At My Food Program, our mission is to make participation in the CACFP and SFSP as easy as possible. We are always trying to make our software better by improving on the functions we have and adding new ones based on customer feedback. Check out our list of software updates and new features below.
IMPROVED: CLAIM SUMMARY REPORT FOR FAMILY CHILD CARE HOMES
We have updated the formatting of this reports with the following changes:
- Moved the summary table of claimable meal totals to the top of the summary.
- Moved the summary of disallowed meals above the summary of adjustments.
- Added the participant name and reason(s) to the disallows and adjustments.
PORTION SIZES IN MEAL PATTERN UNITS AND FOOD PRODUCTION IN PURCHASE UNITS
We have a new feature that should make kitchen math much easier by showing both meal pattern units and purchase units. Staff in the classroom generally prefer “meal pattern units” such as Cups, Ounces and Each. While the food service staff find “purchase units” more useful. Examples of purchase units include Pounds, #10 Cans and Gallons.
We are now displaying meal pattern units (1) in the following places:
And using purchase units (2) in the following places:
MENU CALENDAR ICON FOR FIELD TRIPS
We have added a new icon on the menu calendar to indicate a field trip (see below). Adding a field trip does not prevent a provider or center from recording meal counts. The field trip function is there to alert the site monitor that the provider or center will be off-site during the meal service.
RECORD REASON FOR CHILD’S ABSENCE
Some providers or centers are required to record the reason that a child was not in attendance on a particular day. We now have the ability for users to enter this information. Due to screen size restrictions, this feature is only visible if attendance and meal counts are displayed on separate screens and only on the full version, not the mobile version. The inputs from this screen are included on a new Reason for Absence Report that includes the date, Participant Name, Birthdate and Reason for Absence.
MEAL TOTALS REPORT
This new report provides a spreadsheet with the daily totals of attendance and meal counts. Visit our Help Center article to learn more and download a sample report.
MISSING CLAIM REPORT
This report is helpful for sponsors to track whether sites have submitted a claim for the month, and if not, it provides the contact information for those sites. The report is a spreadsheet and includes the site name and ID, whether the site or claim is on hold, contact information and the last claim that was received by the site. Learn where to find this report and download a sample in our Help Center article.
SUMMER CAMP WITH MEAL COUNTS BY NAME
Most summer food sites are designated as open to the community and therefore only need to count the number of eligible children who receive a reimbursable meal. Open sites do not need to collect any identification for the children and so there is no need to record meal counts by name.
However, the rules are different for residential and non-residential camps because meals can only be claimed for children who are eligible for free or reduced-price meals. The easiest way to accomplish this is to record meal attendance by name, but only request reimbursement for meals served to eligible children. That’s exactly what our new feature for summer camps does! Camp staff will check children in for meals during meal service time and the software will generate a claim for reimbursement that only includes the eligible children.
- Changed the color of the fruit component on the menu planning page to purple as the previous red color was leading some users to believe that the food item as was error.
- Added age to the Participant List that can be printed from the main Participants & Rosters screen.
- Added a second save button at the top of the edit menu screen.
- Repaired the “Select All” function on the Claim Payments page.
- Changed the sponsor-level report for participant race and ethnicity to a date picker for more flexibility.
- Applied date formatting to relevant columns in the Site Export Report.
- Added columns for “On Hold” and “Last Claim Received” to the Sites Due for a Review Visit Report.
- Improved the function for recording substitutions for special dietary needs to pre-fill whether the substitute food is supplied by the parent or the center/provider based on the preference indicated on the Special Diet Form.
- Added the ability to run the Site Summary Report at the sponsor level for only certain cities or only certain monitors.
- Added a new option to hide the “Expected” column on the site visit page. If this checkbox is marked, then only the “Observed during Visit” column will be visible on the Visit page.
- Added a note on the meal details screen if there is a claim for the month.
- Added the ability to select the meal(s) affected by a multiple day closure.
- Reorganized the Claim Summary Report so that the final claim amounts are at the top followed by a summary of disallowed meals and then any adjustments.
- Sponsor users can now be assigned as both Admin users and Reporters (Monitors).
ALLOW PROVIDERS OR CENTERS WITH “STAFF” ACCESS TO ENTER MENUS Our user role with the lowest permission level is called “Staff”. It is typically used for classroom staff in a center or a helper in a family child care home. Staff users can be restricted all the way down to a single button for Attendance & Meal Counts. If you would like to customize the “staff” user, you can allow them to also:
- Enter Menus (NEW!)
- View Participants & Rosters
- Record Hours
- View File Cabinet Contents
- Added the ability to search sites by county.
- Ensured that the same check number was being filled for checks that include payments from different claim months.
- Repaired a bug in the claim estimate for manual claims created in after school sites.
NEW FEATURE
ON-SCREEN ALERTS FOR SCHOOL RELEASE DAYS
We have learned that some users were doing double work by entering both a school release day and also marking “meal outside of schedule” for each participant. You should only need to do one or the other for school age children.
If your sponsor disallows AM snacks and lunches for children ages 6 and older or disallows AM snacks and lunches for children included in school age capacity, then you will see this message on the meal count page for a day with a school release (1).
If your sponsor disallows meals that are not on participant schedules, then we will let you know that we will use alternate schedules instead if you have entered one. This is the message you will see on the meal count page for a day with a school release (2).
NEW FEATURE
ALERT IF MENU CANNOT BE EDITED BECAUSE OF A REVIEW VISIT
We have added an alert on the Meal Details screen that allows the providers or centers to know that a menu cannot be edited because a review visit took place for that date and meal (1). Remember, that on the Visit page, if you select “Yes” or “No” under the menu question, the provider or center will not be able to edit the menu (2).
We do not allow menu editing so that the food items that were in the system when it was reviewed by the monitor remain in place – whether that is to document that there was a mismatch between the items served and the recorded menu or to certify that the food items served matched the recorded menu.
OTHER ENHANCEMENTS AND BUG FIXES
- Added a new State Agency Export file for Michigan family child care homes for the format effective March 2025.
- Added the ability to add, change or remove the monitor for a site in Site Details.
- Changed permission settings for Sponsor Reporters to allow them to delete a site visit.
- Created a sponsor-level version of the Manual Claim Information form and adjusted the formatting to save space.
- Changed permissions so that Sponsor Admin users can edit food temperature and delivery times to correct data entry errors.
- Updated the enrollment form for family child care homes in Colorado to add fields related to infant formula offered.
- When clicking on “Open Electronic Form” on the Visit page, the form will now open in a new tab.
- Split the counters on the meal count page to accommodate shifts.
- Added the Infant Feeding Benefit Notification and Acknowledgement to the Pre-filled Forms and Blank Participant Registration Form Report for sites located in Idaho.
- Filled in the Enrollment Date on the Pre-filled Forms for homes in Illinois and homes and centers in Michigan.
NEW REPORT
PAYMENT HISTORY SPREADSHEET
This new report includes the information from the Claims Payment Screen with a few improvements:
- The spreadsheet format allows you to search, sort and filter.
- You can select payments across multiple months.
- The report includes the site payment method (direct deposit or check) for easier reconciliation.
- There is a column for admin amount and payment to site amount.
Learn more about this new report in our Help Center article.
NEW FEATURE
ADD TRAINING HOURS FROM THE VISIT PAGE
We have added the ability to enter training hours right on the visit page. You can see this new section at the bottom of the Visit screen. Important Note: after you click “Save Training Entry” it will not be displayed on the screen. Instead it is transferred to the site staff page where you can see all training entries.
NEW REPORT
DISALLOWED MEALS SPREADSHEET
We have a new option for sponsors who want to analyze which sites had meals disallowed and the reason. With this new Disallowed Meals Spreadsheet you can select the claim month and (optional) the state submission. Then you can download a spreadsheet and sort and filter by site, participant, disallow reason, date, meal type or number of meals disallowed. Learn more and download a sample in our Help Center article.
NEW FEATURE
DISALLOW MEALS FROM THE VISITS PAGE
We have created a method to make it easier for sponsors to disallow a larger number of meals right from the visit page instead of needing to navigate to the meal count page to disallow each meal. Find more information in our Paper Visits or Electronic Visits articles.
OTHER ENHANCEMENTS AND BUG FIXES
- Abbreviated the Site Types on the View/Create Claims screen and added the ability to search on “Site Name” and “ID”.
- Abbreviated the Site Type and added a search feature to the Site Name and ID columns on the Claims Payments screen.
- Repaired a fix on the visit page that was causing the visit form to not load properly.
- Repaired a bug in recording substitutions for participants with more than one special dietary need.
- Updated the Check Stub Report to combine multiple payments to a provider or center into one check.