CRM 2011 - Configuring an Organizational Structure

An organization structure in Microsoft Dynamics CRM refers to the hierarchy of business units, users and teams configured within our organizations.

Below figure depicts what each of these terms means.

Each user and team must belong to one business unit. All the records owned by that user or teams are also considered to be in that business unit.

Configuring an organization structure means that the setting up all the hierarchy under the organization which includes Business unit, Users, Teams and Security roles.

Business Unit

A business unit represents a part of the organization that has a distinct security requirement. From the business perspective it can be a division or a department of our organization, but when configuring the same in Microsoft dynamics CRM it is not necessary that it will match the business hierarchy. Distinct business units need to be created in CRM where distinct security requirements are in demand.

Root Business Unit

This is the ultimate parent business unit in the organization structure. It is created by the CRM server setup program, when CRM is installed with all server roles or by the CRM deployment manager, when a new CRM organization is deployed.

Root business unit has the following properties,

• It can be renamed.
• It cannot be disabled or deleted.
• It cannot have a parent business unit.

Managing Business Units

We need a system administrator role to manage a business unit in CRM 2011. To create a business unit,

• Navigate to the Settings
• Click on Administration
• Click on Business units.

Here, in this screen we can make all changes to the business units from creating a new business unit to deleting an existing business unit.

While creating a new business unit to our organization we need two mandatory data,

• Name
• Parent business

Other fields are not mandatory while creating a business unit. Name can be entered to respective field while the parent business can be selected from the lookup.

When a new business unit is created, a new team is created with the same name. When a user is assigned to the business unit, that user will also be added to the team.

In CRM 2011, business units including root business unit can be renamed. When a business unit is renamed, its corresponding team is also renamed. Renaming procedure in CRM is pretty easy from the Business Unit screen open the respective business unit to be renamed and change the name and save it.

Reorganizing a CRM structure

We can reorganize our CRM structure by changing a business unit's parent business unit. We can do the same through the business unit screen where we are already into. Follow the below steps,

• Select the business unit to be reassigned.
• On the toolbar select "More Actions" and select "Change Parent Business"
• In the pop up from the respective lookup we can select the new parent business to be mapped and click OK.

While reorganizing there are some things to be noted,

1. When a business unit is reorganized all of its children will move along with it. Here children mean child business units, users and teams. It’s worth to note down that a business unit can have another business unit as a child like sub divisions or department in real business terms.
2. All other business units have a parent business unit.
3. We cannot create a circular relationship between business units.

Disable and Enable a Business unit

We can enable or disable any business unit in our organization with an exception to the root parent business unit. This will be useful when an organization restructuring happens.

In the same "More Actions" section where we remapped the parent business unit we have both the options to enable and disable a business unit. Make sure to change the view dropdown above the toolbar to Inactive Business unit to see all the disabled business units when we have to enable back a disabled business unit.

Some points has to be taken care when we enable or disable a business unit.

• No Data associated with the business unit is deleted
• Disabling a business unit also disables any child business unit.
• Disabling a business unit does not disable the users associated with the same, but they will not be able to login until the business unit is enabled or the user is reassigned to an active business unit.
• Same is the case for the teams as well. Users who rely on the team for access to the security privileges or records will not have access to those privileges or records.
• We cannot assign the business units, users, or teams to a disabled business unit.
• When we enable a business unit, any child units will also be enabled.
• Any users assigned to the re enabled business unit will be able to login again.
• Disabling or enabling a business unit does not disable or enable users associated with the business units.

Delete a Business Unit

All business units except the root parent business unit can be deleted. For the same click on the delete button in the toolbar after selecting the respective inactive business unit. Only inactive business units can be deleted from CRM tool.

A business unit cannot be deleted if it has child business units. They must be reassigned before the business unit can be deleted. Similar is the case for the users and teams, with an exception to the default team. If all such things are satisfied the business unit will be permanently deleted which cannot be reverted. For this reason, it’s advisable to keep the business unit disabled which are not in use at least for history rather than deleting them.

Thus we have completed the first step in configuring the Organizational structure in CRM 2011. Next step is to add the users to the business unit which will be available soon. Stay tuned.

Enjoy learning!!!