Staff User Guide
A reference for every module in the Admin Portal / Back Office — what it does and how it works.
System Standard Operating Procedure
Complete step-by-step guide — agent signup, admin SOP & agent SOP
1. System Overview — What We Built
Mhani Skincare is a complete direct-sales (MLM) platform with four connected parts:
• Public Website — a storefront where customers browse and buy products, learn about the brand, and apply to join as Brand Partners or Creators.
• Agent Portal (Brand Partner Portal) — a private dashboard where agents place customer orders, track commissions, manage their downline, order starter kits, and download payslips.
• Admin Back Office — the Mhani control centre for managing agents, inventory, orders, commissions, payouts, content, and support.
• Creator Portal — a separate dashboard for content creators/influencers who earn commission through affiliate links.
Everything is connected: inventory updates flow from the back office to the website shop and agent POS in real time; commissions are calculated by a single engine; and every order, activation, and payout is tracked end-to-end.
2. How Agents Sign Up (Step by Step)
Step 1 — Visit the website and click "Become a Brand Partner" (or use a sponsor's referral link, which auto-fills the sponsor code).
Step 2 — Choose your path: Independent Distributor (sells products + builds a team) or Content Creator (earns via affiliate link).
Step 3 — Fill in your personal details: full name, phone number, email (optional — agents without email get a synthetic account), delivery address, and banking details.
Step 4 — Enter your sponsor's agent code (if you didn't use a referral link). If you don't have one, contact Mhani support.
Step 5 — Verify your email with the OTP code sent to you (skip if no email — admin activates manually).
Step 6 — Your account is created with status "Pending". You are redirected to a status page showing your order invoice and payment reference.
Step 7 — Order a Starter Kit (Business Kit) from the Starter Kit Store. Choose delivery or collection, and complete checkout.
Step 8 — Submit proof of payment (upload a file or send via WhatsApp). Delivery timeline starts from payment verification.
Step 9 — The Mhani admin verifies payment and activates your account. You receive an inbox + email notification.
Step 10 — You now have full portal access. Complete your profile (banking details, address) to unlock payslips and payouts.
3. Agent Standard Operating Procedure
GETTING STARTED:
• Order your Starter Kit (choose a pre-built Business Kit or "Build Your Own Kit" with your preferred products) and submit proof of payment.
• Complete your profile — add banking details and delivery address (required for payslips and payouts).
• Browse the Training Center for product knowledge and business guides.
DAILY OPERATIONS:
• Check your Dashboard for announcements, promotions, and your monthly progress.
• Sell to customers using "Sell to My Customers" (POS) — add products to cart, select variants/colours, choose delivery or collection, and generate an invoice.
• Every customer order must be loaded into the app to be commission-eligible.
• Check your Inbox for order confirmations, fulfilment updates, and admin messages.
BUILDING YOUR BUSINESS:
• Share your Referral Link to recruit new Brand Partners (auto-fills your sponsor code).
• Track your downline team in the Network tab — see personal sales, team volume, and rank progress per level.
• Monitor your Commissions tab for your monthly earnings breakdown.
• Use Marketing Tools to download branded frames and promotional graphics for your social media.
MONTHLY REQUIREMENTS:
• Meet your maintenance target — minimum personal sales (R600–R800 depending on rank) to unlock commission.
• Meet your customer count targets (individual + team customers) to qualify for rank advancement.
• Load ALL customer orders into the app — orders not in the system don't count toward commission.
• Review your Payslip (available on the 1st of each month) and track your rank progression.
• Submit a Support Ticket if you need help — you'll be notified via inbox + email when admin responds.
4. Admin Standard Operating Procedure (Mhani Back Office)
DAILY:
• Open the Command Centre (Dashboard) — review headline stats, low-stock alerts, and the recent orders feed.
• Check Live Orders 🔴 — confirm, ship, or cancel new agent personal orders (audible ping on new orders).
• Review Agent Activation — approve pending agents who have submitted proof of payment for their Starter Kit.
• Fulfil Customer Orders — open Customer Order Fulfilment, adjust provided quantities (rationing), and confirm. This triggers the point of sale and makes the order commission-eligible.
