Creating and Populating a Shopping Cart

• What is a Shopping Cart?
• Creating a New Shopping Cart
• Opening an Existing Shopping Cart
• Populating a Shopping Cart from Production
  • Selecting the Date or Date Range
  • Selecting Meal Periods/Snack Times
  • Selecting Menu Service Location(s)
  • Filtering by Production Areas
  • Filtering by Stock Item Categories
  • Exclude Personal Menu Items Option
  • Advance Ordering Settings (Use Forecast or Use Orders)
  • Using Latest Auto-Generated Forecasting
  • Click the Add To Cart Button
• Adding Specific Vendor Products to a Shopping Cart
• Adding a Product to a Food Item that has the "No Vendor Product" Label
  • If the Selected Product is not Yet Matched to the Food Item
  • Turnaround Time for MealSuite Nutrition Services
• Populating a Shopping Cart with a Shopping List of Non-Food Items
• FAQs
  • I'm unable to find a vendor product when searching to add to a cart.
  • Can I change the unit of measure for items in a shopping cart? For example, grams to ounces?
  • I attempt to populate my shopping cart from production, but I get a "There is no item found" message?

What is a Shopping Cart?

A shopping cart is involved in the PO creation process. You populate a shopping cart with vendor products required for purchasing. Once the shopping cart is populated, you then create the individual vendor POs from the products in the cart. 

There are different methods to populate a shopping cart. One of the methods to populate a shopping cart is from the production amounts of a selected date range and of selected meal periods/snack times. Doing so will pull in the selected vendor products for the food items (ingredients of recipes and prepared foods) in your scheduled menus.  

Creating a New Shopping Cart

To create a new shopping cart record in the system, complete the following steps:

1. From the left navigation sidebar, select Procurement > Purchase Orders. The Purchase Orders Listing screen appears, listing any existing open carts and existing PO numbers. 
   
   
    
2. Click the New Cart button. A new shopping cart record is created in the system, and the Populate Cart screen opens (screenshot below). 
   
   
    
3. Your next steps are to populate the shopping cart. Because the shopping cart record was created in the system when you clicked the New Cart button (step 2 above), you can leave the Populate Cart screen and return at any time to populate the shopping cart. Either way, refer to the appropriate topic below to populate the shopping cart.
   • Populating a Shopping Cart from Production
   • Adding Specific Vendor Products to a Shopping Cart
   • Populating a Shopping Cart from a Shopping List of Non-Food Items

Opening an Existing Shopping Cart

To open an existing shopping cart record:

1. From the left navigation sidebar, select Procurement > Purchase Orders. The Purchase Orders listing screen appears, listing any existing open carts and existing PO numbers. 
   
   
    
2. An existing shopping cart has the Open Cart link in the PO Number column (first screenshot below). For the shopping cart you want to open, click its Open Cart link, and the Populate Cart screen appears (second screenshot below). 
   
   
   
   

Populating a Shopping Cart from Production

The first step in the PO creation process is to create a shopping cart record in the system. The next step is to populate the shopping cart with the vendor products required for purchasing.

You can populate a shopping cart from the production amounts of a selected date range and of selected meal periods/snack times. Doing so will pull in the vendor products selected for the food items (ingredients of recipes and prepared foods) from your scheduled menus, along with the order quantity based off the production amounts. 

Note: When populating a cart from production, the following non-purchasable will be excluded:

• Water, Tap
• Ice (Ice For Beverage)
• Water Ice
• Water Hot
• Water No Ice

To populate a shopping cart from production, complete the following steps:

1. If not already open, open the existing shopping cart record. When you open an existing shopping cart record, it opens to its Populate Cart screen (screenshot below). 
    
    
2. Click the Add New button and select From Production. The Add Items From Production pop-up appears (second screenshot below). 
   
