Today

Today is the page the back office opens on. It shows how the service in progress, or the last one, went; what needs a manager's attention; the week against its targets; and the night's breakdowns. For any range of nights with a chart, use Sales; for money on the day it arrives, with VAT, use Income.

Who can do this: admins and managers — everyone who can sign in to the back office sees the same page.

Which night Today shows

When you open Today, it picks the service that matters right now:

• During service the heading reads "Tonight so far", with "Drawer opened" and the time, and "N tabs open" when there are any. Today counts as being in service when a drawer has been open for less than 20 hours, or when your opening hours say you're open right now.
• Outside service the heading reads "Last service:" with the night, for example "Last service: Wed, Sep 30" — the most recent night that sold anything.
• A venue that has never sold anything sees today's date.

A drawer left open for 20 hours or more is treated as forgotten, not as a service in progress. Without opening hours, Today shows "Last service" all evening until the first drawer opens. The open-tabs count shows only on the live view.

Look at another night or range

1. Click a quick range: Today, Yesterday, This week, Last week, This month or Last month.
2. Or set From and To.
3. The heading becomes the night (for example "Wed, Sep 30") or the range. The bar ends with your service window, for example "Service day 6:00 AM to 5:59 AM".

A range you pick always wins over the page's own choice. The quick ranges follow the calendar date in your venue's time zone, not the service day: before your service day starts (say, at 2:00 AM with a 6:00 AM service time), Today is a night that hasn't started yet and shows zeros. That is on purpose — click Yesterday for last night.

Which night a sale counts on

On Today and Sales, a sale belongs to the night its tab was opened, whenever it was paid. A tab opened on Friday at 11:00 PM and paid on Saturday at 5:00 PM is Friday's sale, whatever time your service day turns over.

• Payments in cash, by card or any other tender — a booking deposit spent on the bill included — except a customer account count in full on the tab's night, whenever they were taken.
• Tabs charged to a customer account count only for the part the account has paid with money, and that part counts on the tab's night. See Account money under Net sales.
• Tips are never part of Net sales.

Because a sale stays on its tab's night, past nights can change: a night's Net sales goes up when an old tab is finally paid, or when a customer pays their account. A tab still open from last night adds to last night when it's paid today. When part of a night's Net sales was paid into customer accounts on a later night, the line under the figure says how much: "includes $X paid later through accounts" (see Account money under Net sales).

Read the figures

1. Open Today and pick the night.
2. Net sales is the big figure. Right under it, when part of it was paid into customer accounts after the tab's own night: "includes $X paid later through accounts".
3. Then "N bills · $X per bill", and under it what a bill is: "Bills: each payment on these nights' tabs, plus each tab on a customer account with money paid on it."
4. Point at the (i) next to Net sales for its definition: "What the tabs opened on these nights sold, tips excluded, whenever they were paid. A tab put on a customer account counts once the account pays for it, on the night of the tab. The money itself shows on the day it arrives, as Collected on accounts."
5. Under Net sales, when they're not zero: On accounts, not paid yet, Collected on accounts and Comp credit granted (see the next section) — and, at a venue that takes deposits, Deposits received online, Deposits refunded and Deposits kept (see Booking deposits under Net sales).
6. Guests with "N parties" and the line "Parties: the tabs that sold. Guests: their guest counts (a tab with none counts as 1).", then Per guest, and Tips — with From account credit when some tips were paid out of a customer's prepaid credit.

What each figure counts:

• Net sales — what the guests paid on the nights' tabs, VAT inside, after discounts, before tips. With prices that don't include VAT, the VAT is added at the bill, so Net sales includes it. VAT is split out only on Income.
• Bills — the number of payments on the nights' tabs, plus the account charges that have something paid. A tab paid in two parts is two bills. Per bill is Net sales ÷ bills. Income counts bills differently — only payments taken — so the two pages can show different Bills for the same night.
• Guests — the guest counts of the tabs that sold something; a tab with 0 guests counts as 1. Parties is the number of those tabs. Per guest is Net sales ÷ guests.
• Tips — every tip on the nights' tabs: tips on payments, plus tips taken from a customer's credit (From account credit). A tip from credit counts whether or not the account has paid.

Nights imported from TouchBistro are included on the same definitions; their guests are an estimate (see TouchBistro history). Barform has no automatic service charge, so no gratuities line ever appears.

