In Zoho CRM's Reporting Hierarchy, you can set up the organization's hierarchy structure based on the roles and also assign reporting managers to users for a well-defined record accessibility. In this hierarchy structure, a user is assigned a reporting manager who is entitled to view or access the user's data. Any member who is at a higher role than the user can be chosen as the reporting manager. Also, you can choose if the non-reporting members of your organization are managed by any superior at a higher role or by Super admin and Admin. This structure ensures controlled access of information within the organization and also ascertains that a user has only one reporting manager.

We will further discuss the reporting hierarchy structure in detail with a sample model of an organizational hierarchy.

In the following model of Zylker Inc., the CEO, John Peter is at the administrative position and can access the entire organization's data. Amelia Burrows and Emily Ross are the Sales Managers for Americas and EMEA divisions respectively. According to this hierarchy structure, the Sales Executives report to the Sales Managers. Hence, Matt Snap and Liz Wiseman report to Amelia Burrows and Alex Hugh reports to Emily Ross. Also, Mark Houston, VP of Sales is the non-reporting member in the organization and his data will be accessible to John Peter.

Availability

Enable Reporting Hierarchy

Reporting hierarchy lets you define the data visibility of a user. A user's reporting manager can be any person who is at a higher role in the branch. Also, users who do not require a reporting manager can be retained as non-reporting members and you can choose if their data should be visible to any superior at higher role or the Super admin (CEO)/Administrator of the organization.

To enable Reporting Hierarchy

1. Go to Setup > General > Company Details > Hierarchy Preference.
2. In Hierarchy Preference page, click Reporting Hierarchy.
3. Select an option to define how non-reporting users are managed:

• Any user higher up in the hierarchy.
• Super admin and Administrators.

Assign Reporting Mangers to Users

Once you define the reporting hierarchy structure for your organization, you are ready to choose reporting managers for the users. Any person who is at a superior role can be chosen as the user's reporting manager.

To allot reporting manager to new user

1. Go to Setup > Usersand Control > Users, Add New User.
2. Enter the user's details.
3. Select a Role from the drop-down list.
4. Select a Reporting Manager from the drop-down list.
   All the users superior to the selected role are listed.
5. Click Save.

 

To change the reporting manager of a user

1. Go to > Setup > Users.
2. Select a User whose reporting manager you want to change.
3. Under Reporting Hierarchy, click the Edit icon.
4. Select the Reporting Manager from the drop-down list.
5. Click Save.

View Reporting Hierarchy

Zoho CRM lets you view a user's reporting details at one click. The user information will display a user's reporting manager as well as subordinates (if applicable). This data will not be visible if the hierarchy preference is changed or disabled. However, a non-reporting user's data will not displayed.

To view reporting hierarchy

1. Go to the Users page, select a User.
2. In the right panel, you can view the Reporting Hierarchy.
   A user's reporting manager and the subordinates are listed

Delete a User

As an admin you can delete users from the CRM account. There are two conditions you need to make a note of while deleting a user:

A) If the user does not have any users reporting to him/her, you can delete the user account as it is.

B) If the user has members reporting to him/her, you can do either of the following:

• Transfer the subordinates to another user at an equal or superior role in the hierarchy.
• Do not assign reporting manager to the subordinates or leave them non-reporting.

To transfer subordinates

1. Go to Setup > Users and Control > Users.
2. In the Users page, select a User you want to delete.
3. From the User's Detail page, click the Delete this User link.
4. In the pop-up note, click Transfer Subordinates and Delete User.

   

5. In Transfer Subordinates pop-up, select the New Reporting Manager from the drop-down list.
6. Click Save.

Modify Reporting Hierarchy

As an administrator, you can always alter the designations of the users or the roles in your organization's hierarchy structure. However, these modifications lead to several changes in the reporting hierarchy too. In the following examples, you will learn how to change the reporting hierarchy based on the role modifications.

A) If a reporting manager's role is modified

When you change a reporting manager's role to another role in the hierarchy, modifications must be made in the reporting structure too. Following are some examples to elaborate such scenarios.

Case I

A person is a reporting manager for few users but is now demoted to subordinates role. For instance, Amelia Burrows is a Sales Manager (EMEA) and Sales Executives Mark Snap and Liz Wiseman report to her. If Amelia has not performed well and has been demoted, then Mark and Liz must be assigned a new reporting manager.

Case 2

A person is a reporting manager for few users but is now promoted to a higher role. For instance, Amelia Burrows is a Sales Manager (EMEA) and reports to Mark Houston who is VP of Sales. If Amelia is promoted as VP of Sales, then her reporting manager must be changed.

Case 3

A person who does not have any user reporting to him can adhere to the role change, as it does not affect the reporting structure. For instance, Allen Stack is VP of Marketing and does not have users reporting to him. If he is promoted or demoted, the role change can be adhered to as it does not affect the reporting structure of the subordinates. However, there may be a need to either assign Allen a reporting manager or he can be retained as a non-reporting member.

