Features and Benefits

Feature Details

Technical Specifications

• Several Core Functionalities

  MealService is, first and foremost, a meal-delivery software package with an emphasis on scheduling and routing flexibility, as well as an emphasis on client health. Because of the emphasis on client health, it offers a robust nutritional counseling and disease tracking component. And, soon it will offer a very sophisticated volunteer and driver management and scheduling module.

• An Intuitive User Interface

  MealService has an interface that users love. What does this mean for you? The ability to be productive quickly, with a very short learning curve. In addition to being easy to learn, the software has many built-in checks so that you can't enter data incorrectly. Several Wizards make some of the more complicated tasks a breeze. And those who prefer using the keyboard to the mouse will find abundant control-key shortcuts.

• Many Productivity Features

  When it comes to productivity features, MealService excels. Features such as

  • Sophisticated route management tools, for managing the number of clients assigned to a route and for setting the delivery order of the route. The route management tools, including MealService's close integration with MapPoint® and other mapping products, and other mapping products, make route realignments a breeze. How do these tools affect you? If a route needs to be reordered this makes the task painless. If a route has grown too large, this makes the job of moving some clients to a new route virtually instantaneous. And less thought has to be given up front to how many routes the organization requires, since it's a simple procedure, when required, to create a new route and migrate clients to it.
  • Follow-up reminders, that can be created as needed. The Reminder will alert you upon logging in on the appropriate date that a Follow-Up is due. No more 'yellow stickies' plastered all over your monitor. You'll be reminded of important deadlines automatically!
  • A map of the client's address can be generated at the click of a button(1). How will this simplify your life? You'll be able to give lost drivers directions very quickly. Newly added clients can be assigned to the correct route by verifying their address at the time of intake.
  • The ability to support more than one address per client. Imagine, being able to deliver a client's meal to a dialysis clinic on the day's he or she is there, and to their home the balance of the week. Or, how about being able to deliver a holiday meal to an address that's only needed for that one day?
  • Easy one-click copying of a Client's name and address for pasting into a word processing document. No risk of offending a client by mistyping the client's name or address. And, you'll save time by not having to type the name and address into correspondence.
  • Any Client's record can be flagged with a pop-up window as a reminder of critical information: for example: that the Client is deaf, or only speaks a foreign language. You'll have no embarrassed clients or staff members due to someone having forgotten a client's unique communication needs.
  • Calendar-based deliveries can be created using an auto-scheduler. If you deliver an item on an infrequent basis, this will automate scheduling of that delivery. For example: you could schedule the delivery of a birthday cake on a client's birthday years into the future. Or schedule delivery of a nutritional supplement on a monthly basis.
  • Barcodes can be printed on delivery labels or route sheets. If you need to record undelivered meals, simply scanning the returned deliveries can save incredible time, with no worries about assigning the meal to the wrong client. Scanning can also be used to record walk-in or congregate visits.
    
    
• Virtually limitless end-user query capabilities

  The bane of every publicly- or grant-funded organization is having to respond to requests for information such as "How many meals did we deliver to Delaware County?" or "How many dependents and caretakers did we serve where the client is over 70?" The Intelligent Browse — an interactive, drill-down query tool actually makes getting the answers painless (and dare we say, fun?).

  MealService also includes a visual query designer, for those times that a report isn't needed, but you simply need a quick list of clients meeting certain conditions.

• Reports

  MealService comes bundled with over 100 reports. But, in addition, each and every report can be customized, by you if need be. In addition, sometimes you just need the data in a slightly different format. Almost every report can be exported to Excel or a word processing document.

  Do you need to maintain an archive of all of your delivery route sheets? email a report to a case manager or remote site? You can print every report to an Adobe PDF file, with no extra software required.

  If one or more of the bundled reports don't meet your needs, the integrated report designer allows the creation of as many additional reports, as needed. By you or us, as desired.

• Very Customizable Architecture

  MealService was designed from the ground up to be absolutely flexible. As your organization changes, perhaps by adding a new service such as frozen meals or a walk-in grocery pantry, MealService will be able to accommodate your needs. The flexible architecture also means that you'll be able to customize many of the screens to closely match your work flow... hide those fields you don't need!

  The Client application screen, for example, is so adaptable and capable that one organization decided to use it for their outcomes surveys. Now their outcomes results are integrated directly with the clients having been surveyed, rather than in an external database.

  Routing? MealService will allow you to place a client on a different route every day if need be. Why might you want this? Perhaps because a volunteer driver one or two days a week does not get along with a client.

  The nutritional assessment component is completely customizable. Your organization can decide which health and nutrition data to track. You'll easily be able to identify those clients most at risk and monitor their progress closely.

  Plug-Ins further extend the functionality of MealService. Do you need to create a cycle of menus and know exactly what menu substitutions are required for any given diet? How about the need to reschedule those clients who would have received a delivery on a holiday? These needs, and more, are accommodated by some of the MealService Plug-Ins currently available.

1 Internet connection required. Microsoft® MapPoint® can also be used for single-address mapping.