Client
A client in USA wanted to digitalize operations related to food ordering and delivery, menu planning, supply chains and inventory management of old-age facilities.
Problem Statement
Old-age facilities face unique operational challenges, including handling the complex dietary requirements and taste preferences of residents’ meals based on their medical conditions. Accommodating these preferences demands flexibility in menu planning. Additionally, managing the freshness and quality of perishable food items is intricate, necessitating efforts to minimize waste while ensuring residents receive nutritious meals. Ensuring the timely delivery of food supplies presents further difficulties, particularly for facilities in remote areas or those affected by supply chain disruptions.
Result
Biz4Solutions assisted the client in developing a comprehensive solution for managing the daily operations of old-age facilities, encompassing inventory management, supply chain, food ordering, and menu planning, thereby reducing operational costs. This solution has a customizable meal plan for older residents that cater to individual dietary needs and preferences and can improve health outcomes and overall satisfaction. It has helped effective coordination between dietary staff, healthcare providers, and suppliers that ensured that dietary requirements are met consistently. It has facilitated the monitoring of inventory and the management of perishable food items, ensuring their freshness and reducing waste.
Overview
FoodInventory management application is used to manage facilities and its daily operations. It allows food vendors to directly upload their inventory with all the details such as price, measurements, vendor numbers, etc through an Excel. This data can then be mapped to inventory that are defined for each facility, so when the facility Admins create a Purchase order they can easily see from whom to order and what are the different options and prices others provide. It can define different recipes that will be available for that facility which can then be added to a menu and that is assigned to a cycle, defaulting to 28 days. Menu created can be assigned to a resident and can be customized for them based on their medical information, allergies and dislikes while also tracking there nutritional intakes based on the items they are served. Also facilities can login and order food for their resident either by selecting per assigned meal or update that by adding alternate, side, beverage recipes suggested based on resident’s medical history and assignment.
Developmental Challenges we faced:
Our team came across some developmental challenges as mentioned below:
- Catering to diverse dietary needs and medical conditions requires a highly flexible and customizable meal planning system.
- Seamless integration with existing healthcare systems to access and update residents’ medical records was pretty complex.
- Developing robust features for tracking inventory and managing supply chain logistics, particularly for remote locations, to ensure timely delivery and minimal waste.
- Ensuring the software can integrate and communicate effectively with other systems and devices used within the facility.
How did we resolve these development challenges?
- Developed a highly flexible meal planning module that allowed for detailed customization based on residents’ dietary needs and preferences. Incorporated a comprehensive database of dietary restrictions and allergens to ensure safe meal preparation.
- Used standardized healthcare data exchange protocols (such as HL7 or FHIR) for seamless integration with existing healthcare systems. Implemented APIs to enable easy data exchange between the software and medical record systems.
- Developed advanced tracking and forecasting features to optimize inventory management and reduce waste. Implemented real-time tracking to guarantee timely deliveries, even to remote areas.
- Adherence to industry standards for data exchange and communication protocols to ensure interoperability with other systems and devices. Developing comprehensive APIs to facilitate seamless integration with external applications.
