Setting up a new Org

Setting Up an Additional Org

This article is for companies already using Kompass that want to add a second (or further) org — for example a new branch, a subsidiary, or an office in another country.

Org vs Organization. In Kompass, an org is one of your own offices or entities. It is not the same as Organizations in the main menu, which are your clients. This article is about orgs.

Each org has its own currency, VAT rates, calendar, timezone and settings. Employees with access to more than one org can switch between them, and clients can be shared across orgs.

Setting up a new org happens in two places: the Admin site (creating and configuring the org itself) and the Kompass app (bringing employees and clients across). Work through the steps below in order. A few of them depend on the step before.

Step 1: Create the org

Go to Admin → Company → Orgs and click Add. Please note that you can also start with an existing org an Save as New.

Field	What it does
Name	The org's name, as shown in the org switcher and across Kompass.
URL	Your Kompass address. Used for links in emails.
Currency	The currency the org trades in.
Country	Used as the default address country and for formatting phone numbers.
Timezone	The org's local timezone.
Locale	Sets date formats, number formats and field names (e.g. `en-GB` , `en-US` ).
Locale changes	Optional overrides to the locale, such as renaming specific fields.
Calendar	The bank holiday calendar the org follows.
Payment days	Default payment terms for invoices (30 by default).
Gross margin	The org's target gross margin for Proposal Items, used unless a department or service sets its own.
Rounding	How amounts are rounded. "Round Half Up" (commercial rounding) is the usual choice.
VAT number	The org's VAT / tax registration number.
Location	The org's office location. Used as the default place of work for employees who don't have their own.
Map bounds	The area an empty map opens on.
External links	Optional extra links added to the navigation.
Start / End	Optional dates the org is active between.
Parent	Links this org to a parent org. An org can have a parent or be a parent, but not both. Speak to us before setting this.

Step 2: Set up the org's company settings

Go to Admin → Company → Configs and add a config for the new org. This decides which company-wide lists the org can use:

Setting	What it does
Departments	The departments available in this org.
VAT rates and Default VAT rate	The VAT rates available, and the one used by default.
Nominal accounts and Default nominal account	The accounting codes available, and the one used when a cost option doesn't specify one.

You don't have to recreate everything. Departments, VAT rates and nominal accounts can be shared between orgs. Simply tick the existing ones you want. A department brings its services with it. In case you need to add a new department, create it under Admin → Company → Departments

Step 3: Set up each module's settings

Every module (Projects, Clients, Diary, Leave, Tasks and so on) has its own Config per org, found under that module in the Admin site (e.g. Admin → Projects → Configs).

These configs also control which dropdown lists the org sees. Lists such as client types and categories, project categories, sources, task types and leave types are shared across Kompass, and each org's config decides which of them are switched on. If a dropdown is empty in the new org, this is almost always why.

Don't skip the Diary config. Under Admin → Diary → Configs, set the new org's default schedule and hours per day. Kompass needs these before any employee can have the new org as their main org.

Step 4: Make templates available

Email templates belong to a single org. Your existing ones won't send anything for the new org, so recreate the ones you need under the new org. See Email Templates and Their Triggers.
Document templates (proposals, invoices, reports) can be shared. Open each template in the Admin site and tick the new org. No need to upload it again.

Step 5: Give yourself access first

Before bringing anyone else across, add the new org to your own employee record. Go to Employees, open your profile, click Edit, and add the new org to Orgs.

This matters because you can only assign clients to orgs you belong to yourself. Until you've done this, the new org won't appear as an option.

Step 6: Bring employees across

Every employee has two org fields on their profile:

Field	Meaning
Main Org	The org they belong to. It drives their default schedule and calendar.
Orgs	Every org they can access and switch to. This must always include their Main Org.

What you change depends on what you want:

Scenario	What to do
Employee stays where they are but needs access to the new org	Add the new org to Orgs. Leave Main Org alone.
Employee moves to the new org	Change Main Org to the new org, and make sure it is in Orgs. Keep the old org in Orgs if they still need it.
Brand new employee in the new org	Create them as normal, with the new org as Main Org.

To edit an employee, go to Employees, open their profile and click Edit. You'll also want to check their Department and Schedule suit the new org.

Moving employees in bulk

The employee import's org_name (or org_id ) column sets the Main Org. Importing a row with the new org's name therefore moves that employee to the new org. Their previous org stays in their Orgs, so they don't lose access to it.

Watch out: there is no import column for adding access without changing the Main Org. For employees who should only gain access, update Orgs on each profile individually.

Seeing colleagues across orgs

By default the Employees list shows people from your current org. The View users from other orgs permission lets someone see everyone across all the orgs they have access to. See the Permissions Reference.

Step 7: Bring clients across

A client can belong to several orgs at once, so you don't need to duplicate anyone. Their contacts come with them.

One client at a time

Open the client, click Edit, and add the new org in the Orgs field. The field only offers orgs you have access to (see Step 5), and it is greyed out if you only belong to one org.

Many clients at once

Export your clients from the Organizations list to get their IDs.
Build an import file with an id column and an org_name column containing the new org's name.
Import it.

This adds the new org to each client. It doesn't remove any of their existing orgs.

Rules to know

You can only add or remove orgs you belong to yourself.
You can't remove an org from a client while that client has projects in that org.
If you import clients by category_name , the category must be switched on for the new org (Step 3), or it won't be matched.

What about existing projects?

Projects belong to a single org and stay where they are. A project can be moved to another org only while it's still clean. Once a status update, invoice or timesheet has been recorded against it, Kompass locks it to its org.

Parent and child projects must belong to the same org. See Parent and Child Projects.

Checklist

Org created (Admin → Company → Orgs)
Company config: departments, VAT rates, nominal accounts and defaults
Module configs, including dropdown lists
Diary config: default schedule and hours per day
Email templates recreated for the new org
Document templates ticked for the new org
New org added to your own profile
Employees given access or moved
Clients added to the new org