Dashboard Tiles

Configure the dashboard tiles that appear on user home screens based on their role.

Overview

Dashboard tiles are the primary navigation elements on a user's home page after login. Each tile displays a title, icon, and links to a specific area of the system. Tiles are assigned to roles so that different users see different dashboards based on their responsibilities.

Managing Tiles

Viewing Tiles

Dashboard tiles have no menu entry — there is no permission node for them, so they do not appear in the sidebar for anyone. They are administered through the API (/api/v1/authorization/dashboard-tiles) or by whatever route the dashboard itself exposes.

The list returns every configured tile with its title, icon, link and assigned roles.

Creating a Tile

1. Click Add Tile
2. Complete the form:

Field	Description	Required
Title	Text displayed on the tile (e.g., "My Courses")	Yes
Icon	PrimeIcons icon name (e.g., pi-book, pi-users)	Yes
Link	URL path the tile navigates to (e.g., /courses)	Yes
Description	Brief description shown on hover or below the title	No
Sort Order	Numeric value controlling the tile's position on the dashboard	Yes
Is Active	Whether the tile is currently visible	Yes

Editing a Tile

1. Click on a tile from the list
2. Modify the desired fields
3. Click Save

Deleting a Tile

1. Click on a tile from the list
2. Click Delete
3. Confirm the deletion

WARNING

Deleting a tile removes it from all users' dashboards immediately. Consider deactivating a tile (setting Is Active to false) instead if you may want to restore it later.

Assigning Tiles to Roles

Dashboard tiles are associated with roles. A user sees all tiles assigned to their active role.

Suggested role assignments

No tiles ship by default

core.dashboard_tiles, core.role_default_tiles and core.user_dashboard_preferences are all empty in the current database. Nothing is seeded, so a fresh install shows no tiles until an administrator creates them.

The table below is a suggestion for how to populate them, not a description of what is there.

Role	Suggested tiles
Student	My Courses, My Schedule, Grades, Degree Audit, Billing, Profile
Faculty	My Courses, Grade Roster, Advisees
Advisor	My Advisees, Degree Audits, Student Search
Registrar	Registration, Courses, Sections, Students, Holds
Financial Admin	Billing, Payment Plans, Fee Types
Administrator	All configuration areas

Two rows were dropped from an earlier version of this table because the areas behind them are retired: Admissions (applications and decisions moved to a separate system in August 2026) and Financial Aid (deliberately unreachable). A tile pointing at either would render for nobody, since a tile is gated by a permission node.

Assigning a Tile to a Role

1. Open the tile record
2. Go to the Roles tab
3. Click Add Role
4. Select the role from the dropdown
5. Click Save

A tile can be assigned to multiple roles. A user with multiple roles will see tiles from their currently active role.

Removing a Tile from a Role

1. Open the tile record
2. Go to the Roles tab
3. Click the remove button next to the role
4. Confirm the removal

Tile Organization

Sort Order

Tiles appear on the dashboard in the order specified by their Sort Order value. Lower numbers appear first. Use increments of 10 (10, 20, 30...) to leave room for inserting tiles later.

Grouping

Consider organizing tiles into logical groups on the dashboard:

Group	Tiles
Academics	My Courses, Schedule, Grades
Planning	Degree Audit, Course Planner
Financial	Billing, Financial Aid
Account	Profile, Settings

Icons

Tiles use PrimeIcons for their visual indicators. Common icons:

Icon	Code	Typical Use
Book	pi-book	Courses, academics
Users	pi-users	People, advisees
Calendar	pi-calendar	Schedules, terms
Chart	pi-chart-bar	Reports, analytics
Dollar	pi-dollar	Billing, financial aid
Cog	pi-cog	Settings, configuration
Pencil	pi-pencil	Grade entry, editing
Check	pi-check-circle	Approvals, audits
Inbox	pi-inbox	Applications, notifications
Shield	pi-shield	Security, authorization

Best Practices

• Keep dashboards focused - Assign only the tiles relevant to each role; too many tiles can overwhelm users
• Use clear titles - Tile titles should immediately convey what the user will find when they click
• Test with each role - After configuring tiles, impersonate a user of each role to verify the dashboard looks correct
• Maintain sort order - Use consistent ordering so users can develop muscle memory for finding tiles
• Deactivate rather than delete - If a tile is temporarily unnecessary, deactivate it instead of deleting it