Initial Setup

Before You Begin:

Make sure you have:

• ✓ Administrative access to your UserVote instance
• ✓ Your organization's branding assets (logo, colors)
• ✓ Email service credentials (SMTP or provider)
• ✓ List of initial products to create
• ✓ Team members to invite

Access Requirements:

You need Tenant Admin or Super Admin role to perform initial setup.

Time Estimate:

• Basic setup: 15-30 minutes
• Full configuration: 1-2 hours

Configure Your Organization:

1. Go to Admin → Settings → General
2. Set your organization details:

Basic Information:

• Organization Name: Your company name
• Subdomain: your-company.uservote.com
• Support Email: Where users can reach you

Branding:

• Logo: Upload your logo (recommended 200x50px)
• Favicon: 32x32px icon for browser tabs
• Primary Color: Main brand color (hex code)

Regional Settings:

• Default Language: English, Arabic, etc.
• Timezone: Your primary timezone
• Date Format: MM/DD/YYYY or DD/MM/YYYY

1. Click Save Changes

Set Up Email Delivery:

Email is essential for notifications. Configure at:

Admin → Settings → Email

Provider Options:

SMTP Configuration:

• Host: mail.yourserver.com
• Port: 587 (TLS) or 465 (SSL)
• Username: your-email@domain.com
• Password: your-password
• From Address: feedback@yourcompany.com

Testing:

1. Enter configuration
2. Click Test Connection
3. Send test email to yourself
4. Verify receipt

Important: Test before proceeding. Notifications depend on working email.

Set Up Your First Feedback Channel:

1. Go to Admin → Products
2. Click Create Product

Product Details:

• Name: e.g., "Mobile App", "Web Platform"
• Slug: URL-friendly identifier (auto-generated)
• Description: Brief description for users
• Icon/Logo: Product-specific icon (optional)

Visibility Setting:

Additional Settings:

• Enable/disable idea submissions
• Enable/disable voting
• Set default vote credits per user

1. Click Create Product

Tip: Start with one or two products. You can add more later.

Set Up Idea Workflow:

Navigate to Admin → Ideas → Statuses

Default Statuses:

UserVote comes with default statuses:

• New
• Under Review
• Planned
• In Progress
• Completed
• Declined

Customizing Statuses:

1. Click on a status to edit
2. Change name, color, or description
3. Reorder by dragging

Adding Custom Statuses:

1. Click Add Status
2. Enter name and select color
3. Set position in workflow
4. Save

Best Practices:

✓ Keep status names clear and simple

✓ Use 4-7 statuses maximum

✓ Color code for quick recognition

✓ Document what each status means

Add Your Team:

Go to Admin → Users

Inviting Employees:

1. Click Invite User
2. Enter email address
3. Select role:
4. Tenant Admin: Full admin access
5. Employee: Access to admin dashboard
6. Assign to products (if applicable)
7. Send invitation

Product Roles:

For each product, assign a role:

• Product Admin: Full product control
• Product Manager: Manage ideas, statuses
• Product Moderator: Moderate comments
• Product Viewer: View and participate
• Read-only: View only

Bulk Invitations:

For many users, use the bulk import feature:

1. Download CSV template
2. Fill in user details
3. Upload and process

Configure Customer Tiers:

Go to Admin → Users → Tiers

Default Tiers:

• Free (1x vote weight, 20 credits)
• Pro (2x vote weight, 50 credits)
• Enterprise (3x vote weight, 100 credits)

Customizing Tiers:

• Edit existing tiers or create new ones
• Set:
• Tier name
• Vote weight multiplier
• Monthly credit allocation
• Description

Assigning Tiers:

• Manual: Edit user and select tier
• Automatic: Sync with billing system (if integrated)
• Bulk: Import tier assignments via CSV

Tip: Match tiers to your pricing plans for consistency.

Before Going Live:

Checklist:

☐ Tenant branding configured

☐ Email tested and working

☐ At least one product created

☐ Statuses customized

☐ Team members invited

☐ Tiers configured

Test the User Experience:

• Log out of admin
• Visit as a regular user
• Test:
• Viewing products
• Submitting an idea
• Voting on ideas
• Receiving notifications

Soft Launch:

Consider inviting a small group first:

• Internal team members
• Beta customers
• Trusted partners

Gather Feedback:

Ironically, gather feedback on your feedback portal!

• Is navigation clear?
• Are statuses understandable?
• Does email work reliably?

After Initial Setup:

Immediate:

• Create custom fields for ideas
• Set up moderation rules
• Configure notification templates

Short-term:

• Invite more users
• Create additional products
• Set up integrations (if available)

Ongoing:

• Monitor activity dashboard
• Review moderation queue
• Analyze voting trends
• Respond to feedback

Resources:

• Admin dashboard for daily monitoring
• Analytics for insights
• Audit logs for security
• Documentation for reference