The Preferences functionality is available within both the Dinners and Extended Day modules of Schools Cash Office.
Once configured, pupils’ typical weekly meal or session pattern will update the appropriate module registers automatically.
Before you start
You must have pupils imported into Schools Cash Office and either meal codes or session codes configured within the Dinners or Extended Day modules.
Configuring Pupil Preferences
The preference functionality allows you to store a typical weekly pattern of either meal codes (for the Dinners module) or session codes (for the Extended Day module) against any number of pupils.
Preferences can be configured on a pupil by pupil basis and do not have to be configured against all pupils.
Temporary changes to an individual pupil’s typical pattern can be accommodated directly through the register or through Classroom Edition (if licenced) and for pupils who have no preferences set then meal/session codes continue to be entered directly as required.
1. Defining preferences for a pupil
- Select the Configuration tab and Account configuration
- Select Pupils
- Expand any of the lists (Class list, Pupil list...) and select the appropriate pupil
- Click Preferences
- Select the appropriate Dinner Money or Extended Day heading against which you wish to set preferences. If necessary use the small arrows to the right of the headings to view more
- Enter the appropriate meal code or session code heading against each weekday (or session).
- If appropriate, select a further pupil from the list and continue to set their preferences
- Click Done to save and exit the window
Note
Only codes defined as "Meal codes" or "Session codes" types can be added as preferences.
If a pupil has no typical pattern for a particular day then leave the day (or session) blank. A blank does not indicate "No dinner" or "Not attending", but rather indicates "no typical pattern".
If necessary the system can be set to auto-populate a present meal code (e.g. Sandwiches from home) into all remaining blank cells in the register each day via an option in Configuration > System options > Dinners/Extended Day. Set the Default value if no meal taken in dinner money option to Show as Present.
Populating Pupil Preferences
1. Auto-populating preferences daily
Pupil preferences automatically update registers on a rolling day by day basis for all pupils, subject to the following rules:
- Where the register is currently blank, a pupil's preference will be brought through for the day.
Note: A blank may be the result of no code ever having been set, or may be the result of a code having been deleted from the register - Where the register already contains a code (e.g. as a result of a manual amendment), a pupil's preference will not overwrite the existing code.
Note
This auto-population function is automatically enabled and will begin to populate registers each day as soon as preferences have been set against pupils.
2. Populating preferences 'on demand'
It is possible to pull preferences through to registers manually should you wish to. This can be useful if you wish to pull preferences through for a date or date range in the future.
- Click Set meal preferences (for Dinners) or Set session preferences (for Extended Day).
- If required select a specific class, or all classes, or select a specific Account name
- If you wish the configured preferences codes to overwrite any existing codes already in the register then tick the appropriate option.
NOTE: A code will not be changed in the register if the pupil's preference for that day is configured blank.
3. Populating preferences for a specific day
4. Populating preferences for a whole week
5. Populating preferences for a single pupil
