Challenge - The College was facing issues with headcount management of students on a daily basis for breakfast, lunch and dinner meals. The daily head count varied because there were many students who did not opt for meals on weekends, festival times and when out of station, etc.There was discrepancy in periodic catering bills as well because the caterer would bill on a tentative basis and not on the basis of daily headcount for meals. This not only increased the expenditure of the college, but also led to a lot of wastage of food for the Caterer. Another issue that came to light was students misusing the mess facility by taking more than one meal, for non-enrolled students at times.Solution - Mess management module integrated with biometric attendance tracking was installed at the mess. The students opting for meal on a particular day had to punch-in. The reader allowed only one entry per student/ per meal and also kept track of the total head count on a daily basis.