I.1.Overview:
"CaterMan"'s user interface comprises of three main tabs: "Menu of the day" (Figure 1 and Figure 3), "Meal choices" (Figure 12) and "Administrator". As the general user will only have access to the first two tabs, in this chapter we will concentrate on them.
Figure 1
The first tab, "Menu of the day", contains information about the dishes served by the home on the specific day, with pictograms to visually describe the various main or side dishes included in the meal (Figure 1); you have the Main Meal (Figure 1 - A), the Second Choice (Figure 1 - B), the Carbohydrates (Figure 1 - C), the two Vegetables (Figure 1 - D and E) and the lunch time Pudding (Figure 1 - F). As well, you can see the Supper menu, with the Main Meal (Figure 1 -G), the supper time Pudding (Figure 1 - H) and the Soup of the day (Figure 1 - I). There is also an alternative menu available, menu that can be visualised by clicking the "Alternative menu" text (Figure 1 - J) - this will open a window displaying the alternative options (Figure 2).
Figure 2
You can visualise the next day's menu by clicking the down-right side arrow (Figure 1 - K). This action will take you to a "page" containing pictorial information's about the next day's menu (Figure 3). To return to the main page, just click the down-left side arrow (Figure 3 - A).
Figure 3
If the breakfast operation is still in progress, a Breakfast window will be automatically displayed (Figure 4); this window can be minimized by clicking the minimizing button (Figure 4 - A), and it will automatically close as soon as the breakfast finishes.
Figure 4
The entire week's menu can be viewed by clicking the "This week's menu" icon from the upper-left side of the screen (Figure 1 - L). A window with the week's daily meals will open (Figure 5).
Figure 5
If there is one or multiple birthdays on the day, one or multiple "singing birthday card" windows will open (Figure 6); they can be minimized by clicking the minimizing button (Figure 6 - A), muted by clicking the "Oooh, shut up !" button from the main window (Figure 7 - A) -- by doing this, the button changes it's caption to "Pleeeease, sing to me again !", which allows you to resume the singing -- , or closed by clicking the "Close birthday window" button from the main window (Figure 7 - B).
Figure 6
Figure 7
Any "singing birthday card" window can be later reopened by clicking the Birtday icon (Figure 1 - M) and selecting the desired name from the displayed list (Figure 8)
Figure 8
Clicking the "Our foods" icon (Figure 1 - N) will result in the displaying of a window showcasing the different meals that are being cooked in the Home (Figure 9), their description, content, allergenic advice, etc. You can cycle through the dishes using the left and right arrows (Figure 9 - A), or you can jump to a selected meal from the meals combo (Figure 9 - B).
Figure 9
A window showing the House's residents, with some superficial description and nutrition-related info, (Figure 10) can be opened by clicking the "Our residents" icon (Figure 1 - O); you can cycle through the residents using the left and right arrows (Figure 10 - A), or you can jump to a selected resident from the names combo (Figure 10 - B).
Figure 10
You can toggle the application's background on and off by clicking the "Background" icon (Figure 1 - P).
On the lower bar of the application you can find more information, as the chef(s) on duty (Figure 1 - Q), the last operation performed by the program (Figure 1 - R), and the exact date and time (Figure 1 - S). A scrolling text will announce when the staff ordering window is about to close, with 15 minutes in advance (Figure 11).
Figure 11
There are some commands that can be accessed without special permission from the "Command Centre Bar" (Figure 1 - T) situated in this tab, but they will be referred to in the specific chapters of this booklet.
The second tab, "Meal choices" (Figure 12) is the tab where the actual process of meal choosing - for residents and staff members - is taking place; the inputted data is stored and displayed in real time on the kitchen's monitor.
Figure 12
The daily menu can be viewed on top of the page (Figure 12 - A). The rest of the page is split in two parts: one part contains the resident's database (Figure 12 - B), while the second part allows the viewing of the staff member's database (Figure 12 - H). By default, all the residents are displayed in the resident's grid, but the user can filter them by different Homes of the Centre (if there are more Homes) with the help of the "Location" filtering combo box (Figure 12 - C). On selecting a resident, his/her name is displayed, along with information regarding the portion size and the required consistency of the meal (Figure 12 - D). On the right side of the screen, weight information is displayed, according to the guidelines set by the dietician and the current weight (Figure 12 - E). The Likes, dislikes and allergies of the selected resident are also displayed (Figure 12 - F). You can see a zoomed picture of the resident by clicking its photo (Figure 13). To close the picture, click it again or click the close icon.
