Use the Org Unit Editor to view, edit, and create org units within your organizational structure. You can also use it to search for org units by type, search for orphaned or childless org units, restore deleted org units, and delete org units. Org units define the structure of an institution.
For more information about Org Structures and Org Units, refer to Org Structures in Brightspace.
Each org unit is an instance of a particular org unit type. For example, Fall 2022 and Winter 2022 could be separate org units of the org unit type semester.
When creating course offering and course section codes, D2L recommends the following naming conventions:
- Course offering - <DEPT_ORG_SEMESTER>
- Course sections - <DEPT_ORG_SEMESTER_SECTIONVALUE>
These recommended naming conventions will foster effective reporting (to aggregate data based on codes) and searching of features.
Some examples are as follows:
Example: Math course
Department: MATH
Semester: FA17
Course Template: MATH_CALCULUS
Course Offering: MATH_CALCULUS_FA17
Course Section(s): MATH_CALCULUS_FA17_S1 | MATH_CALCULUS_FA17_S2
Example: Biology course:
Department: AASU_BIOL (Org and department)
Semester: SP18
Course Template: AASU_BIOL_ EVOLUTION
Course Offering: AASU_BIOLOGY_EVOLUTION_S18
Course Section: AASU_BIOLOGY_EVOLUTION_S18_S1
There are three ways to access individual org units:
- By Hierarchy - Expand this node to view the organizational structure from the top down. D2L recommends using the hierarchy view for managing org structure.
- By Type - Expand this node to show all instances of the selected type.
- Search All Org Units - Use this option to find an org unit based on search criteria. You can search by org unit name, ID, or code and restrict your search by org unit type.
Select an org unit from the Org Unit Editor to:
- Edit org unit properties
- Edit tools associated with an org unit
- View and edit org unit homepages and navbars
- Move org units in the organizational structure
- Change the colors used on an org unit homepage
Select the Org Unit Recycler option to:
- Restore org units to a hierarchy
- Delete org units permanently
Select the Search All Org Units option to:
- Search for an org unit (you can filter your search by org unit type)
Select the Org Unit Utilities option to:
- Search for org units that have no children (useful for locating unused course templates)
- Search for org units that are not part of a hierarchy
Org unit terms
Term
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Definition
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Parent Org Unit
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The top-level or parent org unit is a level above another org unit in your organizational hierarchy. A parent can have many children. For example, a course template org unit can be the parent of many child course offerings.
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Child Org Unit
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Sub-levels of an org unit. Some children can have several parents. For example, a course offering is the child of a course template as well as a semester.
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Orphaned Org Unit
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An org unit not attached to any parent. For example, a course offering that was separated from its associated course template, perhaps because the template was deleted.
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Org Unit Type
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There are six default org unit types: semester, department, course template, course offering, group, and section. You can add additional org unit types to your hierarchy, change the names of existing org unit types, and change the hierarchy or org units. For example, your organization might also use Colleges and Schools.
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Org unit properties
Property
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Description
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Type
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The type of org unit. For example, department or semester. This property, once set, is read-only.
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Name
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The name of the org unit.
The Maximum length for the Name of any org unit is 128 characters.
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Code
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Unique code for the org unit. This code may be informational or required for integration with external information systems (SIS/UIS).
If your organization is integrated with an SIS, you must create a unique org unit code for each org unit.
When creating course offering and course section codes,
D2L recommends the following naming conventions:
- Course offering - <DEPT_ORG_SEMESTER>
- Course sections - <DEPT_ORG_SEMESTER_SECTIONVALUE>
These recommended naming conventions will foster effective reporting (to aggregate data based on codes) and searching of features.
Org units of any type share the same restrictions as follows:
- The Code of an org unit may not include any of the following characters: # & , : * ? < > | \ " ' %
- The maximum length for the Code of an org unit is 50 characters.
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Path
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The location in the /content/ directory that the user is taken to when visiting the Manage Files area for the org unit. This must be specified to access Manage Files for the org unit.
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Parent ID
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The org unit ID as it appears in the web address (the parameter passed to each page inside the org unit). This property, once set, is read-only.
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