Record Full Month Attendance/Direct Entry

Use the Direct Entry feature in KidKare to process hand-written claims forms for those providers who do not claim online via KidKare. When you use Direct Entry, you must still process menu foods by hand and examine the nutritional components of the claim. However, you can enter attendance information directly into KidKare, which means KidKare can process the claim for you. Entering attendance information is akin to scanning claims with Attendance Menu forms.

KidKare does a large number of edit checks when it processes claims for you. However, it is a good idea to check the following when you enter the claim:

• • No child is claimed for more than two (2) meals and one (1) snack or two (2) snacks and one (1) meal each day.

  • School-aged children are not attending AM Snack or Lunch on school days without a valid reason.

  • Providers are not serving meals for which they are not approved, and they are not serving meals on days of the week for which they are not approved.

  • Providers are not over capacity, even when allowing for split-shift servings.

  • Children in a Mixed Tier home are being paid at the appropriate Tier. Specifically, note those children who should be paid at Tier 1 rates.

 

---

Record Full Month Attendance by Meal

The data entry process is organized around the meal. Use this option if your manual forms are organized so all meals are found together on the form.

1. From the menu to the left, click Menus/Attendance then select Record Full Month Attendance by Meal.

2. Use the filters to select the Provider, Claim Month, and Meal for which you are entering attendance.  Additionally, you can select if you want the screen to show you 2nd Shift (if available) as well as the Disallow Grid if there are meals you need to disallow, or if you want it to show second shift as well.

3. The Record Full Attendance by Meal window loads the provider's children and focuses on Breakfast by default.

4. Click the Child Name column to sort the displayed children alphabetically by last name. You can click the Child Name column two times to change the display. Clicking a fifth time returns the sort to the first option.

   • 1: Sort alphabetically by child's last name in ascending order.

   • 2: Sort alphabetically by child's last name in descending order.

5. For each child, check the box for each day the child was present for the meal/serving.

   • You can use your keyboard to move through the grid. To do so, click in the grid and press the Tab key to move forward and Shift+Tab to move backward. Press Space to check the box.

   • Click   to the left of the child name to check all of the weekday boxes for that child. Click it again to clear the boxes.

   • You can copy the monthly attendance schedule from one child to another. This is useful if there are two children from the same family. To do so, click the name of the child you are copying and type Ctrl + C. Click the child name to which to copy, and type Ctrl + V. Note that this only copies attendance for the selected meal.

6. Check the column footers and the Total column to the right as you mark children in attendance to ensure there are no errors. Totals should automatically update as you select each box, but you can use to recalculate the totals as you work if they don't update automatically.

7. Click the Select drop-down menu and select the next meal to record. Repeat Step 5 & Step 6 for the remaining meals.

   Note: If the attendance pattern at the new meal is the same as the one you've recorded, click Copy Attendance. Then, in the Select Meal to Copy From section, select the meal from which to copy attendance. Attendance is copied to the new meal you selected.

8. When finished recording meals, click Save.

 

Additional Actions:

Process Claim: Once all of your claim data is entered for the month, click the box to Mark Claims as Processable.  Once this box is checked, the  option becomes available.  When you click on Process Claim.  This will redirect you to the Process Claims page to proceed processing the claim.

Add Claim Error: If you are adding any disallowances to this claim, click the orange button to add a claim error comment to appear on your Office Error Reports explaining why meals were disallowed

Copy Attendance From: Use the action to copy attendance from one meal to the next.  For Example:  Complete Meals & Attendance for Breakfast.  Move to the next meal which might be AM Snack.  Click on Copy Attendance From and select Breakfast.  This copies all attendance and meals served from Breakfast over to the AM Snack.

Clear Meal: Use this as a shortcut to clear all meals marked on the current page.  

Recalculate Monthly Totals: All totals for Attendance Count and Total meals served will auto calculate as you enter them.  Use this button to enforce and recalculate monthly totals if they are no updating as you go.

