Departments and designations form the structural backbone of Octal HR. They determine approval chains for leave and expenses, group employees for reporting, and control which policies and salary structures apply to each employee group.

Why Structure Matters

  • Approval routing: Leave and overtime requests flow to the reporting manager, then up through the department head
  • Reporting: Headcount and payroll reports can be broken down by department
  • Policy assignment: Attendance shifts, leave policies, and payroll structures can be set per department
  • Org chart: A defined department tree feeds the visual org chart for the whole company

Department Hierarchy

Octal HR supports parent departments and sub-departments. A typical structure looks like this:

Organisation
Finance & Accounts
Accounts Payable Taxation
Human Resources
Recruitment Training & Dev
Operations
Lahore

Top-level departments (Finance, HR, Operations) sit at the top of the tree. Sub-departments roll up to their parent in headcount and reports.

Creating a Department

1
Go to HR → Departments.
2
Click + Add Department.
3
Enter the Department Name (e.g., "Finance & Accounts") and a unique Department Code.
4
Set Parent Department to "None" for a top-level department, or select an existing department to make it a sub-department.
5
Optionally choose a Department Head and add a description.
6
Click Save. The department is now available when adding or editing employees.

Sub-Departments

Sub-departments allow finer grouping within a parent department, created by setting a parent on the department.

1
Create a new department from HR → Departments.
2
Set its Parent Department to the department it belongs under.
3
Save. Employees assigned to this sub-department roll up to the parent in headcount and reports.

Department Head

The department head receives leave and overtime approval requests from employees in that department (if the policy uses a department-head approval level).

1
Open the department from HR → Departments.
2
Click Edit and select an employee in the Department Head field.
3
Save. The selected employee now appears as department head on the org chart and receives approval tasks.

Reporting Manager vs Department Head

Reporting Manager is set on each employee's profile and handles first-level approvals. Department Head is set on the department and handles second-level approvals (if configured). An employee can have a different reporting manager from their department head.

Designations (Job Titles)

Designations define the job title that appears on payslips and employment letters. They can be shared across departments — for example, "Senior Manager" may exist in both Finance and Operations.

Creating a Designation

1
Go to HR → Designations.
2
Click + Add Designation.
3
Enter the Name (e.g., "Assistant Manager – Accounts") and a unique Code.
4
Optionally set a Grade and a minimum / maximum salary range, and link it to a department.
5
Save. The designation is now available in employee profiles.

Grade / Pay Level Mapping

A designation can carry a grade and a minimum/maximum salary range, letting you define pay bands. This is useful for organisations with a formal grading system (common in NGOs, government-linked entities, and large corporates).

GradeLabelTypical Designation RangeSalary Structure
Grade AExecutiveCEO, CFO, COO, VPExecutive Package
Grade BManagementDirector, General Manager, Head of DeptManagement Structure
Grade CSenior StaffSenior Manager, Senior Engineer, Senior AnalystSenior Staff Structure
Grade DMid-LevelManager, Engineer, Analyst, SupervisorStaff Structure
Grade EEntry LevelOfficer, Executive, Assistant, InternEntry Structure

The grade and salary range on a designation act as a reference band. You set each employee's actual salary components on their own profile.

Assigning Employees to Departments

There are two ways to assign employees to departments:

  • During profile creation: Select Department and Designation on the new employee form
  • Employee profile edit: Open the employee → Employment tab → change Department or Designation

Reorganization

When merging or splitting departments, follow this order to avoid data gaps:

  1. Create the new department(s) first
  2. Reassign employees from the old to the new department(s)
  3. Update the department head on the new structure
  4. Deactivate (do not delete) the old department — deactivating preserves historical reports

You Can't Delete a Department With Active Employees

A department that still has active employees assigned to it can't be removed. Reassign those employees first; deactivating a department keeps it out of dropdowns while retaining historical data.

Department Reports

The following reports are available in Reports:

ReportLocationKey Data
Headcount by DepartmentEmployee ReportsCurrent employee count per department, split by employment type
Payroll Cost by DepartmentPayroll ReportsGross salary, benefits, and employer contributions per department