I've just updated the manager page on lettuceshare.org to show product totals for a supplier. You might want to use this to compare the group's purchases against a packing slip or invoice from a supplier.
To view product totals, leave the username field empty on the manager page and pick a supplier and date that you're interested in. Make sure the "Group results" check box is checked and then click search. Results will show total quantity and price, and if there was only one purchase the username and the price they purchased at will be displayed. (Product price is not shown for grouped items because they can change per user.)
If a username is supplied during searching, the group results option will continue to function as before, which is to display the totals for that user.
I've just added an option to lettuceshare to automatically produce packing lists for boxes. This is a step that has been done manually each week by groups that pre-order, so hopefully it saves them some time from now on.
This option can be accessed from the report page, which all users of lettuceshare now have access to. The new option is at the top of the page, and is already set to "packing list", so you can just click download:
Open the download with your web browser, and click print. That's all there is to it! The printed version of the file will try and keep each member's packing slip on the same page, so that they're easy to cut up and attach to boxes. You will find a checkbox on each slip so that members know if their produce has been entered into lettuceshare, and a column labeled "Collect" so they know if they have refrigerated items not currently placed in their box.
Along with the packing list format, the new option provides the order list sorted by member or products. You can also download the lists for individual suppliers. These lists will be produced at the same time as your group order email is sent. If you don't have access to the email, this effectively provides the same information to all members.
I'd like to welcome a new buyers group to lettuceshare, Windsor Food Collective! They placed their first order this week, and also meet in an amazing community space at Northey Street City Farm.
Well done to everyone involved in getting the group running. I'm looking forward to seeing this collaboration develop, having local farm produce and a local buyers group together seems like a great combination. :-)
Welcome to new lettuceshare users, West End Bulk Buyers! They are soon to place their first order as a buying group, and will be meeting at West End Community House. This is a wonderful community space and will hopefully lead to some great partnerships between all members of their community.
If you're currently using lettuceshare, there's some improvements to the Invoice format and order emails that you should know about. These changes can all be activated by the Group Settings tool, and each section is described below.
Firstly, the time invoices are sent has always been configurable, but the option wasn't visible in Group Settings. You can now change it under Invoice Configuration:
Lettuceshare will now show you the GST amount included in the invoice, it's not currently broken down per item, but you can control the formatting under Invoice Formatting in the Group Settings tool:
This will appear directly after the purchase total. For this information to be shown, you will also need to enter the GST percentage in the Stock settings:
The total is only calculated for stock items that have the Attracts GST check box checked, so you might want to go through and update your stock list before using this feature.
The last change applies to generating orders. By default lettuceshare collates orders that have purchase dates for any time in the following week. If you use calendar dates to set the purchase date, this meant the order could only be sent out in the week before the delivery was due to arrive.
It's now possible to set the lead time for an order, so that you can close it whenever you like. You just need to enter the number of days before the delivery arrives so that lettuceshare knows to include it in the order email sent for the current week:
I was asked to make a short screen cast of how to get started using lettuceshare, so I'm posting it here in case anyone else is interested or wanted to pass it along.
It will give you an idea how it works, but you probably still need to read the documentation on the site to understand it. Maybe I can cover individual sections of the software in some follow up videos :-)
Up until now stock tracking has been all or nothing in lettuceshare, but we've found groups really only want to track some of their products. This feature has just been added, so you can now turn tracking on or off for individual products on the stock page.
This also helps with another feature, which is allowing products to be displayed as sold out to members. If you didn't watch all your stock levels carefully then products could become sold out when you didn't even want to track them. Turning tracking off means you don't have to worry about this happening.
I'd like to welcome another buyer's group from New Zealand, Real Food BOP. It's great to hear from people in New Zealand who are starting new buying groups and co-ops, they obviously have amazing local suppliers who are helping them on their journey.
Real Food BOP are using some new features that I've talked about recently. I call them Special Buying Groups, but this buyer's group use them to run multiple specialty shops simultaneously. This home page screen shot gives a good idea of how it works:
I would never have thought to use this feature to run 12 specialty shops, but one of the great things about working lettuceshare is that I can help groups use the software the way they want it to work! Each of these shops have their own list of suppliers, and can be run independently from the others. Only one invoice needs to be sent each week, for all purchases.
These features are available to all groups using lettuceshare. If you're a group administrator and want to open another order, have a look at the Group Settings tool to get started.
Manager page searches
To view product totals, leave the username field empty on the manager page and pick a supplier and date that you're interested in. Make sure the "Group results" check box is checked and then click search. Results will show total quantity and price, and if there was only one purchase the username and the price they purchased at will be displayed. (Product price is not shown for grouped items because they can change per user.)
If a username is supplied during searching, the group results option will continue to function as before, which is to display the totals for that user.
Creating Packing Lists
This option can be accessed from the report page, which all users of lettuceshare now have access to. The new option is at the top of the page, and is already set to "packing list", so you can just click download:
Open the download with your web browser, and click print. That's all there is to it! The printed version of the file will try and keep each member's packing slip on the same page, so that they're easy to cut up and attach to boxes. You will find a checkbox on each slip so that members know if their produce has been entered into lettuceshare, and a column labeled "Collect" so they know if they have refrigerated items not currently placed in their box.
Along with the packing list format, the new option provides the order list sorted by member or products. You can also download the lists for individual suppliers. These lists will be produced at the same time as your group order email is sent. If you don't have access to the email, this effectively provides the same information to all members.
Happy packing!
Windsor Food Collective
Well done to everyone involved in getting the group running. I'm looking forward to seeing this collaboration develop, having local farm produce and a local buyers group together seems like a great combination. :-)
West End Bulk Buyers
Invoice and Order improvements
Firstly, the time invoices are sent has always been configurable, but the option wasn't visible in Group Settings. You can now change it under Invoice Configuration:
Lettuceshare will now show you the GST amount included in the invoice, it's not currently broken down per item, but you can control the formatting under Invoice Formatting in the Group Settings tool:
This will appear directly after the purchase total. For this information to be shown, you will also need to enter the GST percentage in the Stock settings:
The total is only calculated for stock items that have the Attracts GST check box checked, so you might want to go through and update your stock list before using this feature.
The last change applies to generating orders. By default lettuceshare collates orders that have purchase dates for any time in the following week. If you use calendar dates to set the purchase date, this meant the order could only be sent out in the week before the delivery was due to arrive.
It's now possible to set the lead time for an order, so that you can close it whenever you like. You just need to enter the number of days before the delivery arrives so that lettuceshare knows to include it in the order email sent for the current week:
Walk through video
It will give you an idea how it works, but you probably still need to read the documentation on the site to understand it. Maybe I can cover individual sections of the software in some follow up videos :-)
Improved Stock Tracking
This also helps with another feature, which is allowing products to be displayed as sold out to members. If you didn't watch all your stock levels carefully then products could become sold out when you didn't even want to track them. Turning tracking off means you don't have to worry about this happening.
Real Food - Bay Of Plenty
Real Food BOP are using some new features that I've talked about recently. I call them Special Buying Groups, but this buyer's group use them to run multiple specialty shops simultaneously. This home page screen shot gives a good idea of how it works:
I would never have thought to use this feature to run 12 specialty shops, but one of the great things about working lettuceshare is that I can help groups use the software the way they want it to work! Each of these shops have their own list of suppliers, and can be run independently from the others. Only one invoice needs to be sent each week, for all purchases.
These features are available to all groups using lettuceshare. If you're a group administrator and want to open another order, have a look at the Group Settings tool to get started.