Survey for Zen Cart v2.0 Admin Dashboard

[DrByte]

Thanks Jen,
Yes, that's the sort of thing we meant.

It's also useful to include "why" you want to see those things (even if you think it should be obvious to us why, it's good to state why *you* want to see those things, and what *you* would do with it if it's there).

[kuroi]

I know I'm only a beginner in Zencart

That's probably an advantage here, as you're thinking like a user relatively untainted by what you know about existing versions of Zen Cart. To get at those perspectives was probably why the question was posted.

[dutchy]

Not sure if this has been mentioned or can be done / is a feature of ZC2.

As well as 'Best Customers' i.e. highest spenders. What about 'Most Frequent / Busy Visitor' i.e. customers that spend the most time on the site / logs in the most, not necessarily the biggest spender

Can help
a) See who is regularly on your store, what they view the most.
b) Might give insight as to why they don't buy. Could help the store owner approach said customer to see how they can help / close a sale.
c) help spot registered users who are in fact competitors (lol, I have been caught on a competitors website by always being logged in, looking around but never buying).

Data comparison could be done to show a relationship between the time on site and their spends.

[JSWeb]

Some great ideas and suggestions coming up!


Q. What information is important to you when you need an overview of your business?
=========================================================

I am reviewing this as a Store Owner not developer (our uses are often quite different)

Firstly, I too agree with Kuroi, allowing the dashboard to be flexible depending on what we have installed or what we need to show would be most ideal.

Additionally, each section to be dynamically placed to best suit the users view and needs i.e. Drag Widget/Section "New Orders" from Right to left or top to bottom. This would allow the store owner to choose what is more popular to their business needs.


My feedback:
==============

1. Suggested dashboard areas to stay:

- NEW ORDERS
- NEW CUSTOMERS
- WEB STATISTICS
- ORDERS

2. Suggestions on enhancing those and adding others:

A. Latest Orders (Last 5)
-- Order No. <-- URL link to read more
-- Customer
-- Total
-- [View All Orders]

B. New Customers (Last 5)
-- Customer <-- URL link to read more
-- Forename/Surname
-- Total
-- [View All Customers]

C. Best Customers (Last 5)
-- Customer <-- URL link to read more
-- Forename/Surname
-- Total
-- [View All Customers]

D. Best Sellers (Last 5)
-- Product <-- URL link to read more
-- Purcahses
-- [View All Products]

E. Orders
Note: Change to "ORDER STATUS" with Pending, Processing etc


F. Widgets/Modules (Last 5)
-- NAME
-- DATE Installed
-- [View All ]

Note: Widget/Modules (not sure what we are calling them) but there should be a section showing the latest added with links to their section within the admin. At present, modules are being installed and it can become difficult to find their location (especially for new users who perhaps didnt do the install themselves).

G. Web Activity Reports

Note: The websites acivity (Orders/visitors) needs to offer more details and be ideally dynamically present to the admin store owner. Two suggests which should be considered:
> Dynamic charting using amCharts e.g. http://www.amcharts.com/javascript/chart-with-legend/ and http://www.amcharts.com/javascript/pie-and-column/
> Live data from 3rd party widgets such as "Google Analytics API" to present real data.

Also take on board how Magento are offering this (TABBED analytics reports).. Very nice - at magento commerce.com /media/admin/admin-dashboard/view


H. Version: Curently there is a "Check for Updates" this needs to be enhanced e.g.
-- CURRENT VERSION: 1.3.8a (released dd/mm/yy)
-- LATEST VERSION: 1.3.9a (released dd/mm/yy), READ MORE
Note: This I hope will highlight to store owners whether or not they are running the latest version and link them directly to read more on the form.

I. Help/Support
-- Search/Drop Down

Note: Rather than just a link to the Zen-Cart homepage, why not interact with the Tutorials/FAQ section which you kindly prepared. On click on the Help/Support popup an ajax window (frame) allowing the user to search/view all available turotials/faq posts.


- [Reset] Admin Activity Log button. If that is to remain, then on click it should RESET not just take the store owner to a page to ask them to click it again.


J. FINALLY, How about an ADMIN MOST VISITED section. Outlining last five admin sections/pages accessed.! This would be very useful to allow store owners to quickly access regular sections.


=======================


Hope that helps

[JSWeb]

Forgot to add:

Reading through the posts, it seems that Zen Cart reporting is key, be that no. visitors, their activities, no. sales etc etc... This of course doesn't necessarily mean all of this data should be on the DASHBOARD on login. In fact the DASHBOARD should be a Snap shot of HIGH LEVEL information but allowing the user to click to DRILL down to all available data.

In summary it should be taken on board that the current Zen Cart REPORTING needs to improved ;)

[JSWeb]

Really - The ZC core team are giving us all a chance to offer our thoughts and I don't see any other Zenners hands going up in the air to outline what they would like - wow.