How to Scan Daily Meal Records into ElderSuite

ElderSuite’s Scan Meals feature reads marked meal boxes from completed weekly Form 1535 logs and imports the results directly into Meal Records.

This reduces manual entry and eliminates the need to select every meal individually. However, scanned meals are saved immediately when they are imported. Staff should understand this difference and review the entire week against the paper logs after every import.

Where to Find Scan Meals

To scan completed meal logs, go to:

Nutrition Center → Meal Records → Scan Meals

The feature is designed for the Daily Meal Count & Attendance - Form 1535 report printed from ElderSuite.

Important: Imported Meals Are Saved Immediately

Meal scanning works differently from scanning attendance and transportation times.

Scanned transportation times are placed on the screen for review before they are saved. Scanned meals are written directly to Meal Records during the import.

This is necessary because the Meal Records screen displays one day at a time, while Form 1535 covers an entire Monday-through-Friday week. Most of the imported days would not be visible on the screen during the scanning process.

Before selecting Scan Meals:

• Save any valid changes currently displayed in Meal Records.
• Discard any changes you do not want to keep.
• Confirm that you are ready to import the entire week.
• Have the original paper meal logs available for comparison.

ElderSuite prompts you to address unsaved changes before scanning because the Meal Records screen is reloaded after the weekly import is completed.

Printing the Weekly Meal Logs

Print the meal logs from:

Report Center → Nutrition → Daily Meal Count & Attendance - Form 1535

The report covers one week, Monday through Friday, and includes up to 15 participants per page.

ElderSuite prints information such as:

• Provider name
• Site information
• Participant names
• Participant ages
• Day and date headings
• Meal-count boxes

The meal boxes are left empty so staff can mark them as meals are served.

Marking the Meal Logs

Complete the paper log at the time meals are served and according to your food program’s documentation requirements.

For the most reliable scanning results:

• Use an X to mark a meal box.
• Use a dark pen.
• Keep each mark completely inside its box.
• Avoid folding or damaging the form.
• Keep pages clean and free of smudges.
• Do not allow a mark to extend into an adjacent meal box.

ElderSuite measures whether a box contains a mark. It does not need to interpret the mark as a specific handwritten character. An X, checkmark, tick, or other visible mark inside the box may be counted.

A crossed-out mark can still be detected because ink remains inside the box. If a meal was marked incorrectly and then crossed out, correct the meal in Meal Records after the import.

For the meal import, ElderSuite records the meal columns labeled B, A, L, and P. Attendance is not imported from the At column; attendance and transportation times are recorded through Form 3682. The S and E columns are not imported.

Scanning the Completed Logs

To scan a completed week:

1. Go to Nutrition Center → Meal Records.
2. Save or discard any unsaved changes.
3. Select Scan Meals.
4. Place the completed Form 1535 pages into the scanner.
5. Confirm that all included pages belong to the same week.
6. Begin the scan.
7. Wait while ElderSuite validates and processes the pages.
8. Review the completion summary.
9. Compare each imported day with the original paper logs.

Pages from the same week can be scanned in any order.

ElderSuite automatically sets the scanner to grayscale at 300 DPI. These settings cannot be changed during a Scan Meals session because the system needs sufficient image detail to measure the marks inside each box.

Feed the pages into the scanner as straight as possible. ElderSuite may reject a badly skewed page instead of risking that meal boxes will be measured incorrectly.

How ElderSuite Validates Each Page

Before importing the marked meals, ElderSuite checks several parts of each page.

Provider name

The provider name printed on the form must match the ElderSuite account currently being used.

Dates

ElderSuite reads the date printed above each daily column. That date determines which day receives the imported meals.

If a printed date cannot be read, ElderSuite leaves the corresponding column unchanged rather than guessing.

Participant names

The participant name printed on each line is matched with the center’s client list for that week.

A line may be omitted when the name cannot be read, matches more than one client, or does not match anyone on the applicable client list.

Printed table

ElderSuite must locate the printed table so it can measure each meal box in the correct position.

If the table cannot be located, the page is rejected. This commonly occurs when a page passes through the scanner at a significant angle.

How Imported Marks Affect Meal Records

The completed paper log is treated as the source for the imported week.

During the import:

• A marked meal box is recorded as served.
• An unmarked meal box is cleared.
• Existing meals for those days may be replaced.
• Meals previously created through Calculate Meals may also be replaced.
• Attendance-related records may be created when needed to hold imported meal information.

If a participant does not already have an attendance record for a day, ElderSuite creates the record needed to store the meals. Transportation times, units, and payment information remain empty until the applicable information is entered from Form 3682.

If all meals are cleared from a day that has no transportation times, ElderSuite removes the otherwise empty record.

Because unmarked boxes can clear existing meals, always confirm that the paper logs are complete before scanning them.

Reviewing the Import Summary

After the import, ElderSuite displays a summary showing:

• How many days were recorded
• How many attendance-related records were created
• Which pages or lines were omitted
• Which information requires additional review

The day currently selected in Meal Records is then reloaded so you can see the imported results for that date.

Review all five days individually:

1. Select the first day of the imported week.
2. Compare Meal Records with the corresponding paper log.
3. Correct any differences.
4. Move to the next day.
5. Continue until the entire week has been verified.

Do not assume that reviewing the day displayed

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