Organizations

Organizations

Overview

Keep your departments, clients, and partners organized with the Organizations feature. This article will help you enable, create, and design custom organizations.  

Click here for a walk through of the Organizations feature.
Info
Note that if you want each customer to have its own separate LMS and configuration settings, you may want to create separate sites and network them instead of using the organizations feature. To learn more, visit the Networks article.

Installing the Organizations app

To enable Organizations, you must first install the app. To install the app:
  1. Click Admin from the primary navigation menu.
  2. Click App center from the fly-out menu.
  3. Install the Organizations app from the Organizations section.

Admin, App center with the Organizations app tile highlighted in the Organizations section

Viewing Organizations

To see a list of the organizations for your business or school:
  1. Hover over Organizations on the primary navigation menu.
  2. A list of organizations will display in the fly-out menu.
  3. Click List to view a detailed list of organizations.

Primary navigation menu with the Organizations menu active and the List button highlighted

The Organizations list displays.
  1. Initially, there is a single default organization with the same name as your business.
    1. The default organization is indicated with the crown crown icon icon (as shown in the screenshot below).
  2. As you add additional organizations, they display below the default organization. Sub-organizations are indented to their parent organization.
  3. Organizations can be added that represent external customers or internal departments.
    1. For example, if you're a training company and teach courses for Sunny Management, ACME Corp, and Silvercrest Holdings, you could add these three external organizations and associate the learner and manager accounts for customers within their respective organizations.
Organizations, List tab with the crown icon highlighted for the default organization

The super administrator of the portal can change the default organization. To change the default organization, super administrators:

  1. Click the radio button of the organization they want to set as the new default organization.
Organizations, List tab with the Default radio button highlighted for a top level organization

Adding Organizations

To add an organization:

  1. Click Organizations from the primary navigation menu.
  2. Click List from the fly-out menu.
  3. Click Add. 

Organizations, List tab with the Add button highlighted

The Add organization pop-up displays.
  1. Enter the Name and Description of the organization.
  2. If the organization is an internal department, select the Internal checkbox.
    1. Leave the Internal checkbox blank for external companies or customers. 
  3. Select a position for the new organization.
    1. You can select to position the organization at the Start of the list, the End of the list, or Before or After a specific organization.
    2. You can also set the organization to be a sub-organization of another organization by selecting First child of organization or Last child of organization.
  4. Click Save.

Add organization pop-up with examples of an organization Name, Description and Position

The organization overview displays. To edit basic information about the organization:
  1. Click Admin from the organization (secondary) menu.
  2. Click Basics from the fly-out menu.
  3. Click Edit in the Overview section to edit the Name, Description, or Internal/External setting.
To delete an organization:
  1. Click Admin from the organization (secondary) menu.
  2. Click Delete from the fly-out menu.
    1. If you delete an organization, you also automatically delete all of its associated learner and manager accounts.
Info
Note - You cannot delete the default organization.

Organization page with the organization menu's Admin menu active and the Delete button highlighted

If you would prefer to import organizations instead of manually adding them:
  1. Click Organizations from the primary navigation menu.
  2. Click List from the fly-out menu.
  3. Click Import.
    1. Visit the Importing organizations section of the Import article for more details.


Managing Organization hierarchy

The Organizations list allows you to manage the hierarchy of the organization on your site. Child organizations are indented to their parent organization(s), and the site supports multiple levels of child organizations, meaning a sub-organization can also have sub-organizations. For example, you can create a main organization with several regional office sub-organizations. You can then add departments as sub-organizations to each regional office.

To make an organization a sub-organization:
  1. Select the organization checkbox.
  2. Click the Right button. 

Organizations, List tab with an organization selected and the Right button highlighted

To move a sub-organization up a level:
  1. Select the sub-organization checkbox.
  2. Click the Left button. 
Organizations, List tab with multiple organizations selected and the Left button highlighted

If you move a parent organization Up or Down the list, or to the Left or Right, all of its child organizations will move as well to maintain the existing parent/child relationships.

