---
title: "Organizations"
description: "Understanding how organizations work in the application"
---

> Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.testandaccept.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Organizations

Organizations are the top-level workspace in the application where teams collaborate on projects, manage clients, and deliver work. Think of an organization as your company or team's dedicated space with its own clients, projects, and members.

## What are Organizations?

Organizations help you:

- **Collaborate with Your Team**: Work together with colleagues in a shared workspace
- **Manage Clients**: Keep all your clients and their contacts organized
- **Control Access**: Determine who can see and edit different resources
- **Maintain Separation**: Keep your work separate from other organizations
- **Switch Contexts**: Easily move between different organizations if you belong to multiple

## Organization Properties

Each organization has:

### Basic Information

- **Name**: Your organization or company name
- **Members**: The users who belong to your organization
- **Settings**: Custom preferences and configurations for your organization

### Your Role

When you join or create an organization, you have a role that determines what you can do:

- **Admin**: Full control over the organization, including managing members and settings
- **Member**: Can create and edit projects, clients, and statements of work

## How Organizations Work

### Organization Structure

<pre class="mermaid">{`
flowchart TB
  Org[Organization] -->|contains| Members[Team Members]
  Org -->|owns| Clients[Clients]
  Org -->|manages| Projects[Projects]
  Projects -->|delivers| SOWs[Statements of Work]

style Org fill:#e1f5ff
style Members fill:#f3e5f5
style Clients fill:#fff9c4
style Projects fill:#fff4e6
style SOWs fill:#e8f5e9
`}</pre>

### What Belongs to Organizations?

**Clients** - Always belong to an organization

- All team members in the organization can see and work with clients
- Clients cannot be shared across organizations
- This ensures your client data stays private to your team

**Projects** - Can optionally belong to an organization

- When a project belongs to an organization, all members can access it
- Projects can also be personal (owned by just one user)
- Most teams assign projects to their organization for collaboration

**Statements of Work** - Can optionally belong to an organization

- Similar to projects, SOWs can be organizational or personal
- Organization SOWs are visible to all team members
- Use organization SOWs when multiple people need to work together

## Access and Permissions

### Organization-Level Access

When you're a member of an organization, you automatically get access to:

- **View** all clients, projects, and statements of work in the organization
- **Create** new clients, projects, and SOWs within the organization
- **Edit** existing organization resources
- **Invite** other users to collaborate on specific projects

### Permission Levels

The application uses three levels of access:

**Viewer** (Read-Only):

- See resources and their contents
- View progress and status
- Cannot make changes

**Editor** (Modify):

- Everything a Viewer can do
- Create new items
- Update existing work
- Add acceptance criteria and tests

**Admin** (Full Control):

- Everything an Editor can do
- Manage who has access
- Delete resources
- Change organization settings

### Resource-Specific Access

Beyond organization membership, you can grant specific access to individual resources:

- **Direct Invitations**: Invite someone to a specific project or SOW
- **Inherited Access**: Access to a project automatically includes its SOWs
- **External Collaborators**: Invite clients or partners with limited access
- **Time-Limited Access**: Set expiration dates for temporary access

## Working with Organizations

### Creating Your First Organization

When you first use the application:

1. You'll be prompted to create an organization
2. Enter your organization or company name
3. You automatically become an admin
4. You can start creating clients and projects

### Organization Switcher

If you belong to multiple organizations, you can easily switch between them:

- **View Active Organizations**: See active organizations you belong to; inactive organizations remain available in Settings
- **Switch Instantly**: Click to change your active organization
- **Context Updates**: Everything refreshes to show the selected organization's data
- **Current Indicator**: Always see which organization you're working in

The organization switcher is available in the main navigation bar.

### Multi-Organization Membership

You can belong to multiple organizations at the same time:

**Common Scenarios**:

- Working for multiple clients as a freelancer
- Being part of both your company and a client's organization
- Managing multiple business units or departments
- Collaborating with partner companies

**How It Works**:

- Switch between organizations anytime
- Your personal data stays separate
- Each organization has its own clients and projects
- You see only the active organization's data at a time

## Managing Organization Resources

### Clients

All clients **must** belong to an organization:

- **Team Visibility**: Everyone in the organization can see clients
- **Contact Management**: Store multiple contacts