Figure 13
In the Figure 12 - G you can see the meal selection combos, which allows the input of the resident's preferences. Choosing the meals will be presented more detailed in the third chapter of this booklet. There is also a special box, allowing the input of the numbers of visitors, but is restricted for the use of administrators, catering and activity staff only.
I.2.Visualising the reports and logs:
"CaterMan" generates a vast amount of data, automatically or on user's input; this data is stored in bespoke databases for later references, but is recorded in webpage-like reports which can be printed or visualised at any times in a simple internet browser.
The generated reports can be found in the "reports" subfolder of the "archive" folder of the application.(i.e. .../CaterMan/archives/reports).
To access these reports from within the application, click the "Open reports" command (Figure 14 - A) from the Command Centre Bar (Figure 14 - B)
Figure 14
An Explorer window will open, allowing you to browse and select your desired report to be visualised or sent to printer (Figure15 - A)
Figure 15
The reports generated by "CaterMan" are the following:
- Pre-defined menus
- Weekly actual menus
- Residents choices
- Ordered meals frequency, sorted by popularity
- Our meals, their days on the menu and ordering frequency
- Food final cooking temperatures
- Fridge/Freezers temperatures
- Holding cabinets temperatures
- Delivered goods temperature records
- Cooling/Reheating records
- Resident feedback forms
- Individual staff meal situation records
- Monthly lunch money balance situation
- Monthly budget situations
- The Black List (List of staff with arrears in lunch payment)
- Open-close checks records
- Weekly cleaning records
- Monthly cleaning records
- Residents weighing results
- Staff rota records
- Thermometer calibration log
- Yearly First Aid Kit content check
- Used chemicals Safety Data Sheets
- Late recording and what caused the delay in recording the data
These reports can be visualised, as previously stated, by opening the generated web-page from the desired subfolder.
The subfolders and the files are, for every type of reports, the following:
Budget:
Cleaning Records:
Feedback Forms:
First Aid Kit Content Check:
Late Records:
Menus:
Monthly Cleaning Records:
Open-Close Checks Records:
Resident choices:
Resident Weighing Results:
Used Chemicals Safety Data Sheets:
Staff Meals Records:
Staff Rota Records:
Thermometers Calibration Records:
Temperatures Records:
I.3.Choosing and ordering resident's meals:
The resident's menu choices must be done in the morning by the care staff, thus giving the chef(s) enough time to prepare the selected meals. Choosing a meal should be done with the resident, by showing him the pictorial menu, but taking in account, as well, his allergies and counter-indications. Please do not forget to make the menu choices, as, otherwise, depending on the settings, the program will assign automatically the first choice.
Choosing a meal will be done on the second tab of the application, the "Meal choices" tab (Figure 16).
Figure 16
On the "Meal choices" tab the staff member will find the grid containing the Care Centre's residents (Figure 16 - A); As well, a combo box can be seen, which allows to filter the resident's based on their location in a particular Home - if the Care Centre comprises of more than one Home - (Figure 16 - B). The day's menu will be displayed on top of the page (Figure 16 - C); it is possible to go back to the first tab ("Menu of the day" tab) (Figure 1) in order to allow the resident to visualise the choices before deciding.
Selecting the desired resident from the grid will trigger the displaying of crucial information which will help with selecting a safe and adequate meal. The full name of the resident and his picture will be displayed in the left side of the screen, under the Resident's grid, along with information about his ideal portion size and food consistency (Figure 16-D). If the staff member is not customized yet with the residents and need to see who is the selected person, he can click on the picture for a better view (Figure 17). On the right side of the screen, under the Resident's grid, a message will let the staff member know the status of the selected resident's current weight in relation to the established optimum values set by the dietician (Figure 16-E). If the resident has certain likes or dislikes, if he is allergic to any agents or if there are special instructions regarding his diet, those information will appear in a special box in the middle part of the screen (Figure 16-F).
The actual choices will be inputted via the option boxes that will become available whenever a resident is selected (Figure 16-G) - Note: in case the choices were already made, these option boxes won't be displayed, but there will be a button allowing the change of its choices - the chef or administrator's presence is required, in order to make sure these changes are done in time and to avoid any miscommunication.