Organizations, List tab with a top level organization selected and the Up, Down, Left, and Right buttons highlighted

Organization Basics

Title

To access the basic settings for your organization:

  1. Hover over Organizations on the primary navigation menu.
  2. Select the organization.
  3. Click Admin on the Organization menu.
  4. Click Basics on the fly-out menu.
The Overview section includes your organization name, description and the internal/external setting. To edit any of the fields:
  1. Click Edit.
Organization, Admin, Basics tab with the Edit button highlighted

The Edit pop-up displays. Here, you can edit:

  1. The Name field, which will update the name of the organization, and the portal title.
  2. The Description of the organization.
  3. The Internal/External setting for the organization.
  4. Click Save to save your changes.
Edit pop-up with examples of a Name, Description, and the Internal checkbox selected

Color theme

The Basics tab also allows you to set up the color theme of your organization.  To modify your organization's color theme:
  1. Select a primary accent color. The primary accent color is used across the portal to indicate active tabs and buttons, default icons, and more. 
    1. A variety of pre-selected colors are available. Click Custom color if you would like to select your own color.
      1. If you select Custom color, enter a HEX color code, or select a color using the color picker.
  2. Select a primary navigation color. The primary navigation color is used for navigation elements such as the primary navigation menu.
The Color theme section includes an additional setting:
  1. Enable color bars for tiles: Select the Enable color bars for tiles checkbox to allow course, class, module, or lesson tiles to display color bars on the left side of the tile.
Organization, Admin, Basics tab with a Primary accent color and Primary navigation color selected in the Color theme section

You can add a logo that will show up on your organization's pages. To add your logo(s):

  1. Full Logo: Click Upload logo in the Full Logo section to upload a logo that will appear at the top of the primary navigation menu.
    1. The file can be a PNG, JPG, or GIF and the recommended size is 80px x 80px. A transparent background is recommended.
  2. Condensed Logo: Click Upload logo in the Condensed Logo section to upload a logo that will appear at the top of the primary navigation menu when the menu is condensed.
    1. The file can be a PNG, JPG, or GIF and the recommended size is 50px x 50px. A transparent background is recommended.
Organization, Admin, Basics tab with a Full Logo and Condensed Logo uploaded in the Logo section

Accounts

Every account is associated with an organization. When you create accounts, you can specify which organization those accounts are associated with. You can also edit accounts and change their organization.

To see all the users in an organization:
  1. Hover over Organizations on the primary navigation menu.
  2. Select an organization from the fly-out menu.
  3. Click Users on the Organization secondary menu.

Organization, Users, All tab with a list of users for the organization

To see the users for each role, click the corresponding tab:
  1. Click the Learners tab to see the learners in an organization.
  2. Click the Instructors tab to see the instructors of an organization.
  3. Click the Managers tab to see the managers in the organization.
  4. Click the Mentors tab to see the mentors in the organization.
  5. Click the Monitors tab to see the monitors in the organization.
  6. Click the Administrators tab to see the administrators in the organization.
Organization, Users, Learners tab with a list of learners for the organization

To add users to an organization:

  1. Click the add icon icon.
  2. To learn more about adding users, visit the Adding accounts section of the Accounts and roles article.
Organization, Users, Learners tab with a list of learners for the organization and the Add button highlighted

To filter a list of users:

  1. Click the Search search icon icon.
Organization, Users, Learners tab with a list of learners for the organization and the Search button highlighted

The search bar displays. To add a filter:

  1. Click the Filter filters icon icon.
  2. You can apply multiple filters to the list.
    1. To learn more, visit the Filters article.
Organization, Users, Learners tab with a list of learners for the organization and the Filters button highlighted

To edit permissions for any of the roles in an organization or sub-organization, super administrators can:

  1. Click Admin from the primary navigation menu.
  2. Click Permissions from the fly-out menu.
  3. Edit the Default organization permissions and/or Suborganization permissions.
  4. Visitor the Permissions article for more details.
Primary navigation menu with the Admin menu active and the Permissions button highlighted

Purchases

If e-commerce is enabled on you site, you can view all the purchases made by a particular customer organization. To view organization level purchases:

  1. Click or hover over Organizations on the primary navigation menu.
  2. Select an organization from the fly-out menu.
  3. Click Purchases on the Organization secondary menu.

Organization, Purchases page with a list of purchases for the organization

You can also define specific currencies per organization. To set the currency for an organization:

  1. Click or hover over Organizations on the primary navigation menu.
  2. Select an organization from the fly-out menu.
  3. Click Admin on the Organization secondary menu.
  4. Click E-commerce on the fly-out menu.

