Inventory Integrations

Let your invoices file themselves

If you already snap photos of vendor invoices in an inventory app, there’s no reason to type them again. Connect it to DishBooks and every invoice it processes shows up as a bill, coded to the right GL accountsGL accountGeneral ledger account. One of the named buckets on your books, like Food Sales or Sales Tax Payable, that every dollar is sorted into. and ready for you to approve.

Works today: MarginEdge and Opsi. Each has its own setup screens. This article covers what works the same for both, and the Connect MarginEdge guide walks through MarginEdge step by step.

How it works

1. Connect. Start in DishBooks, then sign in to your inventory platform to link the two.
2. Match locations. Tell it which DishBooks location or entity each of its restaurants belongs to.
3. Map, in your inventory platform. Match its categories, vendors and payment accounts to your DishBooks accounts. This is the opposite of a POSPOSPoint of sale. The system you ring up checks on, like Toast or Square. connection, where mapping happens in DishBooks.
4. Review and approve bills. Invoices land in Expenses → Bills. Approve them yourself, or let them approve automatically.

Before you start

• Your entities and locations are set up in DishBooks. Each restaurant in your inventory platform gets matched to one. See Set up your locations.
• Your GL accounts are ready. Your food, beverage and supply cost accounts need to exist before you can map to them.
• You can log in to both DishBooks and your inventory platform, with admin access in the inventory platform.

Step 1 Connect

In DishBooks, go to Settings → Integrations and click Connect on your inventory platform’s card.

You’ll be taken to your inventory platform to sign in, then asked to sign in to DishBooks, pick your organization and click Authorize. Once you do, you’re back in your inventory platform to finish setup, starting with matching each of its restaurants to a DishBooks location or entity.

For exact screens, use your platform’s guide:

• Connect MarginEdge
• Opsi: follow the steps in Opsi when you click Connect.

Step 2 Map your accounts (in your inventory platform)

This is the one part that works differently from a POS connection. With an inventory platform, you do the mapping in that platform, not in DishBooks. It will ask you to match:

• Categories → GL accounts. For example, Produce → Food Cost, Beer → Beer Cost. Categories you don’t use can stay unmapped.
• Vendors → DishBooks vendors, so bills land under the right supplier.
• Payment accounts, usually Accounts Payable, so bills show up as money you owe.

You only map once. After that, every invoice comes over already coded.

Step 3 Review and approve your bills

Invoices from your inventory platform land in Expenses → Bills as drafts, right alongside the ones you upload yourself. The Created By column shows where each one came from.

Open a bill to check the vendor, amount and GL coding, then approve it. Approved bills are ready to pay.

Rather skip the approval step?

If your inventory platform already has a review step you trust, turn on Auto-approve on its card in Settings → Integrations. Everything it sends over will be marked approved automatically.

Daily sales through your inventory platform

Is your POS one DishBooks doesn’t connect to yet (like Square)? Your inventory platform can fill the gap. MarginEdge, for example, can send each day’s sales to DishBooks as a journal entryJournal entryA record of money moving between GL accounts. Each one lists debits and credits that must be equal.. You turn this on inside your inventory platform, and the entries show up under Transactions for review and approval. They don’t appear on the Daily Sales Report, which is built from a connected POS, and they carry no guest counts or average check.

Already connected to Toast? Keep your sales coming from Toast and leave sales exports off in your inventory platform. One source for sales keeps anything from being counted twice.

Tips and common questions

Where do I fix a bill that came over wrong?

If it’s a one-off, fix the bill in DishBooks before you approve it. If the same mistake keeps happening (a vendor always lands in the wrong account), fix the mapping in your inventory platform so future bills come over right.

Do I still upload invoices to DishBooks?

Not for anything your inventory platform processes. Send those invoices there as usual. You can still upload anything else to DishBooks directly.

I have more than one restaurant.

Set up the connection for each one. In MarginEdge, for example, each unit connects separately and gets matched to its own DishBooks location.

Can I use a distributor integration too?

Yes, but pick one route per vendor. If Sysco invoices already flow through your inventory platform, don’t also connect Sysco directly, or you may get the same bill twice. See Vendor integrations.

Should I turn on auto-approve?

Only if someone is already reviewing invoices in your inventory platform. Otherwise, a quick look in DishBooks is your safety net.

What’s next

Ready to connect? Follow the guide for your platform.