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This guide covers both institution-level management at deandesk.com/dashboard and school-level work at yourschool.deandesk.com. The accounts and permissions at these levels are distinct.

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Video walkthrough

This walkthrough uses the real DeanDesk interface with the fictional Northstar Academy demo school and a calm, AI-generated English voice. Payments and outside services are not connected in the demo.
An Institution is the organization that owns one or more Schools. Each school is an individual platform with its own Users, courses, admissions, billing, and settings. Even an organization with just one school has an institution.

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Entry points

The DeanDesk employee console is a separate platform administration workspace. It is not the institution dashboard or a school’s Admin Dashboard.

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What you manage at the institution level

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Institution roles

Individual features can require a stronger role. In particular, the institution Finance workspace requires Super Admin, including for reads. An institution Member is different from a school Member.

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What you manage at the school level

The school’s Admin Dashboard contains the school’s user management, courses, forms, onboarding policies, academic calendar, finance, communication, and reports. The main school portal contains the learning and family experience. Your plan, starting point, and permissions control which tools appear.

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School roles

A school User can hold multiple roles. Applicants and other restricted accounts can sign in without full Member access while they complete required onboarding. Roles alone do not guarantee every tool: assigned permissions and school configuration also apply.

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Identities vs Users: how accounts work across schools

An Identity is an institution account. A User is a school account with school-specific roles and data. An Identity can link to a User in each school the person accesses. A school User may exist without a linked Identity.
Being a student, parent, or teacher does not prove that a person lacks an Identity; public institution registration and memberships also use Identities. Check the actual account links when resolving access issues.

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How single sign-on works

1

Sign in at the institution level

Use your Identity at deandesk.com/login.
2

Choose a school

Select a school belonging to your institution. DeanDesk finds or creates the linked school User.
3

Work in the school

The school session uses that User’s school roles and permissions. Institution Super Admin and Admin Readonly identities receive school Admin and Member roles when the school account is provisioned. Other accounts follow the school’s onboarding rules.
Institution read-only status is not a promise of read-only school access. School accounts have their own role system. Review both levels when assigning staff access.

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Admin Console quick-jump

Click Admin Console on a school card in Overview or on a platform detail page, or Admin on a school card in Platforms, to open the school’s Admin Dashboard without a separate login. Locked accounts cannot use sign-on to bypass the lock. A school User with a linked Super Admin or Admin Readonly Identity can click their avatar and choose Institutional Dashboard under Institution to return to the institution workspace. The linked Identity determines their institution access; having a school Admin role does not by itself make someone an institution Super Admin.

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Branding, Stripe, and billing

School branding is configured separately from institution public-page branding. Review each school’s settings instead of assuming an institution branding change updates its portals. Schools can use the institution’s connected Stripe account or their own independent account. Institution finance works with the institution’s selected account; DeanDesk billing manages what the organization pays for DeanDesk itself.

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Typical setup flow

Follow Quick start to create an institution, choose a subscription, create a school from a starting point, and enter its setup experience. Thereafter, use the institution dashboard for work spanning schools and each school portal for its own academic and operational work.