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Generating a Purchase Order (Web)

How to place an order to your distributors in WISK through the Web Portal

Nick Neale avatar
Written by Nick Neale
Updated over a month ago

Article Contents

Introduction

After submitting an inventory count is the best time to place orders to your distributors.

Using WISK, you can quickly generate orders to your suppliers and send them via email, SMS, or export a spreadsheet and place however you prefer (phone, in person, the supplier's web portal, etc).

WISK also analyzes your consumption and data to suggest what to order and how much, and what to avoid.

To generate an order in the WISK Web Portal, click "Orders", then "Prepare Orders" on the side menu bar. This takes you to the "Cart Builder".

Cart Builder

On the Cart Builder page, you add items to Your Cart before finalizing / generating the order.

Note: If you're viewing the Cart Builder while an inventory count is in progress, you'll see a message about not being able to suggest amounts to order. Submit the inventory count before putting the order together. This way you'll have an accurate "Stock" value for your items.

Viewing Your Items

On this page, the default view shows all of your distributors and the items you've assigned to them.

Note: If you haven't already created your distributors and assigned them to your items, you'll need to do that before generating an order. To learn more, see:

To see a distributor's items, click the arrow beside the distributor's name or the "..." button that appears when you place your cursor over them.

An arrow ponts to the "..." to expand the distributors.

For each item, you’ll see the following by default:

  • Distributor Code

  • Current stock (from your latest inventory count)

  • Real time stock (based on sales since latest inventory count

  • Pending Purchase Orders (the number of units on other open purchase orders. These orders have been generated, but not received)

  • WISK Par (the suggested amount to order based on your consumption and sales data)

  • Your Par

  • Case size

  • Order format (whether it is individual units or cases) and more

You can scroll down to view the items and or use the search bar, to quickly find products.

The ordering page as it appears on the web

This is just the default view, and there are a number of pre-sets you can use. You can also create your own to customize the ordering page.See the section below to learn how to re-arrange and toggle on different columns.

Note: If you have added any notes for the distributor, they appear beside the distributor name as a tooltip. When you hover over the tooltip it displays the notes.

An arrow points to the tooltip beside the distributor name.

Customizing the Display

There are a number of pre-set views for grouping and filtering your items. You can select them by clicking the current view:

The button to select a view is highlighted for emphasis.The button to select a view is highlighted for emphasis.

The following views are available:

  • Main - this is the default view that shows items grouped by their assigned distributor

  • By Family > Category - Items are grouped by family > category. As you add items to the cart they will appear under their corresponding distributor

  • By Distributor > Family > Category - Items are grouped by distributor, but then by family > category. This is similar to the "Main" view

  • By Category - Items are just grouped by category. As you add items to the cart they will appear under their corresponding distributor

  • Real-time stock - This shows fewer columns to make it easier to order based on your real-time stock

  • In Order Guide - This filters to show which items are currently part of your order guide, and which are not. See "Order Guide Items"

To create views of your own, please see:

Order Guide Items

If there are items that you order regularly, or have preferred variations / formats to order, you can add them to your order guide.

You can then filter the Cart Builder to display only the order guide items. This speeds up ordering and ensures staff are ordering your preferred products.

An arrow points to the "Predefined filters" drop-down and then order guide items in the list

To learn more, see:

Cart Builder Tour

If you'd like to see the Cart Builder in action, you can take a tour of the Cart Builder page here. (You must be logged in to web.wisk.ai to access the tour)

Adding Items to the Cart

Check Order Format

When adding items to your cart, make sure the order format is correct for each item. You can add items to order as individual units or cases.

Your distributor may only sell certain items as cases, so make sure the order format is set that way. The current order format displays to the left of the “Quantity to order” column. You can change the format by clicking the “Order format” column.

The "Order Format" field has been clicked and an arrow points to the option of unit and case

Adding an Item Individually

You can add items to your cart by typing an amount in the "Quantity to Order" column for each item. You’ll see an animation showing the item has been added to your cart.

An animated GIF showing items being added to a cart.

Adding New Items

If you need to order an item that isn't on your venue's list, place your cursor over a distributor and click the “Add item to…” button and fill in the item details.

For more information about adding a new item, see:

The "Add item to..." button is highlighted for emphasis.

Note: For users in Canada that order from the SAQ or LCBO, you'll see an option to search their product list to add new items.

Adding an Item Using Par Levels

While you can add items manually, you can also make use of par levels to speed up the process.

