An unusual catalog of titles, formats and courses gets a structure that fits it

The Challenge

A catalog that isn't really products

Textbook Media sells college textbooks, where one title exists in several media formats, carries study supplements, and belongs to courses that instructors assign.

Two publishers' catalogs had to live together, and both students and instructors needed their own way in — with reporting that satisfied the publishers.

Modeled as ordinary products, that structure collapses: formats become unrelated items, supplements lose their parent and courses have nowhere to live.

The Strategy

Decide the data model before choosing the features

PeakBeyond led the architecture rather than the build: what a title is, how media variants and supplements attach to it, and how courses become a way to navigate.

Identity and reporting were evaluated as first-class requirements, because students, instructors and publishers each need a different view of the same catalog.

Only once the model was settled did theme, apps and imports follow — and training was included, including a walkthrough for the board, so the organization could own what it launched.

The Solution

Architecture, build support and handover

PeakBeyond led the architecture rather than the build, working alongside the client's developer from discovery to launch.

• Settled the data model before the features — Led the platform and product architecture across two publishers' catalogs, defining what a title is and how media variants and study supplements attach to it, with the imports behind them.
• Made courses a way in — Course categories and search, so instructors and students navigate the catalog the way it is actually taught.
• Treated identity and reporting as first-class — Evaluated the options, including social sign-in, because students, instructors and publishers each need a different view of the same catalog.
• Fitted the build to the model — Chose the theme and apps against the agreed architecture, then delivered training including a walkthrough for the board.

Nothing was chosen until the model was settled, so the organization launched a structure it understood and could own.

The Results

Launched with a structure the catalog actually fits

The new site launched on May 14, 2021, combining two publishers' catalogs in one structure.

Titles carry their media variants and supplements, and courses work as a way in for instructors and students rather than an afterthought.

The team was trained on the model it inherited, board included, so decisions afterward were informed ones.

A publisher's catalog stopped being forced into a retail shape and started working the way it is taught.