Units, chapters, and groups
All four sit on the same underlying structure in Orgo, which is why they share features like member roles and a name, but they behave differently:
The practical difference: a unit describes where someone sits in the org chart, a group describes what they are working on.
Units and chapters both nest, and they are separate trees. Chapters nest into each other to any depth (national, region, district, branch), and units nest inside one chapter along your chain of unit types. A unit never spans two chapters, and a unit is never the parent of a chapter.
Before you start
Unit types
A unit type is the template for a layer of your structure. Define them once at Settings → Modules → Groups & Teams → Unit Types, then create units of that type inside each chapter.
Creating, editing, and deleting unit types is restricted to organization admins (
ROLE_ADMIN_TENANT). Delete a type only after nothing uses it.
Within local center is the switch that decides whether a type shows up as a chapter tab and in the chapter row menu. A type without it produces units that are not tied to any chapter, so only tenant-level admins can manage them.
Working with units
The unit list
The chapter header carries a tab named after your local unit types (visible withHR_LOCAL). It opens a list of every unit of that type in the chapter.
The heading is the type’s plural name. HR_LOCAL gets an active / archived filter. ADMIN_LOCAL gets an add button naming the type, and a pencil on each row. Each row shows the member type badge or logo, the unit name linking to its members, the member count, and the parent unit name (with an archived tag if the parent is closed).
Clicking a row slides in the unit form:
Deleting a unit asks for confirmation and removes its role assignments with it.
The segmented board
ADMIN_LOCAL also gets a drag-and-drop board for the whole chapter. When your types nest, it renders as columns: one per parent unit, with its child units stacked inside. Any child unit that has not been given a parent is collected in a final Unassigned column. When the type you are looking at has no parent type, the board is flat instead: one section per unit.
From the board you can drag a member from one unit to another, use Add member to search and place someone, create a child unit inline, edit or delete a unit, set each member’s role, and mark a member as Admin of their unit.
From the chapters list
When units are enabled, each chapter row in the chapters list grows a chevron. Expanding it loads that chapter’s whole unit tree inline, indented by depth, showing each unit’s type, member type color, and member count. A unit name in that tree is a link only if you can open it. You can when you holdHR_LOCAL over the chapter, or you are an admin of that unit or one above it, or you hold a role on that unit type (or any type above it in the parent chain).
ADMIN_LOCAL reaches the units of its own chapter only, however deeply those units are nested inside it. It does not reach units belonging to a chapter below yours in the chapter tree, even one directly below. To administer a branch’s units you need a _PARENT_LOCAL permission, which is the permission family that travels down the chapter tree. This closes a case where a parent chapter’s ADMIN_LOCAL holders reached units sitting directly inside their child chapters.Who can do what
Chapters and role groups can never be created or edited through the unit screens even by tenant admins; they have their own flows.
Common questions
How deep can units nest?
How deep can units nest?
As deep as your chain of unit types. Each type points at one parent type, and units of a type can only sit under units of that parent type. The chapters list renders the resulting tree at whatever depth it finds.
A member should be in two units.
A member should be in two units.
Unit membership is a role assignment, so a member can hold roles in more than one unit at the same time. Dragging on the segmented board moves them; adding them from a second unit’s Add member leaves both.
Why does no unit tab appear on my chapter?
Why does no unit tab appear on my chapter?
Three things must all be true: Enable Organizational Units is on, at least one unit type has Within local center ticked, and you hold
HR_LOCAL over the chapter.What happens to members when a unit is archived?
What happens to members when a unit is archived?
Archiving sets the unit’s status to closed and records an end date. It stays visible under the archived filter and keeps its history; it just stops appearing in the active list and in the chapter’s unit tree.
Should I use a unit or a group for a committee?
Should I use a unit or a group for a committee?
A unit if the committee is a permanent part of the chapter’s structure and you want it in the org chart and in fee scoping. A private group if it is a working space people join for a project.
Related
- Local Centers - the chapters that units live inside
- Groups Overview - all group types and when to use each
- Role Groups - membership defined by a query instead of an assignment
- Member Transfers - what happens to assignments when a member changes chapter
- Permissions - how the local roles are evaluated

