Foodclub:Manual:User

For Users

System overview for new members

• Ashley might have details to fill in here

Signing in

• You must sign in to
  

1. Place an order
   
2. View/post to our discussion forum
   
3. View/edit a wiki document
   

• Sign in procedure
  

1. Go to our homepage at http://foodclub.org/your_club
2. Enter user name and password. If you forget either of these, there are options on the login page to be sent reminders
   

Your order

Ordering Steps

1. Select the source you wish to order from (from the select source drop down menu)
2. Read the information on the source home page. We try to answer all your ordering questions for the source here
   • Warning, we usually have links to the source's website on our home page for each source. Do not order from the source's website, order from ours.
3. Place your order for items that you are not splitting
   • Select Order
   • Both "Search" and "Browse by category" are allowed. See about search
   • When you find an item which you wish to order, enter the quantity number and press "Add."
     
   • Sometimes manual input of items is allowed. We try to stay away from this, but if we can not keep our database completely up to date, we may allow manual input of items so that the user can order the full range of products from the source
     
   • Verify you have ordered correctly
     1. Your items appear on your personal order form, and your total looks correct (did you really mean to order a whole case of that item?)
     2. Your items appear in your Shopping cart, and your total looks correct.
     3. Your items appear in the "Group Order" - this is what gets sent to the vendor.
4. If splits are allowed, place your order for splits
   • See about splits
   • Select "Splits". Remember the quantity you want needs to be some part of whatever the size is.
   • If you want to order/change an existing split:
     1. The whole row should be clickable which will take you to the proper page to order or change your split quantity for the item.
     2. Click "Order"/"Change" next to the item you would like to order/change.
   • If you want to request a new split, for an item from the database:
     1. Enter the "quantity you want" and press "Request split(s) for above item(s)"
   • If you want to request a new split, for an item not found by searching the database:
     1. Use "Request a split" which appears below all the current split requests, if manual entry is enabled.
   • Verify you have ordered correctly:
     1. Your items appear on the splits page. Note if they are in red, the split is not yet full and the items will not get ordered.
     2. Your items appear in the "Group Order". Note if they are in red, the split is not yet full and the items will not get ordered.

About "splits"

1. What are they?
   • Some of our sources sell to us in cases or large quantities instead of family sized portions. They like this because it saves them time and money. The cost savings get passed on to us. The savings range from 20% to well over 50%.
   • Splits need to be sorted by us. You may be asked asked to help with the sorting process and/or bring your own containers.
2. How does the software work?
   • The number in the "size" field of a given item is very important. For the item to get ordered, the total of everyone's "Quantity you want" must add up to the "size"
   • "Price" is for the entire size. During invoice processing, your proportion of the total price will be automatically computed.

About "search"

1. Searching for an item can be tricky if you do not know the product code.
   • Ex: In the Frontier database, if you type "dish soap" in "Search" window, you get two pages of dish soap. Unfortunately, the Seventh Generation dish soap does not appear in the list. This is because Seventh Generation calls their product "dish liquid." You can type "Seventh Generation" in the search box and then all Seventh Generations products appear.
2. Use the most general search possible.
   • Ex. In the Frontier database, if you search "Manufacturer" field for "Equal Exchange," you get nothing. If you search "any field" for "Equal Exchange," you get the products you are looking for. The database happens to list "Equal Exchange" under the "Category" field rather than the "Manufacturer" field
3. Search does not work across column headings yet.
   • Ex: In the farm database, if you search for "chicken legs" and "chicken" is under the "category" field and "legs" is under the description field, nothing will be found.

How to manually add an item to your order - if it is not in the database

1. Note: You will only be allowed this option if it says so on the source homepage.  With most of our sources this is not needed as our databases usually contains all products offered.
2. Click Order (or Splits) in the left hand vertical green toolbar to take you to the Order page.
   
3. At the bottom of the Order page you will see:
   • Current order for Jane Doe   Qty   Code   Description   Size   Price   Total    Action        Select                                                                                                  
     
4. Select Edit which is under Action . Be sure to include:
   • Qty (quantity)
   • Code
     • Each product MUST have it's own unique product code!!!!!
     • If the source assigns product codes, use that code. Often you must add the item to the sources cart in order to see the code
     • If the source does not have a product code, you can just make up one. Just make sure each item is unique and you don't repeat someone elses product code.
   • Description (be detailed)
   • Size (for Order, it doesn't matter. For Splits, it must be the split increment
     
   • Price (do not preceed with a "$")- for splits, it must be the price must be the price of the whole quantity (e.g. box)
     
5. Remember to Save manual update made directly on this form at the very bottom of the page
   

Viewing your invoice

1. Often invoices are not processed until a few days before the delivery, some are processed the day of delivery.
2. Products which you order may be out of stock, and will appear as such on your invoice   If something is out of stock, the item will be deleted from your order, and if you still wish to purchase it, you will have to reorder it the next cycle.
   
3. Your exact total appears on your invoice. If items are priced per pound, your exact poundage will be on your invoice. Also, any shipping or transportation fees are included on your invoice. Your order form only had an estimated total.

Advice/tips

• You enter some data and forget to hit "SAVE"... Your browser will keep data entered in forms after you've navigated away; therefore, you can use your browser back button to get back to the form which you forgot to submit.