Branch or Dept pros and cons

[Robin Deatherage]

What are the pros and cons to take into consideration when trying to decide whether to setup a new branch or a new dept in TAM?  This would mainly be for security purposes - only letting certain users have access to the client info, like benefits or something similar.   

[Andrew Carrick]

You get all Depts in any Branch so it makes sense to follow the logical progression, a different office location would be a separate Branch but it will have all Depts - e.g. commercial, personal, etc - within it. We didn't do this and it makes reporting on business a little harder and more illogical as we've grown.

[DebAmstutz]

A separate department is good, but that department's own set of activity codes and scanning categories/subcategories is even better.  It's kind of a pain to set up, but once implemented, you can keep other departments from seeing anything.

[Robin Deatherage]

Thanks everybody.  I'm thinking a new dept.  Basically this dept will be using the same activity and attachment categories that Commercial uses but I need to limit access to who can open the client info.  So, please correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm thinking a new dept and then set the security for that dept to only those who need it and then no one else will even be able to get to the policies, activities, attachments, etc. 

[Andrew Carrick]

I'm pretty sure that's correct yes - been a while since we did anything like that.

[DebAmstutz]

If you use the same activities as elsewhere in the agency, people can view them, even if you limit the users on departments, because the activities are not "governed" by department.  The only things that "department" is limiting is policy types/apps and billing screens.

[Robin Deatherage]

If you use the same activities as elsewhere in the agency, people can view them, even if you limit the users on departments, because the activities are not "governed" by department.  The only things that "department" is limiting is policy types/apps and billing screens.

Ok, that's going to defeat the purpose of what I'm trying to do.  So, even if a user does not have access to a dept, they can still look at client activities and attachments that are coded to that dept, if they have access to those same codes?

[brinkerdana]

I'm pretty sure you'll need to set up a separate list of activities for the department by perhaps just adding B for Benefits (or whatever) to the activity code.  Then you'd be able to set security by activity code. 

[Robin Deatherage]

Thanks for all the info everybody.  It's been a long time since we've needed to set up a new dept or a new branch and I just couldn't remember all the ins and outs.