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Enabling In-Room Service for a Residence Area

Kevin U
  • Updated

About In-Room Service for a Residence Area

By default, when you create a new residence area, it is automatically enabled as a dining area so that the system knows that meals and snacks can be delivered to rooms in that residential area. However, a residence area enabled as a dining area will require the additional configuration below to allow in-room service

After in-room service for a residence area is set up, you can set up in-room service for a person, which is done via the person's profile. To do so, see Setting Up In-Room Service for a Person.

Applying Dining Area Settings to Residence Area

To enable in-room service for a residence area, you must apply dining area settings to it to have it function in the system as a dining area. Complete the following steps:

  1. From the left navigation sidebar, select Tools & Setup > Facility Builder. The Facility Builder screen appears.
  2. Select the Dining Areas tab. The Dining Areas screen appears, listing existing dining areas and residence areas that are enabled as dining area. When a residence area is enabled as a dining area, it is identified with a bed icon (icon_residence_area.png) in the Type column. 

    dining_areas_screen.png
     
  3. Click the residence area that is enabled as a dining area, and its slide-out panel appears.

    residence_area_dining_area_slide_out.png
     
  4. Complete the settings below:

Selecting Menu Service Location

From the Menu Service Location field, select the menu service location to assign the dining area to. If your account only uses one menu service location, then select it. A menu service location identifies one or more dining areas in your facility in which a particular menu is used. For more information, see Menu Service Locations. Click Save at the top right of the slide-out panel to apply your changes.

MSL_people_profile.png

Entering Meal Delivery Times and Exceptions for the Residence Area

To enter meal delivery times for the residence area:

  1. Click the Ordering Settings tab.
  2. In the Active Meal Times section, select the check boxes for the meal periods (Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner) that the residence area supports and enter the start and end times for each selected meal period.

    ordering_settings.png
     
  3. Click Save at the top right of the slide-out panel to apply your changes.
  4. If there is an exception to a standard meal time, in which a meal is served outside of the regular hours, then complete the following steps:
    1. Select the Add exceptions check box. The screen refreshes the Exception Meal Times section.

      exceptions_meal_times.png
       
    2. From the Day field, select the day or days in which the exception applies.
    3. Select the check boxes of the meal periods (Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner) that will have an exception.
    4. Enter the start and end times of the selected meal period exceptions.
    5. Click Save at the top right of the slide-out panel to apply your changes.
    6. To add another exception, click the Add exception link and repeat steps 2 to 5 above.

Entering Service Interval Increments (i.e., Waves) for a Residence Area Enabled as a Dining Area

If the residence area enabled as a dining area is to support orders coming from residents with the advanced ordering service type (either from the Touch app or the Portal app), or paid pickup and delivery orders from a POS station or the Portal app, then service interval increments (i.e., waves) need to be entered for the residence area to allow staff to manage in a staggered manner the number of orders being received. 

Service interval increments translate into pickup/delivery times on the front-end ordering apps (Touch app, POS, and Portal app), as per example screenshots below. 

Example scenario: Assume that a wave is set for 15 minutes for breakfast, with 2 meals served per wave. If the 9:30 to 9:45 AM wave receives two orders, then the 9:30 to 9:45 wave is not available as an option when the user is placing an order from a front-end app. 

AO_delivery_times.png

Touch app

pickup_times.png

Portal app - Pickup order

delivery_times.png

Portal app - Delivery order

POS_pickup.png

POS - Pickup order

POS_delivery_times.png

POS - Delivery order

  

 To configure the dining area to support service interval increments, complete the following steps:

  1. With the residence area enabled as a dining area open, select the Advanced Ordering check box (first screenshot below). The slide-out panel refreshes with the Ordering Settings - Advanced Ordering & POS section (second screenshot below). 

    advanced_ordering_check_box.png

    advanced_ordering_POS_section.png
     
  2. In the Service interval increment row, select the service interval increment length for each meal period (Breakfast. Lunch, Dinner). For example, 15 minutes. 
     
