Food-Service-Manual-for-Health-Care-Institutions

Food Service Manual for Health Care Institutions
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must be considered when matching software to a specific business application include the
source, scope, and function of the software. Food services’ common features of software
include menu planning, forecasting, purchasing, inventory, management, and medical nutrition
therapy.
Source
Source refers to the degree to which the manager is involved in the design of the software, the
development of the instructions provided to the hardware, or both. Most software can be classified
as customized, full-featured, or generic.
In health care food service operations, many early users of computer technology found it
necessary to design and develop customized software. This type of software was written specifically
for their operations, and the managers were actively involved in determining the functions
to be performed by the software. Many times the written reports generated by the existing
manual system were used as the basis for the design of the computer-generated reports. This
resulted in software that generated reports tailored to meet the specific needs of a specific operation.
However, many operations do not have the resources necessary to develop their own systems.
In addition, errors or bugs in these types of systems usually had to be caught and
corrected after the system had been implemented.
An alternative to customized software is full-featured software. A wide variety of full-featured
software systems has been developed for use by health care food service operations.
Systems have been developed by more than two hundred companies to perform functions ranging
from inventory and purchasing control to nutrient analysis of both menus and intake of
individual patients.
Full-featured software generally is less expensive than customized software and usually has
been widely tested and sold. This software can be seen through demonstrations at trade shows
or by previewing program copies. With so many choices available, guidelines for evaluating
these programs must be developed for the food service director who is considering the purchase
of full-featured software.
An economical alternative to customized and full-featured software is generic software. A
variety of generic programs can be purchased at retail software stores or from mail-order
houses. Generic software programs include word processing that handles word applications,
electronic spreadsheets for mathematical applications, database management that equates to
an electronic filing system, and graphics to display information in graph form. These generalpurpose
programs can be modeled to meet a variety of needs for a specific food service operation.
Many operations choose to supplement their full-featured systems with generic software.
Scope
The scope of software refers to the range of applications or functions that can be performed by
the software. Software is either single application or integrated in its orientation. Single-application
software is designed to handle one specific function. Three common single-application
software packages are word processing, database managers, and electronic spreadsheets.
Single-application programs also are available to support such functions as inventory control
and nutrient analysis. These systems generally are easier to evaluate and less expensive than
integrated systems. However, they may be less efficient because each application requires that
the same data be entered before being used by the program.
In most food service operations, some of the same data are used for numerous applications.
Data about an individual food item might be used in ordering, receiving, issuing, recipes,
production, sales control, and nutrient analysis. Integrated food service software allows for
easy transfer of data directly from one application to another. The data are entered only once.
Thereafter, the data can be used to provide information for planning and control purposes for
a variety of functions with a minimum of user interaction.