WebCommerce Back Office -- Introduction
(This page is part of WebCom's WebCommerce Help Guide.)
The WebCommerce Back Office is an integral part of the WebCommerce solution. It is the part of our Ecommerce system that allows you to do the things you need to do to run your store. The Back Office is essentially the part of WebCommerce from where the inventory, prices, and everything else about your store is controlled. If you understand the Back Office, you understand how to run your WebCommerce store. Because of the sensitive nature of the information which can be viewed through the Back Office (such as customers' credit card information) the Back Office is completely secure though SSL.
Let us take a moment to describe in better detail what the Back Office really is. It is the place where you tell our system all the details about the products you will be selling. Not only will you be inputting product names and prices, but also sizes, colors, flavors, styles, categories and so on. Our system will use this information to build your store. When you first access the Back Office you will notice that the "products" section is at the bottom of the navigation menu. The reason for this is that you want to have all possible attributes (options like flavors and sizes) already entered and available to select from when it comes time to input your product. We know that you're anxious to start adding products to your store, but we recommend that you input categories and options first. You can set up your store in what ever order you want, but adding your products will be easier if you have previously added your categories and options.
The Back Office also allows you to change the organization of your store, configure the type of payment that your store will accept, and receive orders from customers.
It is not very difficult to understand the Back Office, but we do recommend that you take some time to review this documentation and familiarize yourself with the different sections of the Back Office. Be sure to follow the links at the bottom of this page to all the different help pages, or follow the link to the Next Section at the end of each page.
Requirements
Before attempting to use the Back Office, make sure that you are using an up-to-date browser such as Netscape 4.x or MSIE 4.x. Also make sure that you do not have Java, JavaScript or Cookies turned off. While visitors can use any browser to shop at your store, the Back Office requires that your browser use these features. If you have an older browser, you can download a newer version following one of the links below:
Accessing WebCommerce Back Office (login)
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Before you can do anything with the Back Office, you need to get there. You can follow the directions below, or simply click here.
Before you can enter the Back Office, you are required to provide a Username and Password. (Pictured right.) Please note that this is not the Username and Password of your WebCom account, but the Username and Password for your store that you selected when you created your WebCom Store. If you cannot remember your Username and Password, you will have to contact Technical Support. |
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Navigation
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Once you have accessed the Back Office, you will find the navigation menu in a column on the left. Each item on the navigation menu corresponds to an area of the Back Office. The area that you are currently in will be highlighted in red. (Such as the Shipping section in the graphic to the left.) You will find help for each section in this documentation. You can click on any of these items at any time to move to a different section. Always make sure to update the changes in the section that you are working on before you move to a different section, or you will lose those changes. |
Changing Your Password
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If you would like to change your password to the Back Office, you can click on the button at the bottom of the navigation menu. The Change Password screen asks you for your current password, and asks for your new password twice. (A second time to confirm.) Clicking on the "Change" button updates your password and takes effect immediately. |
Logging Out
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Clicking on the logout button will log you out of the Back Office. This option is useful if you maintain more than one store and would like to change the store that you are working in. |