  3. In the Meal Served per Interval row, select how many meals will be served per wave for a meal period (Breakfast. Lunch, Dinner). For example, 2 meals for a wave. 
     
  4. Click Save to apply your changes.

Configure Advanced Ordering Settings for a Meal Delivery Area in Touch Admin

A dining area (a traditional dining area or a residence area enabled as a dining area) that exists in the MealSuite core system is represented as a meal delivery area in Touch Admin. There are certain advanced ordering settings that are applied to a meal delivery area in Touch Admin. See Configuring Advanced Ordering Settings in Touch Admin for instructions to do so. 

Consolidating Residence Areas Enabled as Dining Areas (Optional)

On the Kitchen Production Sheet and the Service and Delivery Production Sheet you can combine production amounts from residence areas that are enabled as dining areas. This is accomplished via the Consolidate production to dining area drop-down that is available from the General Settings tab (screenshot below).

consolidate_production_to_dining_area.png

For information on how each report looks when residence areas are consolidated, refer to the respective topics below: 

Consolidating residence areas involves first opening the residence area you want to consolidate, and then selecting the other residence area to consolidate into:

consolidate_residence_area.png

...and multiple residence areas can be consolidated into one residence area:

consolidate_residence_area2.png

Steps to Consolidate Residence Areas

With the above knowledge of how residence areas are consolidated, complete the following steps to consolidate residence areas. 

  1. Form the left navigation sidebar, select Tools & Setup > Facility Builder. The Facility Builder screen appears.
  2. Click the Dining Areas tab. 

    dining_areas_screen.png
     
  3. Click the residence area that you want to consolidate into another residence area. The slide-out panel for the residence area appears. 

    residence_area_dining_area_slide_out.png
     
  4. From the Consolidate production to dining area drop-down, select the residence area to consolidate into. 

    consolidate_production_to_dining_area2.png
     
  5. Click Save to apply your changes.
  6. To consolidate another residence area into the same residence area selected in step 4, repeat the above steps.
  7. With the residence areas consolidated, you can now set up and generate the reports. Refer to the appropriate section below:

Setting the Kitchen Production Sheet to Print Consolidated Residence Areas 

  1. Open the Kitchen Production Sheet settings (Production > Production Reports > select the Kitchen Production Sheet check box).
  2. Select the Dining Area Details setting.
  3. Select the Consolidate Residence Areas to Dining Areas check box (screenshot below).  

    dining_area_details1.png
     
  4. Generate the report.

Setting the Service and Delivery Production Sheet to Print Consolidated Residence Areas

  1. Open to the Service & Delivery Production Sheet settings (Production > Production Reports > select the Service & Delivery Production Sheet check box).
  2. Select the Consolidate Residence Areas to Dining Areas check box (screenshot below). 

    consolidate_check_box.png
  3. Generate the report. 

Setting the Delivery Sequence for Residents/Patients with In-Room Service

For certain people reports (e.g., Tray Menu Tickets), the report can be printed in the desired order required for residents/patients with in-room service (i.e., room delivery). This is accomplished by selecting the Delivery Sequence option in the Sort By field, as per screenshot below. To set the sort order for the Delivery Sequence option, see the separate article Setting the Sorting for the "Delivery Sequence" Sort Option (for In-Room Service).

sort_by_delivery_sequence.png

FAQs

Are specific snack times created in a residence area enabled as a dining area, just as you would create specific times for meal periods in a dining area?

No. Specific snack times are not specifically created in the system. When a snack menu is scheduled, the generic snack times of Snack AM, Snack PM, and Snack HS are listed. 

What report prints a list of residents with in-room service? 

You an use the People Roster report, which prints a list of residents with a column for Dining Area. For a resident/patient who receive in-room meal service, the Dining Area column states In Room. 

roster_report.png

Alternatively, you can open the People Listing screen, and sort by Dining Area. For resident/patients who receive in-room meal service, the Dining Area column states In Room. You can then export the people list to an Excel® file, from which you can make further edits to remove any information you do not need.