 

Shortcuts

Don't forget to click on any icon you see.  These icons will give you helpful hints, tips, and useful information along the way!  In this case, you can use CTRL+C to copy a row of attendance for one child, and then use CTRL+V to paste it to a row of attendance for another child. 

 

---

Record Full Month Attendance by Child

The data entry process is organized around the child. Use this option if your manual forms are organized so all of a child's attendance (for all meals) is found together on the form. 

1. From the menu to the left, click Menus/Attendance then select Record Full Month Attendance by Child.

2. Use the filters to select the Provider, Child, and Claim Month for which you are entering attendance. 

3. If this provider served meals in split shifts, click Show 2nd Serving to display the second serving columns. You also have the ability to set the default to 2nd shift when auto selecting the meals served.  

4. For each meal, check the box for each day the child was present for the meal/serving.

   • You can use your keyboard to move through the grid. To do so, click in the grid and press the Tab key to move forward and Shift+Tab to move backward. Press Space to check the box.

   • Click   to the left of the meal to check all of the weekday boxes for that child. Click it again to clear the boxes.

   • You can copy the monthly attendance schedule from one child to another. This is useful if there are two children from the same family. To do so, click the meal you are copying and type Ctrl + C. Click the meal to which to copy, and type Ctrl + V. Note that this only copies attendance for the selected meal.

     Note: Checking a box for a meal also automatically checks the corresponding box in the Daily Attendance section.

5. Check the column footers and the Total column to the right as you mark children in attendance to ensure there are no errors. Totals should automatically update as you select each box, but you can use to recalculate the totals as you work if they don't update automatically.

6. Click the Select Child drop-down menu and select the next child for whom to record attendance. Repeat Step 4 & Step 5 for the remaining children.

   Note: If the attendance pattern for the new child is the same as the one you've recorded, click the Copy Attendance from Child drop-down and select the child from which to copy attendance. Attendance is copied to the new child you selected.

7. When finished with each child, click Save.

 

Additional Actions:

Process Claim: Once all of your claim data is entered and saved for each child, click the box to Mark Claims as Processable.  Once this box is checked, the option becomes available.  When you click on Process Claim.  This will redirect you to the Process Claims page to proceed processing the claim.

Add Claim Error: If you are adding any disallowances to this claim, click the orange button to add a claim error comment to appear on your Office Error Reports explaining why meals were disallowed

Copy Attendance From Child: Use the drop-down to copy attendance from one child to another.  For Example:  Complete Meals & Attendance for Sally Smith.  Change the child to Sammy Smith who is Sally's brother.  They are there for the same meals everyday.  Click on Copy Attendance From Child and select Sally Smith.  This copies all attendance and meals served to Sally Smith over to Sammy Smith.

Clear Child: Use this as a shortcut to clear all meals marked on the current page for the selected child.  

Recalculate Monthly Totals: All totals for Attendance Count and Total meals served will auto calculate as you enter them.  Use this button to enforce and recalculate monthly totals if they are no updating as you go.

 

Shortcuts

Don't forget to click on any icon you see.  These icons will give you helpful hints, tips, and useful information along the way!  In this case, you can use CTRL+C to copy a row of attendance for one child, and then use CTRL+V to paste it to a row of attendance for another child. 

 

---

Disallowing Meals

Once you have entered attendance with either method, manually check the provider's menus. If there are any meals that should be disallowed per USDA meal pattern regulations, you can disallow them in the Record Full Attendance by Child/Meal window.

1. If you are using the Record Full Attendance by Meal window, click Show Disallow Grid to display the disallow grid for the selected meal. This grid always displays in the Record Full Attendance by Child window.

2. Check the box for the day on which to disallow a meal for a specific child. This applies a generic disallowance for the meal/child.

3. Click Add Claim Error to apply a specific error to the disallowance. For more information, see Enter Claim Errors below.

Checking Your Data Entry

When you have finished the Direct Entry process, you should check your data entry to ensure there aren't any errors. Once you save your data, print the Claimed Attendance Detail report. This report provides a day-to-day set of meal totals and shows the count of the number of children marked in attendance.