Figure 17
The options selection box (Figure 16-G) is divided in two parts, one for each meal of the day: there is one cluster for selecting the lunch options and another one for selecting the supper options (Figure 18).
Figure 18
For lunch, one of the following options can be selected:
For supper, the following options are available:
After choosing the preferred meals, do not forget to click the "Save/Next" button (Figure 16-H), in order to confirm and save the information. This information will be displayed in real-time on the kitchen monitor, and the grid cursor will automatically jump to the next resident to repeat the meal choosing process.
If the staff member cannot remember the steps that have to be taken in ordering the resident's meal, a help window can be opened by clicking "Help me place the orders !" (Figure 16-I)
To order meals for visitors, the "Visitors" number from the lower left side of the screen must be changed and confirmed (Figure 16 - J). Only Administrators and Activity Staff have clearance to do this, as it is password protected.
The records in the grid are colour coded - they are using a red font if the choices are partially made or not made at all, black if the resident is recorded as "Away" and blue if the resident's choices were made. If a resident won't be participating in both meals, it can be easily recorded as away by right-clicking its grid record.
A report containing the day's resident choices will be created automatically and added to the archives, at a time set by the chef(s) or administrator [1].
I.4.Choosing and ordering staff meals:
A member of staff can order its meal through this application only if he/she is already in the application's staff database. If the staff member is not yet registered, kindly contact the chef or administrator. Once the staff's name is inputted in the database, the staff member will be assigned a password which will be used to confirm the identity of the person ordering the meal.
The staff ordering operation will take place using the "tools" provided on the lower part of the "Meal choices" tab (Figure 19).
Figure 19
A grid containing all the registered staff's name can be found there, alphabetically ordered to ease the ordering process (Figure 19-A). The staff member will have to search for it's name and select it from the grid by clicking the corresponding record. To further help in searching a particular name, the user can, after selecting the grid, press the first letter of it's name - the grid cursor will jump to the names beginning with the selected letter. Another way of finding the desired record is to enter it (even only partially) in the "Search bar" (Figure 19-B), and then to click the "Search" icon, possibly multiple times (Figure 19-C).
Once a record is found/selected, the name of the staff member will be displayed, along with its working location and the current balance (Figure 19-D). The current balance, which shows how much is currently owed by the staff member, can be a positive number, in red, showing the staff member owes money for present/past meal orders, or a negative number, in green, which means the staff member has credit towards current/future meal orders. Note: There is a "Log a payment" button, but that one is for authorized personnel use only, requiring an administrator password; If the lunch ordering time window is still active, an "Order lunch" button will be displayed as well (Figure 19-E). Note: if the lunch ordering allocated timing is exceeded but sandwiches can still be ordered, this button will have the "Order sandwich" caption. If that window is exceeded too, no button will be displayed.
Clicking the "Order lunch" button will trigger the appearance of a small window, asking the user to confirm its identity by typing in the password (Figure 20).
Figure 20
After the identity is confirmed, the order options will appear (Figure 21); some of the options might be greyed out, which means they are not available - depending on the rules used by every Care Centre or Company in particular.
The staff member can make its choice by clicking on the desired option and checking the desired meal-type check-boxes.
Figure 21
Currently, the application allows selecting between 4 choices of meals (Figure 21 - A) - but, as mentioned before, the Care Home or Company policy might reduce those choices - :
When the selection is done, the user must check the correct location is selected, so the chef(s) can know where to send the meal (Figure 21 - B); the order must be confirmed by pressing the "Place Order" button (Figure 21 - C) before the information will be logged and displayed on the kitchen monitor. If the staff member changed its mind, the "Cancel" button can be clicked, thus cancelling the order (Figure 21 - D).
Once an order is put through, it can be cancelled or modified in the allowed time window. If the order was already made, by selecting the respective record, two buttons will be displayed: "Cancel Order" and "Modify Order"; To cancel an order, just click the "Cancel Order" button (Figure 22 - A); after identification, a confirmation window will open (Figure 23), asking if sure; Pressing "Yes" will undo the ordering process and recalculate the balance. If the modifying of the order is the desired action, the user should click the "Modify Order" button (Figure 22 - B); after the identification, the whole ordering process can be revised.