Organization page with the organization menu's Admin menu active and the E-commerce button highlighted

The E-commerce page displays. By default, the currency is set to the currency of your site. To change the organization's currency:

  1. Click Edit in the Currency section.
  2. Select a currency from the drop-down menu.
  3. Click Save.
The prices for items associated with the organization will display in the updated currency.
Organization, Admin, E-commerce tab with the Edit button highlighted and the Edit pop-up displaying

A few things to note regarding organization level currencies:

  • You cannot mix and match items with different currencies during checkout.
  • The currency of an item is recorded during checkout, so if you change the currency of an organization, it does not retroactively apply to existing orders for items associated with the organization.
  • Orders are broken out by currency in the various e-commerce summary screens.

Custom visitor portal for organizations

One of the most powerful features of organizations is the ability to create a custom visitor portal per organization. This features allows site level administrators to create a custom visitor portal with its own URL, catalog, logo, and custom pages for any of your organizations. 

Per-organization portals let you offer customized experiences to specific customers—especially large or high-value ones. For example, if customers A, B, C, and D all use your site, and customer C has 10,000 learners, you can give customer C a premium, branded portal such as https://customerc.mycompany.com instead of your main site at https://www.mycompany.com.

With a custom portal, learners from company C can access pages tailored to them, see their name and logo on visitor pages, view only the courses assigned to their organization, and log in to a co-branded experience. They will still see your favicon, receive emails from your email domain (if enabled), and view your primary logo and color scheme—but within a portal designed specifically for their organization.

InfoNote that if you want each customer to have its own separate LMS and configuration settings, you may want to create separate sites and network them instead of using the organizations feature. To learn more, visit the Networks article.

To enable custom visitor portals per organization, you must first install the app:

  1. Click Admin from the primary navigation menu.
  2. Click App center from the fly-out menu.
  3. Install the Organization portals app from the Organizations section.

Admin, App center with the Organization portals app tile highlighted in the Organizations section

After installing the app, access the organization.
  1. Hover over Organizations on the primary navigation menu.
  2. Select the organization from the fly-out menu.
Organizations, List tab with a sub-organization highlighted

The Organization displays. To add a custom portal for the organization:

  1. Click Admin from the Organization secondary menu.
  2. Click Portal from the fly-out menu.
  3. Click Add.
Organization, Admin, Portal tab with the Add button highlighted

The Add pop-up displays where you can enter a subdomain for the custom visitor portal.

  1. Enter the custom portal's subdomain, which will display in front of the URL domain (*.matrixlms.com in the example screenshot below).
    1. Note that academia users will see .neolms.com as the URL domain.
  2. Click Save.
Info
Note that you can update the URL at a later time.

Add pop-up with an example of a subdomain

Once the portal subdomain is selected, new sections become available on the Portal tab. By default, the portal is disabled, which allows you to configure and test before going live. 
  1. Click Enable when you are ready to launch the custom portal, or when you want to design the home page using the portal visual editor.
  2. Click Clear if you want to delete the custom portal and revert the organization back to the main site's portal.

Organization, Admin, Portal tab with the Enable and Clear buttons highlighted

URL

The first section of the Portal tab is the URL section. This section displays the current URL of your portal.
  1. Click the current portal URL to open your portal.
  2. Click Edit your MATRIX URL to change the URL for the portal. This option allows you to quickly edit the subdomain of your URL. The subdomain is the first section of the URL and can be a mix of letters and numbers. 
    1. Academia users will click Edit your NEO URL to change the URL for the portal. 
  3. Click Use your own URL to set up your own, custom URL. Details on setting up a custom URL are covered below.
Organization, Admin, Portal tab, URL section with an example of a Portal URL

Using your own URL

You can set up a foreign domain so that your site can be accessed via a URL that you own. For example, you can allow your site to be accessed via http://www.mycompany.com instead of https://mycompany.matrixlms.com. 

There are two steps for setting up a custom domain: (1) changing the DNS settings associated with the URL that you own and (2) entering those values into your portal area.

This example will walk you through a scenario of mapping a site you own - http://www.adpacademy.com - to your MATRIX URL http://humanresources.matrixlms.com.
Info
Note that academia platform users would map to their NEO URL humanresources.neolms.com.

