Settings Hub & Navigation

Business Configuration Administration Updated August 12, 2026 19 views

1. What it is

The Settings Hub is the searchable directory of every admin setting in the platform. Instead of remembering which menu holds a particular configuration page, you search or browse from one place. It also serves as the AI’s grounding for “where do I find…” questions — the same registry that powers the Settings Hub page powers the Platform Help agent’s answers.

This article also covers the admin sidebar and the sidebar app rail — the left-hand navigation that organises the platform into zones (Home, Apps, Admin) and lets you pin frequently used apps for one-click access.

Access: Admin → Organization → Settings Hub. Requires the Administrator or Super Admin role.
What it is not: The Settings Hub does not change settings itself — it is a directory that links to the page where each setting lives. To actually change a setting, click through to the destination.

2. Standing it up

The Settings Hub and sidebar navigation work immediately — there is no setup. Any user with the Administrator or Super Admin role sees the Admin zone in the sidebar and can open the Settings Hub from Admin → Organization → Settings Hub.

Go to Admin → Organization → Settings Hub. You see a search bar, a Quick Access row of common settings, and collapsible categories.
Type a keyword (e.g. “leave”, “sso”, “email”) into the search bar. Results appear after two characters, ranked by relevance. Each result links directly to the configuration page.
If Ask AI is enabled for your business, click the Ask AI button or one of the suggested questions. The AI is hard-bound to the Platform Help agent on this page, so every question routes to the settings and navigation tools rather than falling through to a general-purpose answer.
To browse, expand a category card. Each item shows its title, a one-line description, and links directly to the configuration page.

3. How it fits together

Settings Registry — Every tile in the Settings Hub comes from a single central registry. The registry defines the title, description, search keywords, destination page, required permission, and optional feature gate for each item. When an item is gated on a feature (e.g. the Attendance Settings tile is gated on the Time & Attendance app being enabled), the tile is hidden while that feature is off — so admins never see a link to a page they cannot use.

The same registry backs Settings Hub search, the Platform Help agent’s answers about where a setting lives, and the Quick Access row. All three surfaces always agree because they read one source.

Four categories — The registry groups settings into four categories:

Organization Settings — Business Profile, Departments, Locations, Users, Roles, SSO, Security, Theme & Branding, Integrations, and other structural configuration.
Operational Settings — General Settings, Attendance, Shifts, Notifications, Content Moderation, Compliance, Audit Logs, Workforce Intelligence, AI Operations, and day-to-day configuration.
App Settings — One tile per enabled marketplace app that has a settings page. This category is populated dynamically from the apps your business has enabled.
Data Import Center — Every importer in one place: employee import, attendance import, shift import, leave balance import, compensation import, Smart Import targets, and scheduled import jobs.

Sidebar zones — The left sidebar has three zones: Home, Apps, and Admin. Each zone has an icon in the rail (house, rocket, gear). The Admin zone only appears for users with the Administrator or Super Admin role. Within the Admin zone, settings are grouped into sections: General Settings, Organization, Security, Apps, AI Operations, Compliance, and SuperAdmin.

Pinned apps — Admins can pin up to 7 apps to the sidebar rail so they appear as icons below the zone icons. Pinning is business-wide by default (set from Admin → All Apps via the pin toggle), but each user can personalise their own rail — their selection replaces the business default entirely. When the user’s personal list is empty, the business default takes over — so unpinning every app restores the business rail rather than leaving it blank.

Admin sidebar sections — Inside the Admin zone, the sidebar is divided into collapsible sections. Each section is gated by role — most require Administrator or Super Admin, while the SuperAdmin section and certain items within Security (Sessions & Tokens, Authentication Log, Maintenance & Lockdown) require Super Admin specifically.

