# The Dashboard

The dashboard is the first screen after signing in to the admin, at **Admin → Dashboard**. It's built to answer one question quickly: *is anything wrong right now?*

## What's on it

**Revenue pulse.** How you're tracking on sales, so you can compare today against a normal day at a glance.

**Today at a glance.** Order counts and totals for the current day — the number to check mid-shift.

**Recent orders.** The latest orders across every channel. Selecting one opens its full detail. For the working queue with filters and status controls, go to [Managing Orders](/orders).

**Alerts.** The part to actually pay attention to — see below.

**Recommended next moves.** Setup steps you haven't finished yet. These fade as you complete them; if you're newly set up, work these alongside the [Go-Live Checklist](/going-live-checklist).

## Alerts

Alerts flag things that need a human. They aren't decorative — an alert generally means an order is at risk.

The common ones:

- **An order didn't reach the kitchen.** ForkLine retries automatically, but if it's still stuck it raises a HIGH alert. Check the [kitchen display](/kitchen-display) and the printer before assuming the customer's food is being made.
- **A receipt didn't print.** Usually the printer is offline, out of paper, or pointed at the wrong address. Work [Receipt Printer Setup](/receipt-printer-setup) → *Troubleshooting*.
- **A card reader payment is stuck.** A payment started but never finished — see [Using the Register](/register-pos).

**Treat a HIGH alert as "walk over and look."** ForkLine can tell you a ticket never printed; it can't tell you whether the cook already has it on screen.

## Reading the numbers correctly

A few things about the figures that surprise people:

- **Unpaid orders aren't revenue.** An order set to pay at pickup is food someone requested, not money you've taken. Revenue figures count charged orders.
- **Cancelled orders are excluded**, so cancelling doesn't inflate anything.
- **Unpaid counter drafts don't count.** A ticket rung up at the register but not yet paid isn't a real order until it's paid — it takes no order number and doesn't reach the kitchen. See [Using the Register](/register-pos).
- **These are order totals, not payouts.** They're before processing fees. For money actually landing in your bank, see [Payouts & Timelines](/payouts) and your Stripe dashboard.

## Switching restaurants

If you have access to more than one location, the restaurant picker in the admin header switches between them. Everything on the dashboard follows the selected restaurant.

## Where to go next

- [Managing Orders](/orders) — the full order queue
- [Kitchen Display](/kitchen-display)
- [Troubleshooting](/troubleshooting) — when an alert doesn't clear