Executive Summary
This independently initiated platform MVP connects recipe authoring, menu cycles, forecasting, production records, floor actuals, inventory counts, review workflows, CSV exports, and print views. Workflow models, requirements boundaries, and operating controls keep current MVP capability distinct from future work.
The technical implementation uses Python, Flask, SQLite, server-rendered templates with focused JavaScript, and forward-only SQL migrations.
Context and Observed Problem
The project addresses foodservice operations where recipes, production planning, forecasting, inventory, and floor feedback need to work together. It provides a prototype platform that connects operational planning with production and inventory workflows.
Stakeholders and User Needs
Kitchen operators, production planners, inventory users, and reviewers need consistent recipe data, production summaries, floor actuals, shortage visibility, and reviewable workflow history.
Current MVP Capability
The MVP covers recipe and base-food authoring, menu cycles and service context, forecasting, production summaries and production records, floor actuals, leftover/shortage reason codes, notes, forecast accuracy, inventory locations and live counts, shortage/reorder planning, role-based review workflows, history, notifications, CSV exports, and print views.
Future Work
Invoice, catalog, and advanced analytics capabilities remain future work and are separate from the completed MVP scope.
Requirements and Business Rules
Requirements cover modular services, queries, contracts, validation, exception handling, role-based review, inventory visibility, forecast-to-production alignment, and export/print usability.
Solution and Prototype
The prototype is represented by the choi-p-git/recipe-collection repository. It uses server-rendered workflows and focused JavaScript rather than a large front-end framework, matching the operational nature of repeated planning and review tasks.
Validation Data
Validation data includes:
- 500 commercial-kitchen base foods
- 100 simple recipes
- 100 complex recipes
- 16-week Monday-Friday breakfast/lunch menu based on a repeated four-week cycle
Governance, Controls, and Traceability
Supporting BA artifacts cover workflow analysis, stakeholder analysis, requirements, business rules, process mapping, gap analysis, change proposal, and risk. They distinguish implemented repository behavior from proposed future work.
Role and Disclosure
This was a work-related, independently initiated improvement, solo-led across business analysis, solution design, development, functional testing, and UAT. Codex served as an AI assistant and development collaborator. The employer did not commission, fund, endorse, or deploy the solution enterprise-wide.
Lessons Learned and Next Steps
The main lesson is that operational tools need stable workflow boundaries as much as feature coverage. Future work includes representative workflow screenshots or walkthroughs when suitable examples are available.