From the portal there is only the dashboard and expert mode. Adding a device, or adding a service to a device on the dashboard really has nothing to do with a workable configuration. When you add a service from the dashboard Obitalk set the service up using the service's recommended settings. The configuration remains at default.
If you make configuration changes in expert mode and they are not transferred to the device, it would be due to the provisioning settings. If provisioning has been disabled on the device then you will have to go back to the device and enable it again before any changes made in expert mode will take affect.