Distributed Administration (DA) enables Org-Level Administrators to assign permissions to custom created Sub-Org Administrator roles who then can manage specialized administrator tasks for a Sub-Org. You can create a secondary level of Sub-Org Administrators and assign them to specific custom Sub-Org Units (and descendants). This allows you to delegate specialized tasks to Sub-Org Administrators which restricts course management (create and edit) to a specific org unit (and its descendants) only. This enables Sub-Org Admins to administer courses for only their level and below and removes bottlenecks encountered by Administrators managing large organizations by decentralizing course administration tasks.
For example, in a large school board (Org Unit), an Administrator can assign Sub-Org Administrators to specific schools (custom Sub-Org Units) within that school board so that those Sub-Org Admins can complete specialized delegated tasks.
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Important: Before you start setting up Distributed Administration, it's important to review the permissions and administrative activities you want to delegate so you can plan how you will structure Org Units and Sub-Org Units in a way that works for your organization or institution.
For example, if you know you will need Sub-Org Administrators to manage Users in addition to Courses, you may want to wait until Distributed Administration features support User management.
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Terms and definitions
- Organization (Org): This is the top-level unit of an instance of Brightspace. It represents the overall institution and is controlled and managed by an Org Administrator.
- Org Administrator: This is the top level administrator who has full system access at the organization level and to all descendant sub-org units. The Org Administrator must set up Distributed Administration for all Sub-Org Administrators.
- Sub-Org Unit: This is a custom Org Unit type created by the Org Administrator. It is located below the Organization level and is used by Sub-Org Admins to complete Distributed Administration tasks. Examples of Sub-Org Units include divisions, tenants, colleges, campuses, or departments.
- Sub-org Administrators: This is a user created by Org Administrators and given specific role permissions to access and complete administrative tasks at the Sub-Org unit level.
Examples of Distributed Administration
You can assign permissions for managing Brightspace tools at the Sub-Org Unit level. You stay in control of what Sub-Org Administrators can do while making it possible for them to autonomously support their communities.
Example 1: Distributed Administration architecture for an educational institution with multiple campuses
In this example, a Brightspace system-level Administrator in the head office of a university system which includes multiple campuses wanting to delegate permissions for managing courses and course offerings to the individual local administrators who support each campus.
The system-level Administrator creates Sub-Org Units for each campus, and assigns the Sub-Org Administrator role to the local administrators who will manage in the colleges they support.
The Sub-Org Administrators can manage courses and Org Units for their campus, but do not have permission or access to administrative tools for the other campuses.
Figure: The head office of an educational institution is at the highest organizational level, with individual campuses at the Sub-Org Unit level. Campus admins with the Sub-Org Administrator role at each campus can manage administrative tasks for the departments they support.
Example 2: Distributed Administration architecture for a corporation
In this example, a Brightspace system-level Administrator in a corporation, which must manage training activities across multiple business sectors, wants to delegate permissions for managing training to leads in each business sector.
The system-level Administrator creates Sub-Org Units for each business sector, and assigns the Sub-Org Administrator role, who will coordinate trainings for teams in the sector they support.
Figure: The headquarters (HQ) of a corporation is at the highest organizational level, with individual business sectors at the Sub-Org Unit level. Leaders (Sub-Org Administrator) in each business sector with the Sub-Org Administrator role can manage training activities for the teams they support.
Example 3: Distributed Administration architecture for training organization
In this example, a Brightspace system-level Administrator in a training organization, which supports training activities in multiple locations, wants to delegate permissions for managing courses and course offerings to the individual local training coordinators, who support each location.
The system-level Administrator creates Sub-Org Units for each location, and assigns the Sub-Org Administrator role to the local training coordinators who will organize training activities in the workplaces they support.
Figure: The head training office is at the highest organizational level, with individual workplaces at the Sub-Org Unit level. Training coordinators (Sub-Org Administrator) with the Sub-Org Administrator role at each location can manage administrative tasks for the local groups they support.
The Sub-Org Administrators can manage courses and Org Units for their location, but do not have permission or access to administrative tools for the other locations.
Distributed Administration Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
The following section answers some frequently asked questions (FAQs) about Distributed Administration.
Which Admin Tools can Sub-Org Administrators access?
After each phased releases, more Brightspace tools will support Distributed Administration. After the release, Sub-Org Administrators will see and manage tools for their own Org Units according to the permissions granted by their System-level administrator. For example, they cannot see or manage Admin Tools for Org Units unless a system-level Administrator grants them permission to do so.
Refer to the Tools and role permissions available to Sub-Org Administrators section of Explore the Sub-Org Unit homepage for more details.
How do Sub-Org Administrators access homepages for their Sub Org Units?
Sub-Org Administrators should use the My Org Units widget to access links to their Sub-Org homepage in the Organization homepage. This will ensure that Sub-Org Administrators can properly access Admin Tools such as Courses and the Org Unit Editor from their Sub-Org level.
For information about using the My Org Units widget, refer to Add a My Org Units widget to an organization homepage.
What is the best way for Sub-Org Administrators to access Admin Tools for their Sub-Org level?
Note: Default permissions can vary depending on how you’ve configured them for the different user roles in your LMS.
In most LMS configurations, Sub-Org Administrators should be able access Admin Tools for their Sub-Org Unit in the navigation bar by going to Sub-Org Homepage > Course Admin.
Do I need to create a new custom Org Unit Type when I set up Distributed Administration?
Sub-Org Units add a flexible new way to delegate administrative activities in your LMS, but it is important to plan the structure of your Org Units before you set it up. D2L recommends the you use a Custom Org Type to set up Distributed Administration.
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Important: To avoid conflicts with permissions, course creation, and the Org Hierarchy, you should avoid using the same Custom Org Type for Sub-Org Unit Type and the Standard Org Unit Type. Using the same Org-unit Type for your Sub-org Unit and Standard Org Unit Type can make it so Sub-Org Administrators can create other Sub-Org Units, and result in permission and hierarchy conflicts.
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I already have a Custom Org Type we want to use for Distributed Administration
For convenience, many institutions already use Custom Org Types to make the Brightspace Org Hierarchy more accurately reflect administrative layers in the colleges, departments, sectors, or teams for whom they manage learning activities.
For example, a university system may already have a Custom Org Unit type for the colleges they want to delegate course administration activities to.
These customers can designate an existing Custom Org Unit Type as a Sub-Org and give Sub-Org Administrators the permissions they need to support them, as long as they make sure Sub-Org Administrators cannot create other Sub-Org Units (see Warning above).
I do not yet have a Custom Org Type to use for Distributed Administration
If you do not currently use a Custom-Org Unit Type to create levels of hierarchy for your Org Units, you must create a new Custom Org-Unit Type to use for Sub-Org Units. And again, make sure Sub-Org Administrators cannot create other Sub-Org Units (see Warning above).
When will Sub-Org Administrators be able to manage users for their Sub-Org units?
Sub-Org Administrators will not be able to manage users in the current Distributed Administration roll-out phase.
As soon as the Users tool supports Distributed Administration, Sub-Org Administrators will be able to manage users in Users tool for their respective Sub-Org Units.
Refer to Set up Distributed Administration for steps to set up Distributed Administration as a system administrator.
Refer to Explore the Sub-Org Unit homepage for more information about how a Sub-Org Administrator can access their Sub-Org Unit homepage.