title: “The Hub”

The Hub

Audience: gallery Owners and Admins, who set the Hub up, and everyone who works the front desk, who signs in to it.

The Hub is a full-screen page for the people on duty at the front desk. It runs on the desk computer at /hub on your gallery’s address (for example https://yourgallery.cartoncrew.online/hub), with big buttons made for a touch screen. Across the top it shows the Hub version on the left, your gallery logo and “The Hub” in the middle, and today’s date on the right (in your gallery’s time zone, from Settings). Below that are the people on duty, a row of pills, and the panels.

The Hub covers the desk, signing in, who is on duty, the idle lock, the pills, and the Online Sales, Member Calendar, Member Directory and Inventory pills, and the two panels that always show: Urgent notices and Running Sales (below). The other pills (Patrons, Online Inquiries, Returns) show as Coming soon until each one is built.

Home is always the first button in the row of pills. Press it to go back to the main Hub screen (Urgent notices and Running Sales) from any pill. It is highlighted while you are on the main screen. Pressing the pill that is open also takes you back.

The Hub does not need Square or the Register. A gallery with Point of Sale switched off can use it.

Making a computer a Hub

Do this once, on the computer at the front desk.

On the desk computer, sign in to CartonCrew as an Owner or Admin.
In the sidebar, open Settings, then the The Hub tab.
Under This computer, type a name for it in Name for this computer (for example Front desk).
Press Make this computer a Hub.
Open /hub on this computer (the card links to it).
Sign out of CartonCrew (your name, top right, then Sign out). The Hub keeps working without your sign-in; leaving yourself signed in would leave the staff app open at the desk.

What this does: the browser on that computer is remembered as a Hub desk. It works only in that browser, on that computer. If the browser’s data is cleared, make it a Hub again. Doing it again on a computer that is already a Hub replaces the old desk with a new one.

Desks: last seen, revoke, unlock

Settings → The Hub, under Desks, lists every computer that is a Hub, with when it was made a Hub, by whom, and when it was last seen.

Revoke: press Revoke on the desk’s row, then Yes, revoke. That computer stops being a Hub at once, and everyone on duty there is signed out. Use it for a computer that has been replaced, lost or moved.
Unlock: a desk locks after too many wrong codes (see below). Its row then says “Locked after wrong codes”; press Unlock on that row to open it now instead of waiting.

A desk that nobody opens for 60 days stops working; make it a Hub again.

There is no shared gallery code. Everyone signs in with their own 6-digit code, which says who is on duty and who did each thing at the desk.

Staff set their code in Settings → The Hub, in Hub sign-in code at the bottom of the page, or from My security (your name, top right, then My security), in the same Hub sign-in code card.
Members set theirs in the member portal under My Profile, in Hub sign-in code. See Your profile.

In the card, press Set a code (or Change code), type six digits in New code and again in Type it again, and press Save code. A code cannot be the same digit six times or six digits in a row (such as 123456). The code is never shown back; a person who forgets theirs simply sets a new one.

It is the same code as the Register PIN, so a person who already has a register PIN can sign in to the Hub with it, and changing one changes the other. Setting a code here does not need Point of Sale switched on.

Who can sign in in Settings → The Hub lists everyone at the gallery who has a code and can sign in: current staff and current members. Somebody whose membership has ended, or who has been removed from the gallery, cannot sign in even with a code.

Signing in at the desk

On the Hub, tap your name under Who is signing in?
Type your code on the keypad. It signs you in on the sixth digit.

You are now on duty and the active person, and the full Hub opens. The digits are never shown, and the keypad clears after every try.

On duty: more than one person, Switch and Sign out

The On duty strip shows everyone signed in at this desk. More than one person can be on duty at once: press Add person and the next person signs in with their own code.

The active person is marked Active. To make someone else active, press Switch to on their name and they type their own code. Somebody else’s code does not work.
Sign out on a person’s name signs that person out, and nobody else.

The idle lock

When nobody touches the Hub for a few minutes (5 unless you change it), it locks. A locked Hub hides the pills and panels, so patron and member details are not left on screen, but everyone stays on duty. To unlock it, tap the name of someone on duty and type their code. Somebody who is not on duty can press Someone else signs in instead, which signs them in and unlocks the Hub. An urgent notice still shows over a locked Hub (see below), and acknowledging it does not unlock the Hub.

Wrong codes and the desk lock

A wrong code says so and lets you try again. After too many wrong codes at one desk (5 unless you change it) the desk locks for a while (15 minutes unless you change it): nobody can sign in there, even with the right code, until the time passes or an Owner or Admin presses Unlock under Desks in Settings → The Hub. A person who gets their own code wrong five times is also locked out for 15 minutes, at the Hub and the Register.

Online Sales: new online sales and Acknowledged by

When a piece sells in your online store, it shows on the Hub within a minute. The Online Sales pill gets a red dot with a number on it: how many online sales nobody has acknowledged yet.

