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Configuring a KMS Location and its Food Preparation Stations

Kevin U
  • Updated

Prerequisite Step: Ensure Production Areas Exist in Core System

Configuring a KMS location involves associating its production and coordinator stations with production areas in the core system. A production area is where menu items are assigned to upon ordering. For example, a “hot” production area to prepare cooked items and a “cold” production area to prepare non-cooked items items. Therefore, before configuring a KMS, ensure your production areas are first set up in your account.

Adding a KMS Location

To add a new KMS location (also known as a Meal Assembly Location in Touch Admin), complete the following steps:

  1. In the Core system, select Settings from the left navigation sidebar. The Settings panel appears to the right.
     
  2. From the Settings panel, select Production Settings > KMS Locations. The KMS Locations screen appears. 

    KMS_locations_screen.png
     
  3. Click the Add a Location button. The screen refreshes with the Add KMS Location section. 

    add_KMS_location.png
     
  4. In the Name field, enter a name for the KMS location. Ensure to enter a name that will be recognizable to the servers who are setting up instant ordering on the Touch app. When setting up instant orders, the server will select the KMS location (i.e., Meal Assembly location) to send orders to, as per screenshot below.   
     
    select KMS_from_meal_assembly.png
     
  5. If the station(s) for the KMS location will be configured for screens, then you can set a warning time (onscreen timer flashes yellow) and a danger time (onscreen timer flashes red) for a meal course when that course is taking too long to prepare (assuming your POS location is enabled with meal courses).
    1. In the Warning Time field for a course number, enter the amount of time in seconds that will pass before the timer starts flashing yellow to indicate the warning time for the course.
    2. In the Danger Time field for a course number, enter the amount of time in seconds that will pass before the timer starts flashing red to indicate the danger time for the course.
    3. Course 0 is to enter a warning time and danger time for items not assigned to a course, such as beverages. If requiring warning and danger times for a non-coursed item, then enter those times in the respective fields for course 0. 
       
  6. If your POS location is not enabled with meal courses, or for settings without a POS system (i.e., instant orders and advanced orders only), then you can instead set the warning time and danger time for the ticket. This is done using the Course 1 fields: 
    1. In the Warning Time field for Course 1, enter the amount of time in seconds that will pass before the timer starts flashing yellow to indicate the warning time for the ticket.
    2. In the Danger Time field for Course 1, enter the amount of time in seconds that will pass before the timer starts flashing red to indicate the danger time for the ticket.
       
  7. If the station(s) for the KMS location will print tickets, then you have the option of printing nutrient details on the tickets in the Nutrient Templates section (screenshot below). This will first involve creating the nutrient templates (order analyzer template and nutrient summary template) and then selecting where to apply the templates (instant orders (IO) and advanced orders (IO)). For more information see Displaying Nutrients on Printed AO and IO Tickets. 

    nutrient_templates.png
     
  8. Click the Save KMS Location button. The screen refreshes with the details of the newly-created KMS location. 
     
  9. Your next steps are to add the food preparation stations (aka KMS stations). See Adding Food Preparation Stations to a KMS Location.

Editing a KMS Location

  1. In the Core system, select Settings from the left navigation sidebar. The Settings panel appears to the right.
     
  2. From the Settings panel, select Production Settings > KMS Locations. The KMS Locations screen appears. 
     
  3. For the KMS location you want to edit, clicks its ellipsis in the Actions column and select Edit. The Edit: [KMS Location] screen appears.
     
  4. Make your edits as needed, and then click the Update button.

Deleting a KMS Location

  1. In the Core system, select Settings from the left navigation sidebar. The Settings panel appears to the right.
     
  2. From the Settings panel, select Production Settings > KMS Locations. The KMS Locations screen appears. 
     
  3. For the KMS location you want to delete, clicks its ellipsis in the Actions column and select Delete. A confirmation message appears. 
     
  4. Click Yes, Delete KMS Location button. The KMS location is deleted. 

Adding KMS Food Preparation Stations to a KMS Location

After a KMS location is added, you can add its food preparation stations (production stations, coordinator station, expeditor (or expo) station), explained in the instructions below. (For more information on food preparation stations, click here.) 


KMS_location.png

To add a food preparation station to a KMS location, complete the following steps:

  1. In the Core system, select Settings from the left navigation sidebar. The Settings panel appears to the right.
     
  2. From the Settings panel, select Production Settings > KMS Locations. The KMS Locations screen appears. 
     
  3. For the KMS location you want to add a station to, click its ellipsis in the Actions column and select Manage Stations. The Manage Station screen appears.

    manage_station.png
     
  4. Click the Add a Station button. The Add Station screen appears.

    add_station_screen.png
     
  5. In the Name field, enter a name for the station.
     
  6. From the Type drop-down, select the station type (click here for more details on each station type):
    • Production 
    • Coordinator 
    • Expo
       
  7. From the Hardware Configuration drop-down, select the hardware options that the station supports. The options are as follows:
    • Screen - station is designated as a touchscreen only. This means a touchscreen running the Touch app can be used to view and manage tickets on the station. 
    • Screen and Printer - the station is designated as a display screen and also supports a printer. A touchscreen running the Touch app can be used to view and manage tickets on the station. Tickets print on the printer that will be selected from the If this station is associated with a dedicated printer, select it here to be the default device drop-down below
    • Printer Only - station only supports a printer; when a ticket is fired, it automatically prints on the printer that will be selected from the If this station is associated with a dedicated printer, select it here to be the default device drop-down below.
       
