The Helsinki Elderly Citizens Foundation manages its entire food service operations with CGI Aromi. The Foundation also uses the SaaS enterprise resource planning solution to manage its central warehouse, laundry and other essential services.

Helsinki Elderly Citizens Foundation is an independent non-profit organization within the City of Helsinki, Finland. It offers long- and short-term care for people with dementia and other mental and physical challenges.

Replacing three systems with one holistic solution

“We had to use three different systems to perform daily food service routines,” said Hannu Ali-Vehmas, Food Services Manager for Helsinki Elderly Citizens Foundation. “We used Mysli for meal and product orders, Aromi Warehouse for central warehouse orders and Aromi12 for creating menus and managing the first two systems.”

“Thanks to the CGI integration project, all operations are now under one system—the modern Aromi14 version. Users in our units use the same credentials and software to place meal orders and all other required orders. Nutritional values and ingredients of each meal are clearly visible to all diners via online menus.”

“The adoption of CGI Aromi has increased our efficiency and productivity and helped us streamline our operations and improve services,” he continued. “At the same time, we have been able to reduce operating costs. The most significant source of cost savings is that we can place all orders online using the new system.”

“In addition, using CGI Aromi’s new production dashboard is efficiently guiding the way we work. The ease of ordering products has improved job satisfaction in our units, and there is now more time to do other tasks,” explained Ali-Vehmas.

The nursing home’s kitchen has an 82-inch information display with “windows” that can each be operated independently without interfering with the software’s functionality. The production dashboard shows daily tasks, persons performing each task and production volumes.

A user also can open recipes for ordered food production volumes in the same dashboard. In addition, CGI Aromi defines the preparatory work required for meal production, such as defrosting food products.

“Previously, we could use each of the three systems only with a desktop computer,” said Ali-Vehmas. “CGI Aromi introduced us to new ways of working, as tasks can now be performed with a mobile phone, tablet computer and laptop. At the same time, our kitchen has become virtually paper free. The only thing that we print nowadays are adhesive labels.”

CGI Aromi

  • CGI Aromi supports the production of sustainably produced, high quality, nutritional food to meet constantly changing customer requirements.
  • As an intelligent application, CGI Aromi minimizes the need for manual work, enabling clients to focus more on food service development and customer relations.
  • CGI Aromi covers all food service processes from sales and delivery, to ingredient and order management, to food production and information sharing with diners.
  • CGI Aromi manages food waste in all food production phases: from entering food data in the system to follow up and food production.

Satisfied users, satisfied diners

CGI Aromi is an enterprise resource planning system covering all food service operations—from purchasing to delivery, to ingredients and order management, to food production and information sharing with diners. In terms of food production, CGI Aromi manages the entire life cycle, including planning, execution, ingredient purchasing and sales, as well as arrangements related to food display and serving.

CGI Aromi has been on the market for more than 30 years. In 2015, CGI redeveloped the system into a browser-based SaaS service. As an intelligent application, CGI Aromi minimizes the need for manual work, enabling food service providers to focus more attention on food service development and customer relations.

Other benefits of CGI Aromi include the management of customer orders related to special diets and sustainability. For example, the solution incorporates food waste management and the use of seasonal products in all phases of the food production process.

Ali-Vehmas pointed out that replacing an existing ERP system with a new one is always a big step for an organization.

“The main objective must always be that the change improves the end user experience. We are extremely satisfied with the result. We gained valuable experience and in-depth knowledge of how the CGI Aromi system works during the migration.”

One system, many possibilities

Ali-Vehmas is particularly satisfied with the versatility of CGI Aromi.

“There are so many things one can do with Aromi as long as there is courage to throw around ideas, experiment and apply all the possibilities the solution has to offer,” he said.

Ali-Vehmas believes that it is always better if users can carry out as many tasks as possible with one solution.

Helsinki Elderly Citizens Foundation uses CGI Aromi not only for managing food services, but also office supplies, hospital supplies, wound care products, rubbish bags, protective equipment, cleaning equipment, chemicals, as well as dishes and cutlery. CGI Aromi also manages the nursing home’s laundry services.

In addition, CGI Aromi’s production dashboard supports the management of cleaning activities—from organizing cleaning tasks to ordering materials. In addition, it includes a feature for linen care and work clothes care.