Step 1

  1. First, go to your DNS provider and edit the DNS settings to add CNAME.
    1. For example, if your domain is managed by GoDaddy, there is an area on the GoDaddy site called "Total DNS" that provides this feature.
  2. Add "www" to the CNAME  field. If "www" CNAME is already set, then make sure to remove it and add it again. 
  3. In the target or point field (depending on your DNS provider), add loadbalancer.matrixlms.com. 
    1. Please note that if you created your site on https://www.matrixlms.eu, then you need to add loadbalancer.matrixlms.eu, and if it was created on https://www.matrixlms.com.au/ then you need to add loadbalancer.matrixlms.com.au.
    2. Also, note that you don't include the "https:" prefix.
The screenshot below shows the DNS settings for adpacademy.com at GoDaddy. The last line in the CNAME area was added to perform the mapping.
DNS settings on the GoDaddy site with the www host example highlighted

Once you have updated the DNS settings, it can take an hour or so for the changes to take effect across the Internet. In this example, if you typed http://www.adpacademy.com into your browser and it displayed your portal, it means that the changes have become active and you're ready for the next step.

If you want to, you can map a subdomain of your domain instead. For example, to map edu.adpacademy.com to humanresources.matrixlms.com, use "edu" instead of "www" as the CNAME host.

Step 2

Now that the DNS system is mapping your foreign domain to your MATRIX site, you must enter the mapping into your portal area so that the platform generates URLs based on your foreign domain instead of your original domain. For example, when you create accounts, the email invitations will use the new foreign URL.

To set up the foreign domain mapping:
  1. Click Admin from the primary navigation menu.
  2. Click Portal from the fly-out menu. 
  3. Click Use your own URL in the URL section.
  4. Then enter the name of your foreign domain without the 'http://' prefix. In this example, www.adpacademy.com would be entered.
  5. Click Save.
Organization, Admin, Portal, Use your own URL page with an example of a Foreign domain

Your new portal URL is displayed as the 'Foreign domain'.  At this point, your new foreign domain is live! 
  1. Click Edit your own URL to modify your foreign domain.
  2. Click Disable your own URL to clear your foreign domain.
Organization, Admin, Portal tab, URL section with an example of a Foreign domain

SSL

By default, the site uses SSL everywhere on the site. 

The platform also offers the option to host SSL certificates for your custom sites to support SSL on all pages for free.

To set up the SSL Certificate for your custom domain, open a ticket with the Support team via the Customer support center. The Support team will assist with the required steps to set up the SSL Certificate for your portal. Because of security concerns, this is the only supported way to upload a certificate.

To open a ticket with the support team:
  1. Click Help from the primary navigation menu.
  2. Click Customer support center.
  3. Click Tickets.
  4. Click Add ticket.
Info
Note that the login and payments are always performed over a secure HTTPS connection, even if your custom domain does not support HTTPS by default.

Root domain

If you set up a foreign domain for your MATRIX portal, for example, if you mapped http://www.adpacademy.com to your MATRIX URL http://humanresources.matrixlms.com, you might want to set up the root or naked domain. The root domain helps redirect visitors so that if they do not add the "www" to the URL, they will still be directed to your portal. To do this, you will have to redirect the root domain to the www URL via your Hosting Provider (if they offer this service). If your hosting provider does not offer this service, you can use a root domain redirect service like http://wwwizer.com/naked-domain-redirect.

Portal type

The second section of the Organization Portal tab is Portal type. Portal type setting determines how robust your visitor view pages will be. The options include:
  1. Simple: Selecting a simple visitor page is a great choice for schools and businesses who only have internal users. When users access a simple visitor page, they are immediately prompted to login or sign up. 
  2. Full on all devices: If you select Full on all devices, you can design a more robust visitor home page and enable multiple pages, including a catalog, calendar, news, blog, and more. All pages will be available on all devices, including phones.
  3. Full on all devices except phones: If you select Full on all devices except phones, you can design a robust visitor home page and enable multiple pages, but users that access your site on mobile phones will only be prompted to login or sign up. 
Organizations, Admin, Portal tab, Portal type section with Full on all devices selected

Portal pages

If you select Full on all devices or Full on all devices except phones, the Portal pages section displays. The pages include:
  1. Catalog: The visitor Catalog allows you to display categories and courses for external users to browse, enroll in, or purchase.
  2. Calendar: The Calendar page allows you to share a calendar of events with external users.
  3. News: The visitor News page allows you to share News postings with external users. 
  4. Contact: The Contact page allows visitors to contact your organization with a message and their contact details.
  5. Sign up: If enabled, the Sign up page allows visitors to directly sign up to your portal.
  6. Blog: The Blog page allows you to post external blogs that can be read by visitors.
The Portal pages table allows you to enable, edit, and/or delete multiple pages that will be publicly available to anyone that visits your organization's URL. 
  1. Select the pages Enable? checkbox to make the page available on your organization portal.
    1. Deselect the Enable? checkbox to remove the page from your organization portal.
  2. Click the Edit edit icon icon to edit the content for eligible pages.
Organizations, Admin, Portal tab, Portal pages section

The HTML editor displays for the page.

