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Units and Unit Types

Organizational units are the building blocks of your company structure in Core. They represent teams, departments, divisions, projects, and any other groupings that help organize your workforce. Unit types provide categorization and help distinguish between formal organizational structure and informal groupings. This guide explains how to create, manage, and organize units effectively.

Understanding Units

Units are organizational groupings that contain members and have specific purposes. Examples include:

  • Departments: IT, Marketing, Finance, HR
  • Teams: Frontend Team, DevOps Squad, Content Writers
  • Divisions: North America Division, Product Division
  • Projects: Website Redesign, Mobile App Development
  • Secondary groups: Book Club, Wellness Committee, Innovation Hub

Each unit can:

  • Have a manager
  • Contain multiple members with specific roles
  • Nest within other units to create hierarchy
  • Have aggregated competencies based on member skills
  • Be classified as primary or secondary organizational structure

Understanding Unit Types

Unit types define the category of organizational unit and determine its classification in the hierarchy.

Type Classifications

Unit types are classified as either:

  • Primary: Core organizational structure (Departments, Divisions, Business Units)
  • Secondary: Supplementary or cross-functional groups (Committees, Communities of Practice, Book Clubs)

Built-in Unit Types

Mumu includes several pre-configured unit types:

Primary Types

  • Branch
  • Business Unit
  • Center of Excellence
  • Department
  • Division
  • Functional Unit

Secondary Types

  • Book Club
  • Committee
  • Community of Practice
  • Employee Resource Group
  • Guild
  • Innovation Hub

Custom Types

  • Organizations can create additional unit types as needed

Managing Unit Types

Accessing Unit Types

Navigate to Organization > Unit types to view and manage all unit type definitions.

Viewing Unit Types

The unit types list displays:

  • Name: The unit type name
  • Type: Classification (primary or secondary)
  • Updated At: Last modification date

Creating a Unit Type

  1. Navigate to Organization > Unit types
  2. Click New unit type
  3. Fill in the details:
    • Name: Enter the unit type name (e.g., "Squad", "Practice Group")
    • Type: Select either Primary or Secondary
  4. Click Save

Editing a Unit Type

  1. Navigate to Organization > Unit types
  2. Click the edit icon next to the unit type
  3. Modify the name or type classification
  4. Click Save

Deleting a Unit Type

  1. Ensure no units are currently using this type
  2. Click the delete icon next to the unit type
  3. Confirm the deletion

You cannot delete a unit type that's actively in use by existing units.

Managing Units

Accessing Units

Navigate to Organization > Units to view and manage all organizational units.

Viewing the Units List

The units list displays:

  • Name: Unit name
  • Type: Unit type classification (e.g., Department, Team)
  • Manager: Person responsible for the unit (if assigned)

Each row includes action buttons:

  • Edit icon: Modify unit details
  • Delete icon: Remove the unit

Creating a Unit

  1. Navigate to Organization > Units
  2. Click New unit
  3. Fill in the unit information:
    • Name: Enter the unit name (e.g., "IT Department", "Mobile Team")
    • Unit type: Select from the dropdown (or click + to create a new type)
    • Parent Entity: Select which unit or role this unit reports to
  4. Click Save

Parent Entity

The parent entity establishes the unit's place in the organizational hierarchy:

  • Select another unit if this unit is nested within a larger unit (e.g., "Frontend Team" within "Engineering Department")
  • Select an organization role if this unit reports directly to a company leader (e.g., "IT Department" reports to "CTO")
  • This creates the hierarchical structure visible in the organization chart

Editing a Unit

  1. Navigate to Organization > Units
  2. Click the edit icon next to the unit name
  3. You can modify:
    • General tab: Name, type, parent entity, description, unit code
    • Members tab: View and manage unit members and their roles
  4. Click Save after making changes

General Tab

  • Name: The unit's display name
  • Unit type: Category classification
  • Unit code: Optional internal code or identifier
    • Useful for integration with external systems
    • Can represent internal company codes or naming conventions
    • Not required but helpful for organizations with complex structures
  • Parent Entity: Reports-to relationship
  • Description: Optional detailed description of the unit's purpose

Members Tab

Shows all members assigned to this unit with:

  • Name: Member name
  • Role: Their role within this unit
  • Add button: Assign additional members to the unit

Assigning Members to Units

There are two ways to assign members to units:

Method 1: From Organization Chart

  1. Navigate to Organization > Org Chart
  2. Click Assign Unit Role
  3. Select the unit, member, and role
  4. Mark as primary assignment if applicable
  5. Click Save

Method 2: From Unit Details

  1. Navigate to Organization > Units
  2. Click edit icon on the desired unit
  3. Switch to the Members tab
  4. Click Add
  5. Select member and role
  6. Click Save

Assigning a Manager

Managers have oversight responsibility for their units:

  1. Navigate to Organization > Org Chart
  2. Find the unit in the chart
  3. Click on the unit to open the details panel and click on the "edit" icon
  4. Go to "Members" tab and click Change next to the current manager
  5. Select a member from the dropdown
  6. Click Save

The manager designation appears:

  • In the unit card on the org chart
  • In the units list
  • In unit details view

Deleting a Unit

Before deleting:

  • Update child units to report to a different parent
  • Consider the impact on the organization chart

To delete:

  1. Navigate to Organization > Units
  2. Click the delete icon next to the unit
  3. Confirm the deletion

Important: You cannot delete a unit that still has child units reporting to it.

