Setting Up Advanced Ordering (AO)

• About Advanced Ordering (AO)
• Step 1: Core System - Assign Advance Order Service Type to Residents/Patients
• Step 2: Core System - Entering Service Interval Increments (i.e., Waves) for a Dining Area
• Step 3a: Core System - Set Up Meal Delivery to Rooms (if In-Room Service is Required) 
• Step 3b: Core System - Set Up Tracking of In-Room Deliveries (if Meal Delivery to Rooms is Set Up)
• Step 4: Configuring AO Settings in Touch Admin
  
  • Selecting the KMS Location that Advanced Orders are Sent To
  • Managing AO Orders if Person's Diet Order Changes
  • Entering Preparation Times (aka Firing Times) for Advanced Orders and To Go Orders
    • To enter a preparation time prior to a delivery/pickup time
    • To enter a specific time of day as the preparation time
  • Setting Up Cutoff Times for AO Orders
    • To enter a cutoff time for a meal service on the day of the meal service
    • To enter a cutoff time for a meal service the day before the meal service
    • What happens if I do not enter cutoff times for a meal period?
  • Auto-Generating Tickets if no AO Order is Placed
  • Save Changes
• Step 5: Refusal Reasons (for a AO Skipped/Refused Meal)
  • What is a Refusal Reason?
  • Creating Refusal Reasons
  • Editing a Refusal Reason
  • Deleting a Refusal Reason
• Option: Send AO Orders to Core System Only and not KMS
• Advanced Ordering with Production Reports and Forecasting
• FAQs
  • After advanced orders have been placed, is there a method to determine how the advanced orders are fired to the KMS (to be printed and/or appear onscreen), such as by room number?
  • Can an advanced order be manually fired (to be printed and/or appear onscreen) ahead of its scheduled firing time?
  • Can an advanced order be autogenerated (i.e., fired) the day before its service date?
  • What is the sort order logic for advanced order tickets when displaying onscreen or being printed at a KMS? 
  • My advanced orders are not showing in the KMS?

About Advanced Ordering (AO)

With advanced ordering (AO) set up in your MealSuite account, a resident can place an order (or have an order placed for them) seven days in advance using the Touch app or the Portal app.

This article summarizes the steps required to set up AO. 

Step 1: Core System - Assign Advance Order Service Type to Resident/Patients

For a resident/patient who is to use AO for a meal period (breakfast, lunch, dinner), assign the Advance Ordering to their profile, as per screenshot below. (See Selecting Service Types for Persons for instructions to do so.) 

Step 2: Core System - Entering Service Interval Increments (i.e., Waves) for a Dining Area

The dining area that an order is placed to must be set up with service internal increments (i.e., waves) to manage in a staggered manner the number of orders being received. Setting up service internal increments applies to not only the advanced ordering service type but also paid pickup and delivery orders from a POS station and the Portal app. 

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 the front-end system. 

For more information and specific instructions on entering service internal increments, see Entering Service Interval Increments (i.e., Waves) for a Dining Area.

Step 3a: Core System - Set Up Meal Delivery to Rooms (if In-Room Service is Required) 

If meals are to be delivered to a person's room (i.e., in-room service), then the residence area of the room must be set up to allow room delivery. 

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

• Applying Dining Area Settings to Residence Area
• Setting the Delivery Sequence for Room Delivery

Step 3b: Core System - Set Up Tracking of In-Room Deliveries (if Meal Delivery to Rooms is Set Up) 

If you set up meal delivery to rooms via Step 3a, there is also the option of tracking the in-room deliveries. By tracking in-room meal deliveries, your facility will develop a better understanding of the time taken between food preparation and room delivery. To set up tracking of in-room deliveries, see Tracking In-Room Deliveries. 

Step 4: Configuring AO Settings in Touch Admin

A dining area (including a residence area that allows meal delivery to rooms) that exists in the MealSuite core system is represented as a meal delivery area in Touch Admin. In Touch Admin, you can configure AO settings for the meal delivery area, including selecting the KMS Location that advanced orders are sent to. To open the meal delivery area in Touch Admin to configure AO settings:

1. In Touch Admin, select Ordering Settings, and then click the Meal Delivery Area Configuration tab. The Meal Delivery Area Configuration screen appears, listing the dining areas/residence areas enabled as dining areas that have been ported over from the MealSuite core system. 
   
   
   
   
2. Click the Edit button of the meal delivery area you want to configure. The Edit Meal Delivery Area screen appears. 
   
   
   
   
3. Refer to the topics below to configure AO settings:
   • Selecting the KMS Location that Advanced Orders are Sent To
   • Managing AO Orders if Person's Diet Order Changes
   • Entering Preparation Times (aka Firing Times) for Advanced Orders and "To Go" Orders
   • Setting Up Cutoff Times for AO Orders
   • Auto-Generating Tickets if no AO Order is Placed

Selecting the KMS Location that Advanced Orders are Sent To

In the Meal Assembly Location for all Advanced Orders drop-down, select the KMS Location that will produce the advance orders (order will appear onscreen and/or be printed). 