  1. Use the editor to add or edit content.
  2. Click Save.
HTML editor with example text for a Contact page

You can also create additional, custom portal pages. To create additional visitor view pages:
  1. Click + Add in the Portal pages section.
  2. Choose between creating a new HTML page, or Reference to a specified URL, which allows you to create a page that links to another, specified URL.
Add portal page pop-up

Custom portal pages allow you to add SEO metadata. To add SEO metadata for a custom portal page:

  1. Click the add add icon icon in the SEO column for the custom page.
Organizations, Admin, Portal tab, Portal pages section with the Add icon highlighted in the SEO column for the About us page

The Meta description and meta keywords pop-up displays.

  1. Enter a metadata description.
  2. Enter metadata keywords.
  3. Click Save.
The Meta description and meta keywords pop-up with a sample description and keywords listed

Portal visual editor

The Portal visual editor allows you to design the home page of your organization's visitor portal. The portal visual editor allows you to add carousels, images, buttons and more. To edit the design of your organization's home page:
  1. Click Edit in the portal visual editor section.
Info
Note that in order to design the home page using the portal visual editor, you must Enable the organization portal.  Once you are done designing the home page, you can disable the portal again until you are ready to launch the visitor page.
Organizations, Admin, Portal tab, Portal visual editor section

To learn more about using the portal visual editor, visit the Visitor view > Portal visual editor section of the Portal article.

Portal menu

The Portal menu section of the Portal tab allows you to choose which pages will display in your portal menu.
  1. Click the edit edit icon icon to edit an existing page.
  2. Click Add to add a new page.
Organizations, Admin, Portal tab, Portal menu section

If you click edit, the Edit pop-up displays.

  1. Edit the Title of the page.
  2. Select a Page from the list. This is the page the menu item will link to. 
  3. Click Save.
The Edit pop-up for a Portal menu item with an example Title and Page selected

If you click Add, the Add menu item pop-up displays.

  1. Enter a Title for the new page.
  2. Select a Page from the list. This is the page the menu item will link to. 
  3. Click Save.
The Add menu item pop-up with an example Title and Page selected

You can also add sub-menu items that will display if a user selects a page from the menu. To create a submenu item:
  1. Click the right arrow right arrow icon icon of the menu item that will become the sub-menu item of the menu above it.
    1. For example, if you want to add Calendar as a submenu to Catalog, click the right arrow right arrow icon icon next to Calendar.
Organizations, Admin, Portal tab, Portal menu section with the right arrow button highlighted for the Calendar menu item

The Calendar menu item is now a sub-menu item to the Catalog menu item. 

Organizations, Admin, Portal tab, Portal menu section with Calendar as a sub-menu item to the Catalog menu item

When visitors click Catalog on your portal menu, Calendar will display as a sub-menu item.

Visitor portal example with the Catalog menu item active and displaying the Calendar sub-menu item

If you would like to create your own header menu, you can replace the portal menu bar with your own custom HTML menu. To create your own custom menu:
  1. Click the Custom HTML button in the Portal menu section.
Organizations, Admin, Portal tab, Portal menu section with the Custom HTML button highlighted

To learn more, visit the Visitor view > Portal menu section of the Portal article.

Portal panels

When designing your full portal page, you can stack different types of portal panels to create your design. You can use any combination of the following seven types of panels:
  1. Carousel: A customizable picture carousel.
  2. Counters: A graphical background with up to three counters.
  3. Custom: A custom HTML panel.
  4. Image blocks: Up to four images, each with a title, text, and a button.
  5. Simple text and button: A colored background with text and an optional button.
  6. Clickable text blocks: Up to six clickable blocks of text.
  7. Text and buttons: A graphical background with a title, text, and up to two buttons.