   
   
   
    
3. Complete each section in the pop-up, documented via the following sections below:
   • Selecting the Date or Date Range
   • Selecting Meal Periods/Snack Times
   • Selecting Menu Service Location(s)
   • Exclude Personal Menu Items Option
   • Advance Ordering Settings (Use Forecast or Use Orders)
   • Using Latest Auto-Generated Forecasting
   • Click the Add To Cart Button
     
     Note: If you had previously added items from production, then the settings in the Add Items From Production pop-up are automatically populated from your last use of the pop-up. 

Selecting the Date or Date Range

In the Date Range fields, select the date range from which to pull items. 

Selecting Meal Periods/Snack Times

In the Meals & Snacks field, select the meal periods and snack times from which to pull items. 

Selecting Menu Service Location(s)

From the Menu Service Locations field, select the menu service locations from which to generate reports. A menu service location is assigned menus and dining areas (including a residence area enabled as a dining area for in-room service). The dining areas/residence area enabled as a dining area in turn determine the diet order census based off resident profiles assigned to the dining areas (or a dining area set up with a manual diet order census).

Filtering by Production Areas

You have the option of filtering the items returned by their assigned production area. 

Filtering by Stock Item Categories

You have the option of filtering the items returned by their assigned stock item category. 

Exclude Personal Menu Items Option

Selecting the Exclude Personal Menu Items check box prevents any personal menu items that had been added to personal menus from being populating in the shopping cart. 

Advance Ordering Settings (Use Forecast or Use Orders)

For those residents with the advanced ordering (AO) service type, the following options are available to determine the items and their serving numbers when populating a shopping cart. 

Use Forecast - This option is only available if the AO census is configured to be included in forecasting (click here to learn how to include the AO census in forecasting and why you would want to). The Use Forecast option functions as follows:

• For residents with the AO service type, the report will include items and their serving numbers pulled from the forecasting worksheets associated with the selected days and meal periods/snack times. As such, for orders that have been placed already by residents with the AO service type, these placed orders will be ignored (i.e., not included in the production report).
• Note that as per standard AO item selection logic, for residents with the AO service type who have not placed an order, the worksheet includes items that are automatically selected based on the AO item selection logic, and as such these items are included on the production report.
  
  

Use Orders - If the AO census is not configured to be included in forecasting, then the Use Forecast option is not available and as such the Use Orders option is automatically selected by default. If the AO census is configured to be included in forecasting then either the Use Forecast option (explained above) or the Use Orders option is available to be selected. The Use Orders option functions as follows: 

• For orders that have been placed already by residents with the AO service type, these placed orders will be included in the production report.
• Note that as per standard AO item selection logic, for residents with the AO service type who have not placed an order, the production report will include items that are automatically selected based on the AO item selection logic. However, if you did not want the report to include items for those resident/patients who have not placed an order, then such items can be excluded by selecting the Exclude AO People who have not placed an order option. 
  
  
  
  Note: The Use Orders option is associated with the advanced ordering (AO) service only (as indicated by appearing in the Advance Ordering section). Regardless if forecasting is applied to the menu or not, the option will remain available for use. 

Using Latest Auto-Generated Forecasting

Background Info: If forecasting is configured and applied to your menus, the production reports will automatically include the servings from the menu's associated forecasting worksheets. When a forecasting worksheet is locked, then the production reports will pull those numbers from the locked forecasting worksheet.

However, If you do not want to pull serving numbers from locked forecasting worksheets, and instead pull from the latest auto-calculated forecasting results generated by the system (i.e., locked forecasting worksheet is ignored), then you can do so by selecting the Use Auto-Generated Forecasting check box.



Using auto-generated forecasting results rather than the results from locked forecasting worksheets provides you with the most up-to-date information based upon your current census and menu edits. It is also a useful function to compare forecasting numbers that you may have manually adjusted on the forecasting worksheets as opposed to what the system auto-calculates.

