Navigating the SAP Commerce Cloud Backoffice User Interface

In this lesson, we will focus on the structure of the Administration cockpit.

​Here are the elements of the administration cockpit:

1. ​Top Toolbar: This area usually contains global actions applicable across the entire Backoffice: The cockpit selector, a button to view current or completed processes, such as catalog synchronizations, and a silhouette button you can use to update your profile settings. However, the highly customizable nature of Backoffice means that its appearance and functionality may differ for each site, and even for each user. In the diagram below, we first see the most common global actions you will find in the top toolbar. But the second example shows additional functionality, as that user has access to the collaboration center, and has more than one role in the U.I.
2. Explorer Tree (left-hand pane): In the Administration Cockpit, this area displays a hierarchical tree view of the cockpit's functionalities available to you depending on your login credentials. For instance, you might be able to view and edit catalogs, but not create or modify employee login accounts.

   Functional areas include product management, order fulfillment, customer support, and administration, to name only a few.

   The list of functionalities is displayed hierarchically; sections with sub-elements are denoted by a caret on the right of the name; click on this caret to see the sub-elements, which can be functional pages or further nested sections.

   Another way to find the functionality you need is to type a search string in the filter box. The fully qualified path of every functionality containing that string will be shown and can be selected.

   
3. ​Common Controls: Most functional pages in the Administration Cockpit are structured in a similar manner. Consider the Categories page. It displays a list of categories, showing each category’s identifier, name, synchronization status, and catalog version. You can customize which columns are shown by clicking on the Personalization button. ​This icon is the rightmost of a row places at the top of the categories list. Some of these buttons may be grayed out, and thus not clickable, when no items are selected. One of them, the compare icon, requires that at least two items be selected. ​The first button, a large plus sign (+), is used to create a new category, and launches a creation wizard. In SAP Commerce, many data object types, such as category, have subtypes with additional attributes. The caret next to the plus sign allows you to create one of these subtypes instead. ​Past the next four icons, which are inactive until you select at least one item in the list, we can see a button to export category items as Excel files for edit, and another to import category items, often those same items you exported and then modified. Finally, the last icon, which resembles a gear, is used to select the columns that appear in the list view.

   Finally, ​the following buttons become active when one item is selected:

   • Delete the selected item
   • Synchronize the selected item from the Staging to the Online catalog version

   When more than one item is selected, the sync icon becomes inactive and the compare button becomes available. It allows you to compare the attribute values of multiple items.

   The Bulk edit icon can be used to make the same change to multiple items. While it is active when a single item is selected, it’s only really useful when multiple items are selected.

   
4. ​Searching for items: To the right of the common controls, a search box allows you to look for the items you are interested in. The search box looks for strings in the identifier and name fields only. If you wish to look for values in other attributes, click the Switch search modes button, which brings up a larger pane where you can look for values in specific attributes. Both the simple and advanced searches offer a save button, which will allow you to save the search to the Saved Searches pane at the bottom left of the browser window. ​At the right of these two icons, the link button provides you with links to Backoffice and to this specific page, in this case the Categories page.
5. ​Editing pane: When you select an item, the main area splits in two. The top half shows the list, while the bottom half shows the attributes of the item you just clicked on. These attributes are divided across tabs to make management easier. Each item type may offer different tabs, but you will always see the Administration tab on the right, which contains all the attributes not explicitly configured to appear in another tab. ​After making changes, you can either revert to the already-saved state of the item by clicking Refresh, which cancels any edits you have made. Otherwise, click Save to write your changes to the database. ​Each half of the main area has a minimize button. Click the one on the top half (the category list) and the editor takes the entire page, giving you more room to work. ​Some properties are marked as required, symbolized by a red asterisk next to their name. The validation system will prevent you from saving your changes if any required property is left blank. ​Some properties are multi-lingual. The UI denotes this with a globe icon next to the property value. Click the globe icon to see the values in other languages.

​The multi-lingual Name property is an example of a text property. But other properties, such as the Catalog Version property, are references to other database objects. Hovering over such a property value displays an x at the right of the field, which allows you to delete the object reference. ​You may then select another value from the list that appears when you click in the empty field. If there are too many choices, click on the ellipse to bring up a search dialog window.

​Let’s take a moment to revisit what you’ve just learned and see it in action. The following video demonstrates how you might use the Administration Cockpit to carry out daily tasks. ​