Beside the quantity to order, if you have populated your par levels, you’ll see a recommended amount to order in the “Based on your par” column.

This number is either in individual units or cases, and is based on your current stock, and what you need to get your stock equal to or above the par level. Learn more:

In the example below, there are 4.1 units of Grey Goose, and the par level is 6 units. It recommends that you should order 2 units.

The stock is 4.1 units with a par of 6 units. It recommends ordering 2 units based on the par.

Note: If you have anything in the "Pending Purchase Orders" column, this modifies the suggested amount to order. If we already had 1 unit of Grey Goose on a pending purchase order, it would suggest ordering only 1 unit. You can mouse over the pending purchase orders to see the orders they are from.

An arrow points to the amount of pending purchase orders

If you click the “shopping cart” icon, it adds the recommended amount to your cart. If your order format is in cases, it converts it to the correct amount of cases to meet or exceed the par.

An animated gif showing the items being added automatically.

Pre-fill Using Par Levels

To speed up ordering, there is a prefill button beside each distributor to create your order in just one click. This automatically adds items to a distributor's cart based on your par levels.

The Prefill button is highlighted by emphasis

You can choose to pre-fill your order based on the par levels you've set or the recommended WISK Pars. The WISK Par values are based on your last 6 weeks of consumption and sales data.

  • Based on your par

    • Stock - Takes the value in the “Stock” column and adds to the cart what is needed to match your set par. This is best used if you have just completed an inventory count

    • Real Time Stock - Takes the value in the “Real Time Stock” column and adds to the cart what is needed to match your set par. This is helpful if you’re generating an order and haven’t taken an inventory recently.

  • Based on WISK par (Consumption)

    • Stock - Takes the value in the “Stock” column and adds to the cart what is needed to match your WISK par (Consumption). This is best used if you have just completed an inventory count

    • Real Time Stock - Takes the value in the “Real Time Stock” column and adds to the cart what is needed to match your WISK par (Consumption). This is helpful if you’re generating an order and haven’t taken an inventory recently

  • Based on WISK par (Sales)

    • Stock - Takes the value in the “Stock” column and adds to the cart what is needed to match your WISK par (Sales). This is best used if you have just completed an inventory count

    • Real Time Stock - Takes the value in the “Real Time Stock” column and adds to the cart what is needed to match your WISK par (Sales). This is helpful if you’re generating an order and haven’t taken an inventory recently

To learn more about WISK Pars and Stock vs Real Time Stock, please see:

Note: The “Real Time Stock” is based on your sales since your last completed inventory and your POS Item mapping. It doesn’t account for any over pouring, spillage, or theft. Make sure your mapping is up-to-date before using the Real Time Stock pre-fill options.

After selecting a pre-fill option, a message displays saying it will replace the current quantity to order for each item with the amount based on the par. Click “OK”.

You’ll then see the amounts populate in the “Quantity” to order column for that distributor, and that the items have been added to your cart.

An animated GIF showing the items being added via the pre-fill

About Item Variations

If your venue uses Item Variations, you'll see each variation under its respective distributor.

You can add any item variation to a distributor cart, but the suggested amount to order based on pars is in units of the default item variation.

If you use the pre-fill for a distributor that carries variations of the same item, it'll add the default item variation.

To learn more about item variations, see:

Finished Adding Items

After adding all the items to order for each distributor, click "Step 2 - Your Cart".

"Step 2: Your Cart" is highlighted for emphasis.

Your Cart

On the "Your Cart" page, you can review and make changes before generating the purchase order.

For each distributor, you’ll see the amount you’re ordering, and a total dollar value based on the cost/unit of each item. Consider this number an estimate, because their prices change over time.

Note: If there are any pricing changes, you’ll update the cost when adding the invoice after the order comes in. If the item's current cost per unit includes any discounts, the value in the shopping cart excludes the discount.

Items have been added to the distributor cart.

Updating Items in Your Cart

You can update the amount to order or remove items by clicking on the quantity to order field or the X beside it.

For example, this Heineken, the current stock count is 42, and the par is 72. To match or get above the par, it added two cases. You can adjust the quantity to order just 1 case.

If you need to add additional items, you can return to the “Cart Builder” page.

Excluding Item Costs (Optional)

As mentioned above, the costs of your items are based on the value from the most recent invoice, and may not reflect the distributor's current cost.