Click the Add To Cart Button

After completing the above sections, click the Add To Cart button. The following occurs:

You are presented with a message stating that you can use other areas of the software while your report generates (first screenshot below). If you click Yes, Notify Me When Ready, the system will notify you when the shopping cart is ready (second screenshot below), allowing you to view the cart or dismiss the message. In addition, a message appears on the Notifications and Alerts section on the home page when the cart is ready for viewing (third screenshot below). 



 



The system populates the cart with food items (1) that match the selected date range and meals/snacks, listing the quantity needed for production (2), the selected vendor product in the system for each food item (4), and the order quantity (automatically calculated) of each vendor product (3).  

Note: Food items without a selected vendor product in the system appear at the top of the list. For more information, see What if an Item in a Cart has No Vendor Product?

Your next steps are to review the items in the cart to check if they are required or to confirm their amounts. If changes are needed, see Managing Products in a Cart or Open PO.

Adding Specific Vendor Products to a Shopping Cart

To add a specific vendor product to a shopping cart, complete the following steps:

1. If not already open, open the existing shopping cart record. When you open an existing shopping cart record, it opens to its Populate Cart screen (screenshot below). 
   
   
    
2. Click the Add New button and select Shop (first screenshot below). The Product Search screen appears (second screenshot below). 
   
   
   
    
3. In the Search field, either enter the food item you are searching for or the specific product (either by description, product ID, or brand), and click Go. The screen returns items and their linked products that match your search criteria. The products listed for each item are listed in the system buying rules order. 
   
   
    
4. Via the Filters tool, you can filter the search results displayed onscreen via brand, vendor, and availability. After selecting a filter, click GO to refresh the screen with the results. 
   
   
    
5. Via the Sort By tool, you can sort the results by one of the following methods:
   • Best Matched - sorts results by best match based what is entered in the Search field.
   • Alphabetical - sorts results alphabetically by the product name.
6. To see details and nutrient info about a product (second screenshot below), click its Product link (first screenshot below). 
   
   
   
   
    
7. In the Qty field for a vendor product, enter the quantity to be ordered. 
   
   
    
8. Click the Add to Cart button. The vendor product is added to the cart, and the Add to Cart button changes to Added to indicate the product has been added. 
   
   
   
   Note: If you wanted to add the vendor product to an existing or new shopping list, click its shopping list icon (), and from the pop-up that appears select an existing shopping list, or create a new shopping list, and add the quantity to be added to the shopping list. 
   
   
   
   
    
9. Repeat the above steps to add other vendor products to the cart.
10. To return to the cart, click To Cart at the top left corner of the screen. 

Adding a Product to a Food Item that has the "No Vendor Product" Label

When you populate a cart from production, and a food item does not have a selected vendor product in the system via the product-item selection logic, then No Vendor Product is displayed in the Product Description column, as per screenshot below. In addition, items without vendor products appear at the top of the list. 

Note: For reasons why a food item does not have a selected vendor product, see the following article: Reasons for a No Matching Vendor Product Label?

For a food item with the No Vendor Product label, you can select a new product for that item from a list of verified vendor products for that item. To do so, complete the following steps:

1. From the left navigation sidebar, select Procurement > Purchase Orders and click the desired cart to open it.  
   
   
    
2. Open the Filter tools, select the Items Without a Vendor Product check box, and click Apply to return items without a vendor product. 
   
    
3. For the item without a vendor product, click its gear icon in the Actions column and select Substitute Item. The Item Substitution window appears (second screenshot below), displaying verified vendor products for that item. 
   
   
   
   
    
4. Search for the product you want to use. If needed, utilize the following filters at the top of the screen:
   • Brand - filter by the product brands associated with the vendor products.
   • Vendors - filter by vendors.
   • Availability - select by product status.
5. For the product you want to select, click its Replace button. A pop-up appears with the following options:
   • Replace Only - adds the product to the purchase order for that food item.
   • Replace & Save As Custom Favorite - adds the product to the purchase order for the food item, and also favours that vendor product for that item, meaning that the vendor product selection logic will now always attempt to select that product (if available) for that item. See Facility Accounts: Favouring a Verified Vendor Product for more information. 
     
