> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.ofatoura.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# What Is oFatoura and How It Fits Together

> An overview of the three oFatoura surfaces — the web admin dashboard, the ePOS waiter app, and the customer site — plus how branches, shared data, and staff sign-in work together.

oFatoura is a restaurant point-of-sale platform that runs your front-of-house, kitchen, online orders, and back-office reporting from one connected system. You work in it through three surfaces, and each is designed for a different job and a different person.

This page explains what those three surfaces are, how one restaurant can run many branches, and how staff sign in to the part of the system their role needs.

## The three surfaces

<Columns cols={2}>
  <Card title="Web admin dashboard" icon="settings" href="/getting-started/web-admin-login">
    The browser-based control room for owners and managers. Set up your menu, taxes, branches, staff, printers, and pricing, and read your sales and reports here.
  </Card>

  <Card title="ePOS waiter app" icon="tablet" href="/epos-app/index">
    The app your floor staff run on a phone or tablet. Take table orders, send tickets to the kitchen, take payments, run shifts, and clock in and out.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Customer site" icon="shopping-cart" href="/online-ordering/index">
    Your public ordering page. Guests browse your menu, order online or from a table QR code, and can book a table — all in your own branding.
  </Card>
</Columns>

### Web admin dashboard (browser)

The web admin is where the business is configured and watched. You open it in a browser and sign in with your email and password. Owners and managers use it to build menus and item categories, set up taxes, manage dining areas and tables, add staff and decide what each role can do, configure printers and receipts, and review sales, payments, and other reports.

You also pick which branch you are working in here when your restaurant has more than one location.

### ePOS waiter app (phone or tablet)

The ePOS waiter app is the hands-on tool for service. Staff sign in on the device, then take orders at the table, fire kitchen tickets, take payments, open and close shifts, and clock in and out. A single device can be paired to a named POS terminal so it uses the right receipt and printer setup, and several staff members can share one device by switching users without signing out completely.

### Customer site (online shop and QR ordering)

The customer site is the public face of your restaurant. Guests can browse the menu and place orders online, scan a table QR code to order from where they sit, and — when you enable it — book a table. What customers can do (whether they can order, whether they must log in, your branding and policies) is controlled from the web admin.

<Note>
  You configure the customer site and online ordering from the web admin. See [Online Ordering and Customer Site Overview](/online-ordering/index).
</Note>

## One restaurant, many branches

Your account represents one **restaurant**. Inside that restaurant you can run one or more **branches** — separate locations, each with its own dining areas, tables, kitchen, printers, and day-to-day operations.

This matters because some information is shared across the whole restaurant, while other information belongs to a single branch.

<Columns cols={2}>
  <Card title="Shared across the restaurant" icon="building">
    Your restaurant identity, your menu and items, your staff list and the roles that define what they can do, and your subscription and plan.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Scoped to one branch" icon="map-pin">
    Dining areas and tables, kitchen stations and printers, operating hours, table QR codes, and the orders, shifts, and day-to-day activity that happen at that location.
  </Card>
</Columns>

Because of this split, both the web admin and the ePOS app ask you to choose an **active branch** when your account is assigned to more than one location. Everything you then create or view — orders, tables, shifts — applies to that branch until you switch.

<Tip>
  If you only have one branch, or you are assigned to just one, you skip the branch picker and go straight to your dashboard. The picker only appears when there is a real choice to make.
</Tip>

Switching branches is supported in both surfaces:

* In the web admin, you change the active branch from the dashboard. See [Switching Active Branch in the Web Admin](/getting-started/switching-branches-web).
* In the ePOS app, you switch from the branch picker. Switching there resets the on-device data for the old branch and re-syncs everything for the new one. See [Switching Branches on the ePOS App](/epos-app/branch-switching).

## Staff sign in to the surface their role needs

Staff are added once, in the web admin, and given a role. That role decides both what they can do and which surfaces they will use.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Managers and owners use the web admin">
    They sign in with email and password in a browser to set up and run the business. See [Logging In and Verifying Your Email](/getting-started/web-admin-login).
  </Step>

  <Step title="Floor and kitchen staff use the ePOS app">
    They sign in on the device with email and password the first time, then can use a quick PIN afterward. See [Logging In, Quick PIN, and Switching Users](/epos-app/login-and-pin).
  </Step>

  <Step title="Customers use the public site">
    Your guests never need a staff account — they browse and order on the customer site, optionally creating their own login if you require it.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Info>
  What each staff member can do is set by their role and any per-person adjustments you make. Some sensitive actions can also require a manager's approval. See [Staff and Permissions Overview](/staff/index).
</Info>

## How to use the rest of these docs

The help center follows the order you will naturally work in:

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Start Here" icon="flag" href="/introduction/start-here">
    A first-week checklist that points you to each setup task in order.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Getting Started" icon="rocket" href="/getting-started/index">
    Logging in, verifying your email, and finishing your setup checklist.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Essential Setup" icon="sliders" href="/essential-setup/index">
    Restaurant information, taxes, order numbering, and receipts.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Menu" icon="book-open" href="/menu/index">
    Build your menus, categories, items, variations, and modifiers.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Floor and Tables" icon="grid-2x2" href="/floor/index">
    Set up dining areas, tables, waiter assignments, and QR codes.
  </Card>

  <Card title="ePOS Waiter App" icon="tablet" href="/epos-app/index">
    Everything your staff do on the phone or tablet during service.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

<Check>
  New to oFatoura? Begin with [Start Here: Your First Week Checklist](/introduction/start-here), then work through Getting Started and Essential Setup before opening for service.
</Check>

## Related

* [Start Here: Your First Week Checklist](/introduction/start-here)
* [Getting Started Overview](/getting-started/index)
* [Switching Active Branch in the Web Admin](/getting-started/switching-branches-web)
* [ePOS Waiter App Overview](/epos-app/index)
* [Online Ordering and Customer Site Overview](/online-ordering/index)