Q1: How is MyFUNDamentals different from NFSMI FUNDamentals?

A1:MyFUNDamentals utilizes a completely different Launch Pad than it's cousin NFSMI FUNDamentals. The MyFUNDamentals Launch Pad features a menu system that may be customized for a school district. This feature is most useful for defining the Monthly Procedures menu for school districts having multiple imports and add-on modules where a particular order of operations should be followed. Menu items may be created for launching add-on modules or imports, launching web sites, or starting any of the built-in screens for the software. Menu items may also be defined as sub-menus that help to simplify, or break down, different logical areas of the software. In addition, the rollover text associated with any menu item may be customized to suit the needs of end users.

Q2: What are Meal Equivalents and how are they used in the MyFUNDamentals program?

A2: Meal Equivalents are a method of equating non-lunch meals and extra food sales to lunches. Meal Equivalent ratios may be set for any meal category defined in the MyFUNDamentals program in terms of how many meals it takes to equal one lunch. The MyFUNDamentals software is preloaded with the meal equivalent ratios recommended by the National Food Service Management Institute. These ratios correspond closely with the rates of reimbursement for meals of the same status. (e.g. Free Lunch reimbursement to Free Breakfast reimbursement) MyFUNDamentals uses these ratios for the purposes of distribution of administrative revenues and expenditures, and for producing performance indicators such as Meals Per Labor Hour and Per Meal Plate Cost. The recommended meal equivalents are as follows:

• Breakfasts = 1.5
• Afterschool Snacks = 3
• Other Food Sales = Revenue Total / (Free Lunch Reimbursement + Commodity Allowance Factor)

The MyFUNDamentals software allows users to define up to five levels of meal equivalents so that users may easily switch between these levels when producing reports.

Q3: My school district only assesses Indirect Costs at the end of the year. This causes my year to date reports to look great until the end of the year. What can I do to provide my schools with a more realistic view of their financial position throughout the year?

A3: This is a common problem for school foodservice administrators. The Cost Analysis reports used in MyFUNDamentals display the Indirect Costs Generated and an adjusted Profit/Loss. Other financial reports used in the software do not include this section. The best solution is to generate the Indirect Paid for each month based on the user-defined Indirect Costs formula. This may be accomplished using Visual Solution's Expense Generator add-on module. The Indirect Paid expenses are shown as actual expenses on all monthly financial reports. Once the Indirect expense is assessed, the generated records will be deleted.

Q4: My reports are showing negatives for Inventory Activity. What is the formula for Inventory Activity?

A4:The formula for the Inventory Activity amount displayed is Beginning Inventory - Ending Inventory. A negative amount indicates that the value of Ending Inventory is higher than the value of Beginning Inventory. In other words, you ended the reporting period with more than you started with. A negative Inventory Activity provides an offset to the expense category (Commodities, Purchased Food, or Supplies) to which it belongs, thereby reducing the expense. On the other side of the coin, consider the situation where the value of Beginning Inventory is higher than the value of Ending Inventory producing a positive Inventory Activity. In this case, the Inventory Activity adds to the expense category to which it belongs.
Using Inventory Offsets or Inventory Activity in the MyFUNDamentals program provides a more reliable indicator of the financial position of a school or school district, especially of shorter time frames such as a month or quarter, because food and supplies may not always be consumed or used within the same period as they are expensed. Also, remember that food and supplies sitting in the freezers, walk-ins, and stockrooms have a market value and should be accounted for accurately. Historically, the importance of using Inventory Activity as an element of performing a Cost Analysis for a school or school district can be explained with these scenarios:

• Schools always order and receive more food and supplies at the beginning of the school year, particularly just before school begins. It is very likely that the first month's ending inventory value is higher than the beginning inventory value. If the Inventory Activities were not taken into account, purchased food and supplies expenses would seem inflated for the first month of school as managers refill freezers, walk-ins, and stockrooms that were drawn down to a minimum for the summer months.
• Schools reduce food and supplies inventory to a minimum at the end of the school year, especially meats and perishable items, resulting in lower ending values of inventory than beginning values of inventory. If Inventory Values were not in the equation, Food and supplies expenditures for the period will be less than in previous periods. Food and supplies are being used out of inventory and not being replenished.
• New schools starting up for the first time have to purchase much more food and supplies than existing schools. The Inventory Activity will keep them from being penalized for initial purchases needed to start production since the beginning values will be zeroes.

Q5: My district does not require that my schools seperate commodities and purchased food for the purpose of counting and valuing inventory. How does MyFUNDamentals handle a single inventory?

A5:This is quite common and differs from state to state and district to district. In MyFUNDamentals, the Inventory Values screen can accept values in three inventory type columns: Food, Commodity, and Supplies. For schools utilizing a single inventory, do not enter values under the Commodity column. In the Cost Analysis reports, the Food and Commodity Inventory Values are combined anyway.