# Introduction to Centara ## Introduction Centara retail system consists of point-of-sale on-premise Windows based applications that synchronizes data with a centralized web server. The server does not play a role in completing individual transactions, rather its role is to support the POS in various ways for data and maintenance. The server is also a central point for all the POS systems in the organization and can therefore be used in some cases to centralize data. The core of the Centara system dates back to the year 2000 and in those days central data was maintained using many small server applications. Since then the web server has been integrating more and more of those legacy applications although a few still remain. One of the most important elements in Centara design is to minimize the recovery of a broken client application down to a few minutes. This can be achieved by storing the individual client setup centrally and automatically synchronizing necessary data. The data structure of Centara has been designed based on the ARTS retail technology standard to maximize the compatibility with external ERP systems. ### System overview Centara retail system consists of point-of-sale on-premise Windows based applications that synchronizes data with a centralized web server. The server does not play a role in completing individual transactions, rather its role is to support the POS in various ways for data and maintenance. The server is also a central point for all the POS systems in the organization and can there for be used in some cases to centralize data. ![](https://2622013076-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-legacy-files/o/assets%2F-LaL-VPZH18nR2GHl90a%2F-LhkAIupP8IvO6jFGM0H%2F-LhkOvYiR0F2oFUXEjZK%2Fimage.png?alt=media\&token=07880056-3148-4e24-b329-a35d9c1dc476) --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://docs.centara.online/master.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.