CRM 2011 - Configuring an Organizational Structure - Manage Business Units

As all of must be aware that the Organizational Structure in CRM refers to the hierarchy of business units, users and teams configured within our organization. A Business Unit represents a part of our organization that has security requirements distinct from another part. A user is someone who needs access to the CRM system. A team is a group of users who work together. 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. Before we start working on our organizational structure, like all other projects it’s always better to plan our work much prior. We have to plan on the business units, users, teams and security roles. We can rename business units, users, teams and security roles at any point of time. Buts keep in mind the simple of “keeping it simple”. Simple names will help during mergers, acquisitions, divestments, restructuring or rebranding by not requiring a lot of organization structure changes to our CRM system.

One among the sub topics for CRM customization and configuration certification is Managing Business Units. We have to look at creating and maintaining business units, disabling and deleting business units and transferring records.

Business unit in our organization can correspond to our organization’s divisions or departments, but the business units configured in MS Dynamics CRM do not necessarily need to match the business units shown in our organization chart. Distinct business units only need to be created in CRM where distinct security requirements exist.

Root Business Unit

Root business unit is the ultimate parent business unit in the organization structure. It is created by the CRM server setup program, during installation with all server roles or by the deployment managers, when a new CRM organization is deployed. Some among the properties of the root business unit are as follows,

·         It can be renamed.

·         It cannot be disabled or deleted.

·         It cannot have a parent business unit.

For managing the business unit we need to have the system administrator security role to manage business units.

Creating a new Business Unit

We have to follow the below steps to create a new business unit.

·         In the navigation pane, click on the settings

·         In the system group, click on Administration, and then click on Business Units.

·         Click on New.

·         In the new form, provide the required information and click on Save and Close.

When creating a new business unit we need a name and a parent business unit to be provided. Name is a unique name for the new business unit. Parent business unit field help us to associate new business unit with its parent business unit.

When a 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.

Renaming a Business Unit

Business units including the root business unit can be renamed. When a business unit is renamed, its corresponding team is also renamed. To rename a business unit,

·         Navigate to the Business Units grid.

·         Open the business unit we need to rename.

·         Change the name of the business unit by using the Name field. Click on Save and Close.

Changing a Business Unit’s Parent Business Unit

We can reorganize our CRM organization structure by changing a business unit’s parent business unit. To change a parent business unit for a business unit,

·         Navigate to the Business Unit grid and select the business unit for which we want to change the parent.

·         On the toolbar, select More Actions and then select Change Parent Business.

·         In the change parent business dialog, using the lookup to find the new parent business unit and click OK.

When changing the parent business unit, below changes will happen to the record as well its associates.

·         When a business unit’s parent is changed, all of its children including business units, users and teams move with it.

·         All other business units must have a parent business unit.

·         We cannot create circular relationships between business units.

Disabling and Enabling Business Units

Other than Root Business Unit, all other business units can be disabled, which is really useful when managing organizational structure.

·         Navigate to the Business unit grid and select the business unit we want to enable/disable.

·         On the toolbar, select more actions and then select Disable/enable. Click Ok.

There are some important considerations when enabling or disabling business units.

·         No data associated with the disabled business unit is deleted.

·         Disabling a business unit also disables any child business units.

·         Disabling a business unit does not disable the business unit’s users, but users of a disabled business unit will not be able to log in until the business unit is enabled or the user is reassigned to an enabled business unit.

·         Disabling a business unit does not disable the business unit’s teams, but users that 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 business unit will also be enabled.

·         Any users assigned to the re enabled business unit will be able to log in again.

·         Disabling or enabling a business unit does not disable or enable users associated with the business unit.

Deleting a Business unit

All business units, except the root parent business unit, can be deleted. This can be useful for managing organizational restructures.

·         Navigate to Business unit grid and select the business unit to be deleted from the inactive business unit view.

·         On the toolbar, click on the Delete button and click on OK.

Some important things that needs to be considered while deleting business units are,

·         An enabled business unit cannot be deleted. Business unit needs to be disabled before deleting.

·         A business unit cannot be deleted if it has child business units, they must be reassigned before the same can be deleted.

·         A business unit cannot be deleted if it has users or teams associated with it, except the default team. Users and teams must be reassigned before the business unit can be deleted.

·         If these conditions are satisfied, the business unit will be permanently deleted which cannot be undone.