     

If the Selected Product is not Yet Matched to the Food Item

It is possible that a verified vendor product for the food item is not yet "matched" or "linked" in the system to that food item. If so, then no food item is listed in the left column for that product, and instead the text Other Product appears.

When clicking the Replace button for a vendor product that is not linked to the food item yet, the pop-up appears with the following options: 

• Replace Only - adds the product to the purchase order for that food item.
• Replace & Suggest Linking - adds the product to the purchase order for that food item, and also submits a "Suggest Link" request to link the vendor product to the food item so that you can submit the purchase order. The request is sent to MealSuite Nutrition Services to verify and create the link. In the meantime, you will be able to purchase the product via your PO.  
  
  

If wanting to suggest that the product be linked to the food item, then prior to clicking the Replace & Suggest Linking button, you have the ability to change the quantity and pack size details if needed via the following fields:

• Qty - enter the quantity of packs/cases required.
• Items per SU (Stock Unit) - enter the number of stock units in a pack/case (e.g., six containers).
• Stock Unit - enter the unit of measure of the individual stock unit (e.g., grams, ounces).
• Measure - enter the weight or volume amount of the stock unit. If the unit of measure is custom, such as "Each", then select Custom, and the pop-up refreshes with the following Custom Stock Unit fields (screenshot below):
  • Amount - enter the weight or volume amount of the custom stock unit.
  • Measure - enter the unit of measure of the individual stock unit (e.g., grams, ounces).
  • Name of Custom Measure - enter the custom unit of measure name, such as "Each".
    
    

Turnaround Time for MealSuite Nutrition Services

The turnaround time for MealSuite Nutrition Services team to verify and create the link is within 24 hours.

Populating a Shopping Cart with a Shopping List of Non-Food Items

A shopping list is a means to add non-food items, such as cleaning supplies, to a shopping cart. See Using a Shopping List to Order Non-Food Items for more information. 

To populate a shopping cart from one or more shopping lists, complete the following steps:

1. If not already open, open the existing shopping cart record. When you open an existing shopping cart record, it opens to its Populate Cart screen (screenshot below). 
    
2. Click the Add New button and select From Shopping List. The Add Items From List pop-up appears (second screenshot below). 
   
   
   
    
3. From the Shopping Lists field, select the desired shopping list.  
    
4. The Exclude items in the cart? check box is selected by default, and will not add any items already in the shopping cart. 
    
5. Click Add To Cart. The system populates the cart with items from the shopping list. 
   
   
    
6. Your next steps are to review the items in the cart to check if they are required or to confirm their amounts. If changes are needed, see Managing Products in a Cart or Open PO.

FAQs

I'm unable to find a vendor product when searching to add to a cart.

First, check the vendor product list to ensure that the product exists. If the product does not exist, see the following article for options: What If a Vendor Product is Not On My Vendor Product List?

Can I change the unit of measure for items in a shopping cart? For example, grams to ounces?

No. The unit of measure is associated with the vendor product and cannot be changed. 

Note, however, that when adding a single vendor product to an existing open purchase order (i.e., a purchase order that has not yet been submitted) you will be required to select the item's quantity and unit of measure. See Adding Specific Vendor Product to an Open PO for more information. 

I attempt to populate my shopping cart (i.e. purchase order) from production, but I get a "There is no item found" message?

If attempting to populate a shopping cart from production, and a "There is no item found" message is returned, it indicates that the menu for the selected menu service location (MSL) is not scheduled. Because you are populating a shopping cart from production amounts, the menu must be scheduled. See Scheduling a Menu (aka Activating a Menu).

If you have confirmed that there is a menu scheduled for the MSL, then it could mean that no diet order census exists. The diet order census in your MealSuite account is established by diet order assignments to resident/patients and/or any dining area set up with a manual diet order census. See What is a Diet Order Census? for more information.