Building the Backbone: Our Complete Dashboard Navigation System

Designing a payment gateway isn’t just about writing code — it’s about shaping the entire experience merchants will rely on every day. Before anything is built, we need a clear and intentional blueprint. The sidebar navigation is that blueprint. It serves as the structural foundation of the Templar Payments interface, defining how merchants move through the platform and interact with every tool we offer. A payment processor is only as strong as its dashboard, and our goal is to make that dashboard clean, intuitive, and powerful from the first moment a merchant logs in.

To build this layout, we studied the strongest interfaces in the industry: Bankful, Stripe, NMI, Authorize.Net, Braintree, and Square. Nearly all major gateways follow a similar architectural pattern — transactions, customers, payouts, disputes, fraud controls, reporting, and settings. That consistency exists because it works. From there, we adapted and expanded the structure specifically for high-risk merchants, adding enhanced fraud features, visible dispute management, better payout transparency, and more definitive risk tools. These elements aren’t niceties; they’re necessities for the industries we intend to serve.

Even though some future modules won’t be active on day one, we believe they should still appear in the UI. Crypto Payments and In-Person Terminals are perfect examples. These features will roll out later, but including them now establishes a clear direction for the platform and communicates our long-term vision: a fully unified payments ecosystem that supports online, in-person, and on-chain transactions. Showing these categories early also ensures the interface scales naturally without major restructuring later.

This sidebar marks a key milestone in the development of Templar Payments. It transforms abstract ideas into an organized, structured plan. With this navigation system finalized, we can now move into designing the initial screens, shaping the visual layout, and beginning UI prototyping. This is where Templar Payments transitions from concept to product — the first real step toward launching the platform merchants will soon rely on. Templar Payments — Sidebar Navigation (With Purpose Notes)

🏠 Dashboard

• Overview of sales, refunds, fraud alerts, chargebacks, payout status

• Recent transactions

• Quick actions

  
  

  Purpose: Give merchants an instant snapshot of account health when they log in.

  
  

💳 Transaction

• All transactions

• Advanced filters & search

• Approve / Void / Refund

• Transaction detail view

• High-risk manual review queue

  
  

  Purpose: The core control center for managing payments.

  
  

👤 Customers

• Customer list

• Customer profiles

• Stored cards (token vault)

• Add customer manually

• Block/ban customer

  
  

  Purpose: Manage customer-level billing and prevent problem users.

  
  

🔁 Subscriptions

• Active subscriptions

• Plans & billing cycles

• Failed recurring payments

• Trials

  
  

  Purpose: Handle recurring billing for merchants who need continuity.

  
  

📦 Products

• Product list

• Add/edit product

• Pricing

• Optional inventory

  
  

  Purpose: Support invoice creation, API checkouts, and e-commerce integrations.

  
  

💸 Payouts

• Upcoming payouts

• Payout history

• Reserve balance

• Fees breakdown

• Payout schedule

  
  

  Purpose: Show merchants where their money is and when it arrives.

  
  

⚠️ Disputes / Chargebacks

• Active disputes

• Won / lost

• Evidence upload

• Deadline timers

• Reason codes

  
  

  Purpose: Centralized management for chargebacks, critical for high-risk merchants.

  
  

🛡 Fraud Center

• Fraud score dashboard

• Velocity rules

• Geo rules

• Device fingerprinting

• Blacklist / whitelist

• Failed attempts log

• BIN lookup

• Auto-decline rules

  
  

  Purpose: Provide deep fraud control tools to protect merchants and lower risk.

  
  

📑 Invoices

• Create invoice

• Invoice list

• Paid / unpaid / overdue

• Recurring invoices

• Partial payments

  
  

  Purpose: Let merchants request payments through email or link-based invoices.

  
  

📊 Reports

• Sales reports

• Refund reports

• Dispute summaries

• Payout reports

• Fraud reports

• Customer reports

• Export center

  
  

  Purpose: Give merchants complete financial visibility.

  
  

👨‍💻 Developers

• API keys

• Webhooks

• API logs

• Event viewer

• Code samples

• Sandbox mode

  
  

  Purpose: Everything developers need to integrate Templar Payments.

  
  

🔌 Integrations

• Shopify

• WooCommerce

• Webflow

• Wix

• Zapier

• Webhook integrations

• Plugin downloads

  
  

  Purpose: Make the gateway connect easily to any website or platform.

  
  

🏪 Terminals (In-Person Payments)

• Terminal devices

• Activate terminal

• Store locations

• In-person payments

• Terminal settings

  
  

  Purpose: Future module for physical card readers and store-based merchants.

  
  

🪙 Crypto Payments

• Accept crypto

• Wallet settings

• Settlement preferences

• Crypto transaction history

• On/off-ramp configuration

  
  

  Purpose: Future module for on-chain commerce and crypto checkout.

  
  

⚙️ Settings

• Business Settings: Company details, banking info, KYC/Underwriting

• Account Settings: Email, password, 2FA, notifications

• Team: User accounts, roles, activity logs

  
  

  Purpose: Manage the merchant’s organization and account security.

  
  

❓ Support

• Open ticket

• Ticket history

• Documentation / Help Center

• System status

  
  

  Purpose: Provide reliable merchant support inside the dashboard.