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Planview Customer Success Center

Managing Multi-Agency Organizations

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Overview

Business Units (BUs) enable organizations to model a multi-agency or multi-entity structure within a single PSA organization. They are designed for large, global services organizations that need to operate multiple agencies or business entities while maintaining strict project data separation, consistent governance, and centralized reporting.

Business Units allow organizations to work within one shared AdaptiveWork environment while benefiting from global reporting, unified resourcing, and collaboration, all without compromising data security or operational independence between business entities.

In essence, Business Units balance data segregation with a common operating framework, making it easier to manage talent, capacity, and financials across a complex organization.

What Is a Business Unit?

A Business Unit functions like a mini-organization inside AdaptiveWork. It can represent:

  • An agency or brand

  • A regional or operational business unit

Each Business Unit provides its own operational context while remaining part of the same org. Business Units are referenced across most AW objects and are used to control access, defaults, and behavior throughout the application.

Key Benefits of Business Units

1. Project and Data Segregation

Business Units ensure that client project data remains isolated between agencies or entities. Users working in one Business Unit cannot see:

  • Projects

  • Work items

  • Discussions

  • Cases

from another Business Unit—unless they are explicitly granted permissions.

This is particularly critical for organizations managing multiple clients, brands, or agencies within the same system.

2. Global Reporting and Visibility

While operational data is segregated, Business Units still operate within a single organization, enabling:

  • Organization-wide reporting

  • Cross-BU financial insights

  • Consolidated performance and utilization metrics

3. Cross-Business Unit Resourcing

Business Units support resource sharing across agencies through a lending and borrowing mechanism:

  • A Lending Business Unit can provide resources to another Business Unit

  • A Borrowing Business Unit can request talent for its projects

This allows organizations to:

  • Discover talent globally

  • Optimize utilization across agencies

  • Staff projects flexibly without exposing unrelated project data

Project Managers and resources can collaborate across Business Units while still respecting data boundaries.

4. Business Unit–Specific Permissions

Business Units work with Enhanced Permissions, allowing organizations to:

  • Control which users can access which data

  • Restrict visibility by Business Unit

  • Apply role-based or item-level permissions when cross-BU access is required

This ensures that users only see information relevant to their agency or role.

Business Unit Defaults and Governance

Calendars and Working Hours

Business Units can define their own operational calendars, including:

  • Default working hours per day

  • Default working days per month

  • Calendar exceptions (holidays, non-working days)

When a calendar is defined at the Business Unit level:

  • New projects inherit the Business Unit calendar by default

  • Users automatically receive Business Unit calendar exceptions

This supports organizations operating across regions with different working patterns.

Currency Management

Each Business Unit can define a default project currency:

  • New projects inherit the Business Unit’s currency unless overridden

For reporting consistency:

  • Exchange rates remain managed at the organization level

  • A single base reporting currency is used across all Business Units

This enables accurate global financial reporting while respecting local operational currencies.

Projects and Users in Business Units

Users

  • Every user belongs to a single Business Unit

  • Business Unit membership governs what data users can access

  • Administrators and standard users alike operate within a BU context

Projects

  • Every project is associated with one Business Unit

  • Projects cannot be moved between Business Units

  • Other Business Units can still contribute resources or project managers when needed

This model ensures ownership and accountability while supporting collaboration.

Custom Objects and Extensibility

Custom Objects can be linked to Business Units using one-to-many permission relationships, allowing organizations to:

  • Extend the data model with Busines Unit context

  • Apply consistent access rules across standard and custom data

Common Use Cases

Business Units are ideal for organizations that need to:

  • Manage multiple agencies or brands in one AdaptiveWork org

  • Keep client data strictly separated

  • Share talent across regions and agencies

  • Apply different calendars, currencies, and permissions by entity

  • Maintain centralized reporting and governance

Summary

Business Units provide a powerful foundation for scaling AdaptiveWork across complex, global organizations. By combining strong data segregation with centralized reporting and flexible resourcing, they enable agencies and business entities to operate independently—while still benefiting from a unified platform. Business Units make it possible to manage all business entities in one AdaptiveWork environment, without sacrificing security, clarity, or operational control.