Article Contents
Introduction
This article provides a breakdown of the components that make up the Variance Page.
On the Variance page, you can view variances for individual items, and see totals per family / category.
For each item, you’ll see the amount sold and consumed, displayed in a number of ways ($ value, by units, or by the item's unit of measurement).
Inventory Period
Variance is calculated for each inventory period.
By default, it displays data for the most recent inventory period, but you can adjust the “from” and “to” dates to any completed inventory.
Sales / Consumption Overview
Before looking at individual items, you’ll see high-level information regarding your sales and consumption.
The purpose of this is to identify any glaring issues with your data, for example, if sales are $0, or your consumption is a negative value. You can then resolve these issues before looking at the variances of individual items. If there's an issue with your data, variance values won't be accurate.
Note: If your data appears off, please see these resources -
Sales - The sales for the defined inventory period. This doesn't include sales of any archived POS Items, or any POS Items that contain an item that is marked as "Excluded from Variance".
Consumption - How much product was used at cost in the venue during the inventory period. Consumption = Starting Inventory + Invoices - Ending Inventory. This is also known as the Cost of Goods Sold (COGS).
Cost of Sales - The overall cost percentage for the inventory period. Cost of Sales % = Consumption / Sales
Variance Cost - The sum of the Variance Cost for each item. Variance Cost = Cost per Unit * Variance. A negative Variance Cost indicates a loss. A positive Variance Cost indicates you used less than you sold.
Variance Retail - The theoretical value that the Variance Cost could've sold for based on your POS Item recipes. For more info see "What is Variance Retail?"
Shrinkage Percentage - The percent reduction in your starting inventory due to Variance Cost. Shrinkage Percentage = Variance Cost / Beginning Inventory. If this has a negative sign beside it, it's because your Variance Cost was positive.
Variances by Item
On the main section of the page you can view the sales, consumption, and variance for each item in your venue.
You can use the search bar to find items by name, or by family / category, or make use of the predefined filters and views.
The default columns display the following information:
Sold (units): The number of units sold based on the sales data received from your POS system and using the POS items and recipes you have created.
Sold (UM): Same as above, but displayed in the item's unit of measurement (ml, lbs, etc).
Consumed (units): (Beginning inventory + Invoices Added) – Ending inventory. In other words, what was used/poured during the inventory period.
Consumed (UM): Same as above, but displayed in the item's unit of measurement (ml, lbs, etc).
Variance (units): Sold (units) - Consumed (units). A negative value indicates a loss, whereas a positive value indicates a surplus.
Variance (UM): Same as above, but displayed in the item's unit of measurement (ml, lbs, etc
Variance Cost ($): The cost of the variance based on the wholesale price (your cost/unit on the Items page).
Variance Retail ($): The retail value of the variance based on a weighted average of all the POS items that the item is an ingredient. In other words, what the variance cost would have sold for.
Details: Clicking details provides a full breakdown of your data, showing exactly what was sold, the recipes / POS Items, and your history of inventory counts and invoices.
Note: If you want to toggle on additional columns, or re-arrange them, see the "Customizing Your Display" section below.
Predefined Filters
There are a number of filters to help identify any issues you may have with your variance.
These filters surface common errors and can save you time when investigating an issue.
To learn more, see:
Customizing Your Display
When reviewing your variance, there are a number of ways to customize your display to see the exact information you need:
Views
Columns
Sorting, Grouping & Filters
For more in-depth information, please see:
Reporting Views
There are preset reporting views that change the layout of your items on the Variance page, and you can even add your own.
Main - items are ungrouped but sorted from the highest to lowest variance cost
Category - groups your items by category
Family > Category - groups your items by family and then by category. You can then drill down to specific items
Variance by Units - this view removes some of the extra fields giving a straightforward look at your variance
Add report- you can create your own preset view / report and customize it
Columns
Aside from the default columns, there are many more that you can toggle on by clicking the gear icon on the left-hand side of the screen, then "Columns"
Just hover your cursor over the "i" icon on a column header to see a definition.
You can customize the layout of this page by dragging and dropping columns to where you want them.
Sorting, Grouping & Filtering Information
For more information, please see: