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- Kim Fjerstad
Food Service Manager
Rockwell City–Lytton Schools

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This is where your eyes start to glaze over a little. We're going to get into the various ways you can set up SDS to meet the needs of your operation. If you start to get a headache, invite your technical staff to come over and look at this with you. They'll be able to help you decide what deployment options are best for you.

At the heart of the School Dining System is a powerful server. This server performs complex tasks to keep your lunchrooms running at peak efficiency. All SDS deployments must have a server, however the location of the server can vary. POS systems communicate with this server in real-time (Central Mode) or periodically (Local Mode) to make sure that balances are all up to date and that any new students, pricing and menu items are propagated.

The POS system runs on any Windows PC (XP/2000 recommended). Touch screen monitor is highly recommended. Additional supported peripherals include bard code readers, mag stripe readers, serial port cash drawers, biometric fingerprint scanners* and receipt printers*.

Central Mode POS
These POS systems are connected to the server during the meal times. They report sales and balance change information to the server as they happen. This mode is very useful when you have multiple POS system in a single cafeteria, as each POS is aware of what transaction have occurred at other POS systems. This allows you to prevent a student from passing through two different lines and purchasing two reimbursable items. It also allows you to prevent a family account balance from going negative, because Central Mode POS systems are aware of what has been sold by Central Mode POS system in other locations throughout the district.

Requirements for Central Mode POS operation include a school-hosted SDS server (Enterprise or Clustered - see next page for more information), a reliable inter-building network infrastructure, and WiFi or Ethernet access at each cafeteria where Central Mode will be deployed.

It should be noted that in the event of a connectivity failure between a Central Mode POS system and the server, the POS system will roll over to Local Mode and sales will continue to be processed. Those sales, however, will have to be transmitted to the server at a later time once connectivity is restored.

Local Mode POS
In this configuration, the POS system uses locally stored data. This data is downloaded by the Operator before the start of each meal, and sent up to the Central Server at the end of each meal. Ideally suited for POS systems in standalone facilities (such as Elementary Schools where only one POS system is present). The disadvantage is that in buildings with multiple POS systems, a student passing through one line will not have his or her purchase reflected in the other lines. In buildings running multiple POS systems, this could allow for more than one reimbursable meal sale per student per meal.

The SDS Server
On the next page, we'll talk more about the SDS server. POS systems can either talk to it "live" (Central Mode) or before and after meals (Local Mode).

For example, in the diagram below which illustrates a typical school deployment that hosts its own server...

• High School and Middle School both have fast links to the SDS Central Server, so they run Central Mode

• The three Elementary schools each have one POS system, and a slow link, so they run Local Mode

 Next Page: Server Configurations
 

*Contact an SDS Sales Specialist for supported makes and models