Sign in at the Hub with your own code (or make sure you are on duty there).
Press the Online Sales pill. It opens two lists:
- To do: every online sale nobody has acknowledged yet, with the piece, the artist, its picture, its location, the time it sold, and whether it is Local Pick Up or To be Shipped.
- Today: every online sale since midnight (in your gallery’s time zone), saying who acknowledged it and when.
Find the piece, then press the big Acknowledged by button with your name on it.
- With only you on duty, that is all.
- With two or more people on duty, the Hub asks for your own 6-digit code, so nobody can acknowledge in somebody else’s name.
The sale leaves To do, stays in Today as “Acknowledged by” you with the time, and the number on the pill goes down by one.

Who gets an Acknowledged by button: an Owner, an Admin, or an Editor who works the catalog (the same people who can acknowledge in Artwork Catalog → Online Sales Alerts). Anyone else on duty sees the lists but no button, and the Hub refuses them if they try. Each acknowledge is recorded in the gallery’s activity log in the name of the person who pressed it, not the desk.

The Hub never shows the buyer’s name, email, phone or address, the price or the pickup code: the screen is in a public room. To see those, print the slip, send the order notice, or mark the order picked up or shipped, use Artwork Catalog → Online Sales Alerts in the Studio (see the Square guide).

The lists show only while somebody is on duty and the Hub is unlocked. If an Owner or Admin turns the Online Sales pill off in Settings → The Hub → Pills, the Hub stops showing it.

Member Calendar: this month, read only

Sign in at the Hub with your own code (or make sure you are on duty there).
Press the Member Calendar pill. It opens this month (in your gallery’s time zone) as a month calendar, the same calendar members see in the member portal: a box for each day, Sunday first, with today outlined. Each day shows its entries: each shift’s time, how many places are open (or Full, with open places in red), and who is on each gallery shift, named the way your gallery names people on its calendars.
To see the days as a list instead, press List at the top of the panel. The list shows today and the days after it only (today in your gallery’s time zone); days that have passed are left out. A month that is already over shows No upcoming days this month. Press Calendar to go back to the month calendar. The panel always opens on Calendar, whichever view was showing last time, and at every screen size: unlike the website and member portal calendars, it does not open on List on a phone.
Press Previous month or Next month to move between months, and This month to come back. These work the same in Calendar and in List, and the view you chose stays while you move.

The Member Calendar is read only. Pressing a day does nothing, and nothing on it can be changed at the Hub: to sign up for, swap or drop a shift, members use the member portal (see Calendar, for member artists) and staff use the gallery calendar in the Studio (see The gallery rota). It shows entries members can see (a draft does not show until it goes live), never an entry’s description, meeting link or address, and names people only on gallery shifts.

Member Directory: find a member by name

The Hub is a screen in a public room, so the Member Directory lists nobody until you search.

Sign in at the Hub with your own code (or make sure you are on duty there).
Press the Member Directory pill.
Type at least 2 letters of the member’s name (first or last) in the Member name box and press Find.
Each member found shows their name, phone and email, and nothing else. A member who has chosen not to share their contact details (or whose gallery hides everyone’s, in Settings → Member directory) shows their name only.
Press Clear when you are done.

A search shows at most 8 members. If more match, the Hub says so: type more of the name.
The result clears by itself when you sign out, when Switch to is used, and when the Hub locks.
Every search is recorded in the gallery’s activity log against the person on duty who is active, not the desk. In Settings → Recent Activity it says where it came from: the person on duty looked up the member in the Member Directory on The Hub (Front desk), with the desk’s own name in brackets, or, when the search showed several members, searched the Member Directory on The Hub (Front desk) and found 3 members. A staff member opening an artist in CartonCrew itself still reads viewed an artist.
Staff on duty can always search. A member on duty can search only while the Member Directory module is switched on for your gallery (see Member directory).
The Member Directory lists current members only: not guest artists, show artists, former members or archived artists.

Both pills show only while somebody is on duty and the Hub is unlocked. If an Owner or Admin turns either pill off in Settings → The Hub → Pills, the Hub stops showing it.

Inventory: the pieces in the gallery now

Sign in at the Hub with your own code (or make sure you are on duty there).
Press the Inventory pill. It lists the pieces in the gallery now, by title: each with its picture, title, artist, SKU, price and where it is in the gallery.
To find a piece, type part of its title, its SKU or the artist’s name in the Piece, SKU or artist box. The list narrows a moment after you stop typing; capitals do not matter. If nothing matches, the Hub says so.
Press Clear to see the whole list again. The list shows 40 pieces at a time: press Show more at the bottom for the next 40.

Where it is is the place the piece is on in the Studio (Artworks, open the piece, Location; or What hangs where). A piece with no place shows Location not recorded.
The Inventory lists pieces that are in the gallery and not sold. It leaves out sold pieces, archived pieces, pieces taken off the floor or handed back, pieces in the bin, and card and print lines. A piece that is Reserved, On loan or Not for sale shows with that word.
It is read only. Nothing can be changed, sold, moved or held from the Hub: use Artworks in the Studio. It never shows commission, cost, payouts, notes or an artist’s contact details.

