PantrySoft is an amazing tool for managing your campus pantry. But for many schools, the pantry is only one facet of the basic needs program.
What We Want To Do
We are looking to expand PantrySoft to provide better support for running multiple, related programs from the same system.
How It Might Work
The various elements within PantrySoft will have awareness of the programs they are associated with. The registration forms, visit types, custom questions, and other workflows can all be configured around your various programs. User permissions will also be centered around your programs. There will be granular control of which staff members can access the various types of information.
We will also add or expand tools for making referrals, managing equipment check out (bikes, computers, books, etc.), two-way student communication, and a student facing dashboard.
Proposed features
1. Customize registration questions, schedules, visit types, and inventory by program:
This will create program-specific pathways for students to register, schedule visits, and select inventory. Multiple registration forms can be created in a single account and visit types, schedules, and inventory items can be assigned exclusive availability for students with corresponding program access. Custom questions can also be associated with programs. We will include tools for bulk assignments and edits to programs.
Example Use Case:
You provide a virtual choice pantry and a housing support service. The pantry is available to all students and staff, while the housing support service is available only to current students meeting special income criteria.
When new students or staff access the portal through the campus single sign on, they are presented with a registration form. For staff and students who are interested only in the food pantry, they have access to the food pantry registration form, schedules and shopping.
Students also have the option of selecting the housing support program at the top of the form. If they do, there are questions on the registration form related to accessing housing support. Those questions and their answers will only be visible to housing staff (see more on user permissions below).
If the student qualifies for the housing assistance program, they can be sent a follow-up survey with housing specific questions, and gain access to the housing appointment schedule. Vouchers for hotel stays are exclusively available to be given out to students who qualify for the housing assistance program.
2. Control user permissions by program
PantrySoft administrators will be able to control which programs and associated records users can see.
Example Use Case:
You provide a clothing closet and financial counseling services. The volunteers who work in the clothing closet are a different team from the staff members who provide financial services. You want to keep all information related to financial support private from the clothing closet volunteers.
There are some questions on the client registration form related to financial counseling needs. Those questions and their answers will only be visible to financial services staff.
When your financial services team meets with the student, they can record notes about the interaction, provide referrals to other organizations, and record emergency grant funds distributed. All of this information will only show in PantrySoft for the financial services staff. When the clothing closet volunteers look at the client dashboard, they will only see the clothing closet related activity.
3. Equipment Loans
These will work similar to our inventory items, but with dates for check in and out.
Example Use Case:
You loan bicycles for students to use. You have ten bicycles. They can be borrowed for up to one month at a time. Through the student portal, the student can see the six bicycles that are currently available. They can select the one they would like to borrow. The bike is then assigned to the student and they are sent instructions for how to pick it up. When it is approaching the time the bike is due back, the system will send the student a reminder message. There will be screens and reports to make it easy to see what items are available, when they are due back, and when they are overdue. A maintenance log can be kept for each item.
4. Direct Client Messaging
PantrySoft currently supports bulk messaging to students, but it is difficult to send individual messages. We will add a tool where you can both send and receive communications directly with the students you are working with.
Example Use Case:
Your housing staff, from the example above, wishes to let a student know an apartment has become available. From the dashboard they can type a message in the message log, indicating it is a housing message and should be sent as a text message. The message is only visible to housing staff. If the student replies to the message, the response will also show in the message log.
5. Enhanced Referral Tool
Currently, our referral tool allows you to set up a directory of other services available to your students. When meeting with a student, you can make a set of referrals, and the information will be sent to the student via email and/or SMS. You have the ability to track the outcomes of the referrals and generate reports on this activity.
The proposed system will let you also send the referral to the contact at the referred agency. It will also send a reminder to the student, asking them for their own feedback on the outcome of the referral. This feature could also be exposed in a limited manner to other campus faculty and staff.
Example Use Case:
You are meeting with a student who needs both childcare and access to professional clothing for a job interview. Your basic needs center does not offer either of these services, but you know of other agencies in your area that can help.
You select the appropriate agencies from the referral directory. The system prepares an email with detailed information about the agencies, and an abbreviated SMS version to send to the student. The system also sends a message to your counterpart at the other agencies with information they can use to follow up with the student.
A week later, the system sends a text message to the student with a link they can click to provide feedback on how those referrals worked out. You can use this information to improve the quality of the services you are offering.
Access can also be provided to selected faculty and staff. They would have a limited interface, where they could only enter a student phone number, and select the appropriate referrals. The information would be sent to the student, but the outside faculty would have no ability to search or view any information in the system. Your staff would see the referral and be able to follow up with the student as necessary.
6. Student Portal Dashboard
Currently, our student portal is built around a linear workflow from registration, to scheduling, to shopping. We would like to rework this to be more of a Student Dashboard. The student can log in, be prompted to register, schedule, and order. But they will also have access to the information they have provided, with the ability to update this information when necessary. They will see their history of appointments, orders, and referrals. They will have access to bulk and individual communications sent from the staff. They will have a place to make requests or send messages to staff.
Example use case:
A student walks into your Basic Needs center to ask about financial counseling. This student has used your campus food pantry before, and learned about this service from the volunteers there. You schedule the student for a financial counseling session at your center next week, and also text them a referral to a local credit union that hosts budgeting workshops.
Later that same day, the student logs into the student portal to book a new food pantry visit. They can see on their dashboard the upcoming financial counseling session, and the referral that was sent by text earlier that day. From the portal, the student responds to the referral message with a new question about financial aid opportunities.