Has anyone heard of SchoolGrid?

[hallb15]

Does anyone have any experience of SchoolGrid kitchen management software?

https://schoolgrid.co.uk/

 

Our catering company currently use Fastrak from Biostore (Iris) but have informed us they are moving to SchoolGrid in April and I wanted to get a heads up if there are any issues to look out for.

[synaesthesia]

No, but commenting and remaining interested as Fastrak (Iris) are one of the worst people we've had the misfortune of dealing with!

[paulkerton]

Yes, they are formerly known as Live Kitchen. They were very good when I used them several years ago. Entirely cloud based from what I remember.

[LeMarchand]

I heard of them today, when I was informed that there was a "problem" with a couple of the pupils' names being changed*. It looks like their support was pretty quick to respond. According to the ladies in the office, it's generally easy to use and they don't tend to have problems. Not sure whether it is standard to only have 1 logon credential for the whole school, or whether it's just whoever set it up being lazy. I've suggested that the office look into being the only ones who can access more than choosing dinners.

 

*Almost certainly caused by the teacher failing to lock their machine and leaving it unattended.

[Michael]

I've had it a few times whereby they experience some downtime and even after this is resolved, the maintenance page still displays...

 

F5'ing it a few times resolves the issue.

 

Other than this, it just works, but there's no SSO options last I checked.

[ckedu-local]

Seems to work okay most of the time for 3x primary schools I cover. Have heard on more than one occasation it's been down in the morning.

 

I'm not 100% sure if it does sync with an MIS. Their previous product didn't anyway.

[LeMarchand]

Now that I know what SchoolGrid is, I'll add a few minor problems we have had. These have all been with the catering terminal etc rather than SchoolGrid itself.

 

 

• Our terminal needs a wired network connection. We used a Powerline in the end.
  
• If you make any network changes, don't forget to make them to the terminal or there will be trouble come lunchtime.
  
• Junior School in a rough area - the "clicker" the pupils use has already been replaced once.
  
• If a problem occurs with the terminal the catering staff understandably won't have a clue. Expect to be called!
  
• If it's not an easy fix, pray that the catering staff manage to get a replacement terminal out before next lunchtime.
  

 

As you probably guessed, we've just had a problem. I suspect the external power supply or the on/off switch on the terminal but stopped bringing a multimeter in and won't take their kit apart.