Set up locations, departments, and teams

Structure first, people second

Before adding employees, define the operational structure that people will belong to. This keeps schedules, permissions, and reporting clean from the beginning.

How to think about structure

• Location: physical site or business unit.
• Department: broad operating area such as warehouse, retail floor, kitchen, or care delivery.
• Team: the scheduling unit managers actually roster against.

Recommended approach

1. Create each live location that will use rota planning or attendance.
2. Add departments beneath those locations in a way that mirrors the real business.
3. Create teams that managers can realistically own.
4. Avoid overly granular teams unless they need distinct schedules or managers.

Examples

• A warehouse might have Goods In, Picking, Dispatch, and Inventory departments, each with one or more teams.
• A restaurant might have Front of House, Kitchen, and Delivery teams.
• A care business might have regions as locations, service lines as departments, and local teams for rota ownership.

Screenshot placeholder: add a screenshot of the departments or teams list showing a clean company structure. Recommended image size: 1600 x 1000.

What a good structure gives you later

• Cleaner manager permissions.
• Better rota filtering and board views.
• More accurate attendance and payroll reporting by operational area.
• Less rework when the company scales.

Once this structure exists, you can decide what certifications are required and which users should manage each part of the organisation.