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Getting Started for Administrators
This page is for hub administrators (admin scope): people who create publishers and users, load the first catalogue, and later publish to shops. Publisher contacts who only edit titles should start at Getting started for users.
Hub and spoke
Hub and spoke is a way of organising access, not two kinds of OnixFeed. One login URL is simply this OnixFeed.
- A spoke is a publisher (or a few assigned imprint names). That login only sees that catalogue. Day-to-day work is Books, contributors, Supply, Validate, and the feeds they are allowed to use.
- The hub is the centre of the same OnixFeed: administrators who can see every publisher, create users, set branding, run store collections, and import a file that belongs to more than one imprint.
You do not choose hub or spoke as a product. You assign scopes and publishers. Most people should be a spoke - do not give publisher contacts the admin scope.
If you have two different login URLs, those are two OnixFeeds. Each one uses this model on its own.
First steps
Do this before you worry about shops.
- Sign in with the hub admin login for this install.
- Open Admin → Settings. Set client branding (install name, logo, related labels).
- Open Publishers and Add New Publisher for each imprint that will own books. See Publishers.
- Open Admin → Users. Create a login for each person who will work in the catalogue:
- Email, password, name
- Scopes - a default publisher login is read catalogue, read lookups, edit catalogue, and run ONIX import if they will import files. Not admin.
- Assigned publishers - only the imprints they should see
- Send them the login URL, email, password, and Getting started for users.
Password resets stay on Admin → Users. There is no self-service reset.
Scope labels are on Your access. Users, Settings, the Admin Dashboard, and ONIX backups are on Admin.
Get books onto the system
The catalogue is empty until you load it. Pick one path:
| Path | When to use |
|---|---|
| Import ONIX on Books | You have an ONIX XML file now |
| OnixFeed CSV | Spreadsheet in the official layout (or a legacy BDS sheet) |
| ONIX Feeds → Inbound | A partner will send a recurring URL or FTP file |
After import, open Books, use the publisher switcher if more than one imprint came in, and validate a few priority titles. Split imprint names can be merged with Transfer books on Publishers.
Import mode (hub vs spoke)
On inbound feeds and on ONIX import, hub administrators choose how publisher is set:
- Single publisher (spoke) / Into one publisher - every record goes to one imprint
- Hub - resolve from ONIX - publisher is taken from the file, with an optional fallback
Wrong mode attaches titles to the wrong imprint. See ONIX feeds and Import and export.
Then shops
When titles, prices, and covers look right:
- Create a store collection and Manage Books.
- Add a WooCommerce channel and/or a Shopify channel.
- Woo: generate CSVs and import with the WooCommerce plugin.
- Shopify: generate a publication key and connect Shop Connector.
API tokens and Woo access keys are hub-provisioned. Publisher users do not have a self-serve key screen.
What publisher users see
Their menu does not include Admin or Store collections. They start on the Dashboard, work in Books, and follow Getting started for users.