To add a portal panel:

  1. Click Add in the Portal panels section.
Organizations, Admin, Portal tab, Portal panels section with the Add button highlighted

The Add portal panel pop-up displays.

  1. Select a portal panel type. 
The Add portal panel pop-up
To learn more, visit the Visitor view > Portal panels section of the Portal article.

Footers

You also have the ability to customize your organization's portal footer. The footer section displays the current footer buttons. To edit an existing footer button: 
  1. Click the edit edit icon icon.

The Edit pop-up displays for the footer item.
  1. Edit the Title for the footer item.
  2. Select the page from the list where users will be redirected when they click the footer button.
  3. Click Save.
The Edit pop-up for a portal footer with an example of a Title and Page selection

To add a new footer item:

  1. Click Add in the Portal footers section.
Organizations, Admin, Portal tab, Portal footers section with the Add button highlighted

The Add footer item pop-up displays.
  1. Enter the Title for the new footer item.
  2. Select the page from the list where users will be redirected when they click the footer button.
  3. Click Save.
Add footer item pop-up with an example of a Title and Page selected

You can also add sub-footer items that will display below other footer items. To create a sub-footer item:
  1. Click the right arrow right arrow icon icon of the footer item to move it below the footer item above it.
    1. For example, if you want to move News below Information in the footer, click the right arrow right arrow icon icon next to News.
Organizations, Admin, Portal tab, Portal footers section with the right arrow button highlighted for the News footer item

In the example below, you can see that each footer item is listed as a sub-footer to the item above it.

Organizations, Admin, Portal tab, Portal footers section with the left arrow icons highlighted for three footer items, indicating that each is a sub-footer to the item above it

This will display as a vertical list on the visitor portal, with each footer below the one before it.

Visitor portal footer example with four footer items listed vertically

Sub-organizations

The platform also allows you to cascade portal settings from a parent organization to child organizations. 

The Sub-organizations section displays for organizations that have child organizations. To cascade parent organization portal settings to child organizations, administrators:
  1. Click Organizations from the primary navigation menu.
  2. Click List from the fly-out menu.
  3. Click the parent organization.
  4. Click Admin from the Organization navigation menu.
  5. Click Portal from the fly-out menu.
  6. Select the Apply these settings to all sub-organizations of this organization checkbox in the Sub-organizations section.
Selecting this setting applies the parent organization portal settings, such as URL, visitor portal design, and SSO, to the child organization portal. Individual organization set up, such as users and course catalog, will not be impacted.

Organizations, Admin, Portal tab, Sub-organizations section

Organizational visitor portal differences

Please note that there are some important differences between an organization's custom visitor portal and your primary site portal:
  • If you visit the Catalog on the organization's portal, it will only show courses that are visible to the organization.
  • If a user purchases a course or creates an account through an organization's visitor portal, the account is automatically set to the organization associated with the organization's portal.
  • If a user tries to log into an organization's visitor portal and they are not a member of the organization, they will be denied access.
  • All links in messages to an account associated with an organization with a custom portal are automatically linked to the portal. For example, if the organization 'xyz' has a custom portal on https://xyz.matrixlms.com then accounts in that organization will always see links in the form of https://xyz.matrixlms.com/link.
  • If a user logs into your main site and they are a member of an organization with a custom visitor portal, they are automatically redirected to the appropriate organization's portal URL when they log in. For example, if they are in organization 'xyz' and then log into your main site at https://mycompany.matrixlms.com, they will be redirected to their dashboard at https://xyz.matrixlms.com/home_dashboard after they log in.
  • An organization's portal on an xx.matrixlms.com domain has SSL by default. If you want to have multiple portals on the same custom domain (xx.mycompany.com, yy.mycompany.com, etc.), a wildcard SSL certificate for your portals can be provided so you only have to purchase SSL support once rather than for each individual custom portal.

Configuring user dashboards by organization

By default, the configuration of the user dashboard applies to the whole site. However, the platform also allows you to configure separate dashboards per organization, so organization administrators can tailor the messaging and layout of their dashboard for specific audiences.

