Re-engineering
What's New?
Barcode EntryIn order to make its Community Meals system more effective, CCS has been researching Bar code entry as a quick way of finding client records and entering meal choices.
Using the standard 3of9 font, the system is very reliable and easy to use. As all the mouse and keyboard functions have been barcoded the entire operation, once started, can be done entirely through the hand scanner. This system will be available in CM4.2 package.
Monitoring of Frozen Meals
The use of temperature transducers to monitor the cooling, storage and reconstitution of frozen meals has been under review for almost a year. A system has been developed which follows the progress of a dummy meal through the system. The temperature profile is read from the transducer's memory directly on to a PC or indirectly through a radio or induction link.
The next stage is to find a way of incorporating the elctronics into a real meal container so that the whole process may be accurately recorded from production to the client's table. This methodology provides a basis for attaining the Govenment's 1% monitoring target.
Data Transfer via the Web
As part of implementing a system for using BACS payments for Community Meals drivers' mileage payments, CCS recognised that developing a one-click downloading system would enable payment data to be transfered to a central site for final pre-BACS processing. Using a classic ftp transfer script it is easy for an encrypted preset file to be transferred to dedicated web space for automated collection by the central office. The unencrypted file is then processed for onward transmission to the BACS system.