Mealtime Attendance

Updated August 03, 2026 16:44
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Mealtime Attendance helps support dining operations and compliance through effortless tracking of resident participation in meals. This feature also enables teams to capture dining and nutrition information through the use of customizable Meal Plans and Observation Notes.

Enable Mealtime Attendance

This feature is controlled by an entitlement and must be enabled by the ALIS team.

Once enabled:

The Attendance icon appears on the Dashboard for users with access.
Staff must have the appropriate security role permissions to record and reset attendance.

For assistance with enabling Mealtime Attendance or updating permissions, contact your Account Manager or the ALIS Customer Success Team.

Customize your Mealtime Attendance Workflow

Mealtime Attendance is configured in Resident Settings. From here you can set your community's meal start and end times, define the attendance status options staff use when recording, and build the Meal Plan options you assign to residents.

To get started, navigate to Settings > Resident.

Configure Meal Start and End Times

Attendance is recorded for Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner. Each mealtime can be customized to align with your community's dining schedule.

Locate the Mealtime Attendance section.
Use the dropdown menus to set start and end times for each meal.
Click Save.

Updated mealtimes are automatically reflected on the Attendance page.

Configure Attendance Statuses

Attendance is recorded using three built-in statuses: Present, Not Present, and On Leave. These are always available and cannot be edited.

Your community can also add custom statuses to track dining participation in more detail, for example Tray Service, To-Go, or Sick. Each custom status uses a single-character symbol that appears next to the resident on the Mealtime Attendance report and its exports.

Locate the Mealtime Attendance Status section.
Click +Add Status.
Type the status Name. A single-character Symbol is suggested automatically from the name. You can change it, but each symbol must be unique for reporting.
Click Save.

Configure Meal Plans

Meal Plans can be configured and assigned to residents to support dining visibility and reporting.

Step 1: Configure Meal Plan Options

Locate the Meal Plan settings grid.
Click +Add New.
In the pane that opens to the right, type the Name.
Click Save.

Use the Copy Selected or Copy All buttons to copy your settings configuration to other community environments.

Step 2: Assign Meal Plans to Resident Profiles

Open the Resident Profile.
Go to the Health Profile section.
Select a Meal Plan from the available options.
Scroll down to the end of the Health Profile section, and click Update to save.

After a Meal Plan is assigned to a resident, it displays alongside each resident’s name during attendance recording and in the Resident Diet Roster report.

Access Mealtime Attendance for Recording

Click the Attendance icon on the Dashboard to open the Attendance page.

By default:

The page displays Today’s date.
The current meal is automatically selected based on configured mealtimes and the current time.

To adjust the date or meal time:

Click Change (top left) to select a different date.
Use the Breakfast, Lunch, or Dinner sidebar to switch meals.

Start Recording

Click Start Recording to open the resident attendance table.

Automatic On Leave handling

Residents marked as On Leave are automatically recorded as such
The Destination displays when available
This applies when recording retroactively, based on the selected date

If a resident should be On Leave but is not shown:

You can manually mark them as On Leave in the table.
The resident must still be updated on their profile to ensure consistency across ALIS. Refer to this How to Set a Resident "On Leave" guide for more information.

Record Attendance

To record attendance for each resident:

Select Present or Not Present using the available options.
Entries save automatically.

Make Individual Corrections

Select a different option (Present, Not Present, On Leave) to update.
Use Clear to reset an individual record.

Reset All Entries

Click Reset Attendance at the bottom of the page.
Confirm Reset to remove all records for that meal and date.

Note: This Reset functionality requires the appropriate security role permission.

Record Observation

Each resident row includes a +Observation button to document to document relevant dining or nutrition details.

It is commonly recommended to record an observation when a resident is marked Not Present

To add an observation:

Click +Observation.
A side panel opens with pre-filled resident details.
Enter required information.
Click Create Observation.

Observations can be reviewed in:

Resident Profile
Observation Center
Daily Stand-Up Report (depending on security role access level)

Audit Completion in Attendance

To ensure all residents are accounted for each meal, use the Mealtimes sidebar which provides a real-time summary of recording progress:

Displays total recorded entries
Shows how many remain outstanding

Resident Diet Roster Report

This report provides dining and care staff with a clear overview of residents’ dietary requirements. It can also help ensure residents receive meals that align with their dietary requirements and restrictions.

The report includes critical dining information documented in the Health Profile section of each resident profile, including:

Food Allergies
Diet
Meal Plan
Food Preferences
Alcohol Use

Print PDF for Dining Staff

Many communities print this report daily and keep it in the kitchen or dining service area for quick reference.

Sort the report order by Resident or Room # and click Print to generate a PDF document that includes resident photos. This makes it easier for dining staff to quickly identify residents during meal preparation and service.