Section	What it holds
General Settings	Billing, General Settings, Roles, Groups, Notifications, Content Moderation, Governance, Translation, Approval Workflows, Audit Logs, Workforce Intelligence
Organization	Settings Hub, Business Profile, Departments, Locations, Users, Job Titles & Families, Dashboard Builder, Engagement, Quick Actions, QR Posters, Integrations, Bring Your Data
Security	Sign-in Policies, SSO, Service Accounts, API Keys, plus Sessions & Tokens / Authentication Log / Maintenance & Lockdown (Super Admin only)
Apps	All Apps, Widget Gallery, Custom Apps, App Pipeline, App Health
AI Operations	Overview, Approvals, Action History, Agents, Channels, Agent Settings, Trust & Safety
Compliance	Work Policy Settings, Labor Law Rules, Employment Law Rules, Jurisdictions, Jurisdiction Mapping, Compliance Explorer, Compliance Audit Logs (Enterprise tier), Employment Law Audit History
SuperAdmin	App Data Management, Sample Data (Super Admin only)

Global search — The platform’s top-nav search bar also queries the settings registry. When an admin types a setting name into the global search, up to five matching settings appear alongside other results, linking directly to the configuration page.

Theme & Branding — Admins can customise the sidebar’s appearance through Admin → Organization → Theme & Branding. This includes the sidebar background colour, text colour, hover and active states, and the rail background and icon colours. Changes apply business-wide.

4. Running it

Searching for a setting

Go to Admin → Organization → Settings Hub.
Type at least two characters into the search bar. Results appear within 300ms, grouped by category.
Click any result to go directly to that configuration page.

Search matches against the item’s title (highest weight), description, keywords, and sub-page names. If no results match, the page suggests asking AI instead.

Asking AI where a setting lives

On the Settings Hub page, click Ask AI or type a question into a suggested chip (e.g. “Where do I change the leave policy?”).
The AI sidebar opens with your question pre-filled. Press send. The Platform Help agent searches the settings registry and navigation shortcuts to answer.

The AI is hard-bound to the Platform Help agent on this page, so questions about settings always route to the right tools rather than falling through to a generic fallback.

Browsing by category

On the Settings Hub page, scroll past the search bar to the category cards.
Click a category header to expand it. Each item shows its name and description.
Click an item to navigate to its configuration page.

You can deep-link to a specific category by appending a category parameter to the URL — the linked category is expanded and scrolled to when the page opens. For example, to land on the Data Import Center:

/admin/settings_hub?category=data_imports

Click the gear icon at the bottom of the sidebar rail to open the Admin zone.
The admin panel shows collapsible sections (General Settings, Organization, Security, Apps, AI Operations, Compliance, SuperAdmin). Click a section header to expand or collapse it.
Click any item to navigate to that admin page.

The Admin zone only appears for users with the Administrator or Super Admin role. If a user does not have either role, the gear icon is not shown.

Go to Admin → Apps → All Apps.
Find the app you want to pin. Use the pin toggle on the app’s row.
The app icon appears in the sidebar rail for all users who have not personalised their rail. The rail holds a maximum of 7 pinned apps — if all 7 slots are full, unpin one first.

An app must be enabled before it can be pinned. Pinning a disabled app is rejected.

When an admin first enables an app, the app arrives pinned or unpinned according to its own platform-wide default. Most apps default to not pinned.

Personalising your own app rail

In the sidebar, click the Apps zone icon (rocket).
In the Apps panel, click the pin icon next to any app to add or remove it from your personal rail.
Your personal rail replaces the business-wide default entirely. Unpinning your last app restores the business default.

Your personal rail is stored on your membership and persists across sessions.

5. Settings

Setting	Where	Default	What it changes
Business-wide pinned apps	Admin → All Apps → pin toggle per app	Not pinned	Which apps appear in the sidebar rail for all users who have not personalised
Per-user pinned apps	Sidebar → Apps panel → pin icon	Empty — the business default is used	Replaces the business rail with this user’s own selection
Max pinned apps	Fixed platform limit	7	The sidebar rail holds at most 7 pinned app icons
Quick Access items	Settings Hub page	6 common settings	The chips shown below the search bar for one-click access
Admin zone visibility	Automatic	Visible for Admin and Super Admin roles	Whether the gear icon appears in the sidebar rail

6. More help

Business Profile & General Settings — configuring your company details
Enabling Apps, Licences & Plugins — turning apps on and off, managing licences
Security & Sign-On — SSO, password policies, session timeouts
Ask AI — the assistant answers “where do I find…” questions using the same registry as the Settings Hub.

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Article ID: admin_settings_hub

Settings Hub & Navigation