To enable custom dashboards for all organizations, super administrators:
  1. Click Organizations from the primary navigation menu.
  2. Click Options from the fly-out menu.
  3. Select the Allow all organizations to have their own customizable dashboard checkbox.
Organizations, Options tab with the Allow all organizations to have their own customizable dashboard setting highlighted

To enable organization administrators to customize a dashboard, super administrators:
  1. Click Admin from the primary navigation menu.
  2. Click Permissions from the fly-out menu.
  3. Click the Business tab.
  4. Click Edit for the Default organization permissions.
  5. Select the Customize the home dashboard checkbox for administrators.
  6. Click Save.
  7. Click Edit for Suborganization permissions.
  8. Select the Customize the home dashboard checkbox for administrators.
  9. Click Save.
Admin, Permissions, Business tab, Edit mode with the Customize the home dashboard setting selected and highlighted for administrators

When an Organization administrator logs-in, the Edit widgets icon will display, as well as the Edit button on the banner widget. To customize the dashboard for their organization, organization administrators:
  1. Configure the organization dashboard by clicking the Edit widgets button.
  2. Configure the organization banner widget by clicking the Edit button on the banner widget.
To learn more about how to configure the home dashboard for users, visit the Home dashboard configuration article.
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Note - Organization administrators can identify that they are accessing the organization dashboard by the welcome text on the banner widget. The banner widget text will default to Welcome to organization name.

Organization admin perspective of the home dashboard with the Edit widgets button and Edit button on the carousel highlighted

If you do not want all organizations to have custom dashboards, but would prefer to enable a custom dashboard for individual organization(s):
  1. Click Organizations from the primary navigation menu.
  2. Select the organization name from the fly-out menu for which you want to enable a custom dashboard.
  3. Click Admin from the organization secondary menu.
  4. Click Dashboards from the fly-out menu.
Organization page with the organization menu's Admin menu active and the Dashboards button highlighted

  1. Click the Enable custom home dashboard for this organization checkbox.

Organization, Admin, Dashboards tab with the Enable custom home dashboard for this organization setting highlighted

This will enable organization administrators for the individual organization to customize the dashboard. 

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Please note that if the Allow all organizations to have their own customizable dashboard setting is enabled, you do not need to enable custom dashboards for each organization individually. If you select the Dashboard tab for an individual organization, the message 'Custom home dashboards have been enabled for all organization via the Admin/Organizations/Options area' will display.

Partitioning organizations

If you would like users to only have access to view users and courses within their organization, you can enable the Partition organizations feature.  This feature allows you to partition organizations so they contain their own set of admins, instructors, and learners, as well as an independent course catalog. Specifically, partitioned organizations include the following characteristics:

  1. If a user in a partitioned organization clicks the Users tab, only users in their organization will display.
  2. If an instructor or teacher in a partitioned organization creates a course, the course is associated with the organization.
    1. If a user in a partitioned organization visits the course catalog, they will only see courses that are associated with their organization.
  3. If a user in a partitioned organization creates a group, the group is associated with their organization.
    1. If a user in an organization visits the group catalog, they will only see groups that are associated with their organization.
  4. An administrator in an organization can only create and manage users in their organization.
    1. If administrators run a report, it will only apply to users in their organization.
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Please note administrators in the default, top level organization can still manage users and courses for all organizations, even if partitioned organizations are enabled.

To enable the partitioned organizations feature:

  1. Click Organizations from the primary navigation menu.
  2. Click Options from the fly-out menu.

Primary navigation menu with the Organizations menu active and the Options button highlighted

The Organizations Options page displays.
  1. Select the Partition organizations checkbox.
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Additional notes regarding partitioned organizations:
  • All users can log in through the same visitor portal. After logging in, their partitioned organization will display.
  • Site policies apply to all organizations.
  • Users in different organizations can search for and view profile pages for users in other organizations. 
  • Users in different organizations can send messages to each other.

Organizations, Options tab with the Partition organizations setting selected and highlighted

It's important to note that the default organization operates outside of the rules of the partitioned organization. For example, an admin in the default organization can administer accounts in any organization, and an instructor in the default organization can create a course and select which organization it will display in. To identify the default organization for a site:
  1. Click Organizations on the primary navigation menu.
  2. Click List from the fly-out menu.
  3. The default organization is indicated by the crown  icon. 
Organizations, List tab with the crown icon highlighted for the default organization

The super admin in the default organization can allow instructors in partitioned organizations to add resources to the site-level resources library. To allow instructors to share resources between organizations:
  1. Click Organizations from the primary navigation menu.
  2. Click Options from the fly-out menu.
  3. Select the Allow resource sharing between organizations checkbox. 
Organizations, Options tab with the Allow resource sharing between organizations setting selected and highlighted

Cascading administrator rights

When organizations are partitioned, super administrators can enable a setting that allows administrators of a parent organizations to also administer its sub-organizations (including the child organizations of the sub-organizations). To enable cascading administrator rights:

  1. Click Organizations from the primary navigation menu.
  2. Click Options from the fly-out menu.
  3. Select the Administrator of an organization can administer all of it children checkbox.

