Admin Documentation

A complete guide to managing food bank operations through the HelpingHand admin dashboard.

Overview

The HelpingHand admin dashboard is the central hub for food bank staff to manage their operations. When a food bank signs up, administrators get their own dedicated dashboard with access to their food bank's data only. The dashboard is accessed at /admin and provides tools for managing orders, products, customers, pickup locations, referrers, and more.

Getting Your First Admin Login

When you sign up your food bank at helpinghand.nz/signup, you provide your name, email, a password, and a unique prefix code of up to 5 characters (often the initials of your organisation, e.g. gwfbt). This prefix is used to generate unique codes for your food bank. This creates your food bank's instance and your first admin account. You will receive a verification email — click the link in the email to activate your account. Once verified, you can log in to your admin dashboard.

Logging In

1. Go to your food bank's admin URL (e.g. gwfbt.helpinghand.nz/admin).
2. Enter your email and password.
3. Tick Remember me if you want to stay logged in on this device. When enabled, a cookie is stored in your browser that keeps you logged in for up to 365 days, so you do not need to enter your credentials each time. If you clear your browser cookies, or use a different browser or device, you will need to log in again. Do not use this option on a shared or public computer.
4. Click Login.

Adding Team Members

You can create additional admin logins for other members of your team so they can help manage the food bank. Each team member uses their own email, and you define an initial password for them.

1. Go to Channel Admins in the admin sidebar.
2. Click + Create.
3. Fill in the team member's first name, last name, and email address.
4. Set an initial password for them. Make a note of it and pass it on to them securely — they can change it after their first login. Use a strong password with a mix of uppercase, lowercase, numbers, and symbols.
5. Ensure Enabled is ticked. You do not need to tick Verified — the new user will verify themselves.
6. Click Create.

The new team member will receive a verification email — they need to click the link to verify their account before they can log in. Once verified, they can log in at your food bank's admin URL with their email and the password you provided.

Features

Orders

View, filter, and manage customer orders. Fulfill orders individually or in bulk. Export order data and pick lists. Track payment status and manage cancellations.

Products

Manage the product catalogue including product details, variants, pricing, images, barcodes, and bundles. Track stock levels, receive goods with the barcode scanner, run verbal AI stocktakes, and import from external catalogues — all reachable from the Products grid.

Customers

View and manage customer records. Track demographics including family size and ethnicity. Soft delete and restore customers. Manage customer groups.

Pickup Locations

Configure physical pickup sites with designated days, times, and cutoff periods. Manage location addresses and priority ordering. Applies to food banks using the pickup location fulfilment mode.*

*HelpingHand supports multiple fulfilment modes: scheduled pickup locations, drop-in kiosk, registration only, and delivery. The features available in your dashboard depend on which mode your food bank uses.

Referrers

Manage referrer organisations, caseworkers, and auth codes. Generate auth codes for referrers. Invite caseworkers to access the system. Export auth code data.

Donations

Configure donation choices that map donation amounts to points values. Manage donation-category associations for product filtering.

Reports

Generate pickup location reports with order details. Filter by date range. Export data for external analysis.

Training

Create and manage training content for staff and volunteers. Organise content into topics and subtopics with video support. Create quiz questions to assess understanding.

Questions

Set up custom questions that appear on the registration form or during checkout. Configure up to 10 questions.

Recurring Orders

Monitor and manage recurring order subscriptions. View active, paused, and cancelled recurring orders. Handle stock availability issues.