# Business Units and Associates

Learn how to manage companies as customers.

Only users in Teams with appropriate [permissions](/merchant-center/user-permissions.md#business-units) can view and edit Business Units. The permissions are managed by the Administrators Team in your Organization.

In B2B settings, purchases are made by individuals acting on behalf of a company or one of its divisions. You can model companies and their divisions as Business Units, and the individuals as Associates. Associates can hold different roles (and permissions)  within a Business Unit to ensure they access the right resources and perform only approved actions. Business Units can be organized hierarchically, enabling child units to inherit Stores, Associates, and roles from their parent units.

## 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](/merchant-center/user-permissions.md#project-settings) 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](/api/projects/custom-fields.md).

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**.

By default, newly created Business Units are active. To deactivate, see [Deactivate a Business Unit](/merchant-center/business-units-associates.md#deactivate-a-business-unit).

## 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**.

By default, newly created and duplicated Business Units are active. To deactivate, see [Deactivate a Business Unit](/merchant-center/business-units-associates.md#deactivate-a-business-unit).

## Deactivate a Business Unit

Deactivating a Business Unit does not affect inheritance; child units remain active and continue to inherit role assignments even if the parent unit is inactive.

Inactive Business Units cannot be associated with new Carts, Orders, or Quotes.

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**.

The inherited Associates for a Business Unit are updated each time an Associate in a parent Business Unit is added, updated, or removed. The changes are [eventually consistent](/api/general-concepts.md#eventual-consistency).

## Add an Associate Role

Only users in Teams with appropriate [permissions](/merchant-center/user-permissions.md#project-settings) can add an Associate Role. The permissions are managed by the Administrators Team in your Organization.

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](/api/projects/custom-fields.md).

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

Only users in Teams with appropriate [permissions](/merchant-center/user-permissions.md#project-settings) can manage Business Unit settings. The permissions are managed by the Administrators Team in your Organization.

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**.

## Related pages

- [Area overview page with navigation](/merchant-center.md)
- [Previous page: Customers and Customer Groups](/merchant-center/customers.md)
- [Search documentation and API specs](/search.md)