Set up your institution

School Admin

The complete, ordered path from a newly created institution to a school where teachers mark attendance and parents follow their children. The order matters. Most "it doesn't work" reports during setup come from a step done too early — a teacher added before any classes exist, or a timetable started before the bell schedule.

Stage 1 — SOL creates your institution

SOL sets up each institution in SolAssists for you. Agree these with SOL first, because they are hard to change later:

Decision	Why it matters
Institution code	Permanent. Used in imports and reports.
Kind of institution	Chooses the words in the app (Standard/Division vs Course/Batch). Can be corrected later.
Level names	What each level of your structure is called, for example Zone → Branch → Standard → Division. A level's type can't be changed once units exist, and you can't remove a level yourself. If you have no zones, tell SOL before set-up.
Modules	People Directory, Study Material, Examinations, Fees and Reports are add-ons. Without People Directory you cannot create parent sign-ins.
Your administrator	The name and email of the person who will run SolAssists at your institution.

Stage 2 — What's already set up for you

When SOL creates your institution, SolAssists also creates:

• one academic session marked current, running 1 June to 31 March (for example "2026-27") — if your year runs differently, correct the dates in stage 5;
• a default attendance policy (one daily session) and Sunday as the weekly off;
• four roles: School Admin, Teacher, Student and Parent / Guardian, each with standard permissions for your modules;
• your administrator's account, and any levels and units you agreed with SOL.

A student sign-in from set-up doesn't give a working student portal

A student account created during set-up isn't connected to a student record, so that student's profile, timetable and progress stay empty. See Student portal.

Stage 3 — Accept your invitation

Your administrator receives an invitation link by email. Open it, confirm your name, choose a password of at least 12 characters, then sign in to SolAssists. See First login.

Links work once and expire after 72 hours. If yours was lost or has expired, ask SOL to send a new one. See Login problems.

Stage 4 — Build the institution structure

Institution Setup → Institution Structure. See Institution structure.

1. Check the level names and types in the Levels card.
2. Create units from the top down — for example Main Campus → Grade 8 → 8-A — until every class you teach has a unit at the bottom level (a division).
3. Give every unit a short code. Spreadsheet imports find divisions by code.

If you skip this: division lists are empty everywhere, teaching assignments cannot be made, and the timetable shows "No division selected".

Stage 5 — Check the academic session

Institution Setup → Academic Sessions. See Academic sessions.

Onboarding already created one current session. Check its name and dates. If your year does not run June to March, fix it here before adding subjects.

If there is no current session: teachers see no classes at all, enrolment fails with "This institution has no current academic session yet.", and timetables show "No academic session yet".

Stage 6 — Bell schedule

Institution Setup → Bell Schedule. Add the periods of the day (and breaks). The class timetable cannot be built without them ("No bell schedule yet"). See Bell schedule.

Stage 7 — Subjects

Institution Setup → Subjects. Subjects belong to the current session. Without them, Assign a teacher stays disabled. See Subjects.

Optional at this point: Rooms and Student Groups (see Rooms and groups), Departments and Leave Types (see Departments and shifts and Staff leave). Without at least one leave type, nobody can apply for leave.

Stage 8 — Teachers and teaching assignments

Teachers & Staff → Teachers → Add Teacher. See Add a teacher and Teacher onboarding.

1. Give teaching access — the teacher's email, the school's Teacher role, and the campus (or whole institution) they work in.
2. Optionally link their staff record.
3. Assign what they teach — subject × division, for the current session.

A teacher with no teaching assignment sees nothing

Teachers only see students, registers and exams for classes they are assigned to in the current academic session. Also make sure the division you assign lies inside the campus you gave them access to — otherwise the class appears but every action fails with "That part of the institution is outside your access."

Stage 9 — Students

Choose one way per group of students. See Students overview.

• Students & Admissions → Students → Add student, then Enrol into a division.
• Students & Admissions → Bulk Student Import for a whole class (uses division codes).
• Students & Admissions → Admissions for applicants who go through a decision.

A student who is not placed in a division for the current session does not appear on any register or timetable.

Stage 10 — Parents and guardians

Students & Admissions → Parents & Guardians. See Parent onboarding.

1. Add the guardian (with an email address) or open the one created with the student.
2. Link them to their children.
3. Use Give access to send an invitation.

Parents see only the children linked to them. Give access needs the People Directory module and an email address.

Stage 11 — Class timetable

Academics → Class Timetable. Choose a division and fill the weekly grid. Each slot needs a period (stage 6) and a teacher already assigned to that subject in that division (stage 8). See Timetable.

Stage 12 — Daily operations

You are ready to run the school day:

• Attendance — teachers mark registers; devices can record arrivals.
• Announcements — teachers draft; an administrator sends.
• Fees, Examinations, Study material, Reports — if your institution has these modules.
• Staff leave — staff apply, approvers decide and arrange cover.

Keep going with the Administrator's operational manual and tick things off on the Onboarding checklist.

Quick reference: what blocks what

If this is missing…	…you will see
Divisions (bottom-level units)	Empty division lists; "No division selected" on the timetable
A current academic session	"This institution has no current academic session yet."; teachers see no classes
Bell schedule	"No bell schedule yet" on the timetable
Subjects	Assign a teacher is disabled; "Add subjects first…"
Teaching assignment	Teacher sees empty lists; "Nobody is assigned to teach this division yet…" when scheduling
Enrolment	"Nobody on this register" on attendance
Leave types	Apply for leave is disabled
People Directory module	No Give access for parents