You may have questions about how MealTime meal service works while offline. Here are some common questions and answers to help you better understand this feature of the program.
MealTime offers two modes for users to choose from in our Point of Sale Console settings, continuous and periodic sync. For more information, click this link. |
| What happens if a cashier goes offline during the initial synchronization as the Point of Sale Console is starting up? | The cashier is given the opportunity to try again, leave the Point of Sale Console, or start from the last known good data. We provide the date/time of the last synchronization, so the cashier knows exactly how "fresh" their data is. The cashier can then make the call whether they want to use it or not. The program continues to attempt to update their data as they serve, allowing it to "catch up" as soon as possible. |
| What happens if a Partial Sync fails? | The Partial Sync is designed to happen quietly, in the background. If a Partial Sync fails, it fails, and the program tries again a few minutes later. The cashier knows how "fresh" their data is by the information shown in the lower left-hand corner of the Point of Sale Console. |
| What will cause my Point of Sale Console to begin serving meals offline? | One of three conditions may trigger Offline Meal Service:
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| What happens if a student purchases their first meals at multiple Point of Sale stations? How are those converted to second meals? | A second meal is always detected and counted when both the first and second meal have been served at a single Point of Sale station. In situations where multiple stations are in place, it is possible that a customer may be served first meals at multiple offline stations because these stations are unaware of the transactions. Upon re-connection to the server, all transactions are reconciled, with any extra first meals converted transactions will be billed to the customer's account. |
| Will purchase limits and overdraw limits work while I'm serving offline? | Daily purchase limits and overdraw limits will remain effective for individual Point of Sale Stations during offline service, however, as there is no way to know that these limits have been reached at their offline stations, it may be possible for customers to exceed their overall daily limit by visiting multiple offline stations. |
| Why am I having trouble finding a visiting customer while serving offline? | Customer searching is limited to only the Physical Location (campus) associated with the Point of Sale Station unless that station is configured to use district-wide data. Please note that enabling this option may cause slow service for some users and is generally discouraged except when necessary and as instructed by MealTime Support. |