Working with Menus with an RD Signature at the Corporate Level

• Overview of RD Signatures
• Tutorial Video - RD Signatures at the Corporate Level (4:41)
• Adding an RD Signature to a Menu
• Identifying an RD-Signed Menu in your Account
• Manually Removing an RD Signature Record
• Editing Details of an RD Signature Record
• Actions that will Remove the RD Signature from Menu
  • Warning! When an RD-Approved Corporate Menu is Copied by Child Facilities
  • Notifications when an RD Signature is Removed
  • Seeing Who Performed Menu Action to Remove Signature and When
• Expiring RD Signatures
• Weekly Email Digest
• FAQs
  • Is it necessary for an enterprise account user to copy an RD-signed menu from a higher-level account for its child accounts to use?

Overview of RD Signatures

Per state regulations, a facility must serve a menu approved by a registered dietitian (RD). The system allows a digital signature from an RD to be applied to a menu to certify that the menu meets dietary regulations and requirements for the state. 

RD signatures are applied to menus owned by a corporate parent account for their child facility accounts to copy those menus to their accounts (via the Menu Templates screen). 

This article explain how a corporate account can manage RD signatures on menus for use by your child facilities. If you want to understand how a child facility account works with a menu with an RD signature, see Working with Menus with an RD Signature at the Unit Level.

Tutorial Video - RD Signatures at the Corporate Level (4:41)

Adding an RD Signature to a Menu

When an RD signature has been added to a menu, that RD-signed menu is then available to your child facilities to copy and use in their account. To add an RD signature to a menu, complete the following steps:

1. Physically write the signature on a piece of paper.
2. Take an image of the signature and save to your local device or network. 
3. Login to the system and locate the menu you want to add an RD signature to.
4. Open the menu in the week-at-a-glance (WaaG) view. 
5. Click the Settings button.
6. Click the RD Signature tab.
   
   
    
7. Click the Add Signature button. The Add New Signature window appears. 
   
   
    
8. Enter the following information:
   • First Name of RD
   • Last Name of RD
   • License Number of RD
   • Expiration Date of of when the signature on the menu expires, and as such will require review. 
   • State
      
9. If the RD signature is linked to any Also Available (AA) menu or snack menu (i.e., menus that are to be used along with the standard menu), then select those menus from the Link Menus to Assigned RD Signature drop-down. Doing so will also add the RD signature to the selected AA or snack menu. 
   
   
    

10. If the linked menu(s) are mandatory for the RD signature to be valid, then select the Use of linked menus mandatory with signature check box. 
    
    
    
    This means that when the facility copies the RD-signed standard menu, they will also be required to copy the linked menus so as to keep the RD signature on the menu. If they choose not to copy the linked menu(s), the RD signature will be removed from the standard menu. 

    
     

11. In the Signature field, click the Click to upload image link to upload the image of the signature.
12. Click the Save button to add the signature. 
    
    
     
13. If the menu requires additional RD signatures for different states, then repeat the above steps to add additional RD signature records. 
    
    
     
14. Click the Save button at top right of the Edit menu slide-out panel. The following occurs: 
    • An audit trail of when the signature was added and by whom is displayed below each RD signature record that was added. 
      
      
       
    • The RD Signed Menu label adjacent is placed in the header of the menu screens: 
      
      
       
    • The menu screens display the following alert describing the RD signature functionality (which can be closed by clicking the Close link): "This menu has been signed and approved by a Registered Dietitian. Menu editing could invalidate signature."
      
      

Identifying an RD-Signed Menu in your Account

In the Menus Listing screen, an RD-Signed menu can be identified via the RD Signature column (see Setting Preferred Columns on the Menu Listing Screen). 

When a RD-signed menu is open (either week-at-a-glance (WaaG) view or menu day view), the RD Signed Menu label appears beside the menu name in the header. 

Manually Removing an RD Signature Record

You can remove an RD signature record from the menu. This includes a currently-active signature, any expired RD signatures, and any RD signatures that were removed due to a menu action. To remove an RD signature record, complete the following steps:

1. Open the menu in the week-at-a-glance (WaaG) view. 
2. Click the Settings button. The Edit Menu slide-out panel appears. 
3. Click the RD Signature tab to view the RD signature and RD details. 
   
   
    
4. Click the cog wheel in the Actions column and click Remove (first screenshot below). A validation message appears (second screenshot below). 
   
   
   
   
    
5. Click Remove. The signature record is removed from the menu. 

Editing Details of an RD Signature Record

If your user profile added an RD signature, then it can also edit the following details of an RD signature record: credentials, registration number, signature expiration date, license number, and signature image. Note that the first and last names cannot be changed. 

Open the menu in the week-at-a-glance (WaaG) view. 

1. Click the Settings button. The Edit Menu slide-out panel appears. 
2. Click the RD Signature tab to view the RD signature records. 
   
   
    
3. For the RD signature record you want to edit, click its cog wheel in the Actions column and click Edit (first screenshot below). The modal appears for you to make the edits (second screenshot below). 
   
