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As the Administrator, you are responsible for getting your institution’s Puddin Core environment ready before teachers and students can use it. This guide walks you through every configuration step in the order you should complete them. Work through the steps in sequence — later steps such as user invitations depend on your account and settings being fully configured first.
1

Create your institution account

Start by registering your institution on Puddin.
  1. Go to puddin.io and select Create Institution Account.
  2. Enter your institutional email address and choose a password.
  3. Check your inbox for a verification email and click the confirmation link to activate your account.
  4. On first sign-in, you are prompted to enter your institution’s details:
    • Institution name — enter your official institution name as you want it to appear on verification records and student-facing screens.
    • Country and region — used to apply the correct default compliance settings for your jurisdiction.
    • Primary contact email — the address Puddin uses for billing, compliance, and platform notices.
  5. Select Save Institution Profile to complete registration.
Your Administrator account is now active and you have access to the full Administrator dashboard.
The email address you use to register becomes the primary Administrator account. You can add additional administrators in a later step. Use a role-based institutional address (for example, academic-integrity@youruniversity.edu) rather than a personal one if your institution’s governance requires it.
2

Configure institution settings

Before inviting anyone, review and configure your core institution settings. Navigate to Settings → Institution in the Administrator dashboard.General settings
  • Confirm your institution name and region are correct.
  • Set your preferred date and time format for authorship records and reports.
  • Choose your default writing environment (browser-based or Microsoft Word add-in) for new assignments. Teachers can override this per assignment.
Notification settings
  • Configure whether teachers receive email notifications when students submit assignments.
  • Set whether administrators receive digest reports on platform usage.
Select Save Settings after making any changes.
3

Set your data retention and privacy policy

Data retention governs how long student writing records — including keystroke data, paste events, session logs, and authorship records — are stored before automatic deletion. Configure this before any data is created.Navigate to Settings → Data & Privacy.
  1. Set the retention period for authorship records. Options typically range from 6 months to 7 years. Check your institution’s data governance policy and any applicable legal requirements before selecting a value.
  2. Choose what happens when the retention period expires: automatic deletion (records are permanently removed) or administrator review (records are flagged for manual deletion approval).
  3. Review the data processing agreement and, if your institution accepts it, select Sign Agreement. This agreement is required before any student data can be recorded.
  4. If your institution is subject to GDPR or equivalent legislation, review the Student Data Notice template that Puddin provides and confirm it aligns with your institution’s student privacy notices.
You must sign the data processing agreement before inviting users or creating assignments. Student writing data cannot be recorded until this step is complete.
See Security & Privacy for a full explanation of how Puddin stores and protects student data.
4

Add additional administrator accounts

If more than one person at your institution needs administrator access, add them now.
  1. Navigate to Users → Invite User.
  2. Enter the staff member’s institutional email address.
  3. Set their role to Administrator.
  4. Select Send Invitation.
The invited administrator receives an email with a link to set their password and complete account setup. Administrator accounts can manage all settings, users, and integrations — only grant this role to staff who need it.
Keep the number of administrator accounts small. For day-to-day user management, the Teacher role is sufficient for most academic staff.
5

Set up your LMS integration or invite teachers directly

Choose how your teachers and students will access Puddin.LMS integration (recommended)Connecting your LMS via LTI 1.3 enables single sign-on, automatic student enrolment, and assignment sync. Navigate to Integrations to begin. Supported platforms are Moodle, Canvas, Blackboard, Brightspace, and Manaba. Full setup instructions are in the LMS Integration guide.Direct invitationsIf you are not using an LMS integration, invite teachers individually:
  1. Navigate to Users → Invite User.
  2. Enter the teacher’s institutional email address.
  3. Set their role to Teacher.
  4. Select Send Invitation.
Repeat for each teacher who needs access. Teachers receive an invitation email with a link to set up their account.You can manage student enrolment directly within each assignment, or leave enrolment to teachers once their accounts are active. See Managing Users for more detail on bulk import and enrolment options.
6

Verify your setup

Before going live with students, confirm that everything is configured correctly.
  • Account and settings — check that your institution name, region, and notification preferences are saved correctly under Settings → Institution.
  • Data retention — confirm your retention period is set and the data processing agreement is signed under Settings → Data & Privacy.
  • User accounts — verify that any additional administrators and teachers you invited have completed their account setup (their status shows as Active in Users).
  • LMS integration — if you set up an LMS integration, use the Test Connection tool in Integrations to confirm Puddin can communicate with your LMS.
  • Test submission — ask a teacher to create a test assignment and make a test submission to confirm the writing environment and authorship record are working as expected.
Your institution is now ready to use Puddin Core.

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Related guides

Managing Users

Invite teachers, assign roles, manage student enrolment, and bulk-import users.

LMS Integration

Connect Puddin to Moodle, Canvas, Blackboard, Brightspace, or Manaba.

Security & Privacy

Data storage, access controls, GDPR compliance, and retention configuration.

Getting Started

End-to-end onboarding overview for all roles.