A voided payment is removed from every figure. Owner and partner tabs that are never paid never become sales: they stay under On accounts, not paid yet on their night.

Account money under Net sales

A tab charged to a customer account isn't a sale until the account pays for it. Four lines under Net sales follow that money; each shows only when it isn't zero.

How a payment into an account reaches Net sales:

• Each account's payments and credits pay off its charges oldest first, by when each charge was made (not by when its tab was opened). Comp credit counts toward this too.
• Each charge is paid off amount first; a tip on the charge comes after its amount and is never a sale.
• The paid part is a sale of the tab's night. The unpaid part never is; it shows as On accounts, not paid yet.
• Comp credit can cover a charge, but the part it covers never becomes a sale.
• An earlier night's figures can change when an account charge is voided, when a payment or credit into an account is voided, when either void is undone, or when a charge is moved to another account.

For example: a tab opened on Sunday is charged to a customer's account on Monday, and the customer pays the account on Tuesday. Sunday's Net sales grows by what Tuesday's payment covered, Sunday's On accounts, not paid yet shrinks by the same amount, and Tuesday shows the money under Collected on accounts — it isn't a Tuesday sale.

What counts as paid later:

• Only money paid in on a later night than the tab's. Credit that was already on the account before the tab (money paid ahead), and money paid in on the same night, aren't "later": they never made a past night move.
• Comp credit is never money, so it's never part of the line.
• Over a range, each tab is measured against its own night, so account money that arrived inside the range can still count as paid later.

For example: a $600.00 tab on Friday is charged to an account that holds $200.00 of credit, and the customer pays the other $400.00 on Sunday. From Sunday, Friday's Net sales includes the whole $600.00 and reads "includes $400.00 paid later through accounts".

For everything else about accounts, see Customer accounts.

Booking deposits under Net sales

At a venue that takes deposits from large groups (see Deposits for large groups), a deposit spent on a bill is a payment of the tab's night like cash or card: it's in Net sales, the bills and the tips, and in Tender types as Booking deposit. The rest of the deposit money isn't a sale. Three lines under Net sales show it, each only when it isn't zero:

None of the three is inside Net sales. For example, a group pays a $2,400.00 deposit on Monday and on Saturday spends it on a $3,000.00 bill, paying the other $600.00 by card. Monday shows Deposits received online $2,400.00 (1). Saturday's Net sales is $3,000.00, with Booking deposit $2,400.00 and Card $600.00 under Tender types. Had the group not come, Saturday would show Deposits kept $2,400.00 instead, and no sale.

How Today compares with Income

Today and Sales use the same rules, so the same nights give the same figures on both. Income counts money on the day it arrives instead, so for the same dates its Net sales won't match Today's when:

• tabs were paid after your service day turned over (Income counts the day of the payment, Today the night of the tab);
• customers paid their accounts (Today counts the paid part on the tab's night; Income counts the money on the day it came in);
• tips were taken from account credit (Income takes them out of that day's income);
• booking deposits were paid, spent, refunded or kept (Income counts a deposit as money on the day it was paid online, and a refund on the day it was sent; Today counts a deposit spent on a bill on the tab's night).

For one night, "includes $X paid later through accounts" is the account money that Income counted on a later day. How each number is counted puts all the reports side by side.

Breakdowns

Under the figures, three panels rank the night's money: Top sales categories, Top menu items and Tender types. Click Servers, discounts and voids under them for two more panels: Top servers and Discounts & voids. The category, item and server panels list their top 10 only, so their rows don't add up to Net sales.

Categories and items

Every line on the tabs that sold, at what the guest paid for it: quantity × (price + option prices), less that line's own discount. The number beside each row is the quantity sold.

• Voided lines (mistakes and comps) are left out.
• A discount on the whole check isn't taken off item revenue, so these panels can add up to more than Net sales.
• A tab charged to a customer account puts all its lines here as soon as any part of it is paid, while Net sales counts only the paid part.

To see every item, not only the top ten, click See all items under Top menu items. Items sold opens on the same nights, counted the same way.

Tender types, with credit and debit

1. Open Today and pick the night.
2. In Tender types, read the Card line. Under it, indented: Credit, Debit and, only when there is some, Type not recorded.
3. The Account collections (card) line is split the same way.

