> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.deandesk.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Institutions & Schools

> Understand the two-level hierarchy in DeanDesk and the entry points for each.

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

## 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.

## Entry points

Institution and school dashboards are accessed from different URLs.

| Level           | URL                                                      | Who uses it                                                                        |
| --------------- | -------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Institution** | `deandesk.com/dashboard` (login at `deandesk.com/login`) | Institution owners and administrative staff who manage schools, billing, and staff |
| **School**      | `yourschool.deandesk.com` (or a custom domain)           | Students, parents, teachers, and school admins who use the platform day-to-day     |

<Note>
  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](#identities-vs-users-how-accounts-work-across-schools) below for how these account types relate.
</Note>

## What you manage at the institution level

The institution dashboard at `deandesk.com/dashboard` is where you handle everything that spans across your schools.

| Area                       | What you do                                                                                                                                           |
| -------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Schools**                | Create 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 & Billing** | Manage your DeanDesk subscription plan and payment method. This is what you pay DeanDesk for the platform — separate from what your students pay you. |
| **Stripe Setup**           | Connect your Stripe account for payment processing. This is the account that receives tuition and fee payments collected through your schools.        |
| **Branding**               | Set institution-wide branding (logo, colors, fonts) that can serve as defaults for your schools.                                                      |
| **Custom Fields**          | Define custom metadata fields for institution staff profiles.                                                                                         |

### Institution roles

Institution staff are called **Identities**. They have their own role system, separate from school roles.

| Role                  | Access                                                                                                                  |
| --------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Super Admin**       | Full 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.                                                                      |
| **Member**            | Basic institution-level access.                                                                                         |

## 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.

| Area                   | What you do                                                                |
| ---------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Users**              | Create and manage student, parent, teacher, and admin accounts             |
| **Courses**            | Build courses, manage assignments, track attendance, and run the gradebook |
| **Admissions**         | Configure onboarding policies, review applications, and enroll students    |
| **Billing & Payments** | Create tuition plans, send invoices, and manage student payments           |
| **Communication**      | Send announcements, direct messages, and manage community spaces           |
| **Calendar**           | Set up academic years, terms, and events                                   |
| **Reports**            | Generate student and financial reports                                     |

### School roles

School users have a different role system from institution identities.

| Role          | Access                                                                                    |
| ------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Admin**     | Full access to the school's Admin Dashboard — user management, courses, billing, settings |
| **Teacher**   | Manage assigned courses, gradebook, attendance, and post announcements                    |
| **Student**   | Access enrolled courses, submit assignments, view grades and billing                      |
| **Parent**    | View children's progress, manage child applications, receive notifications                |
| **Member**    | Base role required to log in. Every user needs this role.                                 |
| **Applicant** | Users going through the admissions/onboarding process                                     |

<Note>
  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.
</Note>

## 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.

### What's the difference?

|                | Identity                                                  | User                                                                                     |
| -------------- | --------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Scope**      | Institution-wide                                          | School-specific                                                                          |
| **Created at** | Institution dashboard (`deandesk.com/dashboard`)          | School portal (`yourschool.deandesk.com`)                                                |
| **Purpose**    | Single login credential that spans the entire institution | A profile within a specific school with school-specific roles, courses, grades, and data |
| **Roles**      | Super Admin, Admin (Read-Only), Member                    | Admin, Teacher, Student, Parent, Member, Applicant                                       |
| **How many?**  | One per person per institution                            | One 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)
```

### 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.

<Steps>
  <Step title="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.
  </Step>

  <Step title="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.
  </Step>

  <Step title="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.
  </Step>

  <Step title="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.
  </Step>
</Steps>

### Navigating back to the institution

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`.

### Admin Console quick-jump

Each school card in the institution dashboard, and each platform detail page, includes an **Admin Console** button. Clicking it mints an SSO token and redirects you straight into that school's Admin Dashboard at `yourschool.deandesk.com/admin` — no separate login required.

### 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.

<Tip>
  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.
</Tip>

## 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.

## Typical setup flow

<Steps>
  <Step title="Create your institution">
    Sign up at [deandesk.com/get-started](https://deandesk.com/get-started). This creates your institution and your super admin identity.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Set up billing">
    From the institution dashboard, subscribe to a DeanDesk plan and connect your Stripe account for payment processing.
  </Step>

  <Step title="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`.
  </Step>

  <Step title="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.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Tip>
  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.
</Tip>