Complex naviagtion heirarchies

What's the best way to organize navigation for an online tool in this situation? I'm trying to create a template for reuse.

Ex: - Corporate Website (Brand 1) (contains links to secured site/intranet(s) many subsites-incl multiple subbrands (product lines/groups), depts, and...)

  • A Market sub-site: example corpbrandmarket.com (contains many products (tools) across subbrands)-
  • Product landing page(s): exampleproduct.com with Subbrand logo + product name or logo (Brand 2 and possibly 3), product info, access to sign up and link to login
  • Login drops you on dashboard on a transactional tool and there are many app-specific navigation items
  • Once you are logged into the tool do you have a way to link back or
    view the product landing page again without logging out? (to review product details - I see many sites do not do this and there is no way to get back) AND/OR navigate back to the market landing page (use case: go in and out of different products/tools - look at another product)
  • Does the logo link to the product page, the dashboard, or the subbrand website?
  • Does the product/tool dashboard main nav stay the same as the public part of the site, change completely, or merge?
  • The login profile is at the secured site level so the profile is common across level 1. Should the navigation under My Account match what's under My Account in the intranet area or be specific to the app?

Content requirements at the product/app level references (should be globally available within product): ...tools or services available on the intranet (reports, reference PDFs) - which has it's own navigation and does not reference back to the subbrand product anywhere from those pages. ...tools or services on the subbrand public website (service inquiries)

I am aware that linking out to other sites (specific intranet services) in the main nav is not a best practice so I am trying to think of other ways to link to some of these other areas in a way that provides context and can be global. There are many different types of users and market segments as well. If someone is only using one subbrand product they may not care what the market site is because they may never use the other products. Some may have access to more than one product/tool from the market or may want to browse and request access to other products. If I link to the intranet in a utility nav it seems like it would have to be the homepage vs the specific service pages. If I put them just on the dash, they can't be accessed anywhere else. Can I put a services main nav item and then an icon next to the links to show they go off site (box with arrow?) It seems like all the other links except the main nav and the logo/product should open in a new window. Is it better to have the link's label say the URL to make it clear it's another site? corpmarket.com vs Corporate Market in some cases?

v1 ^ Keeps my account on level that they are logged in at (not sure this matters )

v2 ^ links to other service places as main nav?

v3 ^ group subbrand and public product page with market?

v4 ^ layered brand footer?

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