Understanding Products (Product Database)

Contents

EngagePHD™ is built around a product database. Your products can be added to the system in three different ways:

Manually entered one product at a time
Manually imported from a spreadsheet
Automatically imported through integration with your POS System or Xcel Spreadsheet.

Manually Adding Products

To manually add a product, click on the ‘Create New‘ button. This will then enable you to add the information you require:

Product Number – There needs to be a unique product number. If you are manually importing products this can be automatically generated. If you don’t enter a product number, one will be automatically generated.
Name – This is the Digital Menu Board friendly name of the menu item (e.i. Hamburger)
Sort – Sort Allows you to sort your products in order when using product integration.
Category – This field is not required unless you want to categorize your products or if you’re using Product Integration. As an example, if you are using POS system, the Category information will be imported as part of the integration. This also applies to product integration using excel spreadsheets.
SubCategory – Allows you to group products and can display like a “header” in the menu layout.
Day of Week – Allows you to define days of the week you would like the product to show on the menu.
Enabled – This needs to be checked for it to appear on any menu. If you sell out of a product or for any other reason no longer want to have this product on ANY menu, unchecking this box will remove this product from all menu‟s that have this product. All products beneath this product on the menu will automatically shift upwards so that there are no gaps in the menu.
Price – This would be your “standard‟ price. Medium Price – This would be your “medium‟ price if you have tiered pricing. Large Price – This would be your “large price‟ if you have tiered pricing.
Description – If you would like to display an extended description, you would type that extended description in this field.
Indent Description – Check this box if you wish the Description to be indented to the right of the product Name.
Alcohol – Check this box if this product is an alcohol product. This action will then allow this product to disappear from the menu when you use the Alcohol Action from the Home page.
Special – When this box is checked, the product can temporarily be replaced by another product. After checking the box, click ‘Save‘. Click back on the product from the product library and you should now see a drop down that will allow you to select the replacement product:

Image – This allows you to attach an image or an MP4 video to the product record so that the image appears alongside the „Name‟ on your menu layout. It is recommended that you save this as a PNG file with a transparent background. An example of how this can look is shown below with the draft beer.
Style – This allows you to have a unique style for a specific product. Perhaps you want to highlight this product so it stands out from other products. Please note, using this feature will override any Styles you have set from the layout.
Additional Attributes Tab – If there is a field that you need as a part of your product detail that is currently not featured, you can create new Attributes from the main Products page. Once Attributes are created they can be managed from the Additional Attributes Tab. Please see the guide on Adding Additional Attributes to your product table in the Layouts help section. For detailed instructions on creating Additional Attributes, please see: How Do I Set Up Additional Attributes for Products.

Date Range – This is where you can schedule your product to show on a defined start date and end date. Multiple dates can be added. When using product integration through an excel spreadsheet, Ping HD can enable additional scheduling attributes like Weekly Cycle.

Nutritional – The Nutritional tab allows you to manage nutritional information. Calories is the most popular. These can then be added to the product table in your menu layouts. Please see Adding Nutritional Information to Your Menus.

Importing Products (Spreadsheet)

Products can be imported and/or mass updated by clicking on the “Upload or Download Products” tab.

You can download a blank spreadsheet template by checking the box labeled “Blank file as template‟ and then clicking the button. Once downloaded, simply add the products you wish to upload into the product database.

You can also download a spreadsheet of your product library once all products have been added and you need to make changes to multiple products at once. Be sure to check the boxes for ‘Include Date Range‘ if you need to modify the date ranges, or ‘Nutritional‘ if you need to change calories or other nutritional information:

Once you have finished editing the spreadsheet, you can save it as a regular XLS/XLSX file (no need for a CSV file). To update your product database simply drag the file into the Upload box or click the area to below which will open your Windows Explorer window to locate the file.

Once the file(s) have been uploaded you will see verification that the process has been completed: