KMS Configuration Scenarios

Below are some real-world scenarios that will help you understand KMS configuration. 

• A facility wants drink orders that are placed in the main dining room to print at the bar's printer. 
• Can items ordered from a POS location (i.e., dining area) be configured to be sent to a station in a non-aligned KMS location?
• A kitchen wants whole orders to be displayed at the production station, but requires one or two items from an order to be sent to a different prep station?
• Can separate KMS configurations be set up for different meal periods (i.e., breakfast, lunch, dinner)?
• Can one printer be shared between multiple stations in a KMS location?
• Can one printer be shared between multiple KMS locations?
• Can an item be sent to more than one station/printer?
• Can the same ticket be sent to two different stations? Can a ticket be printed at two printers?

A facility wants drink orders that are placed in the main dining room to print at the bar's printer.

The facility has two locations: a main dining room and a bar. Each is a separate POS location, with an aligned KMS location. The facility wants any drink orders placed in the main dining room to print at the bar's printer. 

The solution is as follows:

1. For the Main Dining Room KMS location, create a production station named Bar (Bar production station).
2. For the Bar production station, link it to the existing bar printer.
3. For the Bar production station, select the same production areas that are currently assigned to the Bar KMS location (via its production stations). 

Can items ordered from a POS location (i.e., dining area) be configured to be sent to a station in a non-aligned KMS location?

Because a POS location (i.e., dining area) is aligned with a KMS location, any items ordered from the POS location are sent to its aligned KMS location, and therefore will only display on station screens of the aligned KMS location. 

Although you can use a touchscreen to access any station of any KMS location, doing so would require constant toggling between KMS locations and stations, disrupting workflow in the area in which the touchscreen physically resides. 

However, if requiring certain items from a POS location to print at a printer physically located at a non-aligned KMS location, then this is possible. This is because a printer is not strictly associated with a single KMS location in the system (i.e., the printer "floats"; any KMS station in any KMS location can be configured to use it). This workaround is configured as follows: 

1. In the KMS location that you do not want items sent to from its POS, create a production station and assign it the production area with the items to be sent to the desired printer. 
2. For that production station, link it to the desired printer. 

A kitchen wants whole orders to be displayed at the production station, but requires one or two items from an order to be sent to a different prep station?

Assume a kitchen wants the whole order to be displayed at its hot production station, but requires grilled items (e.g., hamburger) to be sent to the grilled prep station. This scenario can be handled as follows using a coordinator station to send the items to: 

1. In the core system, create a "Grilled Items" production area, and assign the grilled menu items to it. 
2. In the KMS location configuration:
   1. Assign the "Grilled Items" production area to the hot production station. 
   2. Create a coordinator station and assign the "Grilled Items" production area to it. 

With the above configuration, the grilled items will appear both on the production station (with the whole order) and on the coordinator station (as stand-alone items).  

To add further to this scenario, assume the coordinator station is only a printer and not a touchscreen. Because the grilled menu items are sent to the hot production station also, you will want to prevent the coordinator station from bumping the ticket, which would also remove it from the production station. This unwanted scenario will occur if the Hardware Configuration setting for the coordinator station is Printer Only. Therefore to prevent this, set the Hardware Configuration setting to Screen and Printer. 

Can separate KMS configurations be set up for different meal periods (i.e., breakfast, lunch, dinner)?

Unfortunately, this functionality is not currently available.

A workaround is for the facility to manually update the POS location to point to a different KMS location based on meal periods, specific days of the week, or other scheduling needs. See Selecting the KMS Location for Orders.

Can one printer be shared between multiple stations in a KMS location?

Yes. Assigning a printer to a station does not prevent that printer from being assigned to another station.

Can one printer be shared between multiple KMS locations?

Yes. Assigning a printer to a station in one KMS location does not prevent that printer from being assigned to a station in another KMS location. 

Can an item be sent to more than one station/printer?

Yes. The item can be sent to one or more stations/printers. This is accomplished by using a coordinator station or expeditor station, explained as follows:

For the production area that the item is assigned to (via the Core system), you can then assign that production area to a coordinator station or expeditor station (with or without a printer). 

Note that you have to assign the production area to a coordinator station or expeditor station--and not another production station--because a production area cannot be assigned to more than one station of the same type (i.e., production area cannot be assigned either the "hot" production station or the "cold" production station, but not both production stations). 

Can the same ticket be sent to two different stations? Can a ticket be printed at two printers? 

A ticket at a station consists of menu items. Those menu items in turn come from the production areas that are assigned to the station. Therefore, note the following: 

• Because a production station cannot share the same production area, a ticket cannot be duplicated at another production station.
• You can assign the same production area(s) to an expeditor station, which will result in the ticket with the same menu items being duplicated. However, if that expeditor station is also assigned other production areas, then the ticket will also include items from those production areas.
• Similarly, you can assign the same production area(s) to a coordinator station, which will result in the ticket with the same menu items being duplicated. However, if that coordinator station is also assigned other production areas, then the ticket will also include items from those production areas.