Understanding Companies, Organizations and Workspaces in CrmLeaf
All editions. Core feature - no add-on required.
Availability: All editions. Core feature - no add-on required.
Overview
CrmLeaf has two nested levels of tenancy. A Company is the account and subscription. An Organization is a workspace inside that Company, used for a branch, a brand or a business unit. Understanding the difference decides how you structure your data, because the two levels isolate records in different ways.
Read this article before you set up a second branch, before you decide whether a group of businesses needs one account or several, and whenever a record appears to be missing for a colleague who can clearly see the module.
How It Works
Both levels are resolved from your signed-in session, not from the web address you use. Every query CrmLeaf runs is filtered to the Company of the signed-in user, and the selected Organization is held in the session and validated on each request.
Company (account) → Organization (workspace) → Records → Ownership scope → What you see
- Company is the tenant boundary. Records belonging to one Company are invisible to another Company. This isolation is applied automatically to every record type that uses it, so it cannot be bypassed by a filter or a link.
- Organization is a workspace inside the Company. Every new Company automatically receives a default organisation named "<Company> - Main Organization". Records such as leads carry the organisation they belong to, and the organisation you have selected filters what you see.
- One person, several Companies. The same email address can be a user in more than one Company. When that is the case, a workspace picker appears so the user can choose which account to work in, and company-specific session state is cleared when they switch.
- Ownership scope sits on top. Within a Company and Organization, your role's permission scope decides which records you see - your own, the ones you added, both, or all of them.
- Some features are scoped to both levels. The File Manager folder tree and personal access tokens are scoped per Company and Organization, so a token issued in one workspace works in that workspace.
Who Can Use This Feature?
Administrator
- Decide the structure: one Company with several Organizations, or separate Companies.
- Maintain the Company profile, subscription and settings, which apply to the whole account.
- Invite users into the Company and set which records they can see.
User
- Select the Company and Organization you want to work in.
- Understand that records you create belong to the workspace you had selected at the time.
Access depends on the modules and role assigned by your Administrator.
Prerequisites
- An active CrmLeaf Company. A default organisation is created with it, so no setup is needed to start.
Company Compared with Organization
| Aspect | Company | Organization |
|---|---|---|
| What it represents | The customer's account and subscription | A workspace inside the account: branch, brand or business unit |
| Created | At signup | One default organisation is created with the Company; more can be added |
| Isolation | Hard tenant boundary - records are filtered to the signed-in user's Company automatically | Filtering within the Company, applied to the record types that carry an organisation |
| Subscription and plan | Held at Company level, including seat and storage limits | Shares the Company's plan |
| Users | A user belongs to the Company; the same email can be a user in several Companies | Users work inside the selected organisation |
| How it is selected | Workspace picker after sign-in, when the user belongs to more than one | Held in the session and validated on each request |
For Administrators
Step 1: Decide between Organizations and separate Companies
What to do: Use additional Organizations inside one Company when the branches or brands share the same subscription, the same settings and the same user base, and when leadership needs to see across them. Use separate Companies when the businesses must be completely isolated, need separate subscriptions, or must not share settings.
What to verify: Confirm that the reporting you need is possible under the structure you choose. Company isolation is absolute, so a report cannot span two Companies.
Step 2: Review the default organisation
What to do: Check the default organisation created with your account, named "<Company> - Main Organization". Rename it if your business uses a different name for its main branch or head office.
What to verify: The organisation name shown in the workspace picker matches what your team will recognise.
Step 3: Add further Organizations if you need them
What to do: Create one Organization per branch, brand or business unit that needs its own working area. Keep the number small - every extra workspace is another context users must select correctly before they create records.
What to verify: The new organisation appears for the users who should work in it.
Step 4: Brief your users
What to do: Tell users that the organisation selected when they create a record determines which workspace that record belongs to. This is the most common cause of a "missing" record.
What to verify: Users know where the workspace picker is and can state which workspace they are currently in.
Expected Result
You can state which level a record lives at, why a colleague in another Company can never see it, and why a colleague in the same Company may not see it until they select the right Organization.
Service Organisation Context
A professional services firm that runs more than one practice, office or brand can hold each as an Organization inside a single Company, so a consulting practice and a managed services practice work their own records while head office configures currencies, tax rates and users once. Because Company isolation is absolute, keep the whole firm in one Company where a delivery head needs a view across practices, and use separate Companies only where two businesses must never share data or a subscription. The same decision faces a multi-branch contractor, a manufacturer with two plants or any business with distinct operating units.
Important Notes
- Menu names and their position can differ between product editions and can be customised for your account, so your sidebar may not match these paths exactly. Use Search or your Quick Access items if you cannot find a screen.
- Company isolation is enforced on the records themselves, not by the address you visit. Signing in through a different link does not change which Company's data you see.
- Seat limits and storage limits come from the Company's package and are shared by all of its Organizations.
- Not every record type carries an organisation. Leads are documented as organisation-aware; confirm the behaviour for the modules you rely on before you split a workspace.
- Personal access tokens are pinned to the Company and Organization that were active when the token was created.
Common Scenarios
Example: two branches, one business. A contractor runs a north and a south branch. Both share one subscription, one set of tax rates and one employee list. The Administrator keeps a single Company and adds a second Organization for the south branch, so each branch works its own leads while head office configures settings once.
Example: an accountant with several clients. A consultant is invited into three client accounts using the same email address. After sign-in the workspace picker lists all three Companies. Switching clears the previous Company's session state, so there is no risk of acting on the wrong account's records.
Troubleshooting
| Issue | Possible Cause | Resolution |
|---|---|---|
| A record a colleague created is not visible to you | You have a different Organization selected | Switch to the Organization the record was created in. |
| A record is still not visible after switching Organization | Your role's permission scope for that module is owned or added | Ask your Administrator to review the permission scope for that module. |
| No workspace picker appears | You belong to only one Company, or only one Organization | This is expected. The picker appears only when there is more than one to choose from. |
| You cannot report across two business units | They were set up as separate Companies | Company data cannot be combined. Organizations inside one Company are the structure that allows a shared view. |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is an Organization the same as a department?
No. A department is HR structure inside a workspace. An Organization is the workspace itself.
Can one user belong to two Companies?
Yes. The same email address can be a user in several Companies, and a workspace picker lets them switch.
Do Organizations have separate subscriptions?
No. The subscription, seat limit and storage limit belong to the Company and are shared across its Organizations.
Which name do I see in the interface?
Your Company name and the organisation name you selected. The default organisation is named after your company.
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