If you don't want the purchase order sent to the distributor to display your item costs, you can toggle this off:

  1. Click "Actions" > "Manage Distributors"

    The "Actions" button is highlighted and an arrow points to "Manage Distributors"

  2. Click the "Details" button beside the distributor

  3. Click the "Exclude price from purchase orders" checkbox

    The checkbox is highlighted for emphasis.
  4. Purchase orders sent to that distributor through WISK won't include the item costs

Your Cart Tour

To see the "Your Cart" page in action, you can take a tour here. (You must be logged in to web.wisk.ai to access the tour)

Generating the Purchase Order

When everything is ready, click the "Generate order" button.

The "Generate order" button is highlighted for emphasis.

Note: You’ll need to generate orders for each distributor separately.

A pop-up appears saying that the purchase order is being generated. Click OK.

An arrow points to the "OK" button.

With the order generated, you have the following options:

  • View order - You can still make revisions to the order before placing it

  • Send order (Email/SMS) - You can add recipients and notes to the order which is then emailed and texted (if a mobile number is provided) to the distributor contact

  • Download Spreadsheet - If you wish to place your order outside of WISK, via phone, in-store, etc, you can download a spreadsheet of the order.

Note: No matter how you end up placing the order, it’s a good practice to generate it in WISK. You’ll be able to add your invoice from the purchase order when it arrives. You won’t have to add each item to the invoice manually, which saves a lot of time.

Learn about adding invoices from Purchase Orders here:

Sending an Email / SMS

Adding Contacts / Notes & Sending

To send the order to the distributor, click “Email Order”.

Before it sends you’ll be able to edit the subject, add additional recipients, and include any notes.

If you've added notes for the distributor they display in a tooltip beside the distributor name.

If you’ve added your distributor contacts, the email and mobile / cell number fields populate automatically. To learn more about adding contacts, see:

You can add more recipients by clicking into the Email and Mobile / Cell Number fields.

Note: In addition to the recipients that you enter in the "Email" field, any user set up to receive "Purchase Order" email notifications is cc-ed. To learn more, see:

You can also include any notes or instructions for the distributor in the notes section.

Note: If you don’t want to send an SMS message, you can leave the Phone Number field blank, or remove the number.

When ready, click “Send”.

Confirmation

You’ll then receive a message saying that the email has been sent to the distributor.

You should also receive a copy of the email to your account. If you didn’t receive it, check your spam folder.

Important: If it’s your first time emailing/texting that distributor through WISK, please follow up with them to make sure it was received. If the phone number entered is invalid, it will show an error message. Nothing will send until you correct or remove the invalid phone number.

Invalid Phone Number Error

As mentioned above, if you enter an invalid phone number for the distributor, it shows an error message after clicking "Send".

When this error message displays, no emails or texts are sent.

At this point the order window remains open. You can either:

  1. Check and correct the invalid number and click "Send" again

  2. Remove the invalid number and click "Send" again

Email / Text Tracking

To provide assurance that your order was received by the distributor, WISK tracks when an order email/text has been opened by the recipient.

To check this:

  1. Click the details button beside a purchase order

    An arrow points to the "..." button

  2. Click "Timeline"

    An arrow points to the "Timeline" tab

  3. The timeline displays who the message was sent to, along with a timestamp

  4. As recipients open the message, the timeline updates to reflect this

    Note: If the email address the order was sent to isn't a user in WISK, the action is attributed to a system update. In the example below we see that the email of the distributor opened the email, along with a user in the venue.

    The different messages sent depending on who opens the email

Email Not Delivered

If the order email doesn't make it to the recipient, you'll receive an email notification.

This could happen for a number of reasons, but some possibilities include:

  • a typo in the email address

  • bounced email

  • the recipient unsubscribed from WISK emails

The email notification will also include the reason if it was able to obtain that information.

If this happens, the best thing is to follow up with the distributor directly to make sure the order gets placed and verify their email.

Note: If the recipient unsubscribed and wishes to receive WISK emails after your communicate with them, contact [email protected] and our team can re-subscribe them.

An example of the email that says the message didn't reach its destination

Example Email / SMS

Here are some examples of what the order email and SMS message look like. The items display in alphabetical order.

Email (with Costs)

An example of the order email with item costs

Email (Without Costs)

This is what the email looks like if you toggled on the "Exclude prices from purchase orders" checkbox.

An example of the order email without item costs

SMS

The SMS message includes a link to a webpage where the order can be viewed:

Receiving the Order / Invoice

Since you generated the order through WISK, you can quickly add the invoice when the order arrives. To learn more, see:

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