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Locations, Departments and Companies

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In this lesson, you will learn:

  • Why ITSM needs locations, departments and companies
  • Where to find these records
  • How to build SNWR’s records
  • How to link a user to them

🔁 Quick look back: Last time: The Foundation Data ITSM Needs, and Load Order. You learned which foundation data ITSM needs, and why you load it in a fixed order.

1 “Which office is down?”

Email is down, and 40 incidents arrive at once.

  • Daniel asks: “Is it only Mumbai, or London too?”
  • Nobody can tell, because the incidents don’t show a location.
  • The report “Incidents by department” is empty as well.

🎯 The problem: Without locations and departments, you can’t see who is affected, or report on it.

👉 The fix: build the locations, departments and companies first, and link every user to them.

2 Three kinds of records

Key term: Location

A place where people work, like SNWR Mumbai HQ.

Key term: Department

A part of the company, like IT or Marketing.

Key term: Company

A business you deal with. SNWR itself, and vendors like Company B.

Record Where, and SNWR examples
Location All › Organization › Locations
SNWR Mumbai HQ · SNWR London Office
Department All › Organization › Departments
IT · Marketing
Company All › Organization › Companies
SNWR · Company B (vendor)

3 How they connect

Sam Lee's user record and what it points to. The user form shows Name Sam Lee, Location SNWR Mumbai HQ, Department Marketing, Company SNWR, and Time zone Asia/Kolkata. Notes: 1 Location tells agents where the person sits and which office is affected. 2 Department is used for reports and approvals. 3 Company is SNWR, while vendors like Company B are companies too.
Figure 1. One user record, pointing to three kinds of foundation data.

📝 Note: Company B is a company record with the Vendor box checked. You’ll use it later, when laptops are ordered from them.

4 Let’s try it: build SNWR’s records

  1. Go to All › Organization › Locations. Create SNWR Mumbai HQ (city Mumbai, country India) and SNWR London Office (city London, country United Kingdom).
  2. Go to Departments. Create IT and Marketing.
  3. Go to Companies. Create SNWR. Then create Company B and check Vendor.
  4. Open the user Sam Lee. Set Location to SNWR Mumbai HQ, Department to Marketing and Company to SNWR.
  5. Check Sam’s Time zone is Asia/Kolkata. Save.

5 Quick recap

  • Locations show where people work
  • Departments group people for reports and approvals
  • Companies include SNWR itself and vendors like Company B
  • All three live under All › Organization
  • Link every user to a location, department and company

6 Check yourself

Think of your answer first. Then tap to check.

1 Email is down. Which field helps you see which office is affected? Show answer

The caller’s Location.

2 Is Company B a company record? Show answer

Yes. It’s a company with the Vendor box checked.

3 Where do you create departments? Show answer

All › Organization › Departments.

4 Why link users to a department? Show answer

So you can report on incidents by department, and route approvals.

Nice work! SNWR’s locations, departments and companies are ready. 🎉
Next up: Designing Assignment Groups

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