Each tender shows its money and its number of bills on the nights' tabs. A booking deposit spent on a bill is its own tender, Booking deposit. Tips are listed against the tender they arrived on — a card bill can leave a cash tip. Account collections (cash) and Account collections (card) are the money that has paid the nights' account charges (the part counted in Net sales), kept on their own lines so the cash and card counts still mean bills. Together, the tender lines add up to Net sales. Collected on accounts, under Net sales, is different: it's the money that arrived during the range.

The credit and debit parts are the card money of the tabs opened on those nights, on the same basis as Net sales, so they add up to the Card line. They show only when something in the range has a type. The type is chosen on the iPad when the card is charged (see Taking payment). Card money has no type when it was taken before the iPad started asking (September 2026), from an iPad that hadn't been updated, or when it was added in the back office as Paid by customer by card.

Servers, discounts and voids

• Top servers — who sold the money: each tab's server, the same way the Z counts it, with their bills and tips. Account charges count for their paid part, and their tips go to the tab's server. It's the tab's current server: giving a tab to another server, or merging it into another table, moves all its money — payments already taken included — to the new server.
• Discounts & voids — a row for each kind — Percentage discount, Amount off and Comp — then Voided items with the count and value.
  • The two discount rows count the checks that carry that kind of discount: once each, however many times the discount was applied or changed, under the kind the check carries now. A discount later removed doesn't count. Comp counts each comp given, with its value.
  • Discounts are counted on the day they were applied, not on the tab's night. Discounts on single lines aren't counted here. Discounts in history imported from TouchBistro are listed under their own reason, as recorded.
  • Voided items are the lines voided on tabs opened in the range, at list price. They include mistake voids, comps (a comp is recorded as a voided line), lines deleted before they were sent, and the old line when an unsent line's options were changed. The count is lines, not drinks.

An empty panel says "Nothing in this range."; when nothing sold, "No sales in this range." replaces all the panels.

Needs attention

A short list of problems, each a link to the screen that fixes it. A drawer that came out short or over stays on the list until a manager explains the difference — and so does an opening count that didn't match what the last close left, was counted late or was skipped, and, at a bar that uses the safe, a count of the safe that came out short or over. When there is nothing, one line says "Nothing needs attention."

1. Read a line in the amber Needs attention box, for example "Cash was $185.00 short on Fri, Oct 2".
2. Click it (each line ends in Open). It opens the screen that lists the problem.
3. Fix it there. The line goes away once the problem is gone (reload Today).

• Drawer lines come from two rules. The range on screen names up to three of its drawers, newest first, each with its opening, cash and card lines as they apply, then "N more nights with a drawer difference" for the rest. And whatever the range, every difference still waiting for an explanation stays on the list: one from the last 30 nights — today and the 29 nights before it — has a line of its own, newest first, and older ones are counted together in "N older drawer differences are still not explained". No drawer is listed twice.
• 30 nights is the range Shift closes (Z) opens on (30 days), so a line of its own always lands on a drawer that page lists, and the older line covers everything before it.
• Every other line is about now: a request that's waiting is waiting whatever range you're looking at.
• A drawer is listed under the night it was started, and Shift closes (Z) names it by the same night, so the line's Open lands on the page that lists that drawer under the same name. The card line appears only once the terminal's total was typed at close.
• Only an explanation clears a drawer line — not the next night, not another range. A difference that a manager marked as explained on Shift closes (Z) — a count that left out the float, say — leaves this list. The same drawer's other difference, if it has one, still shows. Undo there lists it again. See Clear a drawer difference.
• Differences under $100 never get a line, in any range. They stay on Shift closes (Z), where they can still be explained. A late count and a skipped count always get a line.
• A drawer's opening line comes first, then its cash and card lines, as the night ran. An opening count that was both late and $100 or more off reads as short or over.
• The opening is checked from the start of the night, so its line can show while the drawer is still open. The short, over and skipped lines need Barform 1.2.1 or later on the iPads: on an older version the close doesn't record what stays in the drawer, and the count can't be skipped, so only the late line can appear. See Cash drawer.
• The older line counts differences, while Not explained on Shift closes (Z) counts drawers, so a drawer whose cash and card are both out counts twice here and once there.
• A safe line stays, whatever the range, until a manager explains the difference on Reports › Safe or an admin voids the count. Its day is the service night the count was made in. The first count, a count that couldn't be compared — a close didn't record what it left in the drawer — and a voided count never get a line. With Use the safe off (Settings › Venue › iPads and service › End of day), Today lists no safe lines; back on, a difference no manager explained is listed again. See The safe.
• Today reads your newest 500 drawers with a difference of $100 or more, or an opening that needs a line. At a venue with more, the older line's count ends in "+".
• The thresholds are fixed: $100 for a drawer or safe difference, 30 nights for a difference's own line, 30 days for stock, 14 days for pay rates, 16 hours for a forgotten clock-in, 30 minutes' grace for a waiting message.
• Messages: only messages to guests count, not notices to your own venue. The line covers the last 7 days; older failures drop off. It counts messages still waiting 30+ minutes late, but the Not sent tab lists those under Scheduled, so the two numbers can differ.
• Booking requests: bookings typed in by staff are confirmed when saved, so in practice these are requests from your booking page, and bookings a guest changed from their own page. A request whose deposit link is out is waiting on the guest and isn't counted; if the link runs out unpaid, it counts again.
• Deposits: what to do with each line is on Deposits for large groups.
• Stock: the last finished full count is what counts.
• Names are first names only; three or more read "A, B and 1 other" or "A, B and N others".

