Administrative Divisions

Administrative Divisions are non-academic components of the Organizational Hierarchy and are manually added to the platform. They exist alongside the academic hierarchy (Institutions, Colleges, Departments) to support administrative-side organization and use cases. The hierarchy connects items like courses, programs, and other activities to their related academic and administrative structures. Divisions are accessed by navigating to Main Menu > Organizational Hierarchy > Administrative Divisions. Learn more about the Organizational Hierarchy.

Downstream Impacts

• Email Identity and Communications: If Administrative Division email settings are used for notifications, changing the “From” name/address can change how emails appear to recipients and how they route for replies (especially if using do-not-reply patterns). Learn more.

• Administrative Unit Organization and Visibility: Administrative Divisions serve as containers for Administrative Units, so changes can affect how users locate units and navigate into unit-level configuration and activity.

• Reporting/Participant Groups: Institutions using Participant Groups like “All Colleges/Administrative Division” in Data Collection contexts should know that hierarchy changes can have downstream implications for reporting and participation scopes.

Considerations

• Manual management: Administrative Divisions are manually added, so Institutions should plan ownership and upkeep (who creates them, who updates them, and when).

• Dependency with Administrative Units: If units are linked under a division, consider the downstream effects before archiving/deleting or reorganizing divisions.

Best practices

• Decide which administrative structures belong in Administrative Divisions vs Administrative Units, and keep that model consistent so units are easy to find and report on.

• Set the “From” email address and name before enabling notification workflows, and use a recognizable name so recipients trust the message.

• Maintain description/mission/contact settings as a “source of context” for administrators, but note that descriptions/missions are informational and do not change platform behavior.

• Before moving/renaming divisions, confirm whether administrative divisions are referenced by participant groups, reports, or other processes.

Administrative Division Manager

The manager displays a record's name and code; clicking the name (1) displays the homepage. Summary columns (2) provide quick counts of associated records, and by expanding the Actions menu (3), additional information can be viewed without navigating to the homepage by clicking View Details. Export functionality is available by expanding the More Options menu (4) to export the manager to CSV format.

Administrative Division Homepage

The homepage is the landing page for hierarchy-level-specific administration. In addition to serving as a central "at-a-glance" page, it surfaces summary metrics and visualizations that help confirm the structure and activity at a given hierarchy level. This page is the access point for level-specific configurations and settings that support ongoing operations.

The left-hand menu is the hierarchy-level navigation menu (1), organized into sections of configuration points and settings. The Information section is used to review and maintain core record information and level-specific setups. Below the Information section, various settings menus provide access to level-specific configurations that define defaults and behavior that apply broadly across the hierarchy level. At the top right of the homepage, there is a Resources button (2) that provides a centralized place to access supporting tools and links related to the hierarchy level.

By clicking the Resources button, all level-specific attachments can be accessed in a centralized drawer with organized tabs for tasks, notes, and files (1) with options to view, edit, or delete, as applicable, by resource type (2). New resources can be added quickly through the action buttons at the bottom of each tab.

• Tasks: Displays tasks assigned to the selected hierarchy level, with creation and assignment details, due dates, status indicators to track progress, and options to edit or delete tasks.

• Notes: Provides quick access to all associated notes with timestamps and creation details, with options to edit or delete notes.

• Files: Displays all attached documents and media, with options to view, download, or delete them.