Unleash the Mudmen: Our

Cover Story

3

Applauding Micros Accom-

plishments

4

Piloting POD Initiative at Star-

bucks

4

New Micros Tablets at UMass

Lowell

5

This Season’s Highlights 6

Meet the Team’s New Faces 8

From the Manager’s Desk 9

Inside this issue:

TE

CH

TIM

ES

AR

AM

AR

K

Volume 2, issue 11

November 2012

V OLU ME 2, ISSU E 11

Three men from Aramark braced themselves to compete at one of Pennsylvania’s toughest chal-

lenges – “The Tough Mudder”. Glenn Herczeg, Brent Scott and Ryan Fillmore started at different lev-

els of physical fitness to achieve the same feat. Ryan had completed the Broad Street Run last year

and worked with a trainer at a gym to scale up on strength training. Brent created an illusion of not

preparing at all, even though he was working out in the

gym the whole time. Brent virtually rowed his way to fit-

ness everyday. Glenn loves working out and discussed his

preparation in every scrum meeting. Glenn sacrificed all

the good food including Friday donuts and Bernie’s

Baked Goods (!!!) and opted for veggies instead. His

preparation included running his regular 30 miles per

week along with strength training.

Relying on each other for moral support, these 3

men discussed training programs, encouraged each other

and bonded as a team. The preparation lasted 2 months

and the D-day arrived.

Anxiety and nerves did not deter them. Excitement

and mental toughness ruled their minds as they started

out. Each obstacle drained a little bit of their energy but

the “Arctic Enema” (involved swimming through a mix of

ice and cold water) was one of the most challenging ones.

Ryan and Brent took a breather at this point and let Glenn

(with his friends) to go ahead. Brent felt that the obstacles

were easier when compared to running the distance.

Glenn jumped ship and crossed the finished line in no

time.

Ryan and Brent helped each other overcome rest of

the obstacles and worked as a team. In the end, they felt a

sense of accomplishment crossing the finish line. Cheers to

the trio from HigherEd on completing the Tough Mudder!!!

Page 3

Unleash the Mudmen By Divya Purusthotham

Glenn after finishing the obstacle course

I had the opportunity to speak with Eric Adams, one of

the Micros Specialists, of the Development Team to talk

about the many initiatives that took place over the course

of FY12 and what upcoming ventures will occur in FY13.

Achievements in FY12:

Looking to pilot POS Starbucks for Eastern region.

First MyMicros upgrade for sales, mobile, and inter-

active reporting.

Implemented and piloted Blackboard at LaSalle Uni-

versity and New York University

Piloted first Micros mobile ordering solution for Ap-

ple iOS and Android

New tablet POS solution, which piloted and devel-

oped at UMass at Lowell for their convention center

and sports arena for their suites and club boxes.

Worked with Channel Growth to rollout menu opti-

mization of Grill Works, Local Grill, Bene Pizza,

and Local Pizza.

Upcoming Initiatives for FY13:

Piloting POS Starbucks for Eastern region.

POD retails stores in Mid-Atlantic

End SPQ2000 and to install Quantum throughout, or no longer support

it for the approximately 20 clients this af-fects.

Fusebox, a credit card driver, which will save 2 cents per transaction

and eventually aim to save $200,000.

Implement Micros mobile ordering across all grill locations

Test Simphony 2.0 and develop and implementation plan. The benefits

of Simphony include bringing more structure for management, a

graphical interface for POS, and to make the display interactive. This

will take 6-12 months post-testing, until it goes out to Production.

Mobile payments through 2D Barcode scanner

Micros 1.6 upgrade

Recently, several of our team members have worked in collaboration with Channel Growth to introduce a new initiative

which will prove our ability to roll out POS terminals remotely by brand. This is a direct result of Channel Growth seeing the

impact that our enterprise reporting system has had on the business, and ulti-

mately a tribute to our success. The program will be piloting a new method of

POS deployment which includes cost and time efficiency improvements. For

example, as opposed to the current GAP analysis, a survey will be sent out to

the field that will answer all relevant questions pertinent to the install. Hard-

ware orders will be placed and instead of sending our own team members on

site, local Micros techs will be handling the actual installation of hardware.

The pilot program will include around 15 Starbucks locations in the Eastern

region and approximately 20 POD’s in the mid-Atlantic. If successful, we will

see a much quicker way to do POS rollouts while greatly cutting costs on in-

stallation expenses; which we can then introduce to other brands. Great job to

all involved in this project; let’s hope it’s a success!

Page 4

Applauding Micros Accomplishments By Augustina Gyamfi

Piloting POD Initiative at Starbucks By Andy Martin

T E CH TI MES

Starbucks

The Development Team has had a very busy year with great results! The team has collectively gained more knowledge share

over the course of the year, with all deployment members having the ability to support Micros. With over 1 million weekly

transactions, which bring over $6 million dollars in revenue, we can all agree that the long hours and hard work has been fruit-

ful to say the least.

V OLU ME 2, ISSU E 11 Page 5

New Micros Tablets at UMass Lowell By Andy Martin

The Tech Times has a Q&A session with Mike Gonzalez regarding UML tablet project:

AM: Give me a brief overview of the tablet program at UML and some of the key objectives.