Figure 22
Figure 23
The closing of the time window for staff meals ordering will be announced by a marquee on the lower part of the screen, 15 minutes prior the set time limit (Figure 24).
Figure 24
In case the staff member forgot the steps needed to be taken in ordering a meal, he can access the "Help" screen by clicking "Help me place my order" (Figure 19 - F).
The "Black list" report will be automatically updated [2]., as well as the staff member's ordering history report; they will be added to the archives [2].
I.5.Completing feedback forms:
The Feedback Forms play an important role in the whole catering process; through them, the chef(s) are being kept informed of the culinary behaviour of the residents, of their likes or dislikes of certain meals. The Feedback Forms are the communication link between the kitchen and supporting staff, between chefs and residents. It is recommended to complete a feedback form for each resident at least 2 times per month, so the kitchen staff can be well informed of the resident's likes, dislikes and preferences, for a better management of the meals and for constructing a much more efficient and attractive menu.
The completion of the Feedback Forms through the "CaterMan" system is realised in three stages, each stage being triggered by the completion of the previous one:
The first stage involves the resident and its supporting staff; the supporting staff enters the information in the system via the feedback procedure; the meals will be graded by the resident on a 1 to 5 points scale, where 1 is a poor rating of the food, 2 means the food was bad, 3 denotes a satisfactory meal, 4 is a good meal while 5 describes an excellent dining experience from the resident. Also, the staff member will be asked to provide short comments why that particular score was given, and also to specify the method used to get that rating from the resident. The other fields of the Feedback form (The Home, Feedback date, Chef(s) on duty and the Name of the staff member supporting the service user) will be automatically filled in by the application.
The second stage is the acknowledgment of the feedback by one of the Chefs; they will comment on the grading and notes, specify any potential outcome of the specific feedback, set a review date, if necessary, and write details of the review. The feedback form will be then electronically signed.
The third stage of the feedback process is the signing off of the document by the House Manager or the Nurse in Charge, if the House Manager is not available for a longer period. They will specify if any issues should be reviewed in the future, set a date for that review, and write down the details. The form will be then electronically signed.
As the second and the third stage of the Feedback submitting process concerns the chefs and managers, in this chapter we will concentrate upon the first part, namely the completion of the Feedback Forms by the Care staff.
A resident can have a Feedback Form filled in only if the person was present and participating in both of the meals, and its meal choices were already recorded and saved. If one of those conditions are not satisfied, the "Feedback" button will not be displayed when the desired resident is selected from the grid.
To start completing the feedback form, please select the desired resident from the resident's database (Figure 25 - A), and click the "Feedback" button (Figure 25 - B).
Figure 25
A password entering window will open, asking the user to input its personal password (Figure 26). Based on the entered password, the computer will automatically recognise the staff member completing the Feedback Form, and fill in the necessary fields. Note: A staff member have to be already registered in the staff member's database in order to successfully complete a Feedback Form. Please contact the chef or administrator if there are any problems.
Figure 26
After the identification process is completed, a new window containing the Feedback Form will open (Figure 27).
Figure 27
The Feedback Form contains a series of fields, some of which are automatically filled with the adequate data, others being left blank and needing to be completed by the user. Those fields are:
The grading of each meal will be done by clicking the selected grade (number) or by clicking the adequate image from below the meal or pudding which comes under scrutiny. The comments for each meal or pudding, as well as the service user's feedback method can be filled in by clicking the corresponding box and then entering the information. When the Feedback Form is 100% completed, it will be confirmed by pressing "OK" (Figure 27 - J), or it can be cancelled by pressing the "Cancel" button (Figure 27 - K). Note: If any of the required fields are left blank or one or more of the meals are not graded, the application will not allow other actions until they are filled in, or the "Cancel" button is pressed - a warning message will pop up (Figure 28).
Figure 28
Once the Feedback Form is completed, a report containing the feedback information will be automatically generated and saved in the archives.[3].
I.6.Screening a movie from the "Entertainment" section:
"CaterMan" includes an "Entertainment" section, to be used for screening movies to entertain the residents when the application is not in use. There is a movie database, from which certain media can be chosen and played via the application.
The "Entertainment" section can be accessed by clicking the "Movie time" command (Figure 29 - B) from the "Command Centre Bar" (Figure 29 - A).
Figure 29
Selecting the "Movie time" command will trigger the opening of a new window with a list of all the media present on the hard disk (Figure 30).