   
   
   
    
4. Make your changes to the desired fields and click Save. 
5. As a corporate account that makes certain edits to an existing RD signature record, those edits will automatically copy to the RD signature record of the menu and any facility accounts who have copied the menu. After clicking Save, the following prompt below appears to indicate that the edits will update to the facility accounts. Click the Proceed & Save Changes button to proceed. 
   
   
    
6. Note that when an RD signature record is edited, an audit trail of when the signature was edited and by whom is displayed below RD signature record. 
   
   

Actions that will Remove the RD Signature from Menu

When working in an RD-signed menu, certain actions will cause the RD signature to be removed from the menu. If the menu is also linked to an AA menu or snack menu, then the same actions will also cause the linked AA menu or snack menu to lose its RD signature. 

When carrying out such an action, the system will first warn you that doing so will cause the RD signature to be removed (first screenshot below). In order to continue, you will need to type "Confirm" as a confirmation that the signature will be removed (second screenshot below).

The actions that will cause an RD signature to be removed are as follows:

• Removing an item from the menu
• Replacing an item (however, for a temporary replacement, the RD signature will not be removed)
• Adding an item
• Updating choices on a menu
• Changing menu category of item
• Adjusting portion size of an item
• Deleting a linked menu 

Note: If the menu is a flex menu, and you are swapping a menu item from within its flex group, the RD signature will not be removed. 

Warning! When an RD-Approved Corporate Menu is Copied by Child Facilities

When an RD-approved menu at the parent corporate account is copied by its child facility accounts, and an action above is performed by the parent corporate account that removes the RD signature, then the copied menu in all the child facility accounts also lose their RD signature.

The reason for this is that the RD has approved a specific menu (and any linked menus), and therefore the menu (and any linked menus) must lose that approval if actions by the corporate parent account alter the menu. 

Notifications when an RD Signature is Removed

When a RD signature is removed via a menu action above, the RD Sign Removed label is displayed beside the menu name in the header. 

Hovering over the label displays the date that the signature was removed. 

In addition, the following alert is displayed at the top of the screen, which can be closed by clicking the Close link. 

This menu is no longer RD certified due to signature removal on [Date]. The removal may have occurred due to changes to Menu content (excluding temporary replacements), signature expiration or updates to menu properties. Click here to add a new signature.

Seeing Who Performed Menu Action to Remove Signature and When

If an action was performed to cause the RD signature to be removed from the menu, the system provides an audit trail of who did the action and the date and time it was performed. This information is recorded in red text for reach RD signature record on the RD Signature tab (below). 

To access the RD Signature tab to see who performed a menu action to invalidate the RD signature:

1. Open the menu in the week-at-a-glance (WaaG) view. 
2. Click the Settings button. The Edit Menu slide-out panel appears. 
3. Click the RD Signature tab. 

Note that each removed RD signature record will still be displayed in the RD Signature tab for informational purposes (this includes signatures that have expired). If not wanting to display removed RD signature records, then select the Hide removed signatures check box. 

If required to remove an RD signature record, see Manually Removing an RD Signature from a Menu above. 

Expiring RD Signatures

If the RD signature on a menu expires, the RD Signature label is removed from the menu. Four weeks prior to an RD signature expiring, the system will indicate that the signature is to expire. Prior to a signature expiring, you can add a new RD signature to the menu, or browse through the menu templates to copy a new menu with an RD signature. 

• In the Menus Listing screen, the Expiring Soon label appears in the RD Signature column. 
  
  
   
• In an open menu (either week-at-a-glance (WaaG) view or menu day view), the RD signature expires soon! label appears adjacent to the menu name in the header.
   
• For a menu report that can print RD signatures, the following text appears below the selected menu. 
  
  RD signature on this menu will expire on [Date]. Consider browsing through RD signed menus on Menu Templates or adding a new RD signature. 
  
  
   
• If you print a menu report with an expiring signature, the RD Sign Expiring Soon label appears at the bottom of each page. 
  
  

Weekly Email Digest

When the RD signature of an active menu in a child facility account is added, edited, or deleted in the past seven days, and/or when a signature is set to expire within four weeks, an email notification is sent each Wednesday at 7:00 AM EST to the corporate account users.

FAQs

Is it necessary for an enterprise account user to copy an RD-signed menu from a higher-level account for its child accounts to use?

If no changes will be made to the RD-signed menu owned by the higher-level (i.e., parent account), then no, it is not necessary for the enterprise account to copy the RD-signed menu for its child accounts to use. All RD-signed menus owned by any parent account (enterprise, system, MealSuite database) are available to all child facility accounts to use. 

However, if the enterprise account user wants to make any change to the RD-signed menu owned by the higher-level account, then yes, that RD-signed menu will need to be copied as a new menu for the changes to be made, and a RD signature to be reapplied. That new menu will then be owned only by the enterprise account and it will be available to its child accounts for use.