Gonzalez: The Tsongas Arena at UML is implementing a mobile ordering solution where cashiers will enter

the suites and take orders via a tablet running Simphony. The cashier will be equipped with a hip printer and

will accept both cash and credit, all PCI compliant. The order is sent to a kitchen printer or to a bar where the

order will be processed.

AM: What were some of the biggest challenges in getting

this program off the ground?

Gonzalez: One of the greatest challenges is making sure the

hardware is able to pick up a wireless signal from anywhere

in the suite area, which requires a lot of on site testing to

make sure every area is covered. This is also our first time

running Simphony on a 32-bit operating system in the field,

which is using POS Ready. Other challenges included PCI

compliance in regards to the wireless network.

AM: What are the benefits to a mobile POS system?

Gonzalez: You’re not limited to one area, and the custom-

ers seeing us using cutting edge technology gives us appeal.

Also in this case since we are catering to the suites, the cus-

tomers feel like they are getting special treatment.

AM: I agree that people get excited when they see the lat-

est technology in use; especially on the mobile platform

which is not the typical POS platform people interact with

daily. How do you think that benefits ARAMARK’s image

to the public as well as to prospective clients and to our

competitors?

Gonzalez: It shows innovation and keeps us ahead of the

curve. It’s important that we are at the forefront of utilizing

current technology so that we can learn and continually

grow in that regard. Having the latest technology available

gives us leverage over our competitors as our potential cus-

tomers find us more appealing.

AM: Global mobile transactions are expected to

reach $1 trillion by 2015. What would you do with a

trillion dollars?

Gonzalez: I’d buy the ocean and fish in it.

AM: Today I learned you can purchase the ocean... Thanks for your time, Mike!

Micros Tablet in Action

As the end of the ARAMARK 2012 Fiscal Year comes to a close, it is most fitting to reflect on some of the ac-

complishments we had as a team during FY2012.

ScanPlus Quantum / Micros Simphony Implementations

The Deployment team really pushed the envelope this year and converted 38

sites over to ScanPlus Quantum and/or Micros Simphony, with an additional

win of 3 new business sites at Bob Jones University, La Salle University, and

New York University. This was an average of roughly 3.5 installs per month.

Fall Opening Support Numbers

Each year, we see a spike in the support numbers during the months of August and September due to the school open-

ings; this year was no different. During August and September, the support team resolved 1,246 support issues ranging

across all of our systems. This is an average of roughly 29 new support calls per business day! To put it in perspective, in

July the average was just over 13 calls per business day and so far in October we have

averaged exactly 12 calls per business day. With every new school year, the fall openings present us with unique chal-

lenges. Through hard work and endurance, we continually persevere and do the best job we can each day. Special thanks

go out to all who assisted in supporting the fall openings.

CampusDish Messenger Rollout

This year, the new CampusDish Messenger program was rolled out to 34 eCommerce sites. CampusDish Messenger is an opt-

in program, which allows students to receive email alerts when their point account balances get below a specific threshold

governed by the school. The program was designed to encourage additional point deposits through CampusDish, which will in

turn increase revenue for both the school and ARAMARK.

Along with the CampusDish Messenger program, the CampusDish Mobile App was released for both Android and Apple iOS

platforms. To date, the app has received over 10,000 downloads utilizing menus at over 153 sites! The CampusDish Mobile

App has the potential to impact over 1.4 million students currently and as additional schools sign up with their menus, we can

forecast an even greater impact in FY2013.

Boston University gets Digital Signage

The Advanced Technology channel oversaw the deployment of Digital Signage at 32 new locations, totaling 137 new menu

boards across 4 new lines of business. One of the largest installations was at Boston University where Mike Collins deployed

19 monitors at the new Student Center building.

Mike Collins on his experience at Boston University:

“The digital signage installation at BU was the largest project I worked on over the summer. The BU project consisted of 19

monitors at 11 stations in a state of the art dining hall that spanned 3 floors. The installation was scheduled on a very tight

timeline that was dependent on other trades’ completion of tasks during construction, client feedback, and the building’s open-

ing. It was exciting to see the successful completion of the installation in a fresh new building. The overall PM described the

signage as “the icing on the cake that pulled the dining hall together” and I was happy to be a part of it.” – Mike Collins when

asked about his experience at Boston University.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9aKbr9ZrtA&feature=youtube_gdata_player

This Season’s Highlights By Chris Daigle

“Even though you are extremely busy at

an install, it makes me feel satisfied

and rewarded to see that you converted

a site to a great product which reflects

Aramark Higher Education IT.”

-Christina Sin

T E CH TI MES Page 6

V OLU ME 2, ISSU E 11

Fall Opening Micros Revenue Numbers

August 1st, 2012 - September 30th, 2012

Total Sales: $30,168,306.42

Total Transactions: 6,034,144

Average Amount Spent: $5.00

Variance from August 1st, 2011 - September 30th, 2011

Total Sales: +$7,270,288.26

Total Transactions: +1,394,327

Average Amount Spent: +$0.06

Development Initiatives

Patron Import Process Improvements

This year also saw strong collaboration between the Development and Deployment teams in improving the Pa-

tron Import process in ScanPlus Quantum. The changes centered around the backend processing of the im-

ports, which resulted in very quick processing times; often resulting in the ability to complete the import

within seconds as opposed to minutes. It also added the ability for the support technician to close out of SPQ

during the import process because the system would now send the user an email upon its completion.

