Business Area

A business area is a reporting bucket that sits above the business unit. It exists so a group can see several business units added together under one heading, in one place, across more than one registered company.

Where

Organization & Setup › Enterprise Structure › Business Area

Who uses it

The implementation consultant, once per reporting area

When

Before Business Area Dimension

Needs first

Nothing

What it is for

A group with three registered companies and nine business units between them cannot report usefully on nine lines. It wants three, or four, grouped the way the board thinks about the business.

The business area is that grouping. It is only a name and a code here. What gives it meaning is Business Area Dimension, which says which business unit in which legal entity belongs to which business area.

Keep the list short. A business area with one business unit under it adds a layer and tells nobody anything new.

Every field, in plain words

Field	What it means	What to put in it	Notes
Business Area	The short code.	TEX	Required.
Name	What the area is called.	Textiles	Required.
Block	Stops the business area being picked on any new record. What is already using it keeps it.	Leave clear

How to configure it

1. Ask the client how the board wants to see the group, not how it is legally structured.
2. Open Business Area and enter a code and a name, for example TEX and Textiles.
3. Save, and repeat for each area.
4. Then go to Business Area Dimension and map each legal entity's business units onto these areas. Until that is done a business area groups nothing.

Scenarios

The board wants manufacturing and trading reported separately across all three companies

Two business areas, MFG and TRD. On Business Area Dimension, map every mill and plant business unit to MFG and every trading desk to TRD, in all three legal entities. The report then shows two lines whatever the legal structure looks like.

What it is connected to

• Business Unit is what a business area groups.
• Business Area Dimension is where the grouping is actually made, per legal entity.
• Reports that break down above the business unit read the business area.

If something looks wrong

• "The business area shows nothing in a report" - no Business Area Dimension line points a business unit at it.
• "The business area does not appear in the dimension screen" - it is blocked. Clear the Block tick.