• Respond to Support Tickets — write a response, attach files if needed, and submit (agent is notified via inbox + email).
• Check inventory alerts and reorder low-stock items.
WEEKLY:
• Review the Brand Partners Database — check sales, commission eligibility, and status for each agent.
• Check Signed Up No Orders — nudge agents who registered but haven't ordered yet (send a WhatsApp or inbox message).
• Review Creator Club applications — approve new creators, issue their creator codes, and set commission rates for content creators/influencers.
• Review Rank Advancement — see who is close to ranking up and send congratulations when promoted.
• Update Announcements and Promotions as needed.
MONTHLY (COMMISSION CYCLE):
• Open the Commission Engine, select the month, and click "Calculate Commissions".
• Review the per-agent breakdown — personal sales, team sales, retail profit, direct/team/leadership bonuses, salary, and rank-up bonuses.
• Check rank-up alerts and manually promote agents who have qualified (sends an automatic congratulatory inbox message).
• Click "Close & Post" to create official commission records and notify all agents via inbox.
• Open Payments — process payouts for approved commissions. Record the payment method, reference, and mark as Paid (triggers agent notification).
• Review the Payout History audit trail.
• Review the Stock Report and Financial Database for profitability analysis.
ONGOING MANAGEMENT:
• Starter Kit Config — define each Business Kit's price, product categories, and max quantity per category for the Build Your Own Kit tool. Users choose variants within each category limit.
• Inventory (Master) — add/edit products, set cost/retail/affiliate prices, toggle stock, receive new stock. Changes sync to all warehouses and the shop automatically.
• Shipping Methods — keep delivery options and prices current.
• Training Center — upload new training materials and product guides.
• Marketing Tools — upload new branded frames and promotional graphics.
• Website Manager (CMS) — update website content, images, and call-to-actions.
• Contact Settings — keep phone, WhatsApp, email, and social links current.
• Staff Users — manage back-office staff access levels (Level 1: view only, Level 2: process orders/tickets, Level 3: full admin).
5. Commission System — How It Works
The Commission Engine is the single source of truth for all earnings. It runs monthly and calculates:
• Direct Bonus — Level 1 downline sales commission + 10% Starter Kit finder fee.
• Team Bonus — Level 2–3 downline sales commission.
• Leadership Bonus — Level 4 downline sales commission (Veteran rank only).
• Salary — monthly team-volume salary based on total downline sales tiers.
• Rank-Up Bonus — once-off bonus paid when an agent advances to a new rank (never paid twice for the same rank).
Retail Profit (the margin between affiliate price and retail price) is the agent's own sales margin — it is shown on the payslip for display purposes but is NOT a commission Mhani pays out.
MAINTENANCE RULES:
• Every agent must meet a minimum personal sales target (R600–R800/month depending on rank).
• Non-agent ranks must also meet individual AND team customer count minimums.
• First-month agents only earn Level 1 commission (no deeper downline commission in their join month).
• No demotion — a rank only ever advances, never drops.
PAYOUT SCHEDULE:
• Commissions earned in month N are calculated and posted by the admin.
• Payslips are available on the 1st of the following month.
• Payouts are processed by the back-office team and recorded in the Payments page.
6. Rank Progression
Agents advance through six ranks based on personal sales, team sales, individual customers, and team customers:
• Agent — starting rank. Earns 10% on Level 1.
• Associate — R1,500 personal + R12,000 team + 2 individual + 10 team customers. Earns L1–L3. R1,500 rank bonus.
• Team Leader — R1,800 personal + R35,000 team + 3 individual + 20 team customers. R5,000 rank bonus.
• Manager — R2,200 personal + R65,000 team + 4 individual + 30 team customers. R10,000 rank bonus.
• Director — R3,000 personal + R120,000 team + 5 individual + 45 team customers. R15,000 rank bonus.
• Veteran — R3,000 personal + R180,000 team + 5 individual + 60 team customers. Earns L1–L4. R20,000 rank bonus.
Rank advancement is tracked in the Rank Advancement admin page and the agent's Compensation Progress page. The admin manually promotes agents who qualify, which triggers an automatic congratulatory inbox message.