It did not take long for these changes to impact the field significantly. During the fall openings, it allowed the

support representatives to complete the imports in a much timelier manner allowing us to move on to other

support issues. This was a great win for the Deployment team and a great example of teamwork.

Atlas 4.7 Release

In the early morning hours of October 2nd and 3rd, the IT Developers led by Sangeetha Jos released Atlas 4.7

across the enterprise, providing enhanced functionality in our ScanPlus Quantum and CORE applications. The

release featured new and updated functionality for both CORE and SPQ along with hierarchy updates to the

Atlas database.

In SPQ, users are now presented with a different screen when they enter the Patron Management section. In

the previous versions, end users would have to wait for all their patrons and balances to load when opening the

Patron Management screen. After the release, users can now open up directly into the Advanced Search

screen, thus allowing quicker access to their patrons.

CORE users saw changes in some of their common reports for MPA. The critical changes allowed the end

users to utilize additional parameters in running their reports, which provides users with more accurate and

pertinent information. Additionally, a new “Client Summary Report” was included in the release, which gave

the end users one report to view pertinent information gathered from other MPA reports.

As always, our thanks go out to Adam Brozzetti, Sarah Siaahaan, Augustina Gyamfi, and Sangeetha Jos who

were scheduled for the release.

Page 7

When I had the chance to have a round table discussion with the

newest members of our team (including myself) and realized that be-

ing “the new guy” at the job may be daunting for some, yet exciting

for others.

Fortunately, the transition to the team has been an easy one

thanks to our coworkers. As a consensus, we enjoy the open lines of

communication and how personable our coworkers are. When there is

a problem, others appear willing to get the issue resolved which is

what teamwork is all about. The overall altruism of the team is what

we believe makes this team a cohesive one. We all have different end

goals as to where we see ourselves in the company, but we can all

agree that this is a place that likes to see its employees grow and

would like to continue to grow with the company as people and pro-

fessionals.

Shakwan Burnett

Joined Aramark on July 23 as a Business Analyst for Deploy-

ment and comes from a background in Hospitality and worked his way

into Hotel Management in IT, with a strong background in software

and development. Outside of work, he enjoys time with his family,

learning new programming languages, in addition to playing video

games. When he was younger, he wanted to be a musician as he

used to produce music as a hobby.

Sasha Lysenko

Joined Aramark on September 10, as a Senior Systems Analyst for Development. He previously

worked at Members Solutions as a software developer for several years and has 14 years of software experi-

ence. In his spare time, like Shakwan, enjoys learning new programming languages and reading science-fiction

books. As a child, he wanted to be a pilot.

Mike Cancila

Joined Aramark on September 4, as a Business Analyst for Deployment. After graduating from the

University of Delaware in 2010, he worked for Micros as an Implementation Specialist where he did Micros

installs at various hospitality locations. He likes to hang out with friends and exercise in his spare time. He

considered a career in nightlife promotions since Hospitality was his major in college.

Augustina Gyamfi

Joined Aramark on May 29, as a Quality Assurance Analyst in Development. Prior to graduating from

Drexel University in 2011, I have completed various internships with companies in Consumer Goods and

Chemical Manufacturing supporting IT on the business side. I like to brush up on my French, cook new reci-

pes I find on Pinterest, and hang out with friends outside of work. When I was a teenager, I wanted to be a

stand-up comic.

Page 8

Meet The Team’s New Faces By Augustina Gyamfi

Shakwan Burnett, of the Wakefield office

T E CH TI MES

Kris Holmgren

Started October 22 to join the Deployment team and previously worked as an Aramark employee at

Arizona State to support their IT needs. He has a background with Micros 97000 and Blackboard. Please wel-

come Kris as the newest of the 5 members!

From The Manager’s Desk By Kirk Kaloustian

A big thank you to this issue’s contributing writers: Chris Daigle, Augustina Gyamfi, Andy Martin, and Divya Purushotham as well as Kirk Kaloustian for overseeing this issue.

Thanks for reading!

As I sit back and reflect on my many years as part of this organization, I cannot stop but to think how much

we have grown and changed. Many moons ago when I was brought on board, we were a team of 7 people and

1 system! We were in the midst of migrating POS systems (seems to be a trend around here) and in the begin-

ning stages of building out who we are today. Over the years we have seen people come and go, systems flour-

ish to then only wilt away but one thing that has stayed strong: our commitment to our people. Many of us

have been not only Aramark employees, but members of this team for quite some time and I think that is a true

testament to our strength as an organization, the development of our people, and our leadership abilities. I look

forward to what the future has to offer and to the continued success of our team!

The Tower’s Newest (From Left to Right): Sasha Lysenko, Augustina Gyamfi, Mike Cancila, and Kris Holmgren

V OLU ME 2, ISSU E 11 Page 9