Admin User Guide
Operating The Motor Guild platform: moderation, governance, billing, growth
Audience: Platform administrators
Admins operate the Guild day-to-day. This guide covers the admin dashboard, member moderation, content & supplier moderation, consulting pipeline management, billing & ledger, newsletter operations, ad guidelines & review, and audit & governance tools.
1. Admin access
Admin role is assigned via the user_roles table — never via profile fields, to prevent privilege escalation. Only an existing admin can grant admin to another user.
Tips
- •Admin status is reflected in the header (the Admin link appears).
- •All admin actions are logged in audit_log.
- •Two-factor authentication is strongly recommended for all admin accounts.
2. The Admin Overview
Land at /admin. The overview shows pending applications, unread consulting enquiries, recent moderation flags, and platform health metrics.
Tips
- •Unread consulting enquiries are also badged on the Admin nav link.
- •Click any metric to drill into the underlying queue.
3. Member moderation
Manage member statuses (pending, approved, rejected, suspended) from /admin/members. All status changes are logged.
- 1Open /admin/members.
- 2Filter by status — start with Pending.
- 3Open the applicant profile, read the application and any notes.
- 4Approve, reject, or request more info via the inline action menu.
- 5Suspensions require a reason. The member receives an email and is logged out within 5 minutes.
4. Content moderation
Reported discussions, comments, messages, and reviews surface in the moderation queue at /admin/moderation.
- 1Open /admin/moderation.
- 2Review each flag — context includes reporter reason and the surrounding thread.
- 3Decide: Approve (no action), Hide (content removed, author notified), or Escalate to suspension.
- 4Document the decision in the case notes for audit.
5. Supplier moderation
Pending supplier listings, review reports, and self-listing submissions live at /admin/suppliers.
- 1Approve or reject pending listings based on website verification and category fit.
- 2Investigate review reports — confirm reviewer is a real member, then either keep or remove.
- 3Deduplicate suppliers using the supplier-dedup tool when entries overlap.
6. Consulting pipeline
Track every project brief through the pipeline at /admin/consulting. Stages: New → Triage → Routed → In Proposal → Engaged → Closed.
Tips
- •New briefs auto-route based on AI sector match, but admins can override.
- •Use the consultant grid view to see who is available, who is overloaded, and recent ratings.
- •Approve TMG-branded proposals before they're sent to the client.
7. Billing & ledger
The IFRS-compliant double-entry billing engine is at /admin/billing. Invoices, payments, VAT, fiscal year close, and audit reports all run from here.
- 1Open /admin/billing.
- 2Review invoices pending issue (consultant engagements, ad campaigns, recruiter seats).
- 3Issue invoices in batch or individually — PDFs are generated and emailed automatically.
- 4Reconcile payments via the bank import tool.
- 5At fiscal year-end, run the year-close to generate IFRS-compliant statements.
8. Newsletter operations
Newsletter broadcasts are managed at /admin/newsletter. Subscribers sync to Brevo. Drafts can be generated by AI (Monday brief, Friday digest) and require approval before send.
- 1Sync subscribers to Brevo — runs nightly but can be triggered manually.
- 2Generate a draft via 'Monday draft' or 'Friday draft' buttons.
- 3Review the draft in /newsletter/approve/{token} — edit subject, preview text, and HTML body.
- 4Approve & send (immediate) or schedule for later.
- 5Track sends in the Recent Broadcasts panel and in Brevo directly.
9. Email infrastructure
Digest mail sends from support@themotorguild.com via Brevo. Transactional & concierge mail sends from consultingsupport@themotorguild.com via the same Brevo account.
Tips
- •Authenticated sender domains are managed in Brevo. Any new sender requires SPF/DKIM setup.
- •Quiet hours respected for non-urgent transactional mail.
- •All sends logged in consulting_email_log with idempotency keys to prevent duplicates.
10. Ad operations
Review ad creatives at /admin/advertising. The full ad guidelines are at /admin/ad-guidelines — shareable with advertisers and suppliers.
- 1Open /admin/advertising → Pending review.
- 2Open each creative, check against guidelines.
- 3Approve, request revision, or reject with reason.
- 4Spot-check live campaigns weekly to ensure landing pages still match the ad.
11. Academy & certificates
Courses, modules, and certificates are managed at /admin/academy. Certificates are auto-issued on course completion via a DB trigger — no manual step required.
Tips
- •Use the backfill tool if a member completed a course before the trigger was deployed.
- •Verify any certificate publicly at /certificates/{certId}.
- •Review and approve new training requests from the Training Requests queue.
12. Audit log & governance
Every privileged action writes to audit_log. View at /admin/audit. Consent changes, role grants, suspensions, and moderation decisions are all tracked.
Tips
- •Filter by actor, target, action type, or date range.
- •Export to CSV for external review.
- •Audit log entries are immutable — never edited or deleted.
13. Concierge & user support
Concierge tools at /admin/concierge let you impersonate-with-consent, send manual reset links, and view the full user timeline.
Tips
- •Impersonation requires the user's explicit written consent and is logged in audit.
- •Use the timeline to diagnose 'why didn't I get the email' issues — it pulls from email logs and notification logs.
14. Backups, recovery, incident response
Database is on Lovable Cloud with point-in-time recovery. For incidents follow the response playbook in /admin/playbooks.
How do I disable an admin's access immediately?+
Remove the admin role from user_roles. The next request will return 403. Force-logout from the user's Concierge view.
Where do I find security scan results?+
/admin/security — runs nightly and on-demand. High/critical findings should be triaged within 24h.
How do I add a new admin?+
From the user's profile in /admin/members, click 'Grant admin'. Action is logged.
15. Getting help
Internal escalations: support@themotorguild.com. Platform-level issues (Lovable Cloud outage, DNS): contact Lovable support.