A business unit is a part of your organization — a division, branch or company in a group — with its own name and, if you want, its own legal entity. Units can contain sub-units, so you can mirror how your organization is actually built. An organization that has not set up any business units works exactly as before: nothing on this page appears for it.
These modules carry business units: Warehouse, Purchasing, Asset Management, Maintenance, Container Depot, Finance and Sales. Other modules adopt them as they are updated; see the Change Log.
Set up business units
Go to Settings › Module settings › General › Business units (SBUs). Only Owners and Admins can open it. Select the create (+) button in the page toolbar to add one.
The list shows:
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Name | The unit's name, indented under the unit it belongs to. |
| Code | The unit's code. |
| Legal entity | Yes if the unit is a separate legal entity, otherwise No. A legal entity saved without a tax ID shows a No tax ID badge. |
| Number prefix | The document number prefix of a legal entity. |
| Records | How many records use the unit. |
| Active | Active, Inactive, or Inactive parent when the unit itself is active but a unit above it is inactive. |
The form has four sections.
Identity
| Field | What it does |
|---|---|
| Part of | Where the unit sits: The organization (top level) or any other unit. A unit can't be moved under itself or one of its own sub-units. |
| Code* | Required. Unique within your organization, up to 50 characters. A deleted unit's code can be reused. |
| Name* | Required. |
| Description | Optional. |
| Active | Switch, on by default for a new unit. |
Legal
| Field | What it does |
|---|---|
| Separate legal entity | Switch. When it is off, the page says "Uses name's legal details and document numbers." naming the unit above, or the organization. When it is on, the unit has its own legal name, registration, tax ID and document numbers. |
| Legal name* | Required for a legal entity. |
| Business registration number | Optional. |
| Tax ID label | How the tax number is named on documents, for example VAT No or TIN. Shows "Tax ID" if left empty. |
| Tax ID* | Required for a legal entity, so its documents always carry a tax number. A legal entity saved before this was required keeps working, but can't be saved again (even to deactivate it) until you enter one. Turning Separate legal entity off is not a way around this once documents are numbered under the entity: the only way to save such an entity is to enter its tax ID. |
| Document number prefix* | Required for a legal entity. Letters and numbers only, up to 10 characters, saved in capitals. |
These legal fields only appear, and are only kept, while Separate legal entity is on.
Address and contact
Address line 1, Address line 2, City, State / province, Postal code and Country, then Mobile, Telephone, Fax, Email and Website. Leave a field empty to use the value from the unit above. Address line 1 and the five contact fields show "Inherited from name: …" when empty, naming the unit above or "the organization". The address is used as a whole: fill in Address line 1 to print this unit's own address; if you leave it empty, the whole address comes from the unit above. Contact details and the logo are inherited field by field.
Logo
Upload an image. Leave it empty to use the logo of the unit above, or the organization's. When a unit has a logo, Remove this logo clears it.
Select Create business unit (new) or Save changes (editing) to save; a toast says "Business unit created." or "Business unit updated."
Legal entities and document numbers
Turning on Separate legal entity gives a unit, and the units under it, their own legal details and their own document number sequence. The Document number prefix is shown before the number, for example PH-1024. A unit that is not a legal entity shares the legal details and numbers of the legal entity above it, or the organization's when there is none. The organization's own numbers carry no prefix and continue as before.
Numbering is per legal entity, and every module below follows the same rule: a document of a unit that is, or sits under, a separate legal entity is numbered in that entity's own sequence and shows its prefix; every other document continues your organization's numbers.
| Module | Documents with a business unit | Default and notes |
|---|---|---|
| Warehouse | Receipts (GRNs), issues (GINs), customer returns, gate passes, transfer requests, pick lists, stock counts, damage-and-disposition documents | New documents start with the unit chosen in the header. |
| Purchasing | Requisitions, quotations, purchase orders | A purchase order follows its Receiving store's owning unit until you choose one. Vendors are shared by the whole organization. Consumable purchase orders belong to your main business. |
| Asset Management | Transfers, reservations, inspections, audits, consignments, receipts; assets have an Owning business unit | New documents start with the owning unit their assets share, else the header's unit. An audit of a unit covers only that unit's and its sub-units' assets. A consignment or transfer raised from a reservation takes the reservation's unit. Categories, locations and checklists are shared. |
| Maintenance | Work orders | Starts with the header's unit, and follows the chosen asset's owning unit. Schedules have no unit. |
| Container Depot | Discharge-list entries, inwards, surveys, repair estimates, outwards, gate passes, invoices, cashier receipts, and the billables and payables recorded against an inward | The inward, discharge list, invoice and cashier receipt have a Business unit field that starts with the header's unit. A survey, estimate, outward and gate pass always take the inward's unit. |
| Finance | Invoices, bills, credit notes | Starts with the header's unit. Journals and payments have none; credit notes from Auto-apply belong to your main business. An invoice raised from a sales order takes the order's unit. |
| Sales | Quotations, sales orders, consignments | Starts with the header's unit. An order converted from a quotation takes its unit, and a consignment return its consignment's. Opportunities, leads and sales returns have none. |
Finance invoices, bills and credit notes, Container Depot invoices and cashier receipts, and the billables and payables recorded against a container inward have their prints on the unit's letterhead. A separate legal entity's Container Depot invoices draw cheques in its favour, and its invoices and receipts do not print your organization's VAT and SVAT numbers; they print the entity's own tax ID, which every legal entity must have. A Container Depot invoice bills only the container stays of its own business unit; an invoice of your main business bills the stays with no unit. Sales consignment returns are numbered in their own return series, under the consignment's legal entity.
