Business Unit / Cost Center

ADMIN HELP CENTER · ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE

Business Unit / Cost Center

Define the divisions, departments, or functional entities that own cost, revenue, and operational activities across your organization.

Core HR ▸ Organization Structure ▸ Business Unit / Cost Center

Before You Start

• HR Admin or Finance Admin setting up the financial tracking backbone of the company.
• Each Business Unit represents a division, department, or functional entity that tracks its own budget and operations.

What You'll Achieve

• Create Business Units or Cost Centers that payroll, reporting, and HR processes roll up against.
• Nest cost centers under broader divisions so leadership sees a clean hierarchical view of spend and headcount.

Why this matters

Two outcomes your finance and HR leaders will thank you for.

FINANCIAL TRACKING

Roll up revenue and cost reporting cleanly across each business entity instead of one flat bucket.

RESOURCE ALLOCATION

Assign headcount and resources to the right operational units so capacity planning lines up with the org chart.

How to configure

Two quick steps to add your first Business Unit.

On This Screen

The list view shows every Business Unit / Cost Center already configured. Use the search bar to filter, or click Add Configuration on the top right to create a new one.

Business Unit / Cost Center — list view with existing entities

1

Open the Business Unit configuration screen

Go to Core HR ▸ Organization Structure ▸ Business Unit / Cost Center to land on the list view.

2

Create a new Business Unit

Click Add Configuration, fill in the Business Unit name, code, parent unit (if any), and description, then click Save.

On This Screen

The Add Configuration dialog captures the minimum fields needed to register the unit in reporting and onboarding pickers.

Add new Business Unit / Cost Center dialog

Field reference

What each field on the Add Configuration dialog does.

Field	Description	Required
Business Unit Code	Unique identifier used in reports and integrations. Example: FIN-CORP-01.	Required
Business Unit Name	Display name shown in pickers during employee onboarding and payroll.	Required
Parent Unit	Roll this unit under a broader division for hierarchical reporting. Leave blank for top-level entities.	Optional
Description	Free-text note describing the unit's purpose or ownership.	Optional
Status	Set to Active to make the unit available in pickers. Switch to Inactive to retire a unit without deleting historical data.	Required

TIP

Use a consistent naming convention (e.g. FIN-CORP-01) so Business Unit codes stay searchable and report-friendly later.

NOTE

Set the Parent Unit to nest cost centers under broader divisions — this unlocks hierarchical rollup reports across the organization.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I delete a Business Unit after employees are mapped to it?

No — a Business Unit that is referenced by any employee record cannot be deleted. Set its Status to Inactive instead so it disappears from new-onboarding pickers but historical records stay intact.

Does the code need to match our accounting / ERP system?

It does not have to, but we recommend matching. When payroll exports or finance integrations kick in, a shared code removes the need for a lookup table.

What's the difference between a Business Unit and a Department?

Business Units own the budget; Departments own the function. A single Business Unit typically contains multiple Departments underneath it in the hierarchy.

Can one employee belong to two Business Units?

An employee can have a primary Business Unit for reporting, and additionally be assigned to another for cross-charge or shared-services scenarios.

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