Packing list: packing, shortages and loading

The packing list is the path from your store to the truck: it tells your team what belongs in the crate, records what was actually packed, and shows the event lead where things stand at any moment. It lives in two places — in the Employee Portal for the person doing the packing, and on the event's Bookings tab for the lead. Both work on the same data.

Creating and updating the packing list

The packing list is built from the event's booked line items.

1. Open the event and go to the Bookings area.
2. If there is no list yet, you'll see There is no packing list for this event yet with a button that creates one.
3. When the booking changes later, click Update packing list.

Univents shows you what changes first. Instead of writing silently, a dialog opens with the comparison between booking and list:

• Dropped — items that disappear from the list. They deliberately sit at the very top and are highlighted, because they are the only thing you can lose.
• Added — items that are new.
• Quantity changed — items whose quantity moved, with the old and the new value.

The confirm button names the number of changes. Only then is anything written. If you cancel, the list stays exactly as it was — not a single row is inserted, changed or deleted.

Two safeguards apply automatically:

• Items that have already been loaded are not deleted. What is already on the truck does not vanish from the list just because the booking changed. If a change affects a packed or loaded row, the dialog asks a second time.
• If the target quantity drops below the quantity already packed, Univents pulls the packed quantity down with it. The list never says “6 of 3”.

If someone changes the booking while the dialog is open, applying is cancelled and you get the fresh comparison. That way you never apply an outdated state.

Finalising the list

Once the packing list is final, click Finalise packing list. That does two things:

• Everyone with a shift at this event gets a push notification that the list is ready — provided they have installed the portal on their phone and allowed notifications.
• If the booking diverges from the list afterwards, a clear notice appears: in the Bookings area and in the portal on the packing screen. Before, a list in this situation simply sat there quietly out of date, and nobody noticed until unloading on site.

The notice disappears as soon as you update the list.

How your team packs in the portal

In the Employee Portal, the person packing opens the Packing list area — this works for team members with a login as well as for temp staff on a portal link.

The header carries a slim bar with the event, the delivery time, the time remaining and the progress. Tapping it opens the details (guest count, venue).

Every row shows:

• the product photo, if one is stored in Inventory
• the name
• the pack size — if the product has a packaging size, Univents converts: “9 crates of 20” as the main line, “180 pieces” underneath. If the quantity doesn't divide evenly, the remainder is shown. Without a packaging size you just get the piece count.
• the note, if there is one
• a kitchen chip on items that have to be produced first

One tap on the tick means: packed in full. That stays the normal case and takes one thumb.

Grouped along your route through the store

Items are grouped by product category. As soon as at least two different storage locations are filled in across the list, the storage location takes over the grouping — “Cold room 2”, “Crockery shelf”, “Equipment trolley”. That is the route through your store. A switch in the header lets you flip between the two views at any time.

For that to work, the storage location has to be set on the product. Two quick ways:

• In Inventory as a bulk action: select several products and set the storage location in one go.
• Straight from the packing list row: if the storage location is missing, you can enter it there without leaving the list.

Recording a shortage

If something is missing, the row no longer has to lie:

1. Tap the target quantity next to the tick — it is a button of its own, not a long press and not a gesture.
2. Enter the quantity you actually packed on the number pad, for example 3 of 6.

The row then no longer counts as complete, is marked as a shortage, and moves to the top of the event lead's view. This also works on a row that has already been ticked off. Quantities such as kilograms or litres may be entered with decimals. If you enter 0, the row falls back to open and is marked as unavailable. Univents will not accept more than the target quantity.

Univents records who ticked a row off and when — including temp staff without their own login.

Loading as a second step

Alongside “packed” there is now loaded. Only what has been packed can be loaded — the order is binding.

At the truck you don't work item by item but in groups: Cold room 2 — load 8 items ticks off the whole group at once. You can leave individual rows out if they stay in the store.

If a kitchen item later falls back to “not produced”, Univents also resets “packed” and “loaded” for that row — otherwise “loaded” would sit on goods that don't exist yet.

When the signal in the store is poor

A tap that doesn't get through no longer costs you a tick. The row keeps its tick and shows a small clock icon; the change waits in a queue and is sent as soon as the connection is back. A bar tells you how many changes are still on their way.

A tick is only taken back if the server rejects it on the merits — for instance if you enter more than the target quantity, or try to load something that hasn't been packed. A network error never takes anything away.

What the event lead sees

In the Bookings area the number comes first instead of a long list: 32 of 40 packed · 28 loaded · 2 shortages, plus a progress bar, the delivery time and who last ticked something off.

Below that come the exceptions first — every shortage. The full list is collapsed and can be expanded. Only items that are genuinely packed in full count towards the headline number; a shortage is a value of its own and is never counted as done.

You can tick items off and correct quantities there yourself.

Printing stays as a fallback

The printed production list is unchanged. It sits in the overflow menu next to Update packing list as Print (fallback) — the screen replaces the paper slip, it doesn't abolish it. How to create and filter production, ordering and delivery lists is covered in Creating ordering, packing, delivery & production lists.

Frequently asked questions

Why is everything in one single group? Then your products have no storage location, or only one, and the list groups by product category instead. Set the storage location in Inventory as a bulk action for several products at once — from the second distinct storage location onwards the list switches to the storage-location view automatically.

Who is allowed to tick off packing and loading? Everyone with a shift at the event — in the portal with a login as well as temp staff on their portal link. Updating and finalising stay in the admin area and require the right to edit events.

What is the difference between produced and packed? Produced answers “has the kitchen cooked it”, packed answers “is it in the crate”. Those are two questions and two separate steps: a kitchen item can only be packed once it is marked as produced. On kitchen items the produced quantity remains the leading number.

I updated by accident — are the packed rows gone? No. Loaded items are not deleted when you update, and for packed or loaded rows the dialog asks a second time before applying. Without your confirmation, updating writes nothing at all.

Can I use the packing list without the kitchen monitor? Yes. The packing list works fully on its own.