Case 4

A person is a reporting manager and is now transferred to another branch. For instance, Emily Ross is a Sales Manager (Americas) and is now transferred to the marketing branch as a Product Manager. Since, Jonathan Rose reports to Emily Ross he must be assigned a new reporting manager from the Sales branch. Similarly, and must now reporting manager for users in a branch and is now transferred to a role in another branch.

To change roles and reporting manager

1. Go to Setup > Users and Control > Users.
2. In the User page, select a User whose role you want to edit.
3. Under the User's Detail page, click the Edit icon.
4. In the Edit User page, click the Role List icon ().
5. Select a new Role from the Roles list.
6. Click Save.
7. In the Change of Reporting manager pop-up note, select the Role.
   (All the roles at higher hierarchy will be listed here).
8. Select a User.
   The users from the selected role will be listed.
9. Click Save.

B) If a role is modified

When you add or remove a role from your organization's hierarchy, the reporting structure must be altered. We have discussed two such possibilities here:

For instance, your company follows a hierarchy structure like this: CEO > Vice President Sales > Sales Manager > Sales Executive.

Case 1

If you decide to remove the Sales Manager's role from your organization. For example, if Amelia Burrows's role is deleted then Mark Snap and Liz Wiseman must be assigned a new reporting manager. Secondly, Amelia Burrows must be allotted a new role and reporting manager too.

Case 2

If users are transferred to another branch in the organization, they must be assigned a reporting manager from the new hierarchy branch. For example, Fiona Williams is a product executive for EMEA and is now transferred to the sales branch as a sales executive. She must be assigned a new reporting manager from the Sales branch.

To modify a role

1. Go to Setup > Users and Control > Security Control > Roles.
2. Select Sales Manager(EMEA) Role and click Delete.
3. In the Delete Role page, under Transfer Users and Sub-roles click the role list icon in Transfer to Role.
4. Select Sales Manager (Americas) Role.
5. Click Transfer and Delete.

Share Record Data Within the Organization

CRM records can be viewed and accessed only by the record owners and the superior's in the same branch. Reporting Hierarchy allows you to choose members from other branch with whom you want to share the data. You can set the permission rights as read/write or read-only.

To share records

1. Select a Module and click on the Record you want to share.
2. Click the More button and select Share.
3. In the pop-up, in Share to select the users you want to share the data from the drop-down list.
4. Choose the permission level Read Only or Read/Write from the drop-down list.
5. Click Save.

How Reporting Hierarchy Changes Associated CRM Functions

In business, there are innumerable occasions where a superior's nod is required before finalizing an activity. Zoho CRM has enabled you to redirect such activities to a record owner's superior. In reporting hierarchy, you can choose a record owner's reporting manager to perform these actions. Listed below are few instances where reporting hierarchy brings significant changes:

Approval Flow

In business, there are many instances where a task needs a superior's approval before proceeding. For example, a sales rep offering a product discount or deciding to initiate some campaign. This requires an approval from the Sales Manager. Reporting Hierarchy allows you to assign the reporting manager as the approver. You can choose the user's reporting manager for approving the activities.

To select reporting manager as approver

1. Go to Setup > Automation > Approval Process.
2. Click Add Rule to this Process.
3. Select Rule Criteria from the drop-down list.
4. In Who Should Approve, select Reporting Manager.
5. Click Done.
   

Send Alert

Zoho CRM lets you create set of actions that help in automating the sales and marketing activities. You can associate these actions with Workflow rules, Blueprint and Approval Processes. One of the actions that can be directly associated with the reporting hierarchy is sending alerts. You can associate an alert with a workflow rule, so that the selected email is automatically sent to the recipients when the rule is triggered. In reporting hierarchy, you can choose a record owner's reporting manager as one of the email recipients.

To send alerts to reporting manager

1. Go to Automation > Workflow Rules and click on a Rule.
2. In Instant Actions, click Send Email.
3. In Send Alert page, select Record Owner's Manager.
4. Click Save and Associate.
   

Transition in Blueprint

Blueprint in Zoho CRM, creates an online replica of your business process that helps you in keeping track of different stages involved in your business. As defined in blueprint, each stage involved in your business is termed as State and a link between two states is called a transition. A transition created for a record is displayed in the record's detail page. To complete a transition one has to execute the actions mentioned in the transition. Using reporting hierarchy, you can choose a record owner's reporting manager to execute the actions and complete the transition process.

To allot reporting manager as transition owner

1. Go to Setup > Automation > Blueprint and click on a Blueprint.
2. In Transitions, select Roles under Owners.
3. Select Record Owner and Reporting Manager.
4. Click Save.

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   Forecasts

   Forecasts enable you to track and fine-tune the sales process. It gives a bird's-eye view of the sales pipeline and also allows you to track performances of your sales team. In reporting hierarchy, a user's reporting manager can be enabled to set forecasts for the reporting users. A user's reporting manager can set sales target for the users and also evaluate his/her team's performance.

   To set targets in forecasts

   1. Go to the Forecasts module > Create Forecast.
   2. Set Targets for reporting and non-reporting members.
   3. Click Save.

   

   Note:

   • By default, a non-reporting user will have the CEO or the Administrator as the forecast managers.
   • If your company has more than one CEO then he/she will be entitled to view and edit the forecast of the entire organization.