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

# How Dashprep works

> The path an order takes from Shopify checkout to a finished, shipped item — and how Dashprep removes the handoffs in between.

Dashprep sits in one place: the stretch between a customer clicking **checkout** and your team marking an order **shipped**. Everything it does is aimed at that hour.

## The problem it removes

Most merchants who make physical things run that last leg on paper. A ticket prints, someone carries it to a station, the person there copies it onto a list, someone double-checks before pulling stock. That's roughly four handoffs per order — and every handoff is time, and a chance for something to get lost or made twice.

The fix isn't a faster printer or a better spreadsheet. It's removing the handoffs: put each order directly on the screen of the person who makes it, with the right context, in the right order, automatically.

## The flow

<Steps>
  <Step title="An order is placed in Shopify">
    A customer checks out. Shopify notifies Dashprep in real time.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Dashprep splits it into line items">
    Each product in the order becomes a line item — the actual thing someone has to make.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Line items route to prep stations">
    If you use [prep stations](/concepts/prep-stations), each item lands at the station that makes it, using rules you set by product type or collection.
  </Step>

  <Step title="It appears on the board">
    The order streams onto your [live board](/board/the-board) — no refresh, no printout. Everyone watching the board sees it at once.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Your team marks it done">
    Staff move each item from open to complete. When every item is finished, the order is complete and ready to ship.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## What Dashprep is not

Dashprep is deliberately narrow. Keeping the scope tight is what keeps the board calm and fast.

* **Not** inventory or production planning
* **Not** delivery routing or dispatch
* **Not** a CRM or marketing tool

It does one job: get each order onto the right screen, in the right order, and track it to done.

<Card title="Next: orders & statuses" icon="arrow-right" href="/concepts/orders-and-statuses">
  How orders and line items move from open to complete.
</Card>