Overview of Miva Merchant 5.5 Admin Page Options

The Top Menu 

The Top Menu houses a configurable Launch Pad, where you can define up to five linked shortcuts. For example, we can opt to perform tasks, like data packing, in a single click.  From the Top Menu we can also Quick Find Orders, Categories, Products and Customers.

The Admin Menu

The left-hand menu which contains links to all the features you can use. The + buttons to the left of text indicate a section or group. Clicking the + will result in additional options being listed below the main topic.

The Main Admin Area

This is the large area on the right. When you use the Admin Menu, to edit your store, Miva Merchant will display all information and forms for completing a task in this main screen.

When you first login to Miva Merchant, this screen will default to the "main" screen, which contains information about the Miva Merchant version you are running, simple statistics, and the Miva Merchant Message Center.

Miva Merchant has a timeout feature. If you don't utilize this area for a default of 60 minutes, it will automatically log you out. You could later extend this time if you wish, but safe is always better than sorry.

The Admin Navigation Structure

Miva Merchant 5.5's Admin Area uses tier-level menus. Here's a brief overview of the key functions.

GLOBAL SETTINGS

Global Settings are configurations that apply to the overall domain (mall). It is here where you would add a separate store, configure the settings for the entire domain, add, remove, activate and deactivate modules, pack data files and create logins for other administration users.

DOMAIN SETTINGS

Domain Settings include a wide array of configuration, and some of the settings are "defaults" for the entire domain (mall), though they can be overridden by individual store settings.

Information:

This section displays the Domain Name (for the store), the "domain" license number, and the version of Miva Merchant you are running. If the domain of your site should change, you can change it here.

However, the change will only affect the registered domain of the software—it will not affect the actual operation of the store.

Registration:

The contact info in this area refers to the licensed user of the software.

Site Configuration:

This section dictates the secure and non-secure URLs used for the store's operation. Because some online stores use a shared SSL certificate (one that is housed on a different domain entirely), Miva Merchant allows you to set specific URLs to be used for each core operation.

Mail Server

The Mail Server is what actually allows Miva Merchant to send emails automatically, such as order confirmations and other messages triggered by different features or third-party modules. Commonly the Mail Server is named simply 'localhost', but some hosts require full domains be entered here. The rule of thumb is, if emails are not being sent, you should contact the host to see if you are using the correct mail server.

Add Angle Brackets to Email Address

It is most common that outgoing emails (those automatically sent by Miva Merchant or a module) include angle brackets around the email address, like this: customer@customeremail.com By default, this option is checked because it accommodates the majority of users.

Timeouts:

Timeouts in respect to Miva Merchant are login or activity expirations, and they are set here in minutes. The default is 60 minutes for the administration area, which means if there is no activity in admin for a period of 60 minutes, you will be logged out automatically.

Failed Login Lockout Time and Failed Login Attempts work hand in hand. If a user attempting to use the admin gets X number of failed attempts (wrong password) or fails within X number of minutes (whichever comes first), the user's login will be locked. When this happens, a user with Administrative privileges will need to unlock the user's login.

Verify IP Address will record the Remote IP Address of the user upon first login and will verify on subsequent logins. Few users would use this option since it requires you used a static assigned IP address. XXX This isn't ideal if you plan for the user to access the Admin from static IPs from different locations.

Upload Settings:

This setting controls what types of image files can be uploaded via the Admin. The default is .gif, .jpg, .jpeg, .jpe, and .xbm. Keep in mind that only .gif and .jpg are supported by all browsers on all platforms. With that, using alternative extensions may result in some shoppers seeing broken image links on the screen.

Upgrade Settings:

Miva Merchant 5.5 is capable of updating itself, and you have control over how often it seeks for available software updates. Although the URL to Upgrade Server field is editable, you should never change it unless advised to do so by Miva Merchant support staff.

Display:

This setting controls how store links are displayed on the main screen when you are running a mall (a domain running two or more stores). You can control how many columns are used to display the links to the stores and create a header for the listing (which can contain HTML if you wish).

Colors:

This setting controls the default colors display for the mall (the main directory screen of stores). You will set colors for each store individually. If you do not plan to run a mall, you can ignore these settings.

Fonts:

This setting controls the default fonts display for the mall. You will set fonts for each store individually. If you do not plan to run a mall, you can ignore these settings.

Images:

This setting controls the default images (buttons) display for the mall. You will set button displays for each store individually.

The "Select Store" button will, in the presence of more than one store, appear on the default navigation bar for all stores. It will allow shoppers to visit other stores in the mall. You can, however, remove this function on each store individually.

MIVA MERCHANT LINKS

This section provides links to Miva Merchant documentation, support, community forums, online store, and Miva Central—where you can find third-party modules for your Miva Merchant store.

STORE MENU

Every configuration area for your store can be accessed initially from the left menu,which includes your store's name as a heading.

Here's a brief overview of all areas:

Wizards

Wizards provide a quick and easy means to creating products, categories, product attributes, shipping and payment methods and more. Note that Wizards do not provide means for anything other than base configuration, which is why they are discussed at the end of this book—it's important to understand just how Miva Merchant works first.

Groups

You can create "groups" for administration users (those who can log into the Admin and customize the store or view items) and assign privileges and users.

Countries

You may not want to accept orders from all countries. By default, all countries are checked as being active, which means customers can accept them for shipping and billing addresses.

To remove countries from the Customer Accounts and Checkout process, uncheck them from the countries listing page and click update. You can turn them back on at any time.

States

Upon installation, Miva Merchant lists all states for the United States. You can remove any states which should not be selected for shipping and billing addresses. You can also add states (or provinces) by clicking the Add State button in the upper right.

NOTE: The "Outside US" option is required if you plan to ship to countries other than the United States. If you remove this option, customers will be required to select a state, with no option to enter a different state or province during checkout.

Pages

The Miva Merchant store is devised of pages—product, category, search, storefront, product listing, all checkout pages, and so on. The Pages area gives you access to each template for each page, which are completely editable. You can even create custom pages.

Categories

Here's where you can add, modify, view and delete categories for the store. If you click the Categories link, you can browse and search for current categories in a listing format. If you click the + you'll see all main parent categories (with + next to each that contain any subcategories).

Products

Here's where you can add, modify, view and delete products.

Attribute Templates

You can add, modify, view and delete product attribute templates, which allow you to create attributes and options that you can assign across multiple products.

Upsale

You can prompt shoppers to purchase additional items (commonly at a discount) during the checkout process. This is akin to a "teaser aisle" in a grocery store.

Inventory

With Miva Merchant 5.5 you can assign inventory counts to products (and soon, to attributes as well).

Affiliate Settngs

You can configure affiliates to earn commissions when directing customers to your store.30

Shipping Settings

Both Miva Merchant and third-party shipping modules will be configured under Shipping Settings.

Payment Settings

All payment methods (credit card, PayPal, check, etc.) are configured under Payment Settings.

Order Fulfillment Settings

Here's where you can configure order confirmation emails and other third-party fulfillment modules.

Logging Settings

Logging modules (they commonly write to log files) are assigned through the Logging Settings screen.

System Extension Settings

Many third-party modules utilize this area for module assignment and configuration.

Customers

You can view, modify, edit and delete customers who have created an account.

Availability Groups

You can assign categories and products to be viewed/ordered only by certain customers.

Price Groups

You can assign special pricing to products, available only to select customers.

Order Processing

Here's where you can view and print incoming orders.

Utilities

This area includes maintenance features as well as import and export functionality.