The Inventory pill shows only while somebody is on duty and the Hub is unlocked. If an Owner or Admin turns it off in Settings → The Hub → Pills, the Hub stops showing it.

Urgent notices: full screen until Acknowledged by

An Owner or Admin can send an urgent notice to the Hub, for example “The east door alarm is sounding. Check it before opening.” It takes over the whole Hub screen, on every Hub desk of your gallery, until someone on duty acknowledges it.

To send one (Owner or Admin):

In the Studio sidebar, open Noticeboard, then the Send to Hub tab. (The same card is in Settings → The Hub, under Send an urgent notice to the Hub.)
Type the notice in Notice: plain text, up to 500 characters. The counter under the box shows how many you have used.
Press Send to Hub. The notice shows on the Hub within half a minute.

At the Hub:

The screen turns red and shows Urgent notice, the time it was sent and the message. With more than one open, the oldest shows first (“1 of 2”).
Press the big Acknowledged by button with your name on it.
- With only you on duty and the Hub unlocked, that is all.
- With two or more people on duty, or whenever the Hub is locked, the Hub asks for your own 6-digit code, so nobody acknowledges in somebody else’s name.
The notice leaves every desk and the Hub goes back to the screen it was on: the normal screen, or the lock screen if the Hub was locked.

Anyone on duty at the desk can acknowledge a notice. Each acknowledgement is recorded in the gallery’s activity log in the name of the person who pressed it, not the desk. Back on the Send to Hub card, Recent urgent notices shows each notice with who acknowledged it, at which desk and when. To take back a notice nobody has acknowledged yet, press Withdraw next to it.

A notice is shown exactly as typed, as plain text: formatting or code typed into it shows as the characters typed. The Hub is a screen in a public room, so leave personal details out of a notice. Only an Owner or Admin can send or withdraw one. An Editor, a Viewer, a Treasurer, a member and the desk itself cannot send or withdraw one.

Notices show while somebody is on duty, even when the Hub is locked because nobody touched it for a while. Over the lock the Hub shows only the notice: the message, the time it was sent and how many are open (“1 of 2 notices”), with a line saying the Hub stays locked. Nothing else the lock hides comes back. To acknowledge it there, tap your name and type your own 6-digit code (even if you are the only one on duty). Acknowledging does not unlock the Hub: after the last notice, the lock screen comes back, and someone on duty unlocks it as usual. After too many wrong codes the desk itself locks, and then the notice waits until the desk opens again. Urgent notices are always on: there is no pill to turn them off.

Running Sales: today’s sales

When no pill is open, the Running Sales panel shows how many sales were made today, and how many of them were made in each place:

Register: rung up on the CartonCrew Register.
Square: made on Square Register or the Square app and synced in.
Online: sold in your online store.
Recorded in the Studio: a sale recorded by hand in the Studio (this line shows only when there is one).

“Today” is midnight to midnight in your gallery’s time zone (from Settings). It counts the same sales as the Sales report for today (Artwork Catalog → Square → Sales report). Running Sales shows the number of sales only: no dollar amount or total, because the Hub is a screen in a public room. For today’s dollar totals, open the Sales report in the Studio. It never shows a piece, an artist, a buyer or a seller either. It shows only while somebody is on duty and the Hub is unlocked, refreshes every half minute, and is always on: there is no pill to turn it off.

Settings: locks and pills

In Settings → The Hub (Owner and Admin):

Lock the Hub after this many idle minutes: 1 to 120, default 5.
Wrong codes before the desk locks: 3 to 20, default 5.
Desk lock minutes: how long a desk stays locked after too many wrong codes, 1 to 240, default 15.
Pills: the buttons across the top of the Hub. Tick the ones to show, and use Up and Down to set their order. Online Sales, Member Calendar, Member Directory and Inventory work; a pill that is not built yet shows on the Hub as Coming soon. A new pill starts switched on, at the end of the row. Urgent notices and Running Sales are not pills: they always show.
Send an urgent notice to the Hub: the same card as Noticeboard → Send to Hub (above).

Press Save Hub settings. The Hub picks the change up within a minute.

If it goes wrong

The Hub says “This computer is not a Hub”. It was never set up, it was revoked, the browser’s data was cleared, or nobody opened it for 60 days. Make it a Hub again (above).

My name is not on the sign-in screen. You have no code at this gallery yet, or your membership has ended. Set a code (above), or ask an Admin.

An urgent notice is on the Hub by mistake. If nobody has acknowledged it yet, an Owner or Admin presses Withdraw next to it under Recent urgent notices (Noticeboard → Send to Hub). Otherwise anyone on duty can press Acknowledged by.

“This desk is locked”. Too many wrong codes were typed. Wait, or ask an Owner or Admin to press Unlock under Desks in Settings → The Hub.

The Hub opened on our own web address and then moved. The Hub always runs on your gallery’s CartonCrew address (yourgallery.cartoncrew.online/hub), where the desk was set up; your own domain sends /hub there.