Map your functional organisation

Use this checklist to map your organisation by function, alongside your delivery teams. Whoever owns your organisation design does most of it, with a Flowstate admin for access. What functional groups are, and how they sit beside teams: Functional groups.

Before you start

• Set up sign-in and invite your team: group managers are chosen from people who can sign in to Flowstate.
• Load your people and teams: employees, contractors and vacancies fill positions.
• Optional: Set up your organisation basics, for job roles on positions, custom fields on groups and positions, and the currency cost is shown in.

1. Get the module switched on

What: Your Flowstate contact switches on functional groups for your organisation. Who: Implementation lead, with your Flowstate contact. Where: No setting. Ask your Flowstate contact. Done when: Delivery → Functional groups appears in the sidebar for people with access.

2. Decide who can open and change the structure

What: Give people the access their part needs. A group's managers can change that group and everything beneath it without any extra access. Who: Flowstate admin. Where: Settings → Users & Access → Roles. See Who can do what. Done when: The people who will build the structure can create a top-level group with Add group.

• To see Delivery → Functional groups in the sidebar, a role needs to be able to open functional groups.
• The people building it need a role that can edit all functional groups, including creating top-level ones.
• To add or remove any group's managers, a role needs to be able to share functional groups.

3. Choose who sees cost

What: Decide who sees each group's monthly cost. Who: Finance lead, with a Flowstate admin. Where: Settings → Delivery → Functional Groups. See Who sees cost. Done when: Your choice is still selected after you reload the page.

Choose one: nobody, managers and viewers of the group (the default), or everybody. People whose role can see financial summaries always see cost.

4. Build your groups and appoint managers

What: Create your top-level areas and the groups beneath them, and appoint the managers who look after them. Who: Organisation design owner. Where: Delivery → Functional groups → List. See Groups. Done when: The Explorer tab draws your hierarchy, and every group has a manager of its own or one from the group above.

5. Add positions and fill them

What: Add the seats in each group, then put employees, contractors or vacancies in them, with dates. Who: Group managers. Where: A group's page, on the Structure view. See Positions. Done when: For a sample group, the list's headcount, positions and FTE gap match what you expect. See Metrics and schedule.

6. Optional: keep it in step with your HR system

What: Pull groups, positions and the people in them from your HR system, and tell your other systems when they change. Who: A developer, or someone who can write a small script. Where: Custom integration hooks and Webhooks. Done when: A change made in your HR system shows in Delivery → Functional groups after the integration next runs.

You're set up when

• Delivery → Functional groups → Explorer draws your structure.
• Each group has managers, directly or from the group above.
• A sample group's headcount, positions and FTE gap look right, and cost is visible to the people you chose.

Next: day-to-day guides

• Functional groups: the As-of day, who can do what, and limits.
• Groups: create, reorganise and retire groups, and appoint managers.
• Positions: seats, filling and replacing people, reporting lines.
• The functional group chart: explore the hierarchy.
• Metrics and schedule: headcount bridge, cost, arrivals and leavers.