Introducing Icicle’s Allergen Database Plus More Ways to Track Sales Performance
The latest batch of new features from Icicle ERP users – which covers April through June 2023 – boosts food safety and quality assurance standards with the new Icicle Allergen Database, trending for inspection results and scores, and help text for QC checks to make sure they are completed correctly. We’ve also focused on enhancing your ability to master profit margins and track sales performance with new trending features and filters for reports, streamlined workflows for sales orders and purchase orders, overtime labour tracking for production runs, and more tools to help you get shipments in and out on time, with less waste.
Check out the list below to find out how you can use these new Icicle features and which members of our wonderful Icicle user community requested them!
Add Customer Tags and a default Salesperson to your customers and trend sales performance
When was it released? June 5 2023
What does it do? We’ve expanded Icicle’s Sales Reports interface to generate data-rich insights in a few new ways. Icicle users can trend top sales over time as well as track sales performance by, product group, customer, and now also by Salesperson or any other category (like region or SKU) with Customer Tags. A default Salesperson field and Customer Tags can be added from the Company Detail Page.
Where did the idea come from? Thanks to Dave from Keith’s Quality Foods and Bill from SaltSpring Kitchen for their help developing these features!
Auto-populate data for Purchase Orders and Sales Orders (and prevent errors)
When was it released? June 29 2023
What does it do? We’ve made some automation improvements to Purchase Orders and Sales Orders. Purchase Orders will now automatically fill out the timeline (ETA) for incoming inventory using the supplier’s lead time data. On the other side (sales), when you create Shipping Records from a Sales Order, Icicle will use available information from the Sales Order to automatically generate a default shipping date in Shipping Records for a more streamlined process.
Plus, if (for whatever reason) a purchase order number has been entered twice, Icicle will now alert you with a warning message so you don’t accidentally send out duplicate shipments (thanks to Alicia from Keith’s for thinking ahead on that one).
Where did the idea come from? A collaborative effort, our appreciation goes to Stephanie from TMRW Foods and Surita and Alicia from Keith’s Quality Foods.
Email Purchase Orders to suppliers and Sales Orders to customers directly from Icicle ERP
When was it released? June 1 2023
What does it do? Icicle has had the ability to generate Purchase Orders and Sales Orders for some time, but you had to download the PDF and then email it to the supplier or customer yourself. Now, Icicle users can send that PDF to the supplier or customer in just one click or tap – directly from the Purchase Order or Sales Order. (You can even email a Bill of Lading to carriers with the same functionality.)
Purchase Orders can only be emailed to the supplier once they have been approved, at which point a “✉ PO” button will appear. Click or tap that button to open a new email to the supplier, which Icicle automatically populates with all their information, the Purchase Order attachment (as a PDF), and a default message that you can customize directly in the Icicle window. You can send a new email (with no attachments) to the customer or supplier at any time by clicking mail icon next to their name (if you hover over the name, you can see what email is associated with the company first).
Sales Orders work in a similar way, except you need to create an Invoice first. Once an Invoice has been created, you can click the mail button on the Sales Order page (under the Invoices section) or from the Invoice itself via the “✉ Invoice” button. And, when you’re viewing the Sales Order List, a new column will show you whether the Sales Order has been sent to the customer to ensure everything is processed smoothly.
Where did the idea come from? Thanks again to Alicia from Keith’s!
Set up Sales Order Change Notifications to ship the correct orders on time
When was it released? June 1 2023
What does it do? Icicle’s recent Inbound and Outbound Shipping Notices feature keeps warehouse schedules on track by facilitating clear communication with sales and purchasing staff. To make Icicle’s collaborative tools even more robust, Icicle can now send out notifications when a Sales Order has been changed after it was approved. In order to keep things on track after a sales order is processed, notifications can be sent out when items are removed or added, when the quantities of items change, or when the due date or the shipping date changes.
Where did the idea come from? This handy improvement comes to us via Medhi from Big Mountain Foods!
