CACFP through My Food Program

What RoundUp sends to My Food Program and when, the Food program page in the director portal, family income forms, menus, and fixing records that don't go through.

For directors and admins

What it does

If your center takes part in CACFP through My Food Program, RoundUp keeps your My Food Program site up to date so you don't enter anything twice. The work is split like this:

• RoundUp sends the children you enroll, their daily check-in and check-out times, the meals each child is served, and each classroom's roster.
• My Food Program handles each family's enrollment and income forms, decides eligibility, and builds your claim.

Menus can go either way, or not at all. You choose.

Before you start

• Your center needs a My Food Program site. Sites are set up in My Food Program by your sponsor, not in RoundUp.
• RoundUp links your center to that site. Email support@roundupece.com with your center's name and its My Food Program site. Only RoundUp staff can link or unlink a site, because the link decides where your children's records go. Until it's linked, the Food program page says Not connected yet.
• Check names and birth dates first. If some of your children are already in My Food Program, RoundUp finds them by name and birth date, so make sure both match before your site is linked. A child spelled differently is added as a new person.
• Ask your sponsor about past days. RoundUp sends the last week of attendance and meals every night. My Food Program only accepts days before today when your sponsor has turned on Allow attendance and meal counts from child care management software for days in the past (in My Food Program, under Setup → Sponsor Setup).
• You need director or admin access to open the Food program page.

The Food program page

In the RoundUp director portal, open Food program (under Records), or go to Integrations and choose My Food Program. The top card shows:

• Connected to your My Food Program site's name,
• Last sent: when RoundUp last sent records, and the time zone the times are sent in (your site's, from My Food Program),
• Enrollments: Automatic, every 15 minutes,
• Menus: which way menus go.

Below it are the import and export rows, Children, Family CACFP forms, Menus and Menu items. Each is covered below.

What's sent, and when

Sending the same days again is safe. RoundUp reads what My Food Program already has first: records it already has are left alone and changed ones are updated. If one step fails, the others still run.

Children and households

You don't enroll children in My Food Program yourself. Each child you enroll in RoundUp is sent within 15 minutes, along with their guardians' names, email and phone, and the family's home address when their enrollment application has one. Brothers and sisters go into the same household, so a family fills in one income form.

When a child is withdrawn in RoundUp, they're ended in My Food Program, using their exit date (or today, if there isn't one). My Food Program shows the day before that date as their last active day. Re-enrolling the child re-opens them. A child marked inactive rather than withdrawn stays enrolled.

Enroll children now, on the Children card, runs the same step straight away and tells you how many children were enrolled, matched to someone already in My Food Program, and withdrawn. If a child couldn't be sent, they're listed with My Food Program's reason. Fix the child's record in RoundUp and they're tried again automatically.

Attendance and meal counts

Attendance is each child's check-in and check-out times, however they were recorded. A day you change to absent in RoundUp is removed from My Food Program the next time attendance is sent.

Meal counts come from the app's per-child Meal Count screen: More → Classroom day → Meal Count. Pick the meal and tap each child who received it. Tapping a child again un-marks them, and that meal is removed from My Food Program the next time meals are sent. Each meal goes on the roster for the child's classroom.

RoundUp only removes records it sent. Anything entered directly in My Food Program stays, and so does a day that was edited there into several check-ins and check-outs.

Family CACFP forms

Once a child is enrolled in My Food Program, their family is sent a link to fill in CACFP enrollment and income forms. Family CACFP forms lists each household's form and where it stands:

For a form that isn't finished, Copy link copies the family's form link so you can send it to them again yourself.

Eligibility is decided in My Food Program. You don't need to enter income forms on RoundUp's CACFP Reports sheet for a claim that goes through My Food Program.

Menus and menu items

On the Menus card, choose which way menus go:

• RoundUp → My Food Program: menus you plan in RoundUp are sent to My Food Program.
• My Food Program → RoundUp: menus planned in My Food Program appear in RoundUp. A menu you already entered in RoundUp for the same day and meal is kept.
• Off: menus aren't synced.

To send menus, My Food Program needs to know which of its foods each item on your menu is. An item with exactly the same name as a My Food Program food matches by itself. For the rest, use Menu items: next to each food on your menus, pick the My Food Program food it is. Items without a match show Not matched, and a menu send names any items it couldn't match. Refresh food list reloads My Food Program's foods. Do that first if the list is empty or a food you expect is missing.

My Food Program refuses a meal on a day your site doesn't serve it, such as lunch on a Saturday when your site's schedule is weekdays only. The rest of the menu still goes.

Sending records yourself

You never have to press anything, but you can:

• Send now (top card) runs the whole nightly sync immediately.
• Export to My Food Program sends one thing for the dates you choose: Send attendance and meal counts and Send menus take a Starting from and Ending on date, at most 31 days apart; Classroom rosters and Enrollment changes send what's current.
• Import from My Food Program → Import menus and food items copies My Food Program's menus for your dates into RoundUp. It only works when Menus is set to My Food Program → RoundUp.

Use Export when you've corrected attendance or meals from more than a week ago, since the nightly sync only covers the last 7 days. Each run ends with a summary line, such as how many records were sent, updated, removed or already up to date.

What RoundUp sends

RoundUp sends My Food Program what it needs for CACFP:

• each child's name, birth date and classroom,
• their guardians' names, email addresses and phone numbers,
• the family's home address, if their enrollment application has one,
• check-in and check-out times, and the meals each child was served,
• your menus, if you send them.

Nothing is sent until RoundUp links your center to a My Food Program site. My Food Program is listed in our privacy policy, and RoundUp has a data processing agreement with it.

Troubleshooting

"Attendance date outside of allowed range" or "Meal date outside of allowed range"

My Food Program is only accepting today. Your sponsor needs to turn on Allow attendance and meal counts from child care management software for days in the past (see Before you start). Once it's on, use Send now, or Export for older dates.

"Shift number not valid for meal"

The meal falls on a day, or at a meal, that your My Food Program site doesn't serve. Check the meal was recorded on the right day. If your schedule has changed, your sponsor updates the site's schedule in My Food Program.

A child couldn't be sent

Their RoundUp record is missing something My Food Program requires, or doesn't match what it expects. The reason is next to their name on the Children card after Enroll children now. Correct the record and they're retried automatically.

A child is in My Food Program twice

The copy already in My Food Program has a different name spelling or birth date from RoundUp's, so it wasn't matched. Fix the record that's wrong, then email support@roundupece.com and your sponsor so the extra one can be removed in My Food Program.

A withdrawal date is wrong

Once My Food Program has saved a withdrawal date, it won't take a later one from RoundUp. Ask your sponsor to correct it in My Food Program. Records already sent for the days before a child left stay there.

"Not connected yet", or "My Food Program isn't available yet"

Your center hasn't been linked to a My Food Program site yet. Email support@roundupece.com.

Questions

Do I still file a claim from RoundUp?

No. My Food Program builds your claim from what RoundUp sends. The Oregon CNPweb export on RoundUp's CACFP Reports sheet is for centers that file their own claim.

Can I disconnect it myself?

No. Email support@roundupece.com and we'll unlink your site. RoundUp stops sending straight away; records already in My Food Program stay there.

Can my staff see this page?

The Food program page is for directors and admins. Teachers record meals on Meal Count and take attendance as usual; that's all that's needed from them.

More: All director guides