MealService supports optional Plug-Ins, available for purchase at additional cost. Plug-Ins offer very specific functionality that not all organizations may need. Those organizations that do require this functionality may find it invaluable!

The Plug-Ins currently available include

BillMaker

BillMaker is MealService's complete Accounts Receivable module. Bills can be generated for meals received by a client, with calculations based on a per-day (for example, 20 days' deliveries), per meal (for example, breakfast, lunch and/or dinner) or per specific item (hot entree, cold lunch, etc.) basis. The billing can be addressed to one of the following: the client, a client's designee, or a funding agency. Pledges can be invoiced as well, using either a per-day or per-item method. With BillMaker, it's a snap to generate invoices for client and third-party billing, and monthly statements are also easily generated for those clients who have outstanding balances. Invoices and statements are formatted so that window envelopes can be used, or matching labels can be easily generated for addressing.

ListMaker

The ListMaker allows the creation of arbitrary lists of clients, facilitating deliveries to members of the list on an as-needed schedule (screen shot). For example, a list of clients could be maintained who wish to receive health information intermittently. When the information became available the list could be scheduled for delivery, specifying that the delivery item would be a Health Brochure. That item would then be added to the clients' normal delivery items.

The ListMaker also offers a user-defined checkbox, and deliveries to the list can be filtered to a checked- or unchecked-state. For example, a list could be created for scheduling a holiday delivery (screen shot) or for maintaining a list of walk-in clients at a congregate site. The holiday delivery might require the client to specifically request the meal. Using the checkbox as a means to track which clients had responded would facilitate scheduling a meal to only those clients who responded in the positive. If used as a congregate list, a checkmark would be entered for those clients who visited the site on a given day, and those with checkmarks would then be credited for the visit.

Another use for the ListMaker is to reschedule clients whose deliveries may be interrupted when a holiday prevents delivery services. For example, an agency might not deliver on July 4th. The clients who would have received a delivery on July 4th could be saved to a list. The members of that list can then be easily rescheduled to other days, either before or after the holiday.

ListMaker benefits include:

• Greatly easing the creation and scheduling of calendar-based deliveries to groups of clients, such as congregate sites that may only receive meals once a month or every other week.
• Allowing easy rescheduling of clients' deliveries when they have been interrupted by a holiday or other event. A short tutorial demonstrating this use is available on the Demos/Tutorials page.
• Allowing maintaining a list of clients for any purpose, such as those on a waiting list to be given a microwave.
• Facilitating the creation of a list of clients who are to receive a special meal, such as a Thanksgiving meal, by recording to which clients a reminder has been sent and which clients have responded to the invitation. A short tutorial on how to handle this scenario is available on the Demos/Tutorials page.
  

InventoryTracker

This plug-in allows tracking an accurate cost of supplies and calculating an average cost per meal, by location and/or across the organization. It does so by tracking inventory by location (kitchen, warehouse, etc.). Consumption of inventoried items is automatically calculated when an inventory is taken. Each item's cost can be one of three types: actual cost, a standard cost, or an averaged cost over time. A wide range of inventory reports, such as perpetual inventory activity, quantities by location, and other management reports, are available.

SAMS™ Integration

Client service data can be easily exported to Synergy Software Technologies' SAMS™ through this plug-in. Data can be exported to an Excel spreadsheet (for use with an XML converter) or directly to XML format, either of which can be imported into SAMS.

MenuMaker

The MenuMaker allows the creation of menu cycles, with detailed menu information such as the entree, starch, vegetable, etc. (screen shot). The substitutions for each menu item can also be specified, where required. For example, if the vegetable were broccoli, a low-potassium substitution of peas could be specified. Menus are created on a cycle, consisting of a user-defined number of weeks. Once a cycle of menus has been created, it can be easily assigned to specific delivery dates and reused as needed (screen shot). Client-specific menus can be printed to accompany each client's meal, and a report listing the detailed component counts and all adjustments and/or substitutions can be prepared for the kitchen.

As in all of MealService, the detailed menu components (such as entree, starch, vegetable, etc.) and the menu selections (such as Meat Loaf, Roast Chicken, etc.) are specified by the agency.

Some MenuMaker benefits:

• Frees kitchen staff from having to manually count the numbers of standard and modified meal components
• Allows the nutritionist to specify the component substitutions required for all special diets, thereby ensuring that clients with dietary restrictions still receive proper nutrition.
• Allows the printing of attractive, personalized client menus
• Creates an easily accessed archive of all the menus the organization has used over time.

ReferralTracker

This plug-in allows the organization to track client referrals, and the compensation status of each of those referrals. This is a handy plug-in for those organizations that might offer their clients an incentive to refer their friends and colleagues to the service, such as the Zone Delivered or Atkins at Home™ might do. You have the ability to easily jump up and down the referral tree, and to print reports on those clients to whom you may owe compensation of some sort.