Clear a drawer difference

1. Click the drawer's line. Reports › Shift closes (Z) opens with that drawer's row open and its close in view.
2. Under Day closed, click Mark as explained beside the difference, write what happened and click Save. For an opening line, Opening difference is first in the list; on a drawer still open, the list is at the end of its cash.
3. Go back to Today and reload it: the line is gone.

The whole task, and how to take an explanation back, is on Closing the day.

Clear a safe difference

1. Click the safe's line. Reports › Safe opens on the night of the count, with the count highlighted.
2. On the count's line, click Mark as explained, write what happened and click Save.
3. Go back to Today and reload it: the line is gone.

The whole task, and how to take an explanation back, is on The safe.

Setup checklist

While a new venue is still setting up, Today shows "Set up" with your venue's name and how many items are done (for example "3 of 7 done"), with a line for each item, each a link to where it's done.

1. Open Today.
2. Click the first unticked line and do the task on the page it opens.
3. Come back to Today. The line is ticked and struck through.

• The checklist shows while any of the first four items is missing, and hides once those four are done, even if staff, a printer or stock items are still missing.
• Until an iPad is paired, Pair an iPad has a second line: "Install the app on the iPad first:" with the iPad app's App Store link, which opens in a new tab. The app isn't listed in App Store searches, so this link is the way to install it (see Pair and manage iPads).
• A venue created at sign-up starts with POS printing off, so after you add a printer the line reads Turn on POS printing in Settings › Venue › iPads and service until the switch is on: a printer prints nothing while printing is off.
• "Add the staff, with their PINs" is ticked as soon as there is more than one staff member; it doesn't check PINs.
• If you chose the sample menu at sign-up, you start with sample categories, products and tables, so the menu and tables lines are ticked from the start — even though the sample products are priced $0 and marked out of stock (86) until someone prices them and switches them on.

This week vs target

The This week vs target card, under Needs attention, shows how the current service week is doing against your weekly goals — sales, customers (covers) and average spend per cover — each with last week for comparison.

Who can do this: admins and managers can see the card and set the goals.

1. Set one or more goals in Settings › Targets. A goal left at 0 isn't tracked.
2. Open Today. The card shows "Service week" with the dates and "day N of 7".
3. For each goal that's set: the percent, the actual against the goal (for example "$38,000.00 of $60,000.00"), a status line, and "Last week:" with last week's figure and percent.

• "Sales" is exactly Net sales on Today (by the night each tab was opened), and "customers" is Guests. Spend is sales ÷ covers. The three goals are independent.
• The percent is rounded and stops at 100.
• The status reads "Target met"; or, for sales and customers, what's still missing, the days left (today included; "last day" on the final day) and about how much a day it would take — the gap ÷ days left, rounded up. For spend it reads "$X below target".
• Last week is measured against the same goals.
• The week comes from today's calendar date in your venue's time zone, not the service day. On the first day of the week, between midnight and your service time, the card already shows the new week (day 1, close to zero) while the night in progress belongs to the week before.
• The card always shows this week; it doesn't follow the range you pick.
• With no goals set it says "No weekly targets set yet." with a link to the settings.

Related

• How each number is counted
• Sales
• Income
• Closing the day
• Venue settings, hours and targets