Appearance
Signing in and roles
Stock Sync uses your company Microsoft account. The screens sometimes call it Channel Hub; it is the same thing. You never create a separate user name or password for it, and Stock Sync never asks for your password: Microsoft does the checking, and Stock Sync only learns your name, your e-mail address and your role.
Opening Stock Sync
Your administrator gives you the address of Stock Sync. There is one address for each environment:
| Environment | Address | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
| Development (dev) | https://stock-sync-dev.commercehub.io | Trying things out and testing |
| Production | Given to you by your administrator | The real marketplace accounts |
You need the company VPN
The addresses only work while you are connected to the company VPN. If the page does not load at all (the browser says the site cannot be reached), connect to the VPN first and try again.
Keep the address as a bookmark. Always open Stock Sync at its usual address: a change sent from anywhere else is refused (see You can't … from here below).
Signing in
Open the Stock Sync address. If you are not signed in, you see the Sign in card: "Use your company Microsoft account. Channel Hub never asks for your password."
Sign in with your company account signs you in with your company Microsoft account; Channel Hub never asks for a password itself.
Click Sign in with your company account.
Microsoft's own sign-in page opens. Choose your company account, or type your company e-mail address and complete Microsoft's steps (password, phone approval, and so on). If you are already signed in to Microsoft in this browser, this step may pass by itself.
You come back to Stock Sync, on the page you were trying to open, or on the Overview if you opened the plain address.
Your name and role are at the bottom of the sidebar. Click them to open your account menu: it shows your name, e-mail address, a Viewer or Operator badge, how the screens keep up ("Updates live", "Live updates paused" or "Refreshes every 15 seconds while not live"; a viewer sees "Read-only · " before it, for example "Read-only · updates live") and Sign out. Settings → People and roles shows your role too.
Break-glass access
On the development site the sign-in card may also show a collapsed section called Break-glass access (dev only). It is an emergency way in for the technical team when Microsoft sign-in is broken. You do not need it. A session opened this way lasts one hour and shows a red Break-glass badge in the account menu.
How long you stay signed in
A sign-in lasts 8 hours, counted from the moment you signed in. Working does not extend it.
When the 8 hours are up, the next request fails (live updates stop too) and a dialog appears over the page:
Your session ended Your sign-in has timed out. Sign in again to come back to this page, with the same filters and panel open.
Click Sign in again. You go through Microsoft (usually without typing anything) and come back to the same page, with the same filters. The dialog has no close button on purpose: until you sign in again, nothing on the page can refresh or be changed.
If you were typing into a form when the session ended, the save is refused with "Your session has ended. Sign in again, then save." Sign in again and save once more.
Signing out
- Click your name at the bottom of the sidebar.
- Click Sign out.
Stock Sync forgets your session and sends you to Microsoft's sign-out, and then back to the Sign in card. If Microsoft asks "Which account do you want to sign out of?", pick your account: you are signed out all the same and come back to the Sign in card. On a shared computer, also close the browser.
Roles: what you can do
Every person has exactly one role in Stock Sync:
| Role | What you can do |
|---|---|
| Viewer | See every screen and every figure. No button that changes anything is shown to you, and the server refuses a change even if one were attempted. |
| Operator | Everything a viewer can, plus every action: adding accounts, changing settings and connections, going Live, pausing, resuming, recovering, importing, recalculating, retrying, resyncing and releasing outbox messages. |
| No role | Nothing. Sign-in is refused with "Your account hasn't been given access to Channel Hub yet." |
A viewer does not see greyed-out buttons: the buttons are simply not there. The full list of screens and actions per role is on Who can do what.
Getting access, or a different role
Roles are given in Microsoft Entra ID (the company's Microsoft directory) by the CommerceHub admins. Stock Sync has its own two roles there, and each role is given to one or more groups. You get a role by being added to a group:
| Group | Role it gives in Stock Sync |
|---|---|
commercehub-viewers | Viewer |
commercehub-operators | Operator |
commercehub-admins | Operator (there is nothing extra an admin can do in Stock Sync) |
This is the usual arrangement. Each environment (development, production) decides separately which groups get which role, so you can be an operator on the development site and a viewer on production, or have access to only one of them.
To get access, or to become an operator:
- Ask the CommerceHub admins to add you to the right group, and say which environment you need.
- When they confirm, sign out and sign in again. Your role is read when you sign in, so a new role does not show until then.
Losing a role takes time
Because your role is read at sign-in, taking a role away only takes effect at the person's next sign-in, at the latest 8 hours later.
When sign-in or an action is refused
"Your account hasn't been given access to Channel Hub yet."
You signed in with Microsoft correctly, but you have no role in this environment of Stock Sync. The message goes on: "Ask an administrator to give you the Viewer or Operator role — contact the CommerceHub admins." Do exactly that, then sign in again.
The notice means an administrator has to give you the Viewer or Operator role first. The Sign in with your company account button stays below it, for when the role has been given.
"Sign-in was cancelled."
The Microsoft sign-in was stopped before it finished: Cancel was pressed, or the permissions Stock Sync asks for were declined. Nothing is wrong with your account. Click Sign in again when you are ready.
"Microsoft refused the sign-in." and other refusals from Microsoft
Microsoft itself refused you, and says why with a code that starts with AADSTS. Stock Sync names the cause when it knows the code, and always shows the code:
| Message | Code | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| "Your organisation's sign-in policy blocked this sign-in." | AADSTS53003 | Try again from a company device on the VPN; if it still happens, contact IT with the code. |
| "Your company account is disabled." | AADSTS50057 | Contact IT with the code. |
| "Your company account is locked for now." | AADSTS50053 | Wait a few minutes and try again; if it stays locked, contact IT. |
| "That Microsoft account isn't a company account." | AADSTS50020 | Sign in again with your company account, not a personal or guest one. |
| "That account isn't in the company directory." | AADSTS50034 | Check the address you signed in with, then sign in again. |
| "Microsoft refused the sign-in." | any other | Send the code to the CommerceHub admins. |
"That sign-in link expired."
You waited too long on the Microsoft page (more than 10 minutes), or used an old sign-in link or bookmark. Click Try again.
"Microsoft couldn't complete the sign-in."
Something went wrong between Microsoft and Stock Sync. Click Try again. If it keeps happening, send the Trace ID shown under the message (and Microsoft's code, when one is shown) to the CommerceHub admins: it lets the technical team find your exact attempt.
"You can't …" under the buttons
A red box under the action buttons, for example You can't change this account, "This needs the operator role. Ask the CommerceHub admins to give you the Operator role, then sign in again."
The notice says which role is missing and who can give it; nothing was changed.
This means the server no longer sees you as an operator: usually you signed in again (perhaps in another tab) with the Viewer role while this page still showed operator buttons. Ask for the Operator role if you need it, sign in again, and reload the page.
Some places show this as a plain note instead: opening New account as a viewer shows "Creating an account needs the Operator role.", and an account's Settings tab says "You can read the settings; changing them needs the Operator role."
"You can't … from here"
For example You can't change this account from here, "This request was refused because it didn't come from Channel Hub's own address. Open Channel Hub at its usual address and try again." Your role is fine; the change was sent from a page that is not Stock Sync's own address (an old bookmark to another address, a copy of the page, a browser extension). Open Stock Sync at its usual address and do it again.
All messages are collected on Messages and what they mean.