Getting Started with Polygon Inventory

It is recommended that, initially, only a small group of Stock Items be controlled as perpetual stock items and since almost without exception, clients gain most benefit from stock control of alcohol items, that group should be the first to be selected. The reason for this recommendation is that it is easier to identify and rectify the causes of stock variances when only a small control group is used initially.

•Establish Stock Item records for all alcohol items. These will be flagged as Stocktakable and POS Active. If they are used in recipes they should be flagged accordingly.

•Establish Recipes for all PLUs which are not sold as stock items, eg. glasses of wine, nips of spirit.

•Establish PLUs linking them to either a recipe or a stock item.  PLUs are created from the Polygon POS Management > PLU File.  PLUs can be linked to stock items or recipes from the Polygon POS Management > PLU Item Details form under the Polygon Inventory tab.  

•Identify a small number of medium volume items to be controlled in phase 1. It is suggested that approx. 10 items is sufficient. Ensure that the PLUs relating to these stock items are the only PLUs which have ‘Update Stock’ flagged.

•For New Businesses:

oSince it is a new business there is no Opening Stock, do not carry out the opening stock procedure.  Access Polygon Inventory > Application Settings > Stocktakes and make sure the No Opening Stocktakes Required setting is ticked.  

oFrom the commencement of business, enter purchases for all items, defining the invoice detail for each supplier invoice.  See section Polygon Back Office > Suppliers for more information about creating suppliers and recording invoices.  

•For Existing Businesses:

oAccess Polygon Inventory Application Settings > Stocktakes and make sure the No Opening Stocktakes Required setting is un-ticked.  

oEnter your Opening Stock figures. See section Polygon Inventory > Opening Stock for more information about recording opening stock quantities.  

oDo not enter any supplier invoices for stock, or commit POS data using the ‘post stock’ feature until AFTER the opening stock has been posted.

•Update stock usage when downloading Polygon POS Management > Z Read Data from the master terminal each day.

•Carry out a weekly Stocktake on the control group items and a monthly stocktake on the other items.  Stocktake on the weekly items will be processed as described in the ‘perpetual stock’ section above. Monthly items will be processed as described in the ‘non-perpetual stock’ section above.

•Investigate variances between calculated stock and actual stock levels of the selected control group.

•Because you have not been updating your stock records for the items not in the control group with usage, it will be necessary to accept the variance between opening and closing stock as the correct usage which the system will automatically debit to cost of sales.

•When you understand the process and are confident that items in the control group are being correctly processed and counted, change this control group to monthly stock take and establish a new control group ensuring that they are flagged to ‘Update Stock’.  Include as many items in this new control group as you feel comfortable with.

•For example, you may select an initial control group of ten red wines. Your second control group may be the remainder of your red wine items. The third control group could be your beers etc.  

•Progressively work through your stock items file using the control group method detailed above until all items are being successfully controlled.

If you have purchased Polygon Back Office with a multi-department license, you are able to create multiple departments within your software and allocate specific stock items to those departments. You will also be able to record stock transfers between departments.

The system ships with a default department called ‘Admin’. This department acts as the ‘master file’ for all other departments. Please note, all Stock Types and Stock Items are created in the Admin department and can then be ‘exported’ to other departments if required.

Departments are created and managed from the Departments File.  See section Polygon Back Office > Departments File for more information

If you have not purchased a multi-department license, the only department you can work in is ‘Admin’. The system will not allow you to create any more departments.