Data Assist Questions

I am a newbie at most of the web development, but I am learning. I just have a question or two reference to Data Assist.

If I use the eCommerce mySQL database that has been provided online, do I need to enter some product information for Data Assist to work or can product information be entered after Data Assist pages are set up?

Another question...I need to set up product catalog on-line for customers as I also need the admin page for the catalog to be updated for authorized users. How do I set this up, so customers don't see admin page, only product catalog? Do I need to set up a separate page for public and one for administrative? Once administrative page is setup, what do I need to do to set up a log in, so authorize users can update the catalog on a regular basis?

Any help will be greatly appreciate, since I am new to this database stuff.