Feature Update: Division Filters for Reports

We're excited to introduce two new filters for the Reports module - Client Primary Division and Staff Primary Division.

What are Divisions?

Divisions are used to organize your clients and staff members to help define and automate the special details of how you work with them.  Some of the most common uses include:

• Customizing Your Company Branding 
• Applying Special Rates
• Organizing Your Internal Departments

Customizing Your Company Branding

For organizations using Accelo that have more than one brand name, Divisions makes it easy to ensure that you're presenting the correct branding to the correct client.  Whether you use different branding for your services, have different legal names for special regions, or any other situation, Divisions can automatically apply alternative company logos, email signatures, and even email addresses to your correspondence, ensuring that your client always sees the right information. 

The new Division filters can now be used to apply that same branding view to your reports, reviewing how each of your individual divisions is performing.

Applying Special Rates

When you've been in business for a while, you inevitably form special relationships with your longtime clients.  Often, those special relationships come with special, discounted rates.  The trouble is, it can be difficult to consistently recall and apply those special rates, leading to more work and unhappy clients, and can have a significant impact on your profitability. 

Divisions can be used to automatically apply those special rates to every piece of work you do for your special clients, and with the new Division filters, it's easy to see and compare their profitability to that of other clients. 

Organizing Your Internal Departments

As your business grows, your team inevitably grows along with it.  At a certain point, that size makes it necessary to look at your staff not as individuals, but as whole departments, each of which has its own impact on the business. 

Divisions is a great tool for organizing your staff into these departments because it clearly identifies those departments, and is distinct from Groups which are often used to track unrelated details like the user's physical location and permissions. 

With the new Division filters, you can also incorporate those departments into your Accelo reports, investigating their impact on your performance and financial metrics.

For more information on how to set up your own divisions, check out our handy guide.

Divisions vs Primary Division

We recognize that every business has unique needs when it comes to organizing their clients and staff, so we built Divisions with flexibility in mind.  One of the ways that Divisions handle those unique situations is by allowing you to add each of your clients and staff members to multiple divisions, helping to automate all of your special billing and organizational needs. 

However, when you're investigating a division's impact, it's important to identify the primary source of that impact so that you can take effective action.  To help provide you with that source, the division filters focus on the client or staff member's primary division.  The primary division is simple - it's the first division that your client or staff member was added to.

How can I see my primary division?

Today, the primary division is only found in the Reports module.  To see a client or staff member's primary division in a report, simply apply the Client or Staff Primary Division filters.

What if I need to change the primary division?

Simply remove the client or staff member from their current divisions, and then add them back to the primary division first.  You can then add them to any additional divisions as needed.

Let us know what you think

As always, we want to hear from you! Send us your feedback at [email protected] or post your suggestions to our ideas forum.