Initial Settings

When you log in to Parallels Business Automation - Standard Control Center for the first time, the Initial Setup Wizard will help you to make the settings required for Parallels Business Automation - Standard initial configuration.

The Wizard starts with the User Agreement approval and then step-by-step helps you to make the basic initial settings that form the working background for the Parallels Business Automation - Standard Control Center.

We shortly describe the basic steps of Initial Setup to help you understand how the settings made by you will be used, why they are important and how you can adjust these settings later.

Person & Account. Adjusting your Hosting Company Requisites and Making System-Wide Regional Settings

The correct and fully specified administrative account contacts are important, for example for successful domains registration requested for your own using the Parallels Business Automation - Standard domain registration plug-ins since this information is usually passed to domain registrars via plug-in interface. Later you can adjust your administrative account profile by clicking the topmost menu item in the left frame of Provider Control Center and selecting the Company Profile or Contacts tab.

The default language is used by default in your online store. Default time zone is applied to new accounts created in store by your customers. The first day of week used in billing reports. The default currency setup is important for billing. Later you can change these settings in Configuration Director - Miscellaneous Settings - Regional Settings.

License. Installing Parallels Business Automation - Standard License

The Parallels Business Automation - Standard Licence defines:

• The number of users registered in your administrative account (your staff members) that can concurrently log in to the Provider Control Center.
• The maximal number of reseller accounts you can register.
• The maximal number of customer accounts you can register.

Parallels Business Automation - Standard trial license is shipped together with Parallels Business Automation - Standard distribution. You can install the real license during Initial Setup or later, using the Configuration Director - License Manager.

Data Center. Setting Up Domains Registration

This step of Initial Setup allows you to configure the testing environment for domains registration and allocate IP addresses. More IP addresses (IP pools) can be registered in Service Director - IP Manager.

The default domain is allowed for subdomains registration in your online store.

Parallels Business Automation - Standard offers more than 20 domain registration plug-in templates and you can configure domain pug-ins later in Service Director - Domain Manager.

After the installation, your Management Node (i.e., the server that runs the Parallels Business Automation - Standard software) is set as the primary name server.

So please, specify the secondary name server hostname and IP address in the relevant fields. In case you are not sure which hostname and IP address to enter, contact your network administrator for help. More name servers cane be registered later in Service Director - Domain Manager.

Allocate IP pools for the basic types of hosting plans. IP addresses allocation can be adjusted later under Service Director - IP Manager.

Billing. Setting Up Billing System

The initial billing settings include:

• Setting the default settlement conditions for customers. Settlement conditions are defined by credit terms. Credit terms are set per account. The default credit terms are assigned by default to accounts created by your customers from your online store. Later you can add more credit terms using the Account Director - Subscription Manager - Credit Terms. Settlement conditions for resellers are defined by a special complex setting called Partner Level. Partner level define both credit terms and a special reseller discount. Partner levels are assigned per reseller account and can be added later using the Billing Director - Discount Manager - Partner Levels.
• Setting the default tax rates and enabling taxation system-wide. Tax rates in Parallels Business Automation - Standard can be assigned either by a customer country or an account. Tax rates (one or more) are grouped by tax zones. Tax zone holds the information about a customer country (specified in a customer account profile) or account(s) to apply tax rates specified for this tax zone. The default tax zone matches all accounts/countries that do not have any special tax zone defined. Please note that for the fresh installation the default tax zone is already created and the initial setup offers you to set up to two tax rates for the default tax zone. Later you can add more tax rates and create more tax zones as well as set up tax exemption using the Billing Director - Taxation Manager.
• Setting up credit cards and bank accounts processing. To process delayed online payments, use recurring payments, and store bank accounts data (to generate batches) you must configure encryption, i.e., upload a key pair. The Initial setup allows generating a self-signed key pair, which is enough for testing. Later you can upload the signed keys using the Commerce Director - Payment Processing - Secure Storage.

  Warning: If you are planning to use the self-signed keys for some time, it is strongly recommended to save the keys so you could upload them in case the keys will be unintentionally wiped out or corrupted. You can do this on the next step of Initial Setup.

• Creating sample hosting plans of the basic types. Sample hosting plans creation allows you to save time and start system testing immediately after completing the initial setup. You can add new hosting plans in the Billing Director - Product Manager - Hosting Plans.

Store & Site. Making Basic Website Settings

• Interface Setup. Skin is palette and images used for interface. Select the default skin that will pre-fill the relevant field in the New user forms (a skins is a personal setting and is assigned per registered user) and will be applied to your online store and other website pages. Later you can upload more images and files you would like to publish at your website using the Marketing Director - Site Manager. In addition, the standard set of images used in the Parallels Business Automation - Standard interface can be updated using the Marketing Director - Brand Manager - Skins. Files and images can be uploaded using the Images and Files option under the Brand Manager.
• Store Setup. You can open he online store right away. To this effect, check the Store is open box. Later you can open/close the store, adjust hosting plans listing, and enter a referral question using the Commerce Director - Store Manager - Configure Store. Later you can also upload files and images using the File Manager located under the Store Manager. Other store customization is done by editing store files (please refer to the Parallels Business Automation - Standard SDK for details).

Trouble Ticketing

Parallels Business Automation - Standard provides an integrated trouble ticketing system that allows reporting and answering customers' problems directly through the interface and by e-mail.

The Initial Setup Wizard allows configuring the built-in Trouble Ticket System.

If you do not want to use the built-in trouble ticket system or you need some additional helpdesk features not supported by the built-in system, you can use one of the external helpdesks integrated with Parallels Business Automation - Standard:

• Cerberus Helpdesk or
• Kayako SupportSuite.

The API provided (see the Parallels Business Automation - Standard SDK for details) allows you to integrate more external helpdesks.

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