Optimize order fulfillment rates and shelf life with new filters and Sales Order Report fields
When was it released? April 8 2023
What does it do? Another feature that improves order fulfillment rates while keeping your inventory fresh, we’ve added a new, expandable “On Hand” column to Sales Order Reports. Just like Suggested Raw Materials Reports, which optimizes product shelf life by generating picking lists for production runs based on sales and inventory data, this addition makes it easy for warehouse staff to use Icicle’s powerful automation tools to prepare inventory for on-time delivery.
From the Sales Order Reports interface, select a day to see what products and quantities are on order. Alongside details on the quantities of each item that were ordered, shorted, shipped, and are outstanding (plus pricing information!), the new “On Hand” column shows exactly how much inventory you have in stock for each item. If you click or tap on that column, the row will expand to show you quantities by item lot code, as well as the location and remaining shelf life for each.
Another upgrade to Sales Order Reports – and to the Pick-by-Product interface – is a new filter that allows users to sort the items in a sales order by the net weight for each item. Access to this information helps sales teams schedule carriers and shipments effectively by helping them predict – and plan out – the overall weight of shipments (and therefore avoid unexpected excess costs). You can use this filter and other sorting features by clicking the Sort icon in the Items tab.
Where did the idea come from? Another big hank you to Sophia from Anita’s Organic Mill!
Track real-time product costs per unit, now with overtime labour too
When was it released? May 9 2023
What does it do? Icicle’s advanced costing features includes the ability to calculate labour costs associated with any production run with pinpoint accuracy. In the Formula interface, you can assign labour costs to particular Roles or users, which will help Icicle calculate the real cost per unit for your products – in real-time. Thanks to this new update, we’ve added another column to the Production Run Details page that displays overtime hours separately, enabling staff to track overtime labour costs in addition to loaded labour costs.
Where did the idea come from? Kim from Nutopia deserves the credit for this idea!
Master allergen control and prevent recalls with the new Allergen Database from Icicle ERP
When was it released? April 20 2023
What does it do? Icicle has one of the largest databases for food ingredients and hazards in the world, and a robust suite of allergen control tools too. Now, Icicle users can also search the new Allergen Database by allergen, ingredient, or item name and view all products that contain that allergen or allergens.
The Allergen Database will also highlight any products with undeclared allergens so food safety and quality staff can take immediate action to prevent incidents and recalls. You can also generate a report from the results in Excel.
Where did the idea come from? John from The BE-Hive requested this idea, which we love!
Gain insights by trending data for Inspection Results and Inspection Scores
When was it released? April 23 2023
What does it do? Icicle users can check out the expanded analytics for inspections in the Trending interface, which now includes options to trend Inspection Results and Inspection Scores by type, for any facility or given timeframe. With historical data and real-time insights, food safety staff can identify frequent problems during inspections, and correct them.
Additionally, you can now sort the items on the Inspection Types page by clicking the header of any column: chronologically by order of effective date or termination date, or alphabetically by name.
Where did the idea come from? Kudos to Ghaem from Fraser Valley Specialty Poultry and Diana from The BE-Hive!
Help any employee perform Quality Control Checks perfectly
When was it released? May 18 2023
What does it do? Especially when food manufacturers are short staffed or during staff transitions, keeping Quality Control Checks consistent and compliant can be a challenge. That’s why we’ve updated the Quality Control Checks interface to display instructions from your product specification settings, right there on the screen.
Users can refer to the instructions to make sure they’re completing the QC Check correctly, which is one more way that Icicle can help you reinforce employee training and avoid costly errors.
You can add or edit the instructions via the Production Specification List.
Where did the idea come from? Another great feature request from the team at Keith’s Quality Foods, this time from Zeon.
Export shipping and production data into Excel
When was it released? June 14 2023
What does it do? You can now export the Shipping Notices List to Excel for easy printing and sharing. You’ll also find a new “search by item” box on the Shipping Notices List page.
We’ve also added an export to Excel option on the Production Run List and Production Run Details pages (in addition to the PDF export that already existed).
Where did the idea come from? Thanks to Ramiro from Nichirei and Satvinder from Made-Rite Meats for these time-saving and practical suggestions!
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