Managing AO Orders if Person's Diet Order Changes

If a person's diet order is changed after they have placed an advance order, and the new diet order results in non-compliant menu items for that person, select how the system is to behave via the Diet Order Change Logic field:

• Cancel Order - the advance order is cancelled.
• Drop Non-Compliant - any non-compliant items for the person are dropped from the order.
• Drop Non-Compliant & Autofill - removes ordered items associated with a person’s previous diet order that are not on the new diet order, and then for each menu category that does not have an item to serve, the system will select an item by using the non-select logic of serving a first choice item before other choices. For example, assume the resident originally orders a burger and fries, and then their diet type changes to low sodium. In such a scenario, the fries are removed, and the system checks the menu category for fries (which is "starch"), and sees the low-sodium tater tots are available, which it then adds to the order. 

Entering Preparation Times (aka Firing Times) for Advanced Orders and "To Go" Orders

When an advanced order (i.e., non-paid order) is placed (via Touch app or Portal app), or a "to go" order (i.e., paid order) is placed for delivery or pickup (via the POS or Portal app), the user will select a time for the meal to be delivered/picked up. The times available to the user are configured beforehand as service interval increments (i.e., waves) for the dining area in which the order is placed (see Entering Service Interval Increments (i.e., Waves) for a Dining Area).

To work in conjunction with the service interval increments, preparation times (aka firing times) need to be entered in the system to allow staff the necessary time to prepare the order prior to its scheduled delivery/pickup time. The preparation time will determine when an advance order or paid "to go" order is sent/fired to the KMS to be printed and/or appear onscreen for staff. 

You can set the preparation time to be a certain number of minutes before a scheduled delivery/pickup time, or you can set the preparation time to be at a certain time of day.

To enter a preparation time prior to a delivery/pickup time:

1. Scroll to the Advanced Ordering - Prep Timings section.
2. Select the Minutes option.
3. In each meal service field (Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner), enter the required preparation time in minutes that the order is sent to the KMS prior to a scheduled delivery/pickup time. For example, if 20 minutes of prep time is entered for dinner, and a resident places an advanced order for dinner to be delivered at 6:00 PM, the order is sent to the KMS to be printed and/or appear onscreen at 5:40 PM.
   
   

To enter a specific time of day as the preparation time: 

1. Scroll to the Advanced Ordering - Prep Timings section.
2. Select the Time of Day option (in 24-hour format). 
3. In each meal service field (Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner), enter the time of day that the order is sent to the KMS to be printed and/or appear onscreen.
   
   

Setting Up Cutoff Times for AO Orders

Cutoff times for advanced orders work in conjunction with the start times that are set up for meal services (breakfast, lunch, dinner) by preventing an order from being placed for a meal service if that order is not placed prior to the cutoff time. Note that start and end times for meal services are entered for a dining area/residence area enabled as a dining area in the core system (see Viewing the Start and End Times for Meal Services).

If a resident/patient does not place their order prior to the cutoff time, the ordering app (Touch app or Portal app) displays the "This meal is overdue" message, and the order cannot be placed, and instead the resident will be served the items that were automatically selected by the advanced ordering item-selection logic. 

You can set a cutoff time for a meal service (breakfast, lunch, dinner) either for the day of meal service or the day before the meal service

To enter a cutoff time for a meal service on the day of the meal service

1. Scroll to the Advanced Ordering - Order Cutoff section.
2. For the meal service (breakfast, lunch, dinner) whose cutoff time is to be on the day of the meal, select its Day of meal option.
3. In the meal service field, enter the time (in 24-hour format) in which the order for the meal can no longer be placed. 
   
   

To enter a cutoff time for a meal service the day before the meal service

1. Scroll to the Advanced Ordering - Order Cutoff section.
2. For the meal service (breakfast, lunch, dinner) whose cutoff time is to be the day before the meal, select its 1 day before meal option.
3. In the meal service field, enter the time (in 24-hour format) in which the order for the meal can no longer be placed. 
   
   

What happens if I do not enter cutoff times for a meal period?

If cutoff times are not entered for a meal period, then an advanced order can be placed by a resident/patient up until the meal period end time that is configured for the dining area/residence area enabled as a dining area in the core system (see Viewing the Start and End Times for Meal Services.)

Auto-Generating Tickets if no AO Order is Placed

If a person with the AO service type does not place an order, then you can have the system automatically generate a ticket at the KMS (screen and/or printer) for that person using the item selection logic for the advanced order service type. To do so:

1. Scroll to the Advanced Ordering - Auto Generate Tickets section.
2. Select the Auto generate tickets check box.
3. In each meal period (Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner), select the time that an auto-generated ticket will be generated and sente to the KMS. Note: If you are adding/editing times within three hours of the actual time being entered, the changes will not take effect until the following day. 

Save Changes

At the bottom of the screen, click the Update Meal Delivery Area button to apply your changes. 

Step 5: Refusal Reasons (for an AO Skipped/Refused Meal)

What is a Refusal Reason?