Figure 30
When a movie is selected, for example "Auntie Edna" (Figure 30 - A), the viewing of that movie can begin in a new web-style window (Figure 31).
The movie selection window can be closed by clicking the "
Close" button from the bottom-right section of the window (Figure 30 - B).
Figure 31
To view the movie in a full screen mode, just double-click the viewing screen, or click the "
Fullscreen" button (Figure 31 - A). To revert back to the original screen, just double-click the viewing area again. The movie can be paused by using the "Pause" button from below the screening area (Figure 31 - B). When in the default screening mode, you can toggle on/of the "lights" (make the background darker) by using the switch from the left-bottom side of the screen (Figure 31 - C). If it is required to temporarily revert to the main application for inputting data but it is wished to continue the movie viewing after, the movie window can be minimized by clicking the "Minimize" button from the upper-right area of the screen (Figure 31 - D). Reverting back to the viewing screen will be done by keeping the "ALT" key pressed (Figure 32 - A) and pressing the "TAB" key repeatedly (Figure 32 - B), until the "CarterMan Entertainment - Watch movie" tab is selected; at that point release the keys and the computer will revert to the movie viewing window.
Figure 32
There might be "curfews" in place, set by the chef(s) or administrators, in order to prohibit the use of the "Entertainment" section of the application during some periods of times (i.e. Meal Times or Data Inputting sessions). At the start of a "curfew" period, any ongoing media will be automatically closed, and, during that period, clicking the "Movie time" command will have no other effect than the displaying of an alert (Figure 33).
Figure 33
I.7.Using the "Chefenger" messaging system:
"Chefenger" is a bespoke messaging system, facilitating a continuous and better communication between chef(s) and the rest of the staff members, and more. It can be considered as a sort of electronic communication book, where messages can be left to aid in the catering process. New messages can be easily spotted, as the background container of the "Chefenger"'s icon (Figure 34 - B) from the Command Centre Bar (Figure 34 - A) will turn red, and a number will appear, announcing how many new messages are there. In the meantime, an icon with the mentioned number will appear on the kitchen monitor as well, so the chef(s) can acknowledge the existence of new messages.
Figure 34
In order to start "Chefenger", click its icon from the Command Centre Bar - A new window will open, (Figure 35), containing a grid with all the existing messages (Figure 35 - A), and all the details of the selected messages: The date and time of sending (Figure 35 - B), From whom the message is (Figure 35 - C), the Subject of the message (Figure 35 - D), and, of course, the Content of the message (Figure 35 - E); the details will automatically change with the selection of a different message from the grid (Figure 35 - A).
On the Messaging window there are, as well, a command to leave a new message (Figure 35 - F), a command to delete the selected message (Figure 35 - G), a command for marking a message as read (Figure 35 - H) and the option of making the selected message a VIM (Figure 35 - I), displayed on the date selected from the drop-down calendar (Figure 35 - J).
Figure 35
The new messages will be marked by the word "New" on the right side of the grid.
Deleting a message or Marking it as Read are password protected operations and can be done only by the chef(s) or administrator.
VIM means Very Important Message and denotes a message that will be flagged and displayed in a separate maximized window on the kitchen monitor, as soon as the program is started, so the chef(s) will be immediately aware of its content (Figure 36).
Figure 36
To leave a new message, click the "New message" button - this will result in the enabling of the text box areas, where the message details will be filled (Figure 37). Please fill in all the fields, or the application will not allow you to post your message, an error message being generated (Figure 38).
Figure 37
As mentioned before, there are multiple areas: The date and time will be automatically filled in by the application (Figure 37 - A); In the "From" textbox you will enter from whom is the message (Figure 37 - B), and in the "Subject" textbox you will input a title for your message (Figure 37 - C). The content of the message will be written in the "Content" area (Figure 37 - D).
You can make your message VIM by clicking the "Make this message VIM" checkbox (Figure 37 - E); the date selection drop-down calendar will become available, so you can select when this message will be displayed (Figure 37 - F).
The leaving of the message can be cancelled at any time by clicking the "Cancel" button (Figure 37 - G). If you want to save the message, just click the "Post" button (Figure 37 - H).
"Chefenger" can be closed by clicking the "Close" icon from the lower-right part of the window (Figure 35 - K).
Figure 38
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