Purchasing & Inventory

A box and a monitor

CNCentral’s optional Purchasing & Inventory module is integrated with both the Menu Planning module as well as the K-12 Data Exchange, saving time and effort while providing greater visibility and control over your inventory and purchasing processes. Items and quantities used on your Menu/Production Plan will “commit” inventory in the future and enable your staff to automatically calculate how much of each item you need to order from which vendor and when it should arrive.

Maintaining the accurate relationship between menu items and purchase units is only feasible with the standardized data from K-12 Data Exchange, since that data is updated directly by the manufacturer.  Built upon CNCentral’s Menu Planning solution integrated with GDSN, the Purchasing & Inventory module is fast to setup and streamlines your supply chain processes by automatically calculating order and transfer quantities from your planned menus.  Move from documenting your inventory to managing it with these key features:

Fast & Simple Set-Up in Days – Not Months

  • Upload vendor order guides or bid sheets with GTINs into CNCentral to quickly match to standardized items within GDSN
  • GDSN is the industry-wide network suppliers use to share product data, including required menu information like serving size, nutrients, allergens, and product images
  • Once you’re setup for Menu Planning, you’re also setup for Inventory
  • Utilize the Inventory Setup Summary to quickly review items that are automatically analyzed and flagged for potential inventory issues to ensure more accurate tracking

Linked to Menu Planning & Production Records

  • Standardized items from GDSN automatically define the relationship between menu serving size and case size ensuring accurate forecasts
  • Finalized menu plans commit inventory to show how much inventory is needed when and where to easily facilitate planning and forecasting
  • Completed production records update usage quantities and automatically draw down inventory, providing greater visibility and accountability into your inventory processes
  • Use our Swap ingredient feature to quickly update recipes and menus where they are used to ensure menu forecasts utilize the most current menu information available

Streamlined Order Management

  • Automatically calculate order quantities from each vendor based on projected inventory balances at each site from menu plans
  • Improve communication with vendors by sharing forecasted orders weeks in advance for greater service and fewer out of stocks
  • Projected daily balances highlight potential deficits so you can adjust orders or transfers instead of being surprised on the serving day
  • Quickly create transfers between sites or from Central Warehouses
  • Automatically calculates Inventory balances between the transfer sites