Create departments and include them in the department hierarchy

Applies to these Dynamics 365 apps:
Human Resources

A department is an operating unit that represents a category or functional area of an organization. A department is responsible for a specific area of the organization, such as sales, accounting, or human resources. You can use departments to report on functional areas. Departments might have profit and loss responsibility.

A department might include a group of cost centers. Positions can be assigned to departments. To create a department, click Human Resources > Departments > Department. The following table describes the fields that are available.

Field	Description
Name	Enter a name for the department.
Department number	A default value might be generated automatically if a number sequence code is assigned to the Organization number reference on the Number sequences page.
Search name	Enter a name or acronym that can be used to search for the department.
Memo	Enter any additional information here.
In hierarchy	A selected check box indicates that the department is included in the department hierarchy. For information about how to add a department to the department hierarchy, see the information later in this article.
DUNS number	DUNS stands for Data Universal Number System. This is a nine-digit number that is issued by Dun & Bradstreet.
Manager	Enter the persona that manages the department.
Addresses	Add the address information for the department. For example, add the mailing address for the building that the department is located in.
Contact information	Add contact information for the department. For example, add a telephone number for the service desk in the department.

To add a department to the department hierarchy, follow these steps.

1. Click Human Resources > Departments > Department hierarchy.
2. Click Edit, and then select the organization that the department should be under.
3. Click Insert, and select Department in the list.
4. In the list of departments that appears, select the department to add to the hierarchy.
5. Save your changes. You receive a message that a draft version of the hierarchy has been created.
6. When you're ready, click Publish in the hierarchy designer. You can enter an effective date that indicates when the hierarchy should be published. For example, to add a new department at the beginning of the next calendar year, set the effective date to January 1 of the new calendar year. The changes to the hierarchy will take effect on that date.

Steps for creating a department

Refer to the Define new departments article for the step-by-step procedure for creating a new department.