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SIS 2000+ Food Services

Sec. 13, Cafeteria, Introduction / Login 
 

The Cafeteria module records Meal, Milk, and ala Carte item service and payments for students, faculty, patrons, and visitors. Multiple points-of-sale may be used, and entries may be recorded manually at a workstation by an attendant, or a ten-key pad may be used for student entry of ID #'s. Other line entry options include scanning barcodes, or use of a touch screen point-of-sale terminal, which may be used with or without barcodes.

Service and payments for students, patrons and faculty may be processed district-wide (if a district database is in place). Service eligibility is credited to the site providing the service. Payments are credited directly to the consumer's account. Service, payment and eligibility reporting may be per school and district-wide.

Eligibility figures are derived by comparing student pay-types (in effect on the date of service), meal rates and service data.

If the Cafeteria Preference EXPIRED ACCOUNTS = INSERT, when the Cafeteria module encounters a student without an active Account Status (pay type) record for the date of service (example - Application has expired), a Paid status record is automatically inserted into that student Account.  If the Cafeteria Preference EXPIRED ACCOUNTS = ALERT, a notice is displayed with the option to serve the meal as Paid.

Charge-to-Account, payment for amount of sale, and general Account payments are processed. Visitor and Cash payments are recorded using the Cash Student, Faculty, Adult and Child buttons (which record both service and payments in one procedure), and are stored in Visitor and Cash Accounts.

Beginning and ending Account Balances are displayed if the Workstation Settings Show Balance and/or Show Balance Fwd = YES. The beginning account balance is also translated into a 'Meals Remaining' figure which, for free students, counts down according to user-defined parameters (this countdown is based upon actual usage, so that the figure will appear reasonable to the student.  See Sec. 13b, Cafeteria Preferences, Countdown High and Countdown Low). The current (fabricated) Meals Remaining figure for Free Students may be viewed and edited in Accounts, Settings.

If current service includes the reimbursable meal, that meal is displayed as 'Meal' in the Cafeteria transaction grid - the price of the reimbursable meal is not displayed.

The reimbursable Meal may be designated as a Worker Meal, and charged as per the meal rate set in Rates. Worker meals are identified in reports and eligibility figures by consumer type and pay-type.

An unlimited number of food items and meals may be served to an individual (only one Breakfast and one Lunch meal qualify as the reimbursable meal for students). Previously recorded transactions for the lunch or breakfast session display (red italics) if an account is accessed again during line entry, regardless of the food line used. Previously recorded entries may be edited through the Cafeteria module only by using the Cash Drawer that was used to record the original entries. General editing of payment and service records should be done using the Accounts module (see Sec. 13f, Edit Records).

Cafeteria Alerts provide information about account problems that may be encountered during line entry. The Cafeteria Policies module sets user-definable Balance, Spending and Quantity Restrictions that may be database-wide or customized for individuals. In addition, Accounts Settings may be enabled for individuals for Food Item Alerts, Automatic Worker status, and to Deny Access to Lunch and/or Breakfast. These alerts may be associated with audio alarms, per workstation (see Sec. 2 through 2b, Cafeteria Policies).  Student Birthday, Faculty Birthday and Half-Birthday events may be enabled - if an audio file is selected for these events (Cafeteria Settings, Audio), that file plays when a consumer birthday or half-birthday is encountered.
 
 

13.1 Cafeteria Login
Select the Cafeteria button from the Food Services menu to display the Cafeteria login screen (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1 - Cafeteria login
 
 

13.1.1 Select School
School defaults to the site selected during SIS 2000+ login. School may be edited only if login was completed under System Administrator. Otherwise, School is read-only.

13.1.2 Select POS Configuration
Click on the drop down list box to display POS configurations available for this school (as created in the POS Designer) and select the configuration you wish to use. Remember, which food items are available for sale in the Cafeteria screen is controlled by the POS configuration selected during login. A configuration is a menu of food items. Only the meal, milk and ala Carte items designated in the POS Designer for this configuration will be available. A POS configuration may be used by more than one cash drawer.

13.1.3 Select Cash Drawer
Service and payments are grouped by Cash Drawer for report purposes. Click on the Cash Drawer  list box to display available drawers for this school. Click on the drawer you wish to use to record transactions for your food line.

Cash Drawer Selection Safeguards
Safeguards have been built into cash drawer selection. A cash drawer may be marked as 'in use' or 'locked'.
 

13.1.3.1 Cash Drawer is 'In Use'
A Cash Drawer should not be used by more than one food line, since transactions are identified by cash drawer. If login is attempted using a cash drawer previously selected by another workstation, the following alert message will display:


Fig. 3 - cash drawer IN USE
 

Click on the message text or the Help button to display additional information (Fig. 4).


Fig. 4 - cash drawer IN USE detail
 

Click OK to return to the login window and select a different Cash Drawer. Be aware, if Unlock is selected and the drawer is in use by another workstation, all payment and service transactions recorded by both workstations will be combined under the same Cash Drawer (which will make food line reconciliation difficult).

13.1.3.2 Cash Drawer is 'Locked'
In addition to cash drawers created for use in the cafeteria, an additional drawer (or more) is created for use in the office to identify transactions processed by office staff or 'non-cafeteria' transactions. It is recommended that Office cash drawers are locked to prevent accidental use by the cafeteria. A cash drawer may be designated as locked in the Cash Drawer Editor, Sec. 13a. Locked cash drawers may not be used by the Cafeteria module. When login is attempted using a locked cash drawer the following alert is displayed:


Fig. 5 - Locked cash drawer message
 

Click on the message text or the Help button to display additional information (Fig. 6).


Fig. 6 - Locked cash drawer detail
 

Click OK to return to the login screen and select a different cash drawer.
 
 

13.1.4 Confirm Date to Process
Date to Process assumes Today's Date (per System Date). If the date displayed is correct, select OK to continue. If you need to process a different date (for example, to enter historical data), click on the field button at the right of the date field to display the calendar. Use the VCR buttons to go to the desired month. Select Today to highlight today's date. Click on a date to select.


Fig. 7 - Set date to process