  8. Enter or select the following settings as needed (the available settings depend on the Type selected in step 5 and the Hardware Configuration selected in step 6):
    •  
      • Default Fallback Station (When no others match production areas) - designates the station as “the fallback station”, which will display the following items:
        • A menu item that is not assigned to a production area.
        • A menu item is assigned to a production area, but that production area is not assigned to a station (as per step 8 below) 

          Note that the system requires at least one station to be the default fallback station. If you only add one station, then that station will automatically be selected as the default fallback station, and you cannot remove that setting. 
           
      • Force Entree to be at top of ticket when present (Ignores menu sort order) - menu items of the Entree category print at the top of the ticket. 
         
      • If this station is associated with a dedicated printer, select it here to be the default device -select the printer to be used. Note that printers are added via Hardware Devices > Printer (see Installing and Configuring a Printer).
         
      • Print preference (only available if Screen and Printer is selected from the Hardware configuration field). 
        • Print Immediately - when a ticket comes in on the screen, it also prints at the printer. 
        • Print on Bump - a ticket only prints when it is bumped off the screen.
          Note: If the Print Preference field is left blank, then the ticket will not print. 
           
      • Print two tickets for each order - the station printer will automatically print a duplicate ticket when the first ticket is printed. The duplicate ticket is indicated as such with DUPLICATE COPY text at the bottom of the ticket. 

        KMS_station_printed_ticket_duplicate.png
         
      • Allow future preview - not applicable (legacy function)
         
      • Allow early fire - not applicable (legacy function)
         
      • If an EXPO, filter by production areas? - if the station is an expo station (selected in 5 above), then selecting this setting allows you filter what menu items display on the expo station. Filtering the items to display on the expo station is done by selecting the menu items' associated production areas in the Production Areas Assigned section below. 

        Note: If the If an EXPO, filter by production areas? option is not selected, then the expo station shows items from all production areas!

        expo_filter_option.png
         
      • Do not display portion size on KMS screen or printed tickets - hides portion sizes on the KMS screen and printed tickets. 
         
      • Do not display Diet Order on KMS screen or printed tickets - hides diet order names and diet intervention names on the KMS screen and printed tickets. 
         
  9. Your next steps are to assign production area(s) to the KMS station. See below. 

Assigning Production Areas to a KMS Station

The Production Areas Assigned section lists the production areas in your core system for you to assign to the station, which in turn determine the items fired to the station to display onscreen and/or print. 

To help you plan the assignment of your production areas to your KMS stations, use the Production-Area-KMS Station Assignment Tool, which will help you abide by the following system rules:

  • A production station can be associated with one, some or all your production areas. A production station cannot share the same production area(s) as another production station.
  • A coordinator station can be associated with one, some or all your production areas. A coordinator station cannot share the same production area(s) as another coordinator station. 

    select_production_areas.png

    Note 1: When configuring more than one KMS location, then the same production area can be assigned across the different KMS locations (via a station in each KMS location). 

    Note 2: If you have a "No Production" production area in the core system that contains menu items that do not need to be produced, then see the following article Preventing Non-Production Items going to the KMS.

Save Your Changes

Click the Save Station button to save the KMS station.

save_station.png

Editing a KMS Food Preparation Station

  1. In the Core system, select Settings from the left navigation sidebar. The Settings panel appears to the right.
     
  2. From the Settings panel, select Production Settings > KMS Locations. The KMS Locations screen appears.
     
  3. For the KMS location whose station you want to edit, click its ellipsis in the Actions column and select Manage Stations. The Manage Station screen appears, listing the stations. 
     
  4. For the station you want to edit, click its ellipsis in the Actions column and select Edit. The Edit [Station] screen appears. 
     
  5. Make your edits as needed. Rather than repeat the instructions here, the same instructions can be found in the Adding KMS Food Preparation Stations steps above, starting at step 5. 
     
  6. Click the Save Changes button to apply your changes.

Deleting a KMS Food Preparation Station

  1. In the Core system, select Settings from the left navigation sidebar. The Settings panel appears to the right.
     
  2. From the Settings panel, select Production Settings > KMS Locations. The KMS Locations screen appears.
     
  3. For the KMS location whose station you want to delete, click its ellipsis in the Actions column and select Manage Stations. The Manage Station screen appears, listing the stations. 
     
  4. For the station you want to delete, click its ellipsis in the Actions column and select Delete. A confirmation message appears. 
     
  5. Click Yes, Delete KMS Station button. The KMS station is deleted. 

Configuring Orders to be Sent to a KMS Location

See the following articles to select a KMS Location for orders to be sent to: Selecting the KMS Location for Orders

Note that for instant orders, the server will select the KMS location when setting up instant ordering in the Touch app. As such, instant orders do not need to be configured with a KMS location in the Touch Admin software.  

select_KMS_for_IO.png

Preventing Menu Items from the "No Production" Production Area Being sent to KMS Station

See the following article: Preventing Non-Production Items going to the KMS (via Touch Admin).

Grouping KMS Tickets by Table

When tickets come into a KMS location, they can be sorted in the order of table/seat rather than sorted in the order the tickets are received. For example:

  • Table 5, Seat 1
  • Table 5, Seat 2
  • Table 6, Seat 1
  • Table 6, Seat 2
  • Table 6, Seat 3

Configuring KMS tickets to be grouped by table must be done by MealSuite Support. If you are MealSuite Support, complete the following steps:

  1. In the Touch Admin software, select Account Settings. The Edit Location screen appears. 
     
  2. Select the Group KMS Tickets by Table check box. If the option is already selected, and you want to disable it, then clear the check box. 

    group_KMS_tickets_by_table.png
     
  3. Scroll to the bottom of the screen and click the Update Facility button. 

    update_facility.png