Institution Management

Institution management defines the organizational structure within AcaTrove. This is where administrators set up departments, colleges, and other academic units that reflect how your institution is organized. These structures are used for reporting, access control, and resource allocation. Admin role is required.

Accessing Institution Settings

Navigate to /admin/institutions to view and edit your institutional configuration.

Institution settings page with organizational structure

Setting Up Your Institution

When configuring your institution for the first time:

1. Institution Name -- Enter your institution's official name.
2. Type -- Select the institution type (University, Research Institute, Medical Center, Government Agency, Other).
3. Location -- City, state/province, and country.
4. Website -- Your institution's primary URL.
5. ROR ID -- Research Organization Registry identifier, if available. This enables interoperability with external research databases.

Managing Departments

Departments are the primary organizational units within your institution. Each department can have its own set of users, budgets, and reporting.

Adding a department:

1. Click + Add Department on the institution page.
2. Enter the department name, abbreviation, and optional description.
3. Assign a department head (an existing user with admin privileges).
4. Click Save.

Editing a department: Click on any department to update its name, head, or description. Changes are reflected immediately across the platform.

Organizing hierarchy: Departments can be nested under colleges or schools. Create the parent unit first, then assign departments to it using the Parent Unit dropdown when creating or editing a department.

Department management with hierarchy and assigned users

Department-Level Features

When departments are configured, several platform features become department-aware:

• Analytics -- Filter research metrics by department for institutional reporting.
• Budget allocation -- Assign budgets to specific departments and track spending at the departmental level.
• User management -- Filter and manage users by their department assignment.
• ABAC permissions -- Use department membership as an attribute in access control policies (e.g., only users in the Biology department can access certain shared documents).

Assigning Users to Departments

Users are assigned to departments through their profile or during the invitation process:

1. Navigate to /admin/users and open a user's profile.
2. In the Department field, select the appropriate department.
3. Save the changes.

Alternatively, when inviting new users, you can specify their department in the invitation form.

Tips

• Set up your institutional structure before inviting users so department assignments can be made during onboarding.
• Use the ROR ID to ensure your institution is correctly identified in external research databases and ORCID integrations.
• Review department assignments annually, especially for faculty who move between departments or hold joint appointments.