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Working with Diner Charge Accounts

Kevin U
  • Updated

About Diner Charge Accounts

A diner charge account allows staff members to pay their ticket (or portion of their ticket) from an assigned charge account. The transactions from the diner charge account can be recorded in the facility’s accounting system (via an export interface) for subsequent deduction from the staff member's payroll account.

How Do Diner Charge Accounts Work on the POS?

If the diner is assigned an active diner charge account, then when a diner is being checked out on the POS, the Charge Account button is available.

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Upon tapping the Charge Account button, the POS screen displays the balance to be charged and the current balance of the charge account. 

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Note: If more than one diner charge account is assigned to the diner, then that diner charge account is also shown for the POS to select. 

When payment is made, the POS screen refreshes to display the amount applied against the charge account. 

chargeaccount3.png

Viewing Diner Charge Account Balances for Diners

  1. In the Core system, open the resident/patient profile.
  2. Click the Charge Accounts tab.
  3. The Current Balance column lists the current balance for each assigned plan.

Viewing Diner Charge Account Transactions of a Diner

To view the transactions made on a diner charge account by an individual diner, complete the following steps:

  1. In the Core system, open the resident/patient profile.
  2. Click the Charge Accounts tab.
  3. Click the name of the charge account whose activity you want to view. Or, from the Actions column, click the gear icon and select View Activity. A separate screen appears listing individual transaction records made under the charge account. A transaction record contains the following:
    • Date and time of transaction
    • Diner
    • Transaction ID
    • Ticket ID
    • Type of transaction
    • POS location
    • Notes that may have been entered when the transaction occurred
    • Amount of credit or debit
    • Account balance

Creating and Automatically Assigning a Diner Charge Account

  1. In the Touch Admin software, select People Management > Charge Policies. The Charge Policies screen appears.
     
  2. Click the Add a Diner Charge Policy button. The Charge Policy screen appears.
     
  3. Enter or select the following:
    • Name - name of the charge account.
    • Customer Finance System or Internal Tracking Code - Optional 
    • Covered Items are Tax Exempt - with this check box selected, any items/products paid for through the charge account are not charged taxes and override the default tax settings for the products or categories.
    • Maximum Account Limit - enter the maximum credit limit for the charge account. 
    • Automatically assign any diner in the designated categories below. If not checked, charge accounts will need to be manually added to a diner. - with this check box selected, then in the field below, select the diner categories (Staff, Residents, Guests) the charge account is to be associated with (hold down the shift key to select multiple diner categories). Any diners associated with a selected diner category will be automatically assigned the charge account. If you would like to manually assign the diner charge account to diners, then leave the check box blank.
    • GL Account - Optional - select the GL account to be associated with the charge account for tracking in the external accounting system. Note that GL accounts are set up by MealSuite staff. If you are MealSuite staff, see the following internal article: Setting Up External Account System Parameters in the POS > GL Accounts. 
    • Business Line for Finance Reporting - Optional - select the business line to be associated with the charge account for tracking in the external accounting system. Note that GL accounts are set up by MealSuite staff. If you are MealSuite staff, see the following internal article: Setting Up External Account System Parameters in the POS > Business Lines. 
    • Automatically reset the balance on all accounts on a regular schedule - with this check box selected, then when the balance of a diner’s account reaches $0 the account will be automatically reset to the Maximum Account Limit according to the schedule parameters below (which is typically based on payroll scheduling):
      • Date of first reset - select the date the first reset is to trigger.
      • Time the re-occurring reset should happen - enter the time of day a reset will occur.
      • Reset interval - select the interval allowed between resets: Daily, Weekly, Biweekly, Monthly.
         
  4. Click the Save button to apply your changes. You are returned to the Charge Policies screen, where the newly listed diner charge account is listed.

Manually Assigning Charge Account to Diner (if Auto-Assign not used)

When a diner charge account is set up (as per above steps), it is usually set up to be automatically assigned to diners. If the diner charge account was not set up to be automatically assigned to diners, then you can manually assign it to diners. To do so, complete the following steps:

  1. In the Core system, open the resident/patient profile.
  2. Click the Charge Accounts tab.
  3. Click the Assign a Charge Policy button. A pop-up appears displaying the available charge accounts.
  4. Click the Add button of the diner account to add. The newly-added diner charge account is listed.

Applying a Credit to a Diner’s Charge Account

You can apply credit a diner’s charge account. Doing so will override any auto-reset schedule for the charge account. To apply credit to a diner's charge account, complete the following steps:

  1. In the Core system, open the resident/patient profile.
  2. Click the Charge Accounts tab.
  3. For the diner charge account you want to credit, click its gear icon in the Actions column and select Credit. The Credit Amount pop-up appears.
  4. Click the Credit button to close the pop-up. The updated balance is displayed in the Current Balance column.

Deactivating or Reactivating a Diner Charge Account for a Diner

You can deactivate or reactivate a diner charge account for an individual diner. To do so, complete the following steps: 

  1. In the Core system, open the resident/patient profile.
  2. Click the Charge Accounts tab.
    • An active charge account states Enabled in the Status column. To deactivate a charge account, click its gear icon in the Actions column and select Deactivate. The charge account is deactivated and states Suspended in the Status column.  
    • A deactivated charge account states Suspended in the Status column. To reactivate a charge account, click its gear icon in the Actions column and select Activate. The charge account is reactivated and states Enabled in the Status column.  

Disabling a Diner Charge Account in the System

To disable a diner charge account currently in use in the system, complete the following steps:

  1. In the Touch Admin software, select People Management > Charge Policies.
  2. In the Diner Charge Policies section, locate the diner charge account to disable and click its Disable Policy and Accounts button.
  3. Click OK to the confirmation message that appears.

Enabling a Diner Charge Account in the System

To reenable a diner charge in the system, complete the following steps:

  1. In the Touch Admin software, select People Management > Charge Policies.
  2. In the Diner Charge Policies section, locate the diner charge policy to enable and click its Activate Policy button.

MealSuite Support Only: Bulk Assigning a Diner Charge Account to Multiple Diner Profiles

A MealSuite Support representative has the ability to bulk assign a diner charge account to multiple diner profiles. If you are MealSuite Support, complete the following steps to do so:

  1. From the left navigation pane, click People Management. The Diner Management screen opens, listing the diner profiles in the account.
     
  2. Click the Bulk Assign Meal Plan/Charge Account button. The screen refreshes with check boxes beside each diner profile.
     
  3. Select the diner profiles to assign to a meal plan. 
     
  4. Click the Proceed to Assign button. The Assign Meal Plan / Charge Account pop-up appears. 

    diner_profile_bulk_assign.png
     
  5. Click the Charge Account option. The pop-up refreshes accordingly. 

    diner_profile_bulk_assign_charge_account.png
     
  6. From the Charge Policy drop-down, select the diner charge account to assign.
     
  7. Click the Assign button and click OK to the confirmation message that appears.