Overview
This guide walks you through everything you need to know to get started with the Housing.Cloud admin portal—from understanding how to navigate the system to mastering the consistent patterns you'll use every day.
Who this is for: New housing administrators, residence life staff, and anyone getting started with the admin portal for the first time.
What you'll learn: How to navigate the admin portal, use tables and detail pages, and work through your first housing cycle setup from start to finish.
Key Concept: Everything Has Its Own Page
One of the most important concepts in Housing.Cloud is that almost everything in the system has its own dedicated page—from buildings and rooms down to individual furniture items like a mattress or desk.
This means every building, suite, room, bed, and furniture item has a detail page showing its complete information and history. This hierarchical architecture allows you to track and manage every asset and person in your housing system with complete detail.
Primary Navigation
When you log into the admin portal, the primary navigation sidebar appears on the left side of your screen. This is your main menu for accessing all major sections:
Dashboard—Overview of key metrics and recent activity
Profiles—All student profiles in your system
Applications—Housing applications submitted by students
Residents—Current and past residents with assignment details
Inventory—Buildings, rooms, beds, furniture, and keys
Student Staff—RAs, desk attendants, and other student employees
Tasks—Maintenance requests and work orders
Communications—Email, SMS, updates, and messaging
Events—Resident events and activities
Finance—Transactions, charges, and billing
Reports—Custom reporting and analytics
Setup—System configuration and settings
The navigation items you see depend on your assigned role and permissions. If you don't see a section, you may not have permission to access it. Contact your super admin if you need additional access.
Secondary Navigation
Some sections—like Inventory and Setup—have multiple subsections. When you click these sections, a secondary navigation sidebar appears below the primary navigation, revealing additional options.
Inventory subsections: Buildings, Suites, Rooms, Beds, Furniture, Room Parts, Keys, Room Condition Reports
Setup subsections: Charge Codes, Roles & Permissions, Forms, Housing Cycles, Rulesets, Tags, System Configuration, Integrations, Profile Fields, Document Templates, Inventory Management, Task Management, Meal Plans Management
The List-to-Detail Pattern
Throughout the admin portal, you'll encounter the same navigation pattern repeatedly:
List View (Table)—Shows multiple items in a table with filters and search
Click a name—Click on an item's name in the table (usually blue and underlined)
Detail Page—View comprehensive information about that specific item
This pattern applies to nearly everything: profiles, residents, applications, buildings, rooms, beds, furniture, tasks, and more.
You only have to learn this once! The same simple "click to see more" approach works everywhere in Housing.Cloud. Once you know how to look up a student, you automatically know how to look up a room or an application.
Using Breadcrumbs
At the top of every detail page, you'll see a breadcrumb trail showing where you are in the hierarchy. Click any part of the breadcrumb to navigate back to that level.
Example: If viewing Room 201A with breadcrumb Inventory/Buildings > East Hall > Suite 201 > Room 201A, you can click "Suite 201" to view the suite, "East Hall" to view the building, or "Inventory/Buildings" to return to the buildings list.
Instead of using your browser's back button, click on the breadcrumb links. This keeps your filters and searches active, so you don't lose your place.
Working with Tables
Most list views display data in interactive tables that let you:
Search—Find specific items by name, ID, or other fields
Filter—Narrow down results by status, building, cycle, tags, and more
Sort—Click column headers to sort ascending or descending
Select rows—Check boxes to perform bulk actions on multiple items
Customize columns—Show or hide specific columns to focus on relevant data
Export—Download filtered data as CSV or Excel files
Saving Custom Views
When you find yourself using the same filters repeatedly, save them as a custom view:
Apply the filters you want (e.g., "Current residents in East Hall")
Click Save View
Give your view a descriptive name
Click Save
Your saved view appears in a dropdown for quick access later
First Week Checklist
Here's a recommended checklist for your first week with Housing.Cloud:
Day 1: Get Oriented
Log into the admin portal at yourschool.housing.cloud/admin
Verify you can see all the navigation sections you need
Click through each primary navigation item to see what's available
Practice the list-to-detail pattern by viewing 3-5 resident profiles
Navigate through the inventory hierarchy: Building → Suite → Room → Bed
Day 2: Explore Your Data
Go to Profiles and review student profile data
Go to Residents and filter by status
Go to Inventory > Buildings and familiarize yourself with your building structure
Go to Applications to see any pending or approved applications
Day 3: Learn Setup and Configuration
Go to Setup > Roles to see what roles exist
Go to Setup > Housing Cycles to understand your current cycles
Go to Setup > Tags to see how your institution categorizes students
Go to Setup > Forms to review application forms
Day 4: Practice Common Tasks
Search for a specific student profile by name or ID
Filter residents by building
View a room's detail page and review its furniture inventory
Export a list of current residents to CSV
Day 5: Review Key Features
Go to Communications to see how to send emails and updates
Go to Tasks to understand maintenance request workflows
Go to Finance to review housing charges and transactions
Go to Reports to see what analytics are available
What's Next
Continue your Housing.Cloud journey with:
PLS-1: System Navigation & Core Concepts—Comprehensive navigation training
Admin Portal Feature Overview—Complete feature reference
Product Learning Framework: View the complete training structure