Consider the following projects:
we have 4 module:
Products : product_category, product_list
Knowledge-base : kb_category, kb_article
Tickets : ticket_status, ticket_priority,ticket_department,tickets
Orders : order_status, orders
every module has several master/details tables.
my suggestion: client area should be divided into 3 sections:
- Top menu : next to logo, like current top menu
- Left panel : my suggestion focus on this section. It is better to have an ability to customize this area in order to show the list of product_category in 'Product' module, or display search form(Quick & Ext. Search ) in 'Ticket' module. i named this panel 'Filter Panel'.
- Content panel : like current