That's right, it is a template. I could have adjusted the template to suit my needs, but I build as I go. I'll keep the dashboard the way it is and build the system's components. Once that's done, I can then work on the dashboard itself.
The login system is part of a class I'm building in PHP to make it easy to use with any theme you want. I just need to add a few more things to it, and it'll be where I want it to be.