot item inventory is daily counts that occur at the beginning of each day before sales are entered into the Point of Sale (POS). Hot item inventory allows stores to track high-variance and high-cost ingredients in more detail.
Examples of hot item variances:
Over portioning.
Incorrect POS ring-ups.
Incorrectly held temperatures (waste).
Theft.
Stores must have at least two inventories entered into Decision Logic’s platform for reports and variance to populate and be accurate.
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A best practice is for Decision Logic Administrators to create a Hot Item Inventory Set and assign it to all stores. Then, stores can add additional hot items through their Inventory Guide Setup. However, stores cannot remove items from the Hot item Inventory Set above-store level managers have defined.
A store can be assigned to more than one Hot Item Inventory Set. However, when stores take Hot Item Inventory, all items from the Hot Item Inventory Sets they are assigned to will be included.
Decision Logic provides two avenues when entering inventory counts and posting:
Web browser.
When to Count Daily Hot Item Inventory
There are two options for when to post hot item inventory counts: morning or night.
Decision Logic’s best practice is to post hot item inventory in the morning.
Morning
A new hot item inventory experience is coming soon!
Hot item counts are treated as beginning counts for the day and should be counted in the morning after all sales and orders have been received in Decision Logic for the prior business day.
Night
Some brands may choose to count hot item inventory at night. However, there are a few different rules when this is the business model. Users can count hot item inventory at night but will select the next day’s date when posting.
For example, tonight is May 10th and I’m counting at night. I must have tonight’s sales into Decision Logic before posting. Therefore, I can either wait to post tomorrow morning before sales are rung up (May 11th), or I can select May 11th tonight after sales have pushed to Decision Logic from the POS. Entries will hold locally on Digital Manager or the web platform until it is Posted.
If you must count at night, choose the next business day as your date to enter, run the UDT app, or Run Sales from the End of Day before posting. Users can also simply wait to post the following morning.
If you post before all sales or orders have been received, you may need to Update Hot Item IvA or open and repost the counts to recalculate Hot Item IvA reporting.
Navigate to:
Operations > Inventory > Inventory Home
Click Enter Inventory.
Select Hot Inventory as the Inventory Type.
Choose the next day.
Click Next.
Enter counts.
Hit Cancel. This will store the counts without posting them.
Post Inventory in the morning, or post at night after sales have been pushed to Decision Logic.
You must be consistent on when you post inventory for accurate reporting.
Enter & Post Multiple Hot Item Inventories
Hot items cannot be counted in multiple locations on the guide. Instead, users will enter one total quantity for the individual item. Follow the steps below to enter and post a hot item inventory.
Users can count and post hot item inventories up to three times a day: Open, Afternoon, and Close.
Navigate to:
Operations > Inventory > Inventory Home
Select a Company, Region, Area, or Store.
Define the Date Range.
Click Apply.
The results show:
Type of inventory, such as Scheduled or Hot Item Inventory.
Scheduled: represents counting all inventoried items based on your Inventory Cycle.
Flame Icon: represents Hot Item Inventory and will appear on the Hot Item Inventory guide, including the Time Slot selected.
Date inventory should be taken and posted.
Status of an inventory, such as Scheduled, In-Process Review, or Posted.
Start date of an inventory in process or posted.
Who started the inventory.
When the inventory was Posted.
Who posted inventory.
Any Change Requests submitted.
Action item options.
Click New Inventory.
Select Hot Inventory as the Inventory Type:
Scheduled Inventory: The standard option that counts all items.
Hot Inventory: Count your high cost, high variance items multiple times a day.
Click Next.
Select the Inventory Date. There is a legend notating the status of post inventory dates for the month selected.
Green: Has at least one posted inventory for that day.
Blue: The date that is selected.
Click Next.
If there are pending orders to be received in Decision Logic, users will see a yellow banner with the option to click View.
Click Back to navigate back. Clicking Close will stop the inventory process from moving forward and bring you back to the Inventroy Home landing page.
Select the Time and Time Slot.
Click Done.
Enter the Inventory Quantities.
Click Post Inventory.
Table of Contents
For additional questions or assistance, please submit a support ticket by visiting the Decision Logic Service Center.
Unable to access this feature in the Decision Logic platform?
Contact your Decision Logic Administrator to make Scope and Security adjustments to your user profile or add new features.
Some pages are client-specific.
Affected Reports
The Hot Item Variance Report will provide data for your hot item entries.
Add or Remove Hot Items
Users can add or remove individual items to the Hot Item Inventory list.
Navigate to:
Operations > Inventory > Inventory Home
Select a Company, Region, Area, or Store.
Define the Date Range.
Click Apply.
Click Guide Setup.
Highlight an individual item and click the Pencil Icon.
Check Hot Item or add an item to the guide. Uncheck Hot Item to remove an item from the hot item inventory guide.
Check Inactive to deactivate an item. This function removes the item from the regular inventory guide. If ' hot item ' is unchecked, it will also be removed from the Hot Item inventory.
Click X to remove an item from a specific Location.
Click Save.
Calculations
Metric | Formula |
Actual Usage | Beginning Inventory + Purchases - Ending Inventory |
Variance | Actual Usage - Ideal Usage |
Ideal usage, the quantity that was used, is calculated directly from Product Mix Reporting that is pulled from the POS system.
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