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Service Personnel Mode#

Optional Feature

Service Personnel Mode is an optional feature for operators who want to track which staff member prepared each cocktail and control access to the machine. If you don't need staff tracking or per-person access control, you can skip this section.

NFC Reader Conflict

Service Personnel Mode and CocktailBerry NFC Payment both require the NFC reader. They cannot be enabled at the same time, nor is the initial intent that they would be used together. If you need payment functionality, see the Payment Feature instead.

Overview#

Service Personnel Mode lets you manage who is using your CocktailBerry machine. Each staff member gets an NFC chip that they scan to log in before they can prepare cocktails. This gives you two main benefits:

  • Accountability: Every cocktail is logged with the name of the person who made it, giving you full visibility over your operation.
  • Access Control: Authorized staff can bypass the maker password for different specified tabs. So you do not need to share the password, but still control who can access what.

Enabling Service Personnel Mode#

To enable the feature, activate WAITER_MODE in the configuration, you can find it under the software section. You will need an NFC reader connected to your machine (same hardware as for the payment feature). On startup, CocktailBerry validates that the NFC reader is available and disables the mode gracefully if it is not.

Configuration Options
Setting Description
WAITER_MODE Enable or disable Service Personnel Mode
WAITER_LOGOUT_AFTER_COCKTAIL Log out after cocktail preparation
WAITER_AUTO_LOGOUT_S Log out after x seconds of inactivity (0 = disabled)

Registering Staff#

Before your staff can use the machine, you need to register their NFC chips. Open the Service Personnel management window from the options menu. When a staff member scans their NFC chip, the scanned ID appears in the management view. You can then assign a name and select which permissions that person should have (Maker, Ingredients, Recipes, Bottles, Options). Each tab permission controls whether the person can access that tab and bypass the maker password for it. The Options permission controls whether the person can bypass the master password, see the warning below for details.

Login and Logout Flow#

The typical workflow looks like this:

sequenceDiagram
    actor s as Staff Member
    participant nfc as NFC Reader
    participant cb as CocktailBerry
    participant db as Database
    s->>nfc: Scans NFC Chip
    nfc->>cb: Reads Chip ID
    cb->>db: Looks Up Staff Member
    db->>cb: Returns Name & Permissions
    cb->>cb: Staff Member Logged In
    s->>cb: Prepares Cocktail
    cb->>db: Logs Cocktail with Staff Info
    cb->>cb: Auto-Logout (if configured)

Once logged in, the staff member can then prepare cocktails, and each preparation is logged under their name. Logout happens either manually, automatically after a cocktail, or after a configured timeout.

Difference in Appearance Between v1 and v2#

Since we use distinct GUI technologies for v1 (Qt) and v2 (Web), there are some differences in how the logged-in staff member is displayed and how logout works. See the corresponding section for your version below.

Logged-in Staff Display and Logout#

On the maker view, there is no dedicated staff indicator or logout button. Logout happens through the configured auto-logout settings or by scanning a different chip.

The currently logged-in staff member is displayed as an inline badge on the maker screen, showing their name. Clicking the badge reveals a dedicated logout button, allowing the staff member to log out directly.

Password Bypass#

If a staff member has the appropriate tab permissions, they bypass the maker password for the tabs they have access to. Staff members with the Options permission additionally bypass the master password, granting access to the options menu and other master-password-protected actions like deleting recipes or ingredients.

Grant with Care

The Options permission effectively grants full administrative access to CocktailBerry. A staff member with this permission can bypass the master password, which means they can:

  • Change any configuration setting
  • Delete and manage recipes and ingredients
  • Create, edit, and delete other service personnel (including granting themselves more permissions)
  • Access system functions like reboot, shutdown, backups, and updates

Only grant this permission to fully trusted and authorized personnel.

In both v1 and v2, a staff member can scan their NFC chip while being prompted for a password. If they have the required permission, the password dialog is automatically accepted. Additionally, if a staff member is already logged in before navigating to a protected area, the password prompt is skipped entirely.

Statistics#

Every cocktail prepared while a staff member is logged in is recorded with their name, the recipe, volume, and timestamp. You can view these logs in the Statistics tab of the Service Personnel management window. Logs are grouped by date and staff member, showing the total number of cocktails and volume per person per day. This helps you track performance and accountability across your team.