Hands-Free Receiving!

The Challenge:

Inventory management systems require "receiving". Receiving is the process of recording the packaging, quantity, and cost for each inventory item received on an invoice. An average restaurant receives about 65 invoices a month. Entering invoices manually is a tedious process.

If a new inventory item is received on an invoice, or if your vendor substitutes an item, then the item must be added to your database. Adding a new item is a time-consuming, error-prone process as each item requires configuration for a count and recipe unit.

The Solution:

COGS-Well eliminates manual invoice entry by importing invoices, including the inventory item detail, from scanned invoice images (or directly from vendors with EDI capability). The invoices can also update your accounts payable system. This automated invoice processing will normally save managers and accounting several hours per week.

COGS-Well eliminates the challenge of adding and configuring new inventory items by automatically adding and configuring new items when they are received. This capability is unique to COGS-Well and it can save several hours per month while also improving accuracy.

By eliminating the manual entry of invoices and the requirement to manually add new items to your database, COGS-Well has created what we refer to as "Hands-Free Receiving".

Innovative Technology:

Hands-Free Receiving uses a combination of innovative technology and specialized customer services.

Optical Character Recognition (OCR) is utilized by Invoice+, COGS-Well's Invoice Processing software, to convert invoice images to data. COGS-Well can also import invoices from AP Automation systems like Ottimate and from vendors that offer EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) capability.

To automatically assign and configure a pack size, count unit, and recipe unit for each new inventory item, COGS-Well uses intelligent technology that is unique to COGS-Well. This technology recognizes a vendor's pack size and automatically configures count and recipe units with the number of units per pack, and then adds the item to your database.

Unique Customer Service:

Optical Character Recognition is not always accurate and vendor invoices do not always include an item code or a pack size definition for each inventory item. Some vendors are still writing delivery confirmations by hand!

To ensure invoice and inventory item accuracy, COGS-Well uses a team of auditors who deliver a "Receiving Audit Service". This service is also unique to COGS-Well and is performed every night.

The receiving auditors are alerted when new items or items with incomplete information are on an invoice. They are also alerted if a pack cost for an item changes significantly. The auditors will then verify, complete, or correct the inventory item's information.

Results:

Hands-free receiving eliminates manual entry of invoices. The intelligent technology eliminates the need to add, configure, or maintain inventory items. The receiving audit service ensures your data is complete and accurate. The result is an easier-to-maintain and more accurate inventory management system.

"COGS-Well truly automates the entire inventory process saving us a significant amount of labor hours compared to other products on the market." Tim Anderson, President, Hideaway Pizza Restaurants.

"Unlike other inventory systems, COGS-Well eliminates all of the requirements for manually entering item detail from invoices." Joshua Thomas, General Manager, Austin Eastciders

“If COGS-Well’s mission is to make inventory control faster to implement and easier to use, then it is mission accomplished for COGS-Well.” Gerald Tipton, LuLu’s, President.

“Before COGS-Well, invoices with the line item detail were being entered manually by our managers. Our managers are no longer spending several hours per week behind their keyboards entering invoices.” Rich Ortiz, Director of Finance, Buzz Hospitality, dba Ri Ra Group.

"We knew that entering invoices required a lot of time and we wanted to save the managers as much time as possible. COGS-Well’s invoice scanning and audit service saves each of our managers 1.5 to 2 hours per week. For 13 locations, it is also saving me 4 hours per week at the home office”. Billy Williams, IT Manager, Collier Restaurants.