Overview & Monitoring
Command Centre (Dashboard)
The main admin dashboard — live headline stats for total agents, active agents, total revenue, commissions due, and low-stock alerts. Shows a real-time feed of the most recent customer orders and an inventory warning strip. This is your starting point every day.
Live Orders 🔴
Real-time order monitor for internal brand partner-to-Mhani personal orders. New orders trigger an audible ping so you never miss one. Confirm, ship, or cancel orders directly from this screen, update tracking details, and export the full order list to CSV. Orders are colour-coded by status.
Customer Order Fulfillment
Fulfil customer orders placed by brand partners via POS or affiliate links. Adjust provided quantities per item (rationing when stock is short), mark items unavailable, and confirm fulfilment. Confirming triggers the point of sale — the order becomes commission-eligible and the brand partner is notified via inbox. This is where the actual sale is recorded for commission calculations.
Commissions Report
Period-based commission overview for all brand partners — filter by month/year to see units sold, revenue generated, commission due, and commission paid per agent. Sort any column. Export the full report to CSV. Use this to verify amounts before processing payouts.
Payout History
A complete chronological log of every commission payment made — agent name, period, amount, payment method, reference number, date paid, and status. Filter and export. This is your audit trail for all financial disbursements.
Rank Advancement
Track agent rank progression across the network. See who is close to advancing to the next rank, who has recently been promoted, and the full rank history. Use this to plan recognition and incentive communications.
Agent Management
Brand Partners Database
The most comprehensive brand partner view in the system. Lists every brand partner with their personal sales, team volume, commission eligibility, rank, and status for any selected period. Expand any row to see their latest orders and a summary card. Click "Full Profile" to open the full drilldown panel with customer orders, warehouse orders, recruits, commission history, payout records, and banking details. Select multiple brand partners for bulk actions (export CSV, send welcome message). Includes a leaderboard and a cross-brand-partner customer database.
Brand Partner Activation
Approve or deactivate brand partner accounts. Newly registered brand partners appear here in "Pending" status with their registration date/time and a waiting-time badge showing how long they have been waiting. Verify identity, confirm Starter Kit payment, and activate to issue their sequential agent code. Synthetic accounts (no email) show a manual Verify button. Deactivated brand partners lose portal access immediately. You can also reverse mistaken activations (codes are retired as spoilt to prevent reuse).
Signed Up — No Orders
A focused list of brand partners who have registered but have not yet placed any orders. Use this to follow up with inactive agents — send a WhatsApp nudge or inbox message to encourage them to order their Starter Kit and start selling. Helps reduce churn in the critical first weeks after signup.
Brand Partner Report
A full individual report for a specific brand partner — all customer orders, personal warehouse orders, downline recruits, full commission history, all payout records, banking information, and support ticket history. Exportable to CSV.
Admin Inbox (Send to Brand Partners)
Broadcast messages directly to one or more brand partner inboxes — announcements, payment confirmations, policy reminders, or personalised communications. Brand partners see these in their Inbox tab with full read/unread tracking.
Creator Club 🔥
Manage content creator/influencer applications — review pending applications, approve or decline, issue sequential creator codes (MHC-0001), and set per-creator commission rates and payout thresholds. View each creator's social platforms, follower counts, and lifetime earnings. Creators earn a 50% share of the profit on sales made through their affiliate links. Track creator commission payouts and manage banking details.
Payments & Finance
Payments
The back-office banking database for commission payouts. Populated from brand partner-provided bank details. Record and manage commission payments — log the period, amount, payment method, bank reference, and date. Mark payments as Paid to trigger an automatic inbox + email notification to the brand partner. Export to CSV or PDF for bulk bank payment upload. Includes a cash flow forecast chart by payout type and a minimum volume threshold filter.
Commission Engine âš™
The single source of truth for commission calculations. Select a month, click "Calculate Commissions", and the engine computes every agent's retail profit, direct bonus (L1 + 10% kit finder fee), team bonus (L2–L3), leadership bonus (L4, Veteran only), salary tiers, and rank-up bonuses. Review the per-agent breakdown, check rank-up alerts, manually promote qualified agents (triggers congratulatory inbox message), then click "Close & Post" to create official commission records and notify all agents via inbox. First-month agents earn L1 only.
