This article shows how to create a basic unit of food that your intake staff can add to clients’ visits.
On "Quickstart": The inventory system is optionally more complex than logging a single “basket of food”, and some admins know from the beginning that they’ll need to track more specifics (i.e., multiple food types, multiple locations, inventory sources, bar codes, non-food services, etc.). This article is intended to help you with the most basic inventory setup possible: creating a single inventory item to distribute to visiting clients.
Creating a Simple Inventory Item (for visit distribution)
Perform the following steps to create a “Bag of Food” item:
- Access the Inventory Item Screen
Navigate to Inventory->Inventory Items. If this is your first time on this screen, you will see an empty table. - Create a New Item
Click New Item. This will take you to the New Inventory Item screen. - Name the Item
Give the new item a Name (Our Example: “Bag of Food”) and a Value. - Verify the Item Will be Visible
Ensure the boxes for Active and Show on Visit are checked. This will ensure the item is available for future visit intakes. - Optional: Enter Item Identifiers
If your pantry has its own serial numbers or other identifiers for goods and services, delete the default item number and enter your own. - Enter Value and Weight for Item
Ignore Inventory Item Type for now. Enter "0" for both Value/Unit and Weight/Unit.
- Record Your New Item
Click Save and Exit. This will take you back to the table, which now shows your new item.
- Optional: Verify the Item Appears in a Visit
Visit the Staff Dashboard, and with a client loaded, edit or create a visit. Verify the food item you just created now appears as a selectable item on visit screens.
"Food Poundage": For simple setups, consider creating a "Pound of Food" instead of the "Bag" shown here. Some pantries looking to keep distribution simple create a “Pound of Food” item and set its weight in the setup here at one pound per unit. All goods going out the door are weighed and recorded simply as a quantity of distributed pounds, and the "weight" column on reports is strictly accurate.