Creating Beverage Configurations

1.	You should have already created Beverage Configuration Groups following the instructions above.

2.	Now, in the top selection grid, click to highlight the Beverage Configuration Group to which you want to add individual beverage configurations.

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3.	Click the New button next to the bottom selection grid.

4.	The Beverage Configuration [New] window appears. There are four tabs in this window: General (under which you will add categories and items), Comments, Setup and Accounts.

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General:

a.	Item Code: Enter an abbreviated name for the Beverage Configuration. For example, you could create beverage configurations called “House Selections”, “Premium Selections” or “Wedding Selections”.

b.	Description: Enter an expanded name or description for the Beverage Configuration.

c.	Notes: This is a short text field that can be used for additional information.

d.	Supplier: If an outside supplier supplies the configuration, select the supplier from the drop-down list. You entered these suppliers into EventPro earlier under Step 6: Company/Contact.

Def. Time/To: Enter the default time during which this beverage configuration will be typically used. When you later create an event and add this beverage configuration, its times will be set to these rather than the times defined for the location. This field is linked to the Use Location Times checkbox on the right. If the Use Location Times checkbox is checked, you cannot enter Default Times here.

Options:

Available: When you first create a new configuration, the Available checkbox will be pre-selected and grayed out. Later, you can uncheck this check box to indicate that a previously used configuration has been discontinued. This will prevent staff from selecting it for future events. EventPro cannot delete the configuration if it has been used for previous events.

b.	Billable: Check the box to indicate that the beverage configuration is usually billable. Non-billable items will not show up in invoices

c.	Discountable: Check this box if you want to allow the charges to be discounted.

Use Location Times: Check this box if you want to use the location times as the default times this configuration will be in use. Even if you entered default times in the Def. Time fields to the left, EventPro will use the location times as default for the configuration if this box is checked. If you want to create your own default times in the Def. Time fields, uncheck this box.

e.	Use Location Attendance: Check this box if you want the number of beverages added to an event to be set to the number entered in the attendance field of the event.

f.	Show on Web: If you have the EPWeb module, check the Show On Web checkbox to allow the configuration to show on the website.

3.	Cost/Price:

a.	Choose a Cost Type Default from the drop-down list:

i.	Main Only (per person),

ii.	Detail Only (per item), or

iii.	Both (a per-person cost with individual item costs added on).

b.	If you choose Main Only or Both, enter a value in the Cost field.

PP (Per Person Cost): If the Cost you entered is a per person cost (should be multiplied by the number of people), check this PP checkbox. Later, when you add this configuration to an event, the Cost will be multiplied by the number of people attending in order to calculate the total cost. If the Cost you entered is a Flat cost for the entire configuration, leave this PP checkbox unchecked. This field is only available if you choose Both or Main Only as the Cost Type Default

d.	Choose a Charge Type Default from the drop-down list: Host Bar (per Drink), Host Bar (per Person), Host Bar (Flat Charge), Cash Bar (per Drink), or Cash Bar (Flat Charge).

i.	Host Bar (per Drink): As the name suggests, this is a per-drink charge invoiced to the host of the event. If you select this option, choose the Price Type Default from the drop-down list: Category, Detail or N/A (no per-drink charges).

ii.

Host Bar (per Person): This is a per-person charge invoiced to the host of the event. If you choose this option, the Price Type Default will be set to N/A and disabled. Enter a per-person Charge to the right. If applicable, enter the number of hours during which this initial charge will apply in the For First (Hrs.) field. In the Charge After field, enter the per-person charge that will apply after the first hour(s).

iii.	Host Bar (Flat Charge): This is a flat rate for the entire beverage configuration, invoiced to the host. If you select this option, the Price Type Default will be set to N/A and disabled. Enter the total charge in the Charge field to the right.

iv.

Cash Bar (per Drink): This is also a per-drink charge, but this type of charge cannot be invoiced, as the host does not pay for the beverages. The individuals at the event will pay the facility directly for their own drinks. If you choose this option, select the Price Type Default from the drop-down list: Category, Detail or N/A (no per-drink charges).

Cash Bar (Flat Charge): Like the Cash Bar (per drink) option, this type of charge is not invoiced to the host, as the individuals at the event will pay for their drinks at the facility's bar. However, instead of having the total charge calculated from the selected beverage items, you will simply enter a flat amount into the Charge field (for example, the total amount made from the cash bar). If you select this option, the Price Type Default will be set to N/A and disabled.

e.	When you later add a beverage configuration to a location (Chapter 3: Event Maintenance, Adding Resources: Beverages), you will be able to adjust the charges for the specific event as necessary. More information about calculating total prices will be explained in those instructions.

f.	The Minimum Margin prevents staff from discounting below the set margin. EventPro defaults to the figure you entered when you set up the configuration group, but you can select a minimum margin for this specific configuration.

g.	Available in: From the drop-down list, select the effective dates for which this configuration will be available.

4.	Applicable Taxes:

a.	Check the boxes to indicate the taxes applicable to this configuration.

b.	To review how applicable taxes work in conjunction with Applicable Event Taxes, review the information provided under Step 6: Company/Contact, Entering New Company: Taxes above.

You can now further define your configuration by adding categories to the bottom left grid of the General tab.