Organizations, Options tab with the Managers of an organization are also managers in its child organizations setting selected and highlighted

In the example below, administrators in the Marketing organization would also be able to administer the Design organization. 

Cascading administrator rights include:

  • Adding and editing users in all sub-organizations.
  • Adding and editing courses in all sub-organizations.
  • Adding and editing groups in all sub-organizations.
Organizations, List tab with three levels of organizations highlighted

Cascading manager rights

When organizations are partitioned, super administrators can enable a setting that allows managers of a parent organization to also be managers in its sub-organizations (including the child organizations of the sub-organizations). To enable cascading manager rights:

  1. Click Organizations from the primary navigation menu.
  2. Click Options from the fly-out menu.
  3. Select the Managers of an organization are also managers in its child organizations checkbox.


Once enabled, managers in an organization that has child organizations will be able to access the organizations from the Organizations button in the primary navigation menu.

Manager view of the primary navigation menu with the Organizations menu active and two organizations displaying

Reports with cascading permissions enabled

With cascading permissions enabled, the child organizations will appear when setting report parameters for applicable reports. For example, the Organization drop-down will appear for course information reports, assessment reports, and missing work reports.  

Organizations, Options tab with the Hide organizations from each other setting selected and highlighted

Hiding organizations 

This feature allows you to hide organizations from one another. It's an especially useful feature when each organizations represents a different client and you want to prevent clients from seeing or interacting with each other. By enabling this feature, users in organizations cannot:

  1. Locate users in other organizations using the search feature.
  2. See when users in other organizations are online. 
  3. Access the profiles of users in other organizations.
  4. Send messages to users in other organizations.
  5. Add users in other organizations as friends.
To hide organizations from one another:
  1. Click Organizations from the primary navigation menu.
  2. Click Options from the fly-out menu.
  3. Select the Hide organizations from each other checkbox.

Missing organization

The Missing organization feature allows you to define the default organization for new user accounts if an organization is not provided during account creation. This can occur if the Organization field is not marked as required on the sign-up form, or when importing a CSV file for new accounts that doesn't include an Organization value.

By default, an account that's missing information about the organization is assigned to the default organization. To set another organization as the default organization for new accounts:

  1. Click Organizations from the primary navigation menu.
  2. Click Options from the fly-out menu.
  3. Select an organization from the drop-down list in the Missing organization section.
Organizations, Options tab with the Missing organization menu active and highlighted

Custom fields

You can associate custom fields with an organization in a similar manner to that of custom course fields. To manage custom fields for organizations:

  1. Click Organizations from the primary navigation menu.
  2. Click Options from the fly-out menu.
  3. Click Add in the Custom fields section.
Organizations, Options tab with the Add button highlighted in the Custom fields section

The Add custom field pop-up displays.

  1. Add the Name of the custom field.
  2. Click Save. 
Add custom field pop-up with 'Address' entered as an example of a custom field name

The new custom field displays.

  1. Click Add to add another custom field.
  2. Click the edit edit icon icon to change the name of a custom field.
Organizations, Options tab, Custom fields section with the Edit button highlighted for an existing custom field

To delete a custom field:

  1. Select the custom field checkbox.
  2. Click Delete.
Organizations, Options tab, Custom fields section with a custom field selected and the Delete button highlighted

After you have added the custom field(s), you can add a value to the custom field for each organization.  To enter the custom field values for a particular organization:
  1. Click Organizations from the primary navigation menu.
  2. Select an organization from the fly-out menu.
  3. Click Admin on the organization secondary menu.
  4. Click Basics from the fly-out menu.
  5. Click Edit in the Custom field section. 

Organization, Admin, Basics tab with the Edit button highlighted in the Custom fields section

The Custom fields pop-up displays.

  1. Add a value for the custom field.
  2. Click Save.
The Custom fields pop-up with an example of a value entered in the custom fields text box

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