Business Unit

A business unit is a division of the group, such as Retail or Projects. It is a financial dimension: accounting lines can carry it, so the ledger can be read per unit.

Where

Organizational Structure › Enterprise Structure (OSBU)

Who uses it

The implementation consultant or the system administrator

When

Once, while the company is being set up, and whenever a new one is needed

Needs first

Nothing

What it is for

Use business units for the largest split the owners want to see results by. It is one of the financial dimensions: a value an accounting line can carry so the ledger can be read by it. Which dimensions an account asks for is set in General ledger.

Business units are shared by every company of the client: the code is unique across the installation, and so is the name.

Every field in plain words

General

Field	What it means	What to put
Business Unit	The code that identifies the business unit. You type it on New, before Create.	Required. A short code; it cannot be changed once the record exists.
Name	The name of the business unit, shown next to the code wherever it is picked.	Required.
Block	Stops the business unit from being used.	Tick to block. A blocked record drops out of the pick lists other screens use.

How to configure it

The screen allows import, so a long list can be loaded from a file instead of typed. Which fields are required, greyed, hidden or pre-filled for a company is set on Organizational Structure Setting, in its Default Parameters grid, and one user can differ through User Parameter Value.

Scenarios

• A group wants profit by division. Create one business unit per division and make it a required dimension on the income and expense accounts.

What it is connected to

• Business Area Dimension - pairs business units with business areas per company.
• Picked on Letter of Guarantee, Request for Letter of Guarantee in Cash and bank.
• Picked on these company setup screens: Business Area Dimension.
• Picked on Posting Profile in General ledger.
• Set up a new company - structure masters come before the chart of accounts dimensions.

If something looks wrong

• “Business Unit: … already exists.” The code is taken. Use another.
• “Name: … already exists.” Another business unit already has this name. Names must be unique too.