§ 3 · Start here

Finding your way around

The administration screen has exactly three navigation controls. Once you can name them, you can find anything: the bar across the top changes module, the sidebar on the left changes task, and the block at the bottom of the sidebar changes portal.

What it is for

Reading the admin screen and reaching any page in two clicks.

Who can do it

All office staff

Needed first

A signed-in administration account

Where it ends

You can navigate without being told a URL.

The shape of every admin screen

The Registrar role dashboard: a dark green task sidebar on the left, a two-row module bar across the top, and the main panel with stat tiles, an Awaiting your action grid and two charts. — **A role dashboard.** Three controls, always in the same place: the **module bar** across the top, the **task sidebar** down the left, and the **portal switcher** at the bottom of that sidebar. Everything else is the page you are on.

Control	Where	What it changes
Module bar	Across the top	Which module you are in — Admissions, Students & Registry, Finance…
Task sidebar	Down the left, dark green	Which screen within that module
My Portals	Bottom of the sidebar	Which portal — admin, staff self-service, lecturer

The module bar

Each module name has a small chevron. Click the name to go to the module's home page; click the chevron to drop down its main tasks without leaving the page you are on.
The bar wraps onto two rows on purpose. If you have many modules, look at the second row before deciding something is missing.
On a phone or a narrow window the bar becomes a single row you can swipe sideways.

This bar is the honest answer

If a module is not on your bar, you do not have permission for it — no amount of searching will find it. That is the quickest way to check your own access before raising a request.

The task sidebar

The dark green column on the left lists every screen in the current module, grouped under small capitalised headings. It changes completely when you change module.

The Students and Registry sidebar: a user chip reading Misa Registrar, a My Dashboard back-link, then groups RECORDS, ENROLMENT, GRADUATION, GRADUATION REPORTS, then MY PORTALS with Staff Self-Service and Lecturer Portal buttons, then Home and Sign out. — **The Students & Registry sidebar.** Read it top to bottom: who you are, a way back to your dashboard, the module's tasks in workflow order, then the portal switcher and Sign out.

How to read it

The chip at the top shows your name and which workspace you are in. If it names someone else, you are on a shared computer that is still signed in as them — sign out before doing anything.
My Dashboard is always the way back to your own landing page, whatever depth you have reached.
The group headings follow the order the work actually happens in. In Students & Registry that is Records, then Enrolment, then Graduation, then the reports about graduation. If you are unsure which screen you need, the group heading is usually enough to narrow it to two.
The highlighted item with a gold bar is the screen you are on.
Some sidebars have a search box at the top — Finance's says Search finance tasks. It filters the sidebar itself, which is far faster than scrolling a long module.

The Finance and Accounting sidebar with a Search finance tasks box, quick-action tiles, and groups FINANCE, STUDENT ACCOUNTS, STUDENT SUPPORT, CASH AND TREASURY, each with a count badge. — **Finance has its own sidebar.** Larger modules get a search box, quick-action tiles at the top and a count badge on each group. HR is laid out the same way.

Moving between portals

At the bottom of every sidebar is My Portals · One login. Because the whole system shares one sign-in, these buttons take you straight across — no second password.

Staff Self-Service — your own HR record, leave and payslips.
Lecturer Portal — only if you teach.
Home — the module launcher, a grid of every module you can reach.
Sign out — ends the session everywhere, including the other portals.

On a shared computer

Signing out of one portal signs you out of all of them, which is what you want. Closing the browser tab does not. Always use Sign out on a machine anyone else uses.

Patterns that repeat on every page

Once the navigation makes sense, the pages themselves are built from the same handful of parts.

What you see	What it is	How to use it
A row of tiles with big numbers	Counts for the filter behind them	They are buttons. Click a tile to list exactly those records — much faster than building the filter by hand
Waiting on you / Awaiting your action	Your personal queue for this module	Start here every morning. If it is empty, nothing in this module needs you
A row of tabs above a table	Sub-screens of one workspace, not separate pages	Each tab is one task. Tabs load when you click them, so give a heavy one a moment
A filter strip with an Apply button	The list below is filtered only when you press Apply	Changing a dropdown does nothing until you press it. This catches everyone once
Export Excel / Export CSV	The current list, with your filters applied	Set the filters first, export second. The export is not the whole table
A wide table that runs off the screen	A table with more columns than the window	Scroll the table itself sideways — the page does not scroll, the table does
Two round buttons, bottom right	Internal chat and the help launcher	Chat reaches colleagues inside the system — see Chat

The fastest habit to build

Do not navigate to a list and then filter it. Go to your module's dashboard and click the tile for the state you care about. The tiles are pre-built filters, and they are always the shortest route to the records that need you.