ARTICLE: Late and Packed Meals Logic Explained
Late and Packed Meals can be indicated within submitted leave requests if enabled in the leave type's configuration (See ARTICLE: Leave Type Configurations, General Settings > Meals). Also, if enabled, students can indicate meal preferences in the Desktop Reach portal via the Meal Adjustment Widget (See ARTICLE: Meal Adjustment Widget for Students).
A student is not present for a meal (counted as absent) if their leave request means they are away for an entirety of a meal. If they depart or return at any point during a meal, they are considered present for the meal. Late Meal orders look for the closest meal (by start time) from before the return date/time of the request, on the same calendar day (look for the closest meal by start time, from before the return date of the request on the same calendar day).
See the example below for cases when Late Meals, Packed Meals and planned meal Absences would apply based on students' leave requests and meal requests within a leave request.
Meal times need to be configured in System Configurations > Meals. Meal times should not overlap.
Additional articles that relate to Meal Counts within Reach: