Departments
Organize your team into departments, subdepartments, and managers.
Departments represent your team's organizational structure. They group members into a hierarchy and assign managers who can participate in operational workflows. A department does not grant permissions; each member keeps access defined by their role.
View the structure
Open Settings → Departments to view parent departments, subdepartments, managers, direct members, total members including descendants, and associated pending invitations. Departments belong to the active account.
Create a department
- Open Settings → Departments and select the creation action.
- Enter a name and add subdepartments as needed.
- Assign members and an optional manager.
- Review the hierarchy and save.
The following rules apply:
- Names must be unique across the account, not only within one level.
- A member can belong to only one department.
- A manager must be a direct member of their department.
- A department can have no members and no manager.
- Each subdepartment can have its own members, manager, and descendants.
If a person already belongs to another department, Pharos shows that assignment and prevents adding them again.
Members and managers
Department assignments do not change member permissions. A manager can be referenced in operational workflows. If you remove the manager from the member list, choose another or leave the position unassigned.
Pending invitations can have a department assignment; acceptance adds the person to the team with that assignment.
Edit the hierarchy
You can rename departments, add or remove subdepartments, reorder them, move members, and change or remove managers. Pharos validates the complete structure when saving. Resolve any members or invitations left outside the new assignments before completing the change.
Delete a department
Deleting a department does not remove its members or revoke invitations. Before confirming, decide:
- Where to move members and pending invitations, or whether to leave them unassigned.
- Which parent will receive each subdepartment, or whether it becomes a top-level department.
A subdepartment cannot move under the deleted department or into its own descendant branch. Deletion cannot be undone; review all reassignments first.
Departments and approvals
Some approval policies can assign a decision to the relevant department manager. Assigning a manager does not approve operations automatically; the person needs the required access and must make the decision.
Keep memberships and managers current, and review the effect on approvals before moving or deleting departments.
Troubleshooting
- A member cannot be assigned: check whether they already belong to another department.
- A manager cannot be selected: confirm they are a direct member of that department.
- Deletion cannot continue: review pending members, invitations, and subdepartment reassignments.