Commission Templates
Define and edit the commission rate structures for each agent rank — percentages for retail profit, direct bonus, team bonus, and leadership bonus; minimum sales thresholds; and rank maintenance requirements. Changes here flow into all commission calculations across the platform. Level 3 admin access required to edit rates.
Financial Database
Product-level financial tracking — enter cost prices (COG), selling prices (RSP), and units sold per period for each product. The system calculates gross profit, net margin, and total retained earnings automatically. Use this to monitor profitability per SKU and identify your highest-margin products.
Inventory & Warehouses
Product Categories
Create and manage product categories used across the platform — Cleanser, Serum, Perfume, etc. Set a default supplier and cover image per category, and control storefront display order (lower sort order appears first). Categories drive the website shop tiles and product filtering. Toggle categories active or inactive.
Starter Kit Config
Configure the Business Kits available in the Build Your Own Kit tool. For each kit, set the price, image, and category limits — which product categories are included and the maximum quantity per category. Users then choose their preferred variants within each category limit (e.g. Kit 1 = 3 Tissue Oils + 4 Cleansing Bars; the user picks which 3 oils and which 4 bars). Add new kits or edit existing ones at any time. Changes take effect immediately in the Starter Kit Store.
Inventory (Master)
The single source of truth for all product data. Add, edit, or remove products here — every change syncs automatically to both the Retail and Wholesale warehouses and to the brand partner POS. Each product has a Cost Price (COG), Retail Price (RSP), and Affiliate Price. Toggle in-stock / out-of-stock status here to control availability across the entire platform. Bulk actions available: toggle stock, export CSV, delete multiple. Receive new stock using the "Receive Stock" button to log supplier deliveries.
Retail Warehouse
A read-only view of all products at their full RSP (retail selling price) — as shown to public/private customers on the website shop. Automatically populated from Inventory. No editing here; all changes must be made in Inventory.
Wholesale Warehouse
A read-only view of all products at their affiliate/stock price — as used by agents when selling to their customers via POS. Automatically populated from Inventory. No editing here; all changes must be made in Inventory.
Stock Report
Inventory analytics — total units on hand, stock value at cost (COG), stock value at retail (RSP), potential margin, and top-selling products. Low stock alerts highlight items needing replenishment. Sort by any column. Export to CSV.
Shipping Methods
Manage the shipping options shown to customers at checkout (on both the public shop and agent POS) — add methods with a name, price, and estimated delivery time. Toggle methods active or inactive. Prices are shown transparently to the customer before they confirm an order.
Content & Settings
Training Center
Upload and manage all training materials made available to brand partners in their portal — PDFs, PowerPoint presentations, product knowledge guides, compliance documents, and video links. Organise by category. The System Training Manual (agent portal guide) lives here. Agents can download or view resources directly from their Training Library tab.
Marketing Tools
Upload branded marketing frames and promotional graphic templates. Brand partners download these from their Marketing Tools tab and overlay their own product photos to create professional social media content. Manage which templates are active.
Support Tickets
View and manage all inbound brand partner support tickets. Filter by status (open, in progress, resolved, closed) and category. Write a response, optionally attach files, and submit — the brand partner is notified instantly via their Inbox and by email. Update ticket status as you work through cases.
Announcements & Promotions
Publish company-wide announcements and time-limited promotions that appear in the brand partner portal. Announcements appear in the Announcements tab; promotions appear in the Promotions tab with their active dates and descriptions.
Contact Settings
Update the public contact information displayed on the website — phone number, WhatsApp link, email address, physical address, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok handles, and office hours. Changes appear on the website Contact page immediately.
Website Manager (CMS)
Edit every piece of text and imagery on the public website without touching any code — hero headings, subheadings, statistics, about story, team section, testimonials, and call-to-action buttons. Changes go live immediately. All content is stored in the database.
Staff Users
Manage back-office staff accounts. Set access levels: Level 1 (Limited — view only), Level 2 (Standard — can process orders and respond to brand partner tickets), Level 3 (Full Admin — can edit commission rates, delete records, and access all settings). Deactivate staff who have left.