When a resident or patient with the advanced ordering service type skips a meal, the Touch app user will be required to enter a reason for the refusal, as per screenshot below. 

Creating Refusal Reasons

To create the refusal reasons for the Touch app user to select from, complete the following steps:

1. In Touch Admin, select Ordering Settings, and then click the Refusal Reason tab. The Refusal Reasons screen appears.
   
   
   
   
2. Click the Add Reason button. The screen refreshes accordingly. 
   
   
   
   
3. In the Reason field, enter the reason.
4. Click the Create Refusal Reason button to apply your changes.
5. The newly-created reason is listed in the Refusal Reasons screen. 

Editing a Refusal Reason

1. In Touch Admin, select Ordering Settings, and then click the Refusal Reason tab. The Refusal Reasons screen appears with the list of existing reasons.
2. For the refusal reason you want to edit, click its Edit button. The screen refreshes accordingly. 
3. Edit the reason as needed.
4. Click the Update Refusal Reason to apply your changes.
5. The newly-edited reason is listed in the Refusal Reasons screen. 

Deleting a Refusal Reason

1. In Touch Admin, select Ordering Settings, and then click the Refusal Reason tab. The Refusal Reasons screen appears with the list of existing reasons.
2. For the refusal reason you want to delete, click its Delete button.
   Note: If the reason does not disappear from the screen, refresh the screen. 

Option: Send AO Orders to Core System Only and not KMS

To not send Advanced Orders to the KMS, and instead only send AO orders to the core system, where they can be printed on people reports and productions reports, complete the following steps:

1. In Touch Admin, select Account Settings.
2. Select the Only send Advanced Orders back to MealSuite, do not send to KMS or Printer checkbox.
   
   
   
   
3. Click the Update Facility button to apply your changes. 

Note: At the present time an issue exists with the Only send Advanced Orders back to MealSuite, do not send to KMS or Printer option, described as follows: an advanced order will mistakenly appear in the KMS ticket history, which is accessed when recalling a bumped ticket for the past 24 hours).  

Advanced Ordering with Production Reports and Forecasting

With advance orders, your production reports will 100% match your tickets without the need to forecast. If needed, however, you can set up your account to include the number of people assigned the advance order service type (i.e., the advance ordering census) in the percentages forecasting method. This is useful for purchase orders or quantified grocery lists created from productions amounts multiple days in advance, in which case you do not know what the advanced orders will be. 

To do so see Including Advance Ordering Census in Forecasting.  

FAQs

After advanced orders have been placed, is there a method to determine how the advanced orders are fired to the KMS (to be printed and/or appear onscreen), such as by room number?

No. By default, an advanced order is fired to the KMS (to be printed and/or appear onscreen) based on a schedule determined by the preparation time set in the system and the service times (aka meal times, waves) selected by the user on the front-end ordering apps (Touch app, Portal app).

Multiple orders within the same service time are organized by the order in which they were received, from left (oldest ticket) to right (most recent ticket), using the timestamp associated with a ticket. The system cannot be configured to determine how advanced orders within the same service time are fired to the KMS. 

However, in the Touch Admin software, you do have the ability to view existing advanced orders that have not yet been fired, and to fire them manually in the order you desire. To do so see Viewing Future Advanced Orders and Firing Early if Needed (via Touch Admin Software).

Can an advanced order be manually fired (to be printed and/or appear onscreen) ahead of its scheduled firing time?

Yes, From the KMS station screen, you can view future advanced orders within five hours of their service time, and fire early if needed. See Viewing Future Orders (and Firing Tickets Early if Needed).

In addition, in the Touch Admin software, you have the ability to view existing advanced orders that have not yet been fired, and to fire them manually in the order you desire. To do so see Viewing Future Advanced Orders and Firing Early if Needed (via Touch Admin Software).

Can an advanced order be autogenerated (i.e., fired) the day before its service date?

An advanced order is fired to the KMS (to be printed and/or appear onscreen) based on a schedule determined by the preparation time set in the system and the service times (aka meal times, waves) selected by the user on the front-end ordering apps (Touch app, Portal app). These preparation times do not allow the advanced order to be fired the day before it service date. 

However, in the Touch Admin software, you do have the ability to view existing advanced orders that have not yet been fired, and to fire them manually the day before their service dates. To do so see Viewing Future Advanced Orders and Firing Early if Needed (via Touch Admin Software).

What is the sort order logic for advanced order tickets when displaying onscreen or being printed at a KMS? 

Advanced order ticket display onscreen and/or print according to the service interval increment selected by the user placing the advanced order in combination with any preparation time that is configured for the meal period. For advanced orders with the same service interval increment and meal period, the sort order will be random. 

My advanced orders are not showing in the KMS?

If advanced orders are not showing in the KMS, it could be that advanced orders are configured to only be sent to the core system, and not the KMS. 

In Account Settings, ensure the Only send Advanced Orders back to MealSuite, do not send to KMS or Printer check box is clear (not selected). If selected, clear it and then click the Update Facility button to apply your changes.