Business Units and Associates

Add a Business Unit

1. Go to Customers > Add business unit.

2. Enter the details for the Business Unit.

   • For Business unit name, enter a name for the Business Unit.
   • For Business unit key, enter a unique identifier value for the Business Unit.
   • Optional: For Business unit contact email address, enter a contact email for the Business Unit. The email address acts as a unique identifier for a Business Unit.
     If you use contact information other than email addresses (for example, phone numbers) for Business Units, you can deactivate email format validation for the field. To deactivate, go to Settings > Project settings > Miscellaneous and click the Disable email format validation for customer emails toggle.

     Only users in Teams with appropriate permissions can manage the setting. The permissions are managed by the Administrators Team in your Organization.
   • For Business unit type, select Company if the Business Unit is a top-level unit, or Division for a sub-unit.
   • If you selected Division in the previous step, do the following:
     • For Top-level unit, select a Business Unit that represents the company at the top of the hierarchy.
     • For Parent unit, select a Business Unit that represents the closest ancestor in the hierarchy. Any Stores linked to the parent unit are automatically inherited.
     • Optional: To remove inherited Stores or link to different Stores, click the Inherit stores from parent unit toggle. Confirm the action; to link to other Stores, select the necessary Stores.
     • Optional: To inherit Associate Roles from the parent unit, click the Inherit role assignments from parent unit toggle and confirm the action.
       You can also assign additional roles to the Associate beyond the inherited ones for the Business Unit.

3. Optional: If present, select a Custom Field for the Business Unit and enter a value for it.

   Custom Fields are defined using the Custom Fields API.
4. Click Next.
5. Optional: Click Add address, enter the address information and click Save.
6. Click Next.
7. Optional: Click Add associate, select a Customer and their role, if defined already, and click Save.
8. Click Save.

Search for Business Units

1. Go to Customers > Business unit list.
2. If the Business Units in your Project aren't indexed, click Index my business units now and wait until indexing completes.
3. Optional: From the search criteria list, select All, Business unit name, Business unit key, Addresses, or Contact email.
4. In the search field, enter your search term.
5. Optional: Click Filters and add one or more filters. The following filters are available: Business unit type, Top level unit, Parent unit, Customer group, Business unit status, Created at, and Modified at.

Explore the Business Unit hierarchy

1. Go to Customers > Business unit list.
2. Click the Navigate to the business units explorer icon. The list shows the top-level Business Units.
3. To view the divisions of a Business Unit, click Explore divisions in its row.
4. To return to the top level, click All in the breadcrumb.

Assign a Business Unit to a Customer Group

1. Go to Customers > Business unit list.
2. Select the Business Unit and, on the Customer Groups tab, click Assign to customer group.
3. Select the Customer Group and click Save.

Duplicate a Business Unit

1. Go to Customers > Business unit list.
2. Click the Duplicate business unit icon in the Business Unit row on the Business unit list page.
3. Enter a name and key for the Business Unit. All other details are replicated from the chosen Business Unit.
4. Click Next.
5. Optional: Click Add address, enter the address information and click Save.
6. Click Next.
7. Optional: Click Add associate, select a Customer and their role, if defined already, and click Save.
8. Click Save.

Deactivate a Business Unit

1. Go to Customers > Business unit list.
2. Select the Business Unit and select Inactive from the Status drop-down.

Add an Associate to a Business Unit

1. Go to Customers > Business unit list.
2. Select a Business Unit, and in the Associates tab, click Add associate.

3. Enter the details for the Associate.

   • For Customer, select a Customer. You can add multiple Customers as Associates.
   • For Explicit roles, select a role for the Associates (to hold) within the Business Unit.
     • Optional: By default, all roles are inherited from parent Business Units. To avoid inheriting the role, click the Children will inherit toggle to deactivate.
     Ensure the Inherit role assignments from all ancestors toggle is activated on child Business Units to inherit Associate Roles from parent units.
4. Click Save.

Add an Associate Role

1. Go to Settings > Project settings and click the Business units tab.
2. Click Add associate role.

3. Enter the details for the Associate.

   • Optional: For Role name, enter a name for the Associate Role.
   • For Role key, enter a unique identifier value for the Associate Role.
   • Buyers can assign the role to other Associates. To only allow sellers to assign the role, deactivate the Assignable by buyers toggle.
4. Optional: Select the permissions for the role. Alternatively, you can also select a template of predefined permissions from the drop-down.
   The templates help in streamlining permission assignment based on typical role responsibilities.

5. Optional: If present, select a Custom Field for the Associate Role and enter a value for it.

   Custom Fields are defined using the Custom Fields API.
6. Click Save.

Manage Associate Roles in a Business Unit

1. Go to Customers > Business unit list.
2. Select a Business Unit and click the Associates tab.

3. On the Associate's row, you can do the following:

   • To add new roles or manage inherited roles for the Associate, click the edit icon and perform the actions.
   • To remove all explicit roles from the Associate, click the delete icon.
4. Click Save.

Manage Business Unit settings

You can manage the default settings for Business Units to align with your company's policies and workflows. To change the default setting, do the following:

1. Go to Settings > Project settings and click the Business units tab.
2. Click the Edit icon and select an option.
   • Status: By default, newly created Business Units created by buyers are inactive. This ensures that administrators can perform necessary checks and configurations before activating the Business Units.
   • Associate role: An Associate is automatically assigned a default role in any Business Unit they create. You can customize this default role.
3. Click Save.