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DeanDesk is organized into two levels: Institutions and Schools. Understanding this hierarchy is essential before you start configuring your platform.

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The hierarchy

Institution (deandesk.com/dashboard)
  └── School A (schoola.deandesk.com)
  └── School B (schoolb.deandesk.com)
  └── School C (schoolc.deandesk.com)
An Institution is your top-level organization. It represents your entire operation — the entity that owns and manages one or more schools. A School is an individual platform where students, parents, teachers, and admins interact day-to-day. Each school has its own users, courses, billing, admissions, and settings. A single institution can manage multiple schools. Each school operates independently with its own users, content, and configuration, but is administered centrally from the institution dashboard.

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Entry points

Institution and school dashboards are accessed from different URLs.
LevelURLWho uses it
Institutiondeandesk.com/dashboard (login at deandesk.com/login)Institution owners and administrative staff who manage schools, billing, and staff
Schoolyourschool.deandesk.com (or a custom domain)Students, parents, teachers, and school admins who use the platform day-to-day
These are two separate login portals. Institution staff log in with their Identity at deandesk.com/login and can access any school from there. School-only users (students, parents, teachers) log in directly at the school’s own URL. See Identities vs Users below for how these account types relate.

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What you manage at the institution level

The institution dashboard at deandesk.com/dashboard is where you handle everything that spans across your schools.
AreaWhat you do
SchoolsCreate and manage your schools. Each school gets its own subdomain (e.g. lincoln.deandesk.com), users, courses, and configuration.
Staff (Identities)Invite and manage institution-level staff. These are the people who access the institution dashboard — not the same as school-level users.
Subscription & BillingManage your DeanDesk subscription plan and payment method. This is what you pay DeanDesk for the platform — separate from what your students pay you.
Stripe SetupConnect your Stripe account for payment processing. This is the account that receives tuition and fee payments collected through your schools.
BrandingSet institution-wide branding (logo, colors, fonts) that can serve as defaults for your schools.
Custom FieldsDefine custom metadata fields for institution staff profiles.

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Institution roles

Institution staff are called Identities. They have their own role system, separate from school roles.
RoleAccess
Super AdminFull access to the institution dashboard. Can create schools, invite staff, manage billing, and configure all settings.
Admin (Read-Only)Can view institution data but cannot make changes.
MemberBasic institution-level access.

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What you manage at the school level

The school portal at yourschool.deandesk.com is where your community lives. This is where the actual teaching, learning, communication, and administration happens.
AreaWhat you do
UsersCreate and manage student, parent, teacher, and admin accounts
CoursesBuild courses, manage assignments, track attendance, and run the gradebook
AdmissionsConfigure onboarding policies, review applications, and enroll students
Billing & PaymentsCreate tuition plans, send invoices, and manage student payments
CommunicationSend announcements, direct messages, and manage community spaces
CalendarSet up academic years, terms, and events
ReportsGenerate student and financial reports

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School roles

School users have a different role system from institution identities.
RoleAccess
AdminFull access to the school’s Admin Dashboard — user management, courses, billing, settings
TeacherManage assigned courses, gradebook, attendance, and post announcements
StudentAccess enrolled courses, submit assignments, view grades and billing
ParentView children’s progress, manage child applications, receive notifications
MemberBase role required to log in. Every user needs this role.
ApplicantUsers going through the admissions/onboarding process
A school user can hold multiple roles simultaneously. For example, a teaching assistant might have both Student and Teacher roles. Every user must have the Member role to log in.

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Identities vs Users: how accounts work across schools

DeanDesk has two separate account types — Identities and Users — that work together to provide seamless access across schools.

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What’s the difference?

IdentityUser
ScopeInstitution-wideSchool-specific
Created atInstitution dashboard (deandesk.com/dashboard)School portal (yourschool.deandesk.com)
PurposeSingle login credential that spans the entire institutionA profile within a specific school with school-specific roles, courses, grades, and data
RolesSuper Admin, Admin (Read-Only), MemberAdmin, Teacher, Student, Parent, Member, Applicant
How many?One per person per institutionOne per person per school
An Identity is your institution-wide login. A User is your profile inside a specific school. One Identity can be linked to multiple Users — one in each school — so you never need to create a new login for each school. 
Identity (institution-wide login)
  ├── User in School A (admin, member)
  ├── User in School B (admin, member)
  └── User in School C (teacher, member)

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How single sign-on works

When an Identity accesses a school for the first time, DeanDesk automatically creates a User account in that school on their behalf. This means institution staff never have to register separately at each school.
1

Identity logs in at the institution level

The staff member logs in at deandesk.com/login with their institution credentials. This authenticates their Identity and takes them to the institution dashboard.
2

Identity selects a school

From the institution dashboard (or the institution portal page), the staff member clicks on one of the schools under their institution.
3

DeanDesk creates or finds a User

Behind the scenes, DeanDesk checks if a User already exists for this Identity in the selected school.
  • If no User exists yet: DeanDesk automatically creates one, copying the Identity’s username and email. Institution Super Admins and Admins are given the Admin and Member roles in the school. Other identities receive roles based on the school’s onboarding policies.
  • If a User already exists: DeanDesk links to the existing User account.
4

Identity is redirected into the school

DeanDesk generates a school-level authentication token and redirects the staff member to the school portal. They are now logged in at the school level and can manage courses, users, and settings just like any school admin.
The flow also works in reverse. A school User whose account is linked to an Identity can navigate back to the institution dashboard without logging in again. DeanDesk generates an institution-level token from the linked Identity and redirects them to deandesk.com/dashboard.

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What this means in practice

  • Institution owners log in once at deandesk.com/login and can access any of their schools with a single click — no separate passwords, no separate registration.
  • Each school sees them as a local User with school-specific roles, enrollment data, and permissions. The Identity link is invisible to other school users.
  • School-only users (students, parents, teachers who are not institution staff) do not have Identities. They log in directly at the school’s URL and exist only within that school.
If you manage multiple schools, you only need to remember one set of credentials — your Identity login at deandesk.com/login. From there, you can jump into any school under your institution.

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How institution and school levels connect

  • Branding flows down — Institution-level branding (logo, colors, fonts) serves as the default for schools. Each school can override these with its own branding.
  • Stripe can be shared — Schools under an institution can use the institution’s connected Stripe account for collecting payments, or set up their own independent Stripe accounts.

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Typical setup flow

1

Create your institution

Sign up at deandesk.com/get-started. This creates your institution and your super admin identity.
2

Set up billing

From the institution dashboard, subscribe to a DeanDesk plan and connect your Stripe account for payment processing.
3

Create your first school

Go to the Schools page in the institution dashboard and create a school. Choose a name and hostname (e.g. lincoln). Your school is instantly available at lincoln.deandesk.com.
4

Configure the school

Log in to your school portal and set up the academic calendar, create users, build courses, and configure admissions. All remaining setup guides in this documentation cover school-level configuration.
If you only run one school, you still have an institution — it just contains a single school. The institution dashboard is where you manage your DeanDesk subscription and Stripe account, while the school portal is where you do everything else.