Create and Manage the Hierarchy Levels

Course, user, enrollment, and organization data is added manually to each hierarchy level node it belongs to. For this and security reasons it is best practice to plan out your institution's framework and management structure prior to creating the hierarchy. Does your institution administration prefer distributed management or central management? What roles will you give users and do they match their role at the institution?

  • Central management refers to a team of administrators managing all levels of the hierarchy. Each team member has system administrator permission. This gives each administrator full access to all levels of the hierarchy.
  • Distributed management is typically seen at institutions where each campus wants to manage their operations differently from one another. For this purpose system administrators can delegate administration to the hierarchy level node that represents each campus to other users.

Create hierarchy level nodes

  1. From the Administrator Panel, under Communities, select Institutional Hierarchy.

    This opens the hierarchy at the institution level node. Enrollments and courses cannot be added at this level.

  2. Select Create Node.
  3. Type a Name for the node and optionally a Description.

    An Identifier must be created for each node. One will automatically be created if you don't type one.

  4. Select Submit.

After a hierarchy level node has been created administrators, courses, organizations, and users can be added to it.

Delete and edit nodes

  1. Navigate to the hierarchy level node you want to delete or edit.
  2. Open the node's menu, and select Delete or Edit.

Move hierarchy level nodes

You can move nodes to different hierarchy levels. When a node moves it keeps the administrators, courses, organizations, users, and descendant nodes added to it.

  1. Navigate to the hierarchy level node you want to move.
  2. Open the node's menu, and select Move.
  3. Search for the hierarchy level node you want to move the current node to.
  4. Select Submit.

Add an administrator to a hierarchy level node

System Administrators automatically have access to all levels of the Hierarchy. Depending on the framework of your institution and mirroring Institutional Hierarchy, System Administrators can use the Hierarchy User Interface to delegate specific hierarchy level node administration to other users.

You can create a custom system role to more easily manage and assign Institutional Hierarchy administration privileges. Institutional Hierarchy is managed through the Administrator Panel, where many other sensitive and important settings can be found. To be sure that Institutional Hierarchy administrators only have access to that area of the Administrator Panel, you can create a custom role and assign privileges accordingly.

To add an administrator to a node:

  1. Navigate to the hierarchy level node where you want to add an administrator.
  2. Select the Administrators tab.
  3. Select Add Administrator.
  4. Browse for a user by Username to add to the hierarchy level node and select Submit.
  5. Under Roles, select the administrator roles you want to assign to the user you are adding.
  6. Select Submit.

    Users added as administrators to a hierarchy level node do not get added as administrators to a level's descendant nodes. Administrators must be added to each level node they will be managing.

Edit or remove a hierarchy level administrator

  1. Navigate to the hierarchy level node you want to add an administrator to.
  2. Select the Administrators tab.
  3. Find the administrator you want to edit or remove and open its menu.
  4. Select Edit or Remove.

Add courses, organizations, and users to a node

After a hierarchy level node is created you can add courses, organizations, and users to it. Courses, organizations and Users are all added the same way. Each course, organization, and user are added from their tabs in the hierarchy. From there, Administrators search for courses, organizations, and users that already exist in Blackboard Learn.

To add a course to a hierarchy level node from the node:

  1. Navigate to the hierarchy level node you want to add a course to.
  2. Select the Courses tab.
  3. Select Add Course.
  4. Search for a course to select and select Submit.

    Courses, organizations and Users can also be added to a hierarchy level node from their create/edit page.

Remove courses, organizations, and users from a node

  1. Navigate to the hierarchy level node you want to remove.
  2. Select the Courses tab.
  3. Find the course you want to remove and open the course's menu.
  4. Select Remove.

    You can also select Remove Node from the course, organization, or user create/edit page.

Manage Tabs and Modules in a Node

Add tabs and modules to a node

After a hierarchy level node is created you can add tabs and modules to it. Tabs and modules are added the same way. Each tab and module are added from their tabs in the hierarchy. From there, Administrators search for tabs and modules that already exist in Blackboard Learn.

To add a tab to a hierarchy level node from the node:

  1. Navigate to the hierarchy level node you want to add a tab to.
  2. Select the Tabs tab.
  3. Select Add Tab.
  4. Search for a tab to select and select Submit.

    Tabs and modules can also be added to a hierarchy level node from their create/edit page.

Remove tabs and modules from a node

  1. Navigate to the hierarchy level node you want to remove.
  2. Select the Tabs tab.
  3. Find the tab you want to remove and open the its menu.
  4. Select Remove.

    You can also select Remove Node from the create/edit page.

Manage Tools in a Node

Manage tools in a node

To manage a tool in a hierarchy level node from the node:

  1. Navigate to the hierarchy level node you want to manage a tool in.
  2. Select the Tools tab.
  3. Select the availability.

Tool management page

  1. For each tool listed the type of tool is identified.
  2. Turn the availability of the tool on or off for authenticated users.
  3. Lock or unlock the tool availability setting. If locked, instructors cannot change the setting at the course or organization level. If unlocked, instructors can change the setting at the course or organization level.
  4. When you make a change to the availability settings you are asked to identify where the changes apply. Choose from New or New and existing.
  5. Make the tool available to guests and observers. If you see the no symbol, this tool cannot be made available to guests and observers. Check or uncheck the availability checkbox to make the tool available or unavailable to guests or observers.
  6. Select Submit to save your changes.