Departments

Organize your team into a hierarchical department structure with per-member data visibility controls.

Overview

Departments allow you to model your real-world organizational structure (e.g., Sales > Enterprise > Account Managers) and control which data each team member can access.

Related Modules:

• Team Management - User roles and permissions
• Settings - Department configuration

Department Structure

Hierarchical Organization

Departments support parent-child relationships for multi-level hierarchies:

Sales
  ├── Enterprise Sales
  │     ├── Account Managers
  │     └── Solution Engineers
  └── SMB Sales
Engineering
  ├── Backend
  └── Frontend

Department Fields

Field	Description
Name	Department name
Description	Optional description
Parent	Parent department (for hierarchy)
Manager	Department manager
Active	Active/inactive toggle
Display Order	Sort ordering

Drag-and-Drop Reorganization

Restructure your organization by dragging departments in the tree view:

• Drag a department onto another to make it a child
• Drag to root level to make it a top-level department
• Members stay with their department during reorganization

Members

Assigning Members

Each organization member can belong to one department:

1. Go to Settings > Departments
2. Select a department
3. Click Add Member
4. Choose from unassigned team members

Members without a department appear in the “Unassigned Team Members” section.

Department Manager

Each department can have a designated manager. The manager’s data visibility can be configured independently.

Data Visibility

Data visibility controls what records each team member can see. This applies to Contacts, Deals, Activities, and Projects.

Visibility Levels

Level	Records Visible
All	All records in the organization
Department	Records owned by members in the same department (and child departments)
Own	Only records the user personally owns

How It Works

1. Each member has a data visibility setting (configurable per member)
2. When viewing lists (Contacts, Deals, etc.), the system filters records based on visibility
3. Unowned records (no assignee) are visible to everyone regardless of visibility setting

Per-Member Configuration

Visibility is set per member, not per department:

1. Go to Settings > Departments
2. Click on a member
3. Select their data visibility level: All, Department, or Own

Role Interaction

Visibility works alongside role-based access:

Role	Visibility Effect
Owner	Always sees all data (visibility ignored)
Admin	Visibility applies, plus sees assigned users’ data
Manager	Visibility applies, plus sees assigned users’ data
User	Visibility applies strictly

Department Visibility

When set to “Department” visibility:

• User sees records owned by anyone in their department
• Includes records from child departments (recursive)
• Always includes their own records

Examples

Scenario: Regional Sales Manager

• Department: “Enterprise Sales”
• Visibility: “Department”
• Can see: All deals owned by Enterprise Sales team members and sub-departments

Scenario: Individual Contributor

• Department: “SMB Sales”
• Visibility: “Own”
• Can see: Only their personally assigned contacts and deals

Scenario: VP of Sales

• Department: “Sales”
• Visibility: “All”
• Can see: All contacts, deals, and activities across the organization

Global vs. Scoped Entities

Not all entities are affected by data visibility:

Entity	Visibility Scoped?	Notes
Contacts	Yes	Owner-based
Deals	Yes	Owner-based
Activities	Yes	Owner-based
Projects	Yes	Owner-based
Price Offers	Yes	Inherits from related contact’s owner
Tickets	Yes	OR logic: assignee OR owner OR follower
Accounts	No (global)
Contacts	No (global)
Requests	No (global)
Settings	No (global)

Best Practices

1. Mirror your org chart - Create departments that match your company structure
2. Use hierarchy - Nest related departments under parent departments
3. Set appropriate visibility - Match data access to job responsibilities
4. Assign managers - Each department should have a clear manager
5. Review regularly - Update as your team structure changes

---

See Also:

• Team Management - User roles and permissions
• Settings - System configuration