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This section discusses in detail setting up some of the significant back office and support services.

Administrative Interface and tools

Setting up a password protected administrative interface is essential as this allows you to manage and administrate your website as well as the data in your web application. The best way to manage the textual content is through the use of a Content Management System, which is discussed later on in this section. Some of the features of a good administrative interface are:

View changes in the Website

This feature would enable you to view your website after you make changes to it, without having to leave the interface. In some cases, you are required to log in to your administrative section to make changes and then log out to save and view the changes reflected in your website. This should be avoided. The administrative interface should be such that you can preview changes from the interface itself.

Manage orders

The administrative interface to your web application should have a feature that allows you to retrieve, manage and process customer orders securely. Your application could either just provide you a list of the current orders with relevant details or you could build functionality to process orders online and also perform analysis of orders received such that it can provide valuable insights to your business. If your customers have ordered products that get delivered after some time, you may even like to provide your customers the facility to view their order status and track the delivery schedule.

Manage customer database

Access to the customer database should be provided from the administrative interface. You should be able to manage your email lists as well. Editing and managing customer profiles and accounts is a vital function that will be required in membership websites. You should be able to add, edit and delete customer accounts, manage and maintain customer records and billing statements. You can also have provisions to temporarily disable customer access for specific customers and open up the access again. If you are managing a subscription site with extensive customer activities and transactions/billing, you may need to view details of customer accounts and track their usage status. This may also be required as part of your customer support and help desk services, if they have questions related to their account. You may have set up your site such that when a member signs up for a subscription, there is an approval stage.

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