Bloc 2.0B: Introducing Changes to the Dashboard.

Summary;
Introducing Developer Mode, My financial Tools and other changes live on the updated Bloc Dashboard.

Bloc has a new look.

Before now, the Dashboard was mainly designed for customers looking to access no-code financial tools with Bloc.

With the new dashboard, the environment will differ from what you are used to because we designed it to help you manage your business more efficiently and improve your experience with Bloc services. However, it’s nothing to fear; we prioritised an easy-to-understand onboarding process to ensure you don’t get lost.

Here are a few updates to help you navigate the redesigned dashboard:

Signing in—An updated Dashboard Design

The dashboard environment is different from what you’re used to once you sign in. The left navigation bar is no longer under categories, and the Get Started page has been updated as a setup guide to a more personalised onboarding page.

To get started as an API Customer, follow the prompts on your screen; it’ll lead you to your Get Started page, which will look like this:

Get Started page of the Updated Bloc Dashboard.

 

You can instantly access the Bloc API Docs by clicking the Embed Bloc into your app button to begin your integration.

Introducing Developer Mode

We moved the live and test mode settings around to make the dashboard more user-friendly for non-API users. Now, your live and test mode button is no longer immediately visible on the bottom left of your screen. To access the live or test mode of the dashboard,

  1. Go to the Settings page under the profile menu at the top left corner of your screen; then, go to the Developer menu and toggle on Access Developer Tools.

Screenshot of the Settings page.

2. The Developer tab should look like the image below once you enable it.

Once you do this, you'll see the live / test mode button appear at the top right corner of your screen. You can toggle this button to switch to test mode and get your Test API Keys.

Developer tab under the Settings page.

Depending on what mode you are in, you will be able to access developer features like your test or live mode developer keys and webhook on this page, i.e., if you’re in test mode, you will be able to view your test keys. At the same time, you can view your live keys only when you’re in live mode and perform developer transactions as long as the Access Developer Tools tab is enabled.

You can also toggle off the Developer Tools tab if you no longer wish to perform developer actions from your dashboard. Please note that you can only access our business banking services when developer mode is turned off.

To learn more about the test and live mode of the new dashboard, read this help doc. Looking for your API Keys? Read this article.

My Financial Tools

We have made it easier to manage developer functionalities on the new dashboard. You can now handle all developer activities and transactions in one place called My Financial Tools. However, you can only view this after enabling the Developer Tools Menu under the Settings Tab.

It will appear below the left navigation bar like this:

Screenshot of My Financial Tools

Once you click My Financial Tools, you can perform all developer functions on the dashboard, like issuing bank accounts and naira and dollar virtual cards and adding new payment providers via the Checkout Tab, either in the test or live mode.

Here’s an overview of what you can do on the My Financial Tools page.

  1. Accounts - On this tab, you can issue new virtual accounts, view the details of your previously created accounts or decide to close/freeze an account. Toggling on test mode also allows you to automatically perform test transactions on an account.
  2. Cards - On the Cards tab, you can easily create a virtual naira or dollar card for a customer by searching for the customer’s name or email address.
  3. Reports - This replaces the “Dashboard page” on the previous dashboard. Here, you’ll see a comprehensive report of your transactions and how money moves across your Bloc Account.
  4. Checkout - Before now, the checkout feature was accessible under the “Payment Providers” page.

Screenshot of the Payment Providers page on the previous Dashboard.

Now, we are introducing a standard “Checkout page” to make using multiple payment providers easier. Here’s the updated look:

Checkout page of the updated Bloc Dashboard.

On this page, you can perform all the same functions on Payment Providers (in both test and live environments) by clicking on the “Add Payment Method” tab and following the steps (it’s the same steps you’re used to).

You can confirm if your payment methods are working on checkout by testing it in your code or with a payment link.

KYC only available in Developer Mode

We made a slight update to performing KYC on the Dashboard. Previously, you could upgrade a customer’s KYC on the customer tab. Now, the Developer Tools Menu (live/test mode) has to be turned on to perform KYC on customers. We introduced this change since banking users do not perform KYC on their customers, and this is strictly a need for API users.

To perform KYC on your customers, enable your Developer Tools Menu, navigate to the Customers page and click on a customer to upgrade their KYC Tier.

Customers page on the Bloc Dashboard.

Other changes you may notice.

Before this update, you may have been used to the Balances page showing your “main balance” and “settlement balance”. The balances page looked like this:

Balances page of the previous Bloc Dashboard.

To make your experience more seamless, we have removed the balances page and merged it into quick, accessible functions on a new page we have introduced— The home page. This is what it looks like now:

Newly designed homepage on Bloc.

The home page is designed for you to manage your business finances with ease and efficiency. Here, you will see quick actions such as initiating a bank transfer, topping up your main account balance and accepting online payments with payment links.

These shortcuts help you complete common transactions without navigating through multiple screens. Here's a short description of the tabs on the Home page:

  1. Main Account Balance: This is the money available in your main account. It replaces the “Main Balance” tab of the previous Balances page. You'll also see the balances of your sub-accounts by clicking and expanding this tab.
  2. Incoming settlement: You'll see all incoming payments (previously known as "settlement balance" on the Balances page) from your payment links, checkout and POS Terminal transactions here. Every weekday, at 10 AM, we send the funds in your incoming settlement to your Main account balance.
  3. Cashback earned: This tab shows you how much commissions you have earned from paying your bills with the Bloc Dashboard, and you can click on it to view your commission history.

Finally, you can navigate to the Transactions page for a 360-degree view of all your transactions from the Dashboard. To get a detailed walkthrough of the new dashboard, read this help article on Understanding the Bloc Dashboard.

As we roll out new updates, you’ll be the first to hear about them. Meanwhile, we’d love to hear about your experience as you use the updated Dashboard.

We have made it easy to reach us through the following ways-

  1. The Support Widget at the bottom left of your screen- Send us a message, and we’ll contact you shortly.
  2. The Need Help? icon at the top right corner of your Dashboard - By clicking this icon, you can get quick help with an issue, instantly access our help documentation and share feedback with us.
  3. The Bloc Partners Slack Community channel. To join the Slack community [only for Developers & Technical teams integrating the Bloc API], click here. However, you won't get faster support compared to the channel listed above because it's hard to keep track of, and conversations may easily be lost in the noise.

Looking forward to your feedback!

Author(s):
Toluwanimi Olubanke