Warehouse transfers and transfer returns carry a business unit too. A transfer starts with the header's unit and follows its From warehouse's owning unit; one created from a transfer request, on the form or with the handheld, takes the request's unit. Each is numbered in its legal entity's sequence. 3PL location transfers and the handheld's immediate moves belong to your main business. The Stocks reports filter by each stock row's unit.
Projects & Tasks: each project has a Business unit, which starts with the unit chosen in the header. Project numbers stay your organization's and carry no prefix, so a project can move to a unit under another legal entity. Tasks belong to their project's unit.
Once documents are numbered under a legal entity in any of these modules, its Separate legal entity switch and its prefix lock: the switch is disabled with the note "Documents are already numbered under this legal entity, so this can't be turned off." and the prefix is read-only.
Choose your business unit
When your organization has business units, a button with a diagram icon appears in the header. It shows the business unit you are working in. Select it to choose:
- All business units — no restriction. This is the default.
- Your organization's name (shown as "{Team name} (main business)") — the main business, outside any unit.
- A business unit from the list, indented under the unit it belongs to.
Your choice is remembered for you in each team. Choosing a unit includes its sub-units. If the unit you chose, or a unit above it, is later deactivated, you are back on All business units. Lists, reports and overviews in every module above start with your choice, and the funnel icon on a list or report lets you choose another unit, your main business only, or All business units; see each module's page.
Letterheads
Documents of every module in the table above carry a business unit. A document with a unit prints that unit's details: logo, company name, address, contact details, registration number and tax ID. A detail the unit does not have comes from the unit above it, and then from the organization. The address is taken as a whole, so a unit's street is never printed with another unit's city. Legal details never cross legal entities: a legal entity with no tax ID prints none, rather than the organization's. A unit outside every legal entity prints the organization's legal name, or the organization's name when no legal name is set under Letterhead. These prints carry their unit's letterhead: the customer return note, the stock count variance report, the damage-and-disposition prints, the Container Depot repair estimate, gate pass, invoices and cashier receipt, the Finance invoice and cashier prints, and the Sales quotation PDF. Warehouse receipts and issue notes print no letterhead but show their business unit. With no legal name under Letterhead, every print names the organization, main business included.
The letterhead then shows the unit's name under the company name (only when it differs from the company name), and a line with the registration number and tax ID, for example "Reg. No: PV-2231 · VAT No: 114523". The letterhead template is still chosen once for the whole organization, per document type, under Letterhead, and the Head Office block of template 3 shows the organization's head office details. On the letterhead of a legal entity, or of a unit under one, that block shows the legal entity's own address, telephone, fax, email and website instead, never the organization's, and it is left out when the legal entity has none of them.
The Sales quotation PDF prints the quotation's business unit: its legal entity's legal name, the unit's name, the address, the email and the registration line.
Deactivate or delete
Switch Active off to retire a unit. The unit and its sub-units leave the choices — the header, new documents and forms — but stay on the records that already carry them.
To delete a unit, select Delete on its row and confirm; a toast says "Business unit deleted." A unit with sub-units, or one used on records, can't be deleted; deactivate it instead.
Errors you may see
| Message | Why | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| "A business unit can't sit under itself or one of its own sub-units." | Part of points at the unit or something beneath it. | Choose a unit outside its own branch, or the top level. |
| "Move or delete its sub-units first." | You tried to delete a unit that has sub-units. | Move or delete the sub-units, then delete it. |
| "This business unit is used on records. Deactivate it instead." | You tried to delete a unit that records use. | Switch Active off. |
| "Documents are already numbered under this legal entity." | You tried to turn off Separate legal entity or change the prefix after documents were numbered. | Leave both as they are. |
| "Enter the legal name of this legal entity." | Separate legal entity is on and Legal name is empty. | Enter the legal name. |
| "Enter the tax ID of this legal entity." | Separate legal entity is on and Tax ID is empty. | Enter the tax ID. |
| "Enter a document number prefix for this legal entity." | Separate legal entity is on and the prefix is empty. | Enter a prefix. |
| "Another legal entity already uses this prefix." | Two legal entities can't share a prefix. | Choose a different prefix. |
| "Use letters and numbers only." | The prefix has spaces or symbols. | Use letters and numbers only. |
| "Use at most 10 letters and numbers." | The prefix is longer than 10 characters. | Shorten it to 10 characters or fewer. |
| "The code has already been taken." | Another unit in your organization has the same code. | Choose a different code. |
| "Choose a business unit from the list." | The business unit chosen is not one of your organization's units. | Choose one from the list. |
| "Choose an active business unit." | The unit chosen on a document is inactive. | Choose an active unit. |
| "This document is numbered under name. Its business unit can only be changed to one in the same legal entity." | A numbered document would move to another legal entity. | Choose a unit in the same legal entity. |
| "Business units are not set up for this organization." | A document carries a business unit but your organization has none. | Set up business units first, or clear the field. |