When you set up categories under a configuration, you are not limited to the categories you defined when setting up your beverage resource table. You may want to define a new category name to suit the new configuration. For instance, if a company has categories called “Domestic Beer” and “Import Beer” they could create category here called “Beer”, which would contain all beer selections. However, even if you create a new category, you are still limited to using those items already entered in your beverage table.

1.	In the bottom left corner of the Category Grid, click the New button.

2.	The Beverage Category [New] window appears.

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3.	Enter the Item Number to indicate where in the list of categories you want this category to appear.

4.	You can select a category from the drop-down list or type in the abbreviated name of a new Beverage Category.

a.	For example, a company could create a configuration called “Wedding Selections,” into which they can place their categories named “Wines,” “Beers,” and “Liquors.”

b.	Remember, any new categories you create here will be unique to the configuration within which you create them.

5.	Type a Description of the new category. This can be an extended version of the category name.

6.	Enter a default Category Price. This price will apply to every item in the category.

7.	Click Save.

8.	The Confirm dialog will ask whether you want to add detail items to the new category. Click No if you want to continue adding categories and add detail items later.

a.	Click Yes if you want to add detail items to the category now. If you click Yes, the Configuration Item Copy window appears.

b.	Select the checkboxes next to the detail items you want to copy to the category (click the + signs to open the menu tree, if necessary) and click OK.

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If you selected a category from your beverage resource table, all of the items associated with that category will automatically be pulled into the bottom right grid under Item Code. You may add items to augment existing categories so that they better suit the configuration, and you may delete items from the category in the configuration without deleting them from the category listed in the resource table.

If you created a new category, the bottom right grid will be blank. You can now add detail items to it.

1.	Click to highlight the relevant Category in the bottom left grid and click the New button under the bottom right grid.

2.	The Beverage Category Detail [New] window appears.

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3.	Enter the Item Number to indicate where in the list of items you want the item to appear.

From the Beverage Item drop-down list, you can select any item from your beverage resource table regardless of what category it was originally defined under. While you could create new categories, you can only select items that you defined earlier when creating your beverage resource table. If you need to add new items to the table, you must return to Setup | Resources | Items.

5.	If you are looking for a specific item that you cannot easily find in the drop-down list, click the Find button to open the Find Beverage Item window.

a.	In upper right corner of the Find Beverage Item window, select a radio button to indicate whether you want to search in Item Codes, Descriptions or Item Codes and Descriptions.

b.	Type your search term(s) in the Search For field. Matching items will appear in the selection grid below.

c.	Select an item and click OK to return to the Beverage Category Detail [New] window.

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6.	When you select an item, the Cost and Price will be set to the defaults you entered in the beverage resource table. You can change the numbers here, but these changes will only apply to this configuration.

Check the Use Resource Item Cost and/or Use Resource Item Price if you always want this item to be the same cost/price in the configuration as in the beverage resource inventory. If these boxes are checked, any time you change the beverage item’s cost/price in the resource inventory (under Setup | Resources | Items), the item’s cost/price in the configuration will be automatically updated to that new cost/price.

8.	The Description will default to the text you entered when creating this item in setup.

9.	Click on the Preparation Information tab and enter any required information. If you want to use the preparation information you entered when creating the item in setup, check the box next to Use Resource Item.

10.	Click Save.

You can also quickly and easily add multiple items by using the Multi-Add button.

1.	Select the category to which you want to add items and click the Multi-Add button in the bottom right corner of the Beverage Configuration [New] window.

2.	The Item Select window appears.

3.	Click the + next to the categories to see the items. Select the checkboxes next to the items you want to add to the configuration and click OK.

4.	The items will be added to the Item grid in the bottom right corner of the Beverage Configuration [New] window. You may need to edit the individual items to enter the appropriate Cost, Price and Item #.

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Finally, you also have the option of copying items from another beverage configuration.

1.	Click the Config Copy in the bottom right corner of the window.

2.	The Configuration Item Copy window appears.

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3.	In the Configuration Item Copy window, click the + signs to open up the menu tree.

4.	Check the checkboxes next to the detail items you want to copy to the selected category and click OK.

5.	The items will be added to the detail item selection grid in the bottom right corner of the Beverage Configuration [New] window.

After you have added beverage items to the configuration, you can also select certain items so that they will be pre-selected by default when you add this beverage configuration to an event. It is not necessary to pre-select items when you create a beverage configuration, but if you find that you often select the same items every time you use the configuration in an event, it may save time to have the items selected by default. You can always change the selections when you actually use the configuration in an event.

To select items, check the Sel checkboxes next to the Item Codes.

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A comments field can be added to every Beverage Configuration. Whatever you type in this field will be visible to your clients in the banquet event orders or beverage sheets.

You can format the font, colors and alignment of the text using the icons. If you want to create a document with more complex formatting, click the Word Processor button. To learn how to use the various functions of the Word Processor, see Chapter 12: Communications, Part B: Letters, Word Processor.

You can print these comments in the Beverage sheet reports.

The Setup tab provides an additional text editor for communicating setup information to staff.

Using the drop-down arrows, select the applicable account and department codes for the configuration.

4	When you have entered all the information you need for the configuration, click Save.

5	You will later add beverage configurations to event locations in Chapter 3: Event Maintenance, Adding Resources: Beverages.

Help url: http://www.yourdomain.com/help/index.html?ch1_step9_creating_beverage_configurations.htm

Creating Beverage Configurations						Dear EventPro Documentation Department,
Creating Beverage Configurations