---
title: Departments
summary: Add the departments of your company, such as Civil or Electrical. Users, tasks and chats use them to show only the work of one team.
order: 5
menu: Company settings > General > Departments
route: /departments
who: People who have the View Other Masters permission. Adding needs Add, editing needs Edit and deleting needs Delete.
---

A department is a team in your company, for example Civil, Electrical or Accounts. You give departments to users. A user then sees the tasks and chats of those departments. Issues can also be sent to a department.

## Before you start

- Make a list of the department names you need. Each name must be different.
- If you want a picture for a department, prepare a PNG image smaller than 100 kb.

## How to add a department

1. Open **Company settings** in the left menu, then **General**, then **Departments**.
2. Click **Add Department** (mark 1 in the first picture).
3. In **Name:** (mark 1 in the second picture), type the department name, for example Civil.
4. To add a picture, use the **Icon:** box (mark 2) and choose a PNG file. If you add no picture, Superwise draws a default icon from the name.
5. If the department is for people outside your company, such as contractors, tick **Is External Entity?** (mark 3).
6. Click **Save** (mark 4). A message says **Department Added**.

![The list of departments. The mark 1 is the button Add Department and the mark 2 is the three dots of a row.](../media/department-list.png)

![The box Add Department. The mark 1 is Name, the mark 2 is Icon, the mark 3 is Is External Entity? and the mark 4 is Save.](../media/department-form.png)

The button **Save** stays grey until you type a name. Click **Close** to leave without saving.

## How to change a department

1. In the list, click the three dots at the end of the row (mark 2 in the first picture).
2. Choose **Edit**.
3. In the box **Edit Department**, change the name, the icon or **Is External Entity?**.
4. Click **Save**. A message says **Department Updated**.

## How to delete a department

1. In the list, click the three dots at the end of the row.
2. Choose **Delete**.
3. Read the question "Are you sure that you want to delete this department ?" and confirm it.

A message says **Department Deleted**.

## What the columns mean

| Name | What it means |
| --- | --- |
| **Icon** | The picture of the department. |
| **Name** | The name of the department. |
| **External Entity?** | A tick means the department is for people outside your company. |
| **Created By** | The user who added the department. |

## Rules to know

- A department name cannot be used twice. The message is "Department Name cannot be repeated."
- You cannot delete a department that has users. The message is "Department has User linked to it." Remove the department from those users first. See [Users](user.md).
- You cannot delete a department that has issues. The message is "Department has issues linked to it."
- A department marked as an external entity is offered to external users. The other departments are offered to your own users.

## If something goes wrong

| What you see | What to do |
| --- | --- |
| The Name field is required. | Type a name. |
| Department Name cannot be repeated. | Use a different name. |
| Department has User linked to it. | Edit the users and remove this department from them. |
| Department has issues linked to it. | The department cannot be deleted while issues use it. |
| The icon is not accepted. | Use a PNG file smaller than 100 kb. |

## Related pages

- [Users](user.md)
- [Staff (non-users)](staff-(non-user).md)
- [Company setup masters](index.md)