Managing Products in a Cart or Open PO

• Managing Unavailable Products and Products with Insufficient Quantity
  • How Unavailable Products are Indicated
  • How a Product of Insufficient Order Quantity is Indicated
  • Note Regarding Vendor-Specific Functionality
  • What Happens if an Out-of-Stock Product or a Product of Insufficient Quantity is Submitted on PO?
• Adding Specific Vendor Products to a Cart or an Open PO
• Removing Items from a Cart or an Open PO
• Adjusting Order Quantity of Vendor Products in a Cart or Open PO
• Replacing an Item's Vendor Product in a Cart or Open PO

Managing Unavailable Products and Products with Insufficient Quantity

How Unavailable Products are Indicated

Assuming the vendor utilizes a PO interface, then on a shopping cart screen or open PO (a PO that has yet to be submitted), if a product has an unavailable status (i.e., discontinued, dropped, deleted or suspended), then the number of unavailable products is listed in the Vendor Products Out Of Stock label at the top of the screen.

For an unavailable product, you can either remove the product or replace the product. See the following respective articles for more information:

• Removing Items from a Cart or an Open PO
• Replacing an Item's Vendor Product in a Cart or Open PO

In addition, there is the auto-substitution function that can be activated, which automatically substitutes an unavailable product with another verified product that is available. See Automatically Substituting Products in a Cart or Open PO (for Specific Vendors) for more information.

How a Product of Insufficient Order Quantity is Indicated

A product that has insufficient quantity for the requested order amount presents with a Insuff. Qty label, and its order quantity number is red. 

Hovering your cursor over the number displays "Inventory at hand is insufficient. There are only [X] items available."

For a product of insufficient quantity for the requested order amount, you can either adjust the order quantity or replace the product. See the following respective articles below for more information:

• Adjusting Order Quantity of Vendor Products in a Cart or Open PO
• Replacing an Item's Vendor Product in a Cart or Open PO

In addition, there is the auto-substitution function that can be activated, which automatically substitutes a product of insufficient quantity with another verified product of sufficient quantity. See Automatically Substituting Products in a Cart or Open PO (for Specific Vendors) for more information. 

Note Regarding Vendor-Specific Functionality

Because each vendor can handle unavailable and insufficient quantity products differently, there may be exceptions to the information documented above. You can reach out to MealSuite Support to learn if there are exceptions. 

If you are MealSuite Support, see the following internal article on vendor-specific functionality related to out-of-stock or insufficient quantity: Purchase Order Functionality Specific to Vendors (INTERNAL). 

What Happens if an Unavailable Product or a Product of Insufficient Quantity is Submitted on PO?

If a product is unavailable, then when you submit the PO, a message appears stating that there are unavailable products and therefore will be removed from the PO, but also giving you the opportunity to review these products. 

If a product is insufficient quantity, a message appears indicating that the stock quantity is limited.

For more information, see Submitting to a Vendor that has a PO Interface. 

Adding Specific Vendor Products to a Cart or an Open PO

If working in a shopping cart, the steps to add a specific vendor product are covered in the following article: Adding Specific Vendor Products to a Shopping Cart. 

If working in an open PO (i.e., a PO that has not yet been submitted), the steps to add a specific vendor product are covered below: 

1. From the Purchase Orders Listing screen (Procurement > Purchase Orders), open the desired open PO. 
   
   
    
2. Click the Add New button and the Add Items to Cart slide-out panel appears. 
   
   
    
3. Select the Vendor Products search option and utilize the following filters as needed: .
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     • Vendors - filter by vendors.
     • Product Brand - filter by the product brands associated with the vendor products
     • Stock Item Category - filter by the stock item category associated with the vendor product.
     • Exclude Items already in the cart - the search results will not return a vendor product already in the shopping cart.
        
4. In the Search field, enter the product you are searching for, either by description or by product ID, and click Go. The Search Results section returns items that match your search and filter criteria. 
   
   
    
5. To see details and nutrient info about the vendor product, click its eye icon ().
   
   
    
6. For a product you want to add, click its + icon. The product appears in the Food to Add section. Repeat the above steps to add other products. 
   
   
    
7. In the Amount field for a vendor product, enter the quantity to be ordered and the unit of measure. 
   
   
8. Click the Add Items(s) To Cart button. The vendor product is added to the cart.
   
   

Removing Items from a Cart or an Open PO

During the review phase of a cart or open purchase order, you may want to remove items. For example, spices may need to be removed because you have bulk spices in stock. To remove an item, complete the following steps:

1. From the Purchase Orders Listing screen (Procurement > Purchase Orders), open the desired open PO. 
    
2. If needed, use the search and filter tools to locate the item(s) to be removed. Using a filter is an ideal method to show food items of a certain category that may need to be removed. For example, you can filter by the stock item category of Dry Goods to show all food items within that stock item category. 
   
   
    
3. For an item to be removed, selects its check box (first screenshot below), and then click the Remove button. To remove all items onscreen, click the top check box in the column header (second screenshot below) and then click the Remove button. 
   
   
   
   
    
4. The item is removed from the cart or open PO. 

Adjusting Order Quantity of Vendor Products in a Cart or Open PO

During the review phase of a cart or open purchase order, you may have to adjust the auto-calculated order quantity for a vendor product. To do so, complete the following steps:

1. From the Purchase Orders Listing screen (Procurement > Purchase Orders), open the desired open PO. 
    
2. If needed, use the search and filter tools to locate the item whose vendor product order quantity you have to adjust. 
    
3. In the Order Qty field for the product, enter the new order quantity. 
   
   
4. The new order quantity is automatically saved. 

Replacing an Item's Vendor Product in a Cart or Open PO

During the review phase of a cart or open PO, you may want to replace an item's vendor product from the list of verified vendor products for that item. To do so, complete the following steps:

1. From the Purchase Orders Listing screen (Procurement > Purchase Orders), open the desired open PO. 
    
2. If needed, use the search and filter tools to locate the item whose vendor product you want to change. 
    
3. For the item whose vendor product you want to change, click its gear icon and select Substitute Item (first screenshot below). The Item Substitution screen appears (second screenshot below) listing .
   
   
   
    
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 that 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 the 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.