Skip to main content

Manually Adjusting Serving Numbers on a Worksheet

Kevin U
  • Updated

About Manually Adjusting Serving Numbers

The percentage forecast method that you apply to a menu automatically generates the number of servings required for a meal service (breakfast, lunch, dinner) and day combination.

The total needed forecast method that you apply to a menu contains the default number of servings required for a meal service (breakfast, lunch, dinner) and day combination.

The census forecast method that you apply to a menu generates serving amounts of each menu item equal to the diet order census in your MealSuite account.

If needed, you can manually adjust the serving numbers, which is done on the forecasting worksheet. When you adjust the serving numbers, the forecasting worksheet will lock, meaning any forecasting auto-calculation or manual adjustment made directly on a menu, no longer updates the worksheet so as to not override the manually-adjusted amounts.

Manually Adjusting a Serving Number

To manually adjust a serving number, complete the following steps:

  1. Open the desired forecasting worksheet for the meal period/day.
  2. From the Menu Service Location field, select the menu service location (MSL) of the menus whose serving numbers you want to adjust. Upon selecting the MSL, the forecasting worksheet screen refreshes to display the assigned menus of the MSL.

    select_MSL.png
     
  3. The Service Type field displays All by default, which means the dining area census used by the forecasting worksheet (screenshot below) includes those assigned the table select service (i.e., table select census) and the advance ordering service (i.e., advance ordering census). To refresh the worksheet screen to display only the table select census of the dining areas, select Table Select. To refresh the worksheet screen to display only the advance ordering census of the dining areas (assuming that the forecasting is set up to include the advance ordering census), select Advance Ordering.

    worksheet_census.png
     
  4. There are two methods to manually adjust the serving numbers (refer to appropriate section below):

Adjusting Serving Number for Individual Items

  1. Locate the item whose serving number you want to adjust.
  2. Double-click into the item’s Servings field and enter the new number.
  3. Repeat for other items whose serving number need to change.

    adjust_servings.png

Note: If you are displaying amounts by total unit of measurement, you can manually adjust the total field.

Adjusting the Dining Area Census

The census that forecasting uses to calculate the serving amounts comes from the dining areas assigned to the menu service location. The census for each dining room is displayed at the top right of the forecasting worksheet (screenshot below).

You can manually adjust a dining area census by clicking the census number and changing it, which then generates new serving amounts for each item on the forecasting worksheet.

adjust_census.png

Percentages Forecasting Calculation:

For percentages forecasting, the calculation to generate the serving amounts is as follows: Choice percentage multiplied by the dining area census = servings. For example, assume you have 40 people in your dining area census, and for the beverage category you know that 75% of people will select choice 1 (orange juice) and 25% of people will select choice 2 (grapefruit juice). The calculation to generate the results for production is as follows:

  • 75% (choice 1 percentage) x 40 (dining area census) = 30 servings of orange juice.
  • 25% (choice 2 percentage) x 40 (dining area census) = 10 servings of grapefruit juice.

Total Needed Forecasting and Census Forecasting Calculation:
For the total needed forecasting and the census forecasting, the calculation to generate the serving amounts is as follows:

Original serving amount / original dining area census x new dining area census = new serving amount.

Original serving amount Divide by original dining area census Equals Multiply by new dining area census Equals new serving amount (rounded up) on forecasting worksheet
2 /18 .11 x40 5
16 /18 .88 x40 36
20 /18 1.11 x40 45


Also remember that there are two types of dining areas (the forecasting worksheet does not identify the type of dining area):

  • A dining area that people profiles can be assigned to.
    or
  • A dining area that has a manual census. The manual census is the number of diet orders (i.e., diet type and texture type combinations) the dining area supports and must be entered by you.

    MSL3.png

Automatic Locking of the Forecasting Worksheet

When the serving numbers are manually adjusted, the forecasting worksheet is locked to prevent the forecasting auto-calculation or manual adjustment made directly on a menu from overriding the manually-adjusted numbers. When a forecasting worksheet is locked, its Locked/Unlock button at the top right of the screen toggle to Unlock.

unlock_button.png

Note that for the percentage forecast method there is the ability to manually adjust the percentages via the forecasting worksheet. However, when manually adjusting percentages via the forecasting worksheet, the worksheet will not lock. Instead the serving numbers are adjusted accordingly based off the new percentages.

Clearing Manual Adjustments (i.e., Recalculating)

You can clear any manual adjustments and have the forecast auto-calculation process recalculate the amounts. To do so:

  1. Click the Recalculate button. A message appears stating that recalculating will clear any manual adjustments to the forecasting worksheet.

    recalculate_forecast_message.png
     
  2. Click the Recalculate and Clear Adjustments button.

FAQs

Do the manual adjustments I make on the worksheet override the serving numbers shown on the Forecasting slide-out panel of a menu?

No. The numbers shown on the Forecasting slide-out panel of a menu (opened via the menu day view by clicking the Forecasting button) are not affected by any manual adjustments made on the worksheet.