Business Units & Types

The Business Units & Types page lets you define your organisational hierarchy — the types of organisational entities you have and the specific instances of each.

Navigation: Administration → General Setup → Business Units & Types

Understanding the Two-Part Structure

This page has two main sections:

1. Business Unit Types — Categories of organisational entities (e.g., "Branch", "Region", "Department")
2. Business Units — Specific instances within those categories (e.g., "Kampala Branch", "Eastern Region")

INFO

Think of types as the blueprint and units as the actual entities. You define "Branch" as a type once, then create multiple branches (Kampala, Jinja, Mbarara) as business units of that type.

Business Unit Types

Viewing Types

The types list shows all business unit types in your hierarchy (excluding the hidden service root). Each type displays:

• Type name
• Parent type — Which type it sits under in the hierarchy
• Is Default — Whether this is the auto-created default type
• Approval status

Creating a Business Unit Type

1. Click Create on the Business Unit Types section
2. Fill in the form:

Field	Description	Required
Type Name	A descriptive name (e.g., "Regional Office")	Yes
Parent Type	The type this one sits under in the hierarchy	Yes
Description	Optional description	No

3. Submit the form

Hierarchy Rules

• Every type must have a parent (except the service root, which is system-managed)
• The default type (created automatically) cannot change its parent
• Types cannot be moved across services
• Circular references are prevented — a type cannot be its own ancestor
• Maximum hierarchy depth is 50 levels

WARNING

Deleting a business unit type will fail if business units of that type exist. Remove or reassign the business units first.

Business Units

Viewing Business Units

The business units list shows all units with:

• Unit name
• Business unit type
• Parent unit
• Status (active/inactive)
• Approval status

Creating a Business Unit

1. Click Create on the Business Units section
2. Fill in the form:

Field	Description	Required
Business Unit Name	The name of the branch/office/department	Yes
Business Unit Type	Select from your defined types	Yes
Parent Business Unit	The unit this one reports to	No (optional for top-level)
Address / Location	Physical address details	No

3. Submit the form

Common Patterns

Single-Branch Organisation:

Default Type
└── Head Office

Multi-Branch with Regions:

Default Type
└── Head Office
Regional Office Type
├── Kampala Region
│   Branch Type
│   ├── Main Branch
│   └── Ntinda Branch
└── Eastern Region
    Branch Type
    ├── Jinja Branch
    └── Mbale Branch

Departmental Structure:

Default Type
└── Head Office
Department Type
├── Finance Department
├── IT Department
└── Operations Department

Impact on Other Modules

Business unit types and units affect many parts of the system:

Module	How BUs Are Used
Roles	Roles are scoped to a business unit type — a role defined for "Branch" type is available to all branches
Chart of Accounts	COA entries are scoped to business unit types
GL Posting Rules	Rules are scoped to business unit types
Products	Loan and deposit products are scoped to business unit types
Users	Users are assigned to specific business units
Clients & Accounts	Clients and accounts belong to the business unit where they were created
Reporting	Reports can be filtered and aggregated by business unit

Next Steps

• Client & Group Types — Define the types of clients your organisation serves
• Users — Assign users to business units