Backoffice
Retail back-office software is used to manage business operations that are not related to direct sales efforts and interfaces that are not seen by consumers. Typically, the business processes managed with back-office software include some combination of inventory control, price book management, manufacturing, and supply chain management (SCM). Back-office software is distinct from front-office software, which typically refers to customer relationship management (CRM) software used for managing sales, marketing, and other customer-centric activities. - Wikipedia
In order to allow changes to the application without having to modify the database using rogue SQL queries or having to release a new update every time we want to make a change we have developed what is referred to as backoffice software, as defined above.
Our backoffice is an evolving product which in essence simply provides access to modify assets, stories and other configuration through the use of an easy-to-use web portal which hooks directly into supabase and our other tools making changes easy, as well as possible to perform by non-technical staff.
For example, the backoffice could allow us to have a non-technical person monitor a support email address and respond to password reset queries and the like without having to get developers involved. It's quite a common process.
The project is currently written in React and published/deployed using Cloudflare Pages. The source code is available on Github: phonlab-tcd/mao-bo and you can access it here in the future you will be able to toggle between modifying the development and production branches.
Currently our backoffice has the following features
| Name | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Story Editor | Allows for the creation and modification of in-game stories in real time. |
| Account Editor | Allows for the creation, modification and deletion of user accounts. |
| File Editor | Allows for the viewing, creation and deletion of assets stored in supabase. |
| Translation Editor | Allows for the viewing, creation and deletion all text strings (translations) used in MAO. |
Features can be requested by creating an issue in the github repo here or via the project page directly.
Story Editor
Requires an understanding of the stories table. We have a guide on creating stories here.
Account Editor
This feature is incomplete and currently allows for the creation of dummy student accounts which lack association with teachers / parents as that functionality is currently incomplete.
File Editor
The file editor is a handy tool for managing all the files within the mao project. We have a guide on using the file editor here.
Translation Editor
The Translation Editor is a tool for managing English-Irish translations. Users can create new keys, edit and delete existing keys, and assign different translations to Irish languages. Translations can be imported by downloading a JSON file, renaming it, and placing it in the /src/locales/ directory of the application. You can learn more about editing translations using this editor here.