It really depends. There are some scenarios where it's impossible to administrate an application by fiddling with the database - for instance in cases where the

It really depends. There are some scenarios where it's impossible to administrate an application by fiddling with the database - for instance in cases where the application uses caching of any kind. My revelation regarding administration interfaces came when I realized that my admin interfaces do not have to be polished, AJAX gems of perfection because they are not meant to be used by the clients. They just have to expose some amount of the application's innards to the tech staff.