What is a Division?

Modified on Fri, 11 Apr at 8:15 AM

In this article:

Overview
How Divisions Affect Actionstep Accounting
How Email Domains Work with Divisions
Example Uses for Divisions

Overview

A division gives the ability for a sub-set of users to use the same processes, branding, email account while running individual sets of accounts. A division effectively works as a separate entity (linked to a contact record) in the Actionstep system. It creates a clear separation of records, although these can be viewed as a whole given the correct permission sets.

Some of the properties of a division include:

Each action is tagged to a division.
Permissions can be set using a division as a restriction.
A division will hold its own accounting transactions, which requires separate entities.
At the top level division, you can see everything happening in the system.
Email is set at a global level – cannot have a different email address in each division.
Shared Action types.
Shared contacts lists (where elected).
Use division specific logos in documents.

NOTES:
• Divisions are not suitable in all environments. Please ensure that all options are considered prior to creating a divisional structure.

• While many of the system settings are configured at both Global and Divisional level, some are not.

How Divisions Affect Actionstep Accounting

If your firm is using Actionstep Accounting, a divisional structure will result in separate accounting records. For example, if your firm has multiple offices that each run their own set of accounts with no shared bank account or tax reporting, you might consider using a division. (An example of this would be a franchise situation.)

At a divisional level, you can specify the Chart of Accounts, keep common records where applicable, remove accounts where required, and rename. While these still require a master set of accounts, it is not difficult to amend them for each division. The system accounts are set at a global level, which does need to be taken into consideration when specifying the Chart of Accounts.

The system start dates and accounting lockout dates can be set for each division. However, the financial year-end is currently set as a global option only, so a firm with multiple companies covering different financial years is not a candidate for using divisions.

If a company has multiple offices where they run using the same bank account and tax reporting, they cannot use divisions. In this instance, it's recommended using each office as a participant in the action type. This gives the ability to pull financial reporting for each office using the Income by Participant Report.

If your firm is considering using divisions for tracking the performance of a department, it's recommended you use each department as a participant in each action type. This provides the ability to pull financial reporting for each office using the Income by Participant Report.

NOTE: If your company has a common bank account and tax registration number then you should not use divisions. Instead use a Participant Type in your Actions to tag which team it belongs to. You can then run the special Income Statement by Participant to get results for each team.

How Email Domains Work with Divisions

While divisions may seem like the answer to firms with multiple entities, the email is set at a global level. If the entities use differing domains, and the firm wants to fully utilize Actionstep email for all entities, this is not possible.

Example Uses for Divisions

The following are examples of when or when not to use divisions in your Actionstep system:

Franchises
The Firm + Services Company (Same Email Domain)
The Firm + Services Company (Different Email Domains)
The Branch / Department Environment (Cost Centers) (With Accounting)
The Branch / Department Environment (Cost Centers) (Without Accounting)

Franchises

Bob owns a cleaning company called Cloud Clean, which he has recently franchised. While each of the franchisees are responsible for the day to day running of their own businesses, part of the contract is that Bob will specify the way his company is represented in the market. Bob would also like to monitor the performance and effectiveness of each of the franchises and allocate the sales inquiries to the correct franchise. Bob holds the domain for @cloudclean.com and all the franchises will use this.

This environment is a good reason to use Divisions. Bob can create the applicable action types, with documents, branding, knowledge base, and wiki, thus being assured that Cloud Clean is represented the way Bob prescribes in the market place. Each of the franchises will be able to run their own business as an individual entity without seeing records not belonging to their franchise. Sales inquiries will come into the root division and Bob can allocate them to the franchise on creation of the action. Bob is able to compile views and reports based on the actions of all franchises. Each user will have an email address @cloudclean.com.

The Firm + Services Company (Same Email Domain)

Steven is practice manager at the law firm, You Matter. While the law firm has a number of lawyers, runs a trust account, and does client billing, the non-lawyer employees are employed by a separate company (Legal Services Inc.) which also runs the practice and bills the law firm for its services. These companies are separate entities since a clear division is required for compliance reasons. All employees of both companies use an email address of @youmatter.com.

This environment is a good reason to use divisions. The services company staff can see the matters in the legal company, thus allowing them to create documents etc. while accounting is separated for each company.

The Firm + Services Company (Different Email Domains)

Jenny is practice manager at the law firm Smart Law. While the law firm has a number of lawyers, runs a trust account, and does client billing. Non-lawyer employees are employed by a separate company, Practice Perfect, which also runs the practice and bills the law firm for its services. These companies are separate entities as a clear division is required for compliance reasons. Smart Law has the email domain of @smartlaw.com, while Practice Perfect uses @practiceperfect.com.

This environment is not a good match for using divisions. A decision will need to be made about how to manage the global set up of the email domain. It may be that the benefits outweigh the email issue in this scenario.

The Branch / Department Environment (Cost Centers) (With Accounting)

Mary is the owner of a web design company which has multiple offices but is one accounting entity that's using Actionstep Accounting. Mary would like to use divisions so that she can use the divisional merge field on documents and to track the profitability of each of the branches.

This environment not good for divisions. Where Actionstep Accounting is used and the company is common (using a shared bank account and tax reporting), divisions cannot be used.

The same outcome can be found using participant types. Mary will need to add the "branch" as a participant type in each of her action types. A general action matter type will need to be included for tracking expenses.

Additionally, the Chart of Accounts should be set so that all income, cost, and expense accounts require an action. Sales and cost of sales would be related to their action. As per the norm, the expenses would be coded to the Action tracking expenses.

Using the Income by Participant Report (where the branch is the participant) would show the profitability of each branch. When using merge fields using pt=Branch would give the options.

The participant would also be able to be set as a field in the list view options to provide the ability to filter.

If Mary does not want employees of one branch seeing the work of other branches, she may need to add a participant type to each action for permission reasons.

NOTE: This same scenario can be applied where a company runs multiple departments or cost centers.

The Branch / Department Environment (Cost Centers) (Without Accounting)

Mike works for a large company where they have separate offices and wish to divide the actions between them for permission, generating documents, and reporting. They are not using Actionstep Accounting.

This environment is good for divisions. There are many large corporate customers using Actionstep who are not using accounting and are on a divisional structure for their databases.

NOTE: Creating permissions for users who may be able to see actions in some divisions and not others is possible; however, it can be tricky to unwind if roles or structure changes. If using this method, ensure adequate testing is done around each of the roles. See Configuring System Roles and Data Permissions and A Closer Look at Data Permissions (System Objects) to learn more.