- About the Forecasting Worksheets
- Opening a Forecasting Worksheet
- Manually Adjusting a Dining Area Census
- Viewing Diet Order Census
- Expanding/Collapsing Menu and Menu Categories
- Viewing Forecast Method
- Adjusting Percentages (for the Percentage Forecast Method)
- Amounts Required per Dining Area
- How Menu Items are Displayed
- Menu Item Information
- Searching for Specific Items
- Display Options
- Locking and Recalculating
About the Forecasting Worksheets
When a forecasting method is applied to a menu, then a forecasting worksheet is generated for each meal period (breakfast, lunch, dinner) and day combination, displaying the amount of auto-calculated servings for each menu item in real-time.
Opening a Forecasting Worksheet
Forecasting worksheets are accessed from the forecasting calendar. To open a forecasting worksheet, complete the following steps:
- Select Production > Forecasting. The forecasting calendar appears. The calendar presents a grid of meal periods/snack times and day of the week combinations.
- At the top left are the menu service locations (MSLs) for your MealSuite account. Click the MSL button of the menus whose forecasting worksheets you want to open.
- Open a forecasting worksheet, as follows:
- The TS in the grid cells indicates the table select census, which is the persons in your MealSuite account assigned the table select service type and/or dining areas with manual censuses. Clicking a TS for a meal period/day opens its forecasting worksheet to the table select census, which is used in the forecasting calculations to generate the serving amounts.
- If your forecasting is set up to to include the advance order census, then AO is present in the grid cells, which indicates the persons in your MealSuite account assigned the advance ordering service type. Clicking an AO for a meal period/day opens its forecasting worksheet to the advance ordering census, which is used in the forecasting calculations to generate the serving amounts.
- If a snack menu is scheduled, then Snack appears in the in the grid. Clicking a Snack opens the forecasting worksheet for the snack service for that particular snack time/day combination.
Navigating Between Days
The current date is displayed at the top, and you can navigate to different days via the Previous Day and Next Day links.
Selecting Meal Periods/Snack Times
The meal periods/snack times can be selected from the associated buttons at the top of the screen.
Selecting Menu Service Location (MSL)
The menu service locations (MSLs) of your MealSuite account are available from the Menu Service Locations field. A menu and dining area are assigned to an MSL (diagram below), and selecting an MSL refreshes the forecasting worksheet with the menus assigned to the MSL and the censuses of the dining areas assigned to the MSL (screenshot below).
Service Type and Dining Area Census
From the Service Type field, you determine the dining area census.
-
Selecting Table Select from the Service Type field refreshes the dining area census to those persons assigned the table select service (i.e., table select census) for the selected meal period.
-
If a dining area with a manual census is assigned to the selected menu service location (as per instructions above), then its census also appears on the forecasting worksheet when Table Select is selected as the Service Type.
-
Assuming the forecasting is set up to include the advance ordering census, then selecting Advance Ordering from the Service Type field refreshes the dining area census to those persons assigned the advance ordering service (i.e., advance ordering census) for the selected meal period.
Note: If only a dining area with manual census (i.e., dining area does not support the assignment of people profiles) is assigned to the MSL, then selecting Advance Ordering from the Service Type field will not generate results on the forecasting worksheet. -
To include both the table select census and advance ordering census (assuming the forecasting is set up to include the advance ordering census), select All from the Service Type field.
Manually Adjusting a Dining Area Census
You can manually adjust a dining area census by clicking the census number and changing it. The serving amounts for each item will adjust accordingly using a calculation specific to the forecast method. For more information see, Manually Adjusting Forecasting Amounts on a Worksheet > Adjusting the Dining Area Census.
When a dining area census is manually adjusted, the worksheet will lock, meaning the forecasting auto-calculation no longer updates the worksheet so as to not override the manually-adjusted serving amounts. For more information on working with locked worksheets, see Locked Forecasting Worksheets.
Viewing Diet Order Census
Clicking the View Census link displays the Census window, which breaks down the census per diet orders (diet type and texture type).
The diet order census in your MealSuite account is established by diet order assignments to people and any dining area set up with a manual census.
-
If a person in your MealSuite account is admitted, archived, or transferred, the census in your account is updated to reflect the change to the diet order numbers. Similarly, when a person’s diet order is changed, the census in your account is updated to reflect the change to the diet order numbers.
-
If the manual census is changed for a dining area, the census in your account is updated to reflect the change to the diet order numbers.
If the forecasting worksheet becomes locked (due to manual adjustment or production cut-off time), the forecasting auto-calculation stops. If there is a subsequent change to the census in your MealSuite account, the Census window conveys the changes to diet orders (screenshot below) so that you can decide if you need to recalculate the forecasting to update the serving numbers. See When the Census Changes after a Forecasting Worksheet is Locked for more information.
Expanding/Collapsing Menu and Menu Categories
The menus and their menu categories can be expanded/collapsed as needed on the forecasting worksheet screen.
Viewing Forecast Method
The forecast method (percentages, total needed, or census) that is applied to the menu is stated below the menu header.
Adjusting Percentages (for the Percentage Forecast Method)
For percentages forecasting, the percentage fields are displayed for each category (screenshot below). These percentage fields can be customized to recalculate the serving amounts.
Note: You can enter percentage numbers that equal more than 100%, so as to “pad” or “buffer” your serving numbers accordingly.
Note: If the original default percentages on the percentage forecasting settings are changed (either via the Percentages Forecast Method, the Set Method By Meal Forecast Method or a forecast exception), then those default percentages overwrite any custom percentages on the forecasting worksheets and the Forecasting tabs.
For percentages forecasting, if there are multiple items for a choice (e.g., cranberry juice and apple juice for choice 2), then the overall percentage for the choice is allocated evenly among the items:
Amounts Required per Dining Area
The menu items of each category are listed with their serving amounts in the Amount column and Dining Area columns. If there is more than one dining area assigned to the selected menu service location (as per instructions above), then the serving amounts are broken down by each dining area.
Above the Serving button are the total servings required for the item along with the item’s portion size. For example, 22 servings of soup at a portion size of 6 fluid ounces, or 5 servings of bacon at a portion size of 2 slices.
Above the Total button is the total needed in the item’s unit of measurement for its portion size. For example, 4.12 quarts of soup (22 servings of soup multiplied by 6 fluid ounces each portion size = 132 fluid ounces, or 4.12 quarts), or 10 slices of bacon (5 servings of bacon at 2 slices each portion size = 10 slices).
Switching Between Serving Amounts and Total Unit of Measurement
The menu items that need to be prepared for a dining area can be represented as serving amounts or by the total unit of measurement. For example, 10 servings of soup required for a dining area or 60 fluid ounces of soup required for a dining area.
-
Clicking the Serving button for an item displays the serving amounts needed for each dining area (first screenshot below).
-
Clicking the Total button for an item displays the total unit of measurement needed for each dining area (second screenshot below).
By default, the items displays as serving amounts. This default setting can be changed to have the items display as a total unit of measurement. To change the default settings, complete the following steps:
- Select Production > Forecasting. The Forecasting screen appears.
- Click the Forecasting Settings button at the top right. The Production & Forecasting Settings screen appears. Note: Another means to access forecast settings is Tools & Setup > Manage Facility > Forecasting Settings tab.
- Ensure the General Settings tab is selected.
- Under the Display Forecast & Production By title, you have two options (screenshot below).
- Servings - displays the serving amounts needed for a dining area.
-
Weight/Volume - displays the total unit of measurement needed for a dining area.
- Select the desired option, and then click the Save All Settings button to apply your changes
Manually Adjusting the Serving Amounts
For a menu assigned percentages forecasting, you can manually adjust the auto-calculated serving amounts on the forecasting worksheet (screenshot below).
Similarly, for a menu assigned the total needed forecast method or census forecast method, you can manually adjust the default serving amounts on the forecasting worksheet.
When you adjust the serving amounts, the forecasting worksheet will lock, meaning any forecasting auto-calculation no longer updates the worksheet so as to not override the manually-adjusted amounts. For more information, see Manually Adjusting Serving Amounts on a Worksheet.
Note: If you are displaying amounts by total unit of measurement, you can manually adjust the total field (screenshot below).
How Menu Items are Displayed
- Each menu item is listed with its diet type and texture type in parentheses.
- If the item is from the menu, then MenuItem is listed in parentheses.
- If the item is from a personal menu item, then PersonalMenuItem is listed in parentheses.
- A house diet/regular texture item is listed in bold.
- An item coming from the house item’s extension grid is listed below the house item, is indented, and is not bold.
Menu Item Information
By clicking a menu item, a separate window appears with the following tabs:
- Details - displays the recipe details.
- Nutrition Facts - displays the Nutrition Facts label.
-
Where used (screenshot below) - displays the following sections:
- Recipes - lists any recipes the item is assigned to as an ingredient (i.e., a recipe can be an ingredient itself in a recipe), and lists any recipes the item is assigned to as a therapeutic substitute (i.e., an extended recipe).
- Menus - lists the menus the item is assigned to.
-
Personal Menus - lists the people profiles who have the recipe added as a personal item to their personal menu.
Note: The Recipes section is displayed first; therefore if you do not see the Menus and Personal Menus sections, then you can either collapse the Recipes section (by clicking the Recipes header bar) or scroll down the window to see the Menus and Personal Menus sections. Also, the Menus and Personal Menus sections will need to be expanded by clicking their respective header bars.
Searching for Specific Items
You can search for specific items to display on the forecasting worksheet via the Search field at the top right.
Display Options
The display options are available from the monitor icon at the top right and allow you to customize how items are displayed on the forecasting worksheet.
- Display By - display the menu items by their display name (i.e., user-friendly name) or lookup name (i.e., system name).
- Group By - lists the items by their menu category or choice.
- Hide empty Dining Areas - if a dining area assigned to the selected menu service location (as per instructions above) does not have a census, then it will not appear on the forecasting worksheet.
-
Display Personal Menu Information:
- When grouping by choice, then personal items, specific substitutes, and fallback substitutes are listed in a “Personal Menu Items & Substitutions” section on the forecasting worksheet. Note that if an item is used as more than one personal menu type (e.g., a personal item and a specific substitute) each type is listed with the item.
- When grouping by menu category, then personal items, specific substitutes, and fallback substitutes are listed at the bottom of their respective menu categories, and the Choice column states the type of personal menu customization (e.g., specific substitute).
The Apply button applies your settings, but does not keep the settings the next time you visit a forecasting worksheet. The Apply & Save button will apply your settings and keep the settings the next time you visit a forecasting worksheet.
Locking and Recalculating
When a forecasting worksheet is locked, the forecast auto-calculation no longer updates the worksheet so as not to override its current serving amounts, and thereby give production staff the time needed to prepare the meals.
For detailed information about worksheet locking, unlocking, and recalculating amounts, see Locked Forecasting Worksheets.