Building Organizational Hierarchy

Multi-Level Structure

Units can be nested to create complex organizational hierarchies:

CEO (Organization Role)
├── Engineering Department (Unit)
│   ├── Frontend Team (Unit)
│   ├── Backend Team (Unit)
│   └── DevOps Squad (Unit)
├── Product Division (Unit)
│   ├── Product Management Team (Unit)
│   └── UX/UI Team (Unit)
└── Finance Department (Unit)
    ├── Accounting Team (Unit)
    └── Financial Planning Team (Unit)
  1. Start with primary structure
    • Define major departments and divisions first
    • Establish clear reporting lines to organization roles
  2. Add teams and sub-units
    • Create nested units for teams within departments
    • Set parent entities to reflect true reporting relationships
  3. Use appropriate unit types
    • Primary types for formal structure
    • Secondary types for informal or cross-functional groups
  4. Assign managers
    • Every unit should have a designated manager
    • Managers should be members of their unit or a parent unit
  5. Keep it simple
    • Avoid unnecessary nesting
    • Use flat structures where possible
    • Only create hierarchy where it adds clarity

Unit Competencies

What Are Unit Competencies?

Unit competencies represent the aggregated skills and capabilities of all members within a unit. They help you:

  • Understand the collective expertise of a team
  • Identify skill gaps at the team level
  • Make informed decisions about project assignments
  • Plan training and hiring needs

How Competencies Are Calculated

  1. Members have an assigned role in the unit
  2. Each role has associated skill groups
  3. Members self-assess their proficiency in relevant skills
  4. Core aggregates these assessments across all unit members
  5. The result is displayed as unit-level competencies

Viewing Unit Competencies

  1. Navigate to Organization > Org Chart
  2. Click on a unit card
  3. Scroll to Unit Competencies in the side panel
  4. View skills organized by category with visual proficiency indicators

Common Scenarios

Creating a New Department

  1. Navigate to Organization > Units
  2. Click New unit
  3. Name: "Sales Department"
  4. Type: Department (primary)
  5. Parent Entity: Select the VP Sales or CEO organization role
  6. Click Save
  7. Navigate to org chart and assign a manager
  8. Add team members using Assign Unit Role

Organizing Teams Within a Department

  1. Create the parent department (e.g., "Engineering Department")
  2. Create team units:
    • Name: "Frontend Team", Type: Team, Parent: Engineering Department
    • Name: "Backend Team", Type: Team, Parent: Engineering Department
  3. Assign managers to each team
  4. Assign developers to appropriate teams with relevant roles

Creating a Cross-Functional Group

  1. Navigate to Organization > Units
  2. Click New unit
  3. Name: "Innovation Committee"
  4. Type: Committee (secondary)
  5. Parent Entity: Select appropriate oversight role
  6. Click Save
  7. Add members from various departments
  8. This appears in org chart but is visually distinct as a secondary unit

Restructuring Departments

  1. Review the current structure in Organization > Units
  2. Create new units as needed
  3. Update parent entity relationships
  4. Reassign members to new units via Organization > Org Chart
  5. Update manager assignments
  6. Delete obsolete units after migrating members

Supporting Matrix Organizations

For organizations where people report to multiple managers:

  1. Create primary structure (functional departments)
  2. Create secondary structure (project teams or product groups)
  3. Assign members to their functional department with primary assignment
  4. Assign same members to project teams without primary assignment
  5. Both relationships appear in org chart and member profiles

Tips for Effective Unit Management

Naming Conventions

  • Use clear, descriptive names that everyone understands
  • Be consistent (e.g., always use "Team" or always use "Squad", not both)
  • Include context when needed ("Mobile App Team" vs just "Mobile")

Unit Codes

Use unit codes for:

  • Internal numbering systems (e.g., "DEPT-101")
  • Integration with HR or ERP systems
  • Cost center codes
  • Location codes (e.g., "NYC-SALES")

Regular Maintenance

  • Review and update unit structure quarterly
  • Remove obsolete units promptly
  • Ensure all active units have managers
  • Verify parent entity relationships remain accurate

Balancing Depth vs. Breadth

  • Avoid excessive nesting (more than 4-5 levels gets unwieldy)
  • Group similar functions together
  • Split large units when they grow beyond effective management

Troubleshooting

Can't Create a Unit

  • Permission issue: Verify you have Manage permission for Organization Core
  • Missing unit type: Create the unit type first

Can't Delete a Unit

  • Has child units: Reassign child units to different parents
  • Permission issue: Verify you have appropriate permissions

Wrong Hierarchy Display

  • Check parent entities: Verify each unit's parent entity setting
  • Circular references: Ensure no unit is its own ancestor
  • Manager vs parent: Distinguish between manager assignment and hierarchical parent

Next Steps

Now that you understand units and unit types, explore: