Octal HR's organisational structure feature lets you build a visual hierarchy of your company — departments, sub-departments, and reporting lines — which feeds into the org chart, leave approval workflows, and manager permissions.

What is the org chart?

The org chart in Octal HR is a visual, interactive tree that shows:

  • How departments are nested (parent and child departments)
  • Who reports to whom (reporting lines between employees)
  • Department head positions

It is automatically generated from the department and reporting line data you enter. You can view it at HR > Org Chart.

Creating the department hierarchy

Octal HR supports parent departments and sub-departments — for example, "Finance" as a parent with "Accounts Payable" and "Accounts Receivable" as children.

1
Go to HR > Departments and create your top-level departments first (e.g. HR, Finance, Operations, Sales, IT).
2
To create a sub-department, click Add Department, enter the name, and select a Parent Department from the dropdown.
3
Assign a Department Head to each department (optional but recommended). The department head receives leave approval requests from employees in that department by default.
Tip: Start with your top-level departments, add employees, then assign department heads. Once heads are set, sub-departments and reporting lines become much easier to configure.

Setting reporting lines

Reporting lines define who an employee's direct manager is. This is used for:

  • Leave approval routing (requests go to the direct manager first)
  • Manager role permissions (managers can only see their direct reports' data)
  • Org chart display

To set a reporting line:

1
Open an employee's profile (HR > Employees > click the employee).
2
Go to the Employment Details section and find the Reports To field.
3
Select the employee's direct manager from the search dropdown. Only active employees appear here.
4
Click Save. The org chart updates immediately.

Viewing the org chart

Go to HR > Org Chart to see your current organisational structure. The chart is interactive:

  • Click any node (employee) to see their profile, team, and contact info
  • Use the zoom controls to navigate large charts
  • Export the chart as a PNG image using the download button (top right)
Note: Employees without a "Reports To" value will appear at the top level of the chart, directly under the company root node.