North Lanarkshire Council is revolutionising the dining experience of students in their 133 schools by implementing a modern and efficient cashless system, Fusion, in collaboration with CRB Cunninghams. The project aims to streamline operational efficiencies for North Lanarkshire schools while providing students with a faster speed of service and the ability to pre-order school meals.
Project Objectives
The project's main objective is to provide a streamlined cashless system in all schools, combining catering services with online payments. As well as modernising operational efficiencies for North Lanarkshire council and schools, Fusion also enhances the dining experience of students by removing the need for carrying cash and reducing waiting times.
Solution for Secondary Schools
The complete cashless package for secondary schools includes Fusion, PoS tills and revaluation units, the iPayimpact online payment platform, and the award-winning pre-order app Fusion Online.
Implementing this integrated cashless solution has made it easier for North Lanarkshire schools to manage transactions and streamline their dining services. Pupils now experience an enhanced speed of service and can pre-order their favourite school meals ahead of time from their mobile phones.
"This new modern service is attracting our tech-savvy secondary pupils who can browse school catering menus and pre-order lunches straight from their mobile devices. North Lanarkshire council's combination of Fusion online and iPayimpact means our schools can remove physical transactions from our dining hall and make the experience quicker for pupils."
- John Darcey, Projects and Resource Manager at North Lanarkshire Council
Solution for Primary Schools
And that's not all! Primary schools are being installed with a till for breakfast and morning break service, iPayimpact online payments and parental pre-ordering, and the smartboard software, allowing pupils to select their meal choices within the classroom. Pupils can now interactively order their meals, making the experience more exciting than ever before.
"The project team are providing in-house training onsite for both catering and teaching staff and demonstrating the new practice to pupils in their classrooms. Primary pupils are excited to partake in the new interactive way of ordering their school lunch, as you can see from the picture of pupils at St Helen's Primary School in Condorrat."
- John Darcey, Projects and Resource Manager at North Lanarkshire Council
Pupils in St Helen's Primary School using iPayimpact Smartboard pre-ordering.
Implementation and Results
With the Fusion cashless system, North Lanarkshire Council is paving the way for a new era of efficient and exciting school meals. The Fusion system combines cashless catering and online payments, removing the need for cash transactions in schools. This has made the dining experience quicker and more efficient for pupils.
The rollout is progressing very well. A key team at CRB Cunninghams, including project management, technical implementation, and engineers, is working on the successful implementation supported by the Facilities Management team at North Lanarkshire Council.
Lisa Behen, Project Manager at CRB Cunninghams, comments, "I am delighted to be working on this project with North Lanarkshire Council. The Facilities team at NLC and teams here at CRBC have been working closely together to ensure a successful implementation and adoption of their new cashless systems. This is a large-scale rollout with many moving parts, but thanks to the support and experience from both teams, we are progressing well and have received some great feedback from members of the council, individual schools, staff and pupils, which is great to see.”
CRB Cunninghams also provides in-house training for catering and teaching staff to ensure the successful adoption of the new system. The system has been well received by staff and students, with positive feedback being received.
"We were keen to implement the Fusion system as it combines cashless catering and an online payment system into one solution, removing the need for cash to be carried in schools. I am delighted to say that feedback to date from staff and pupils has been outstanding.”
- John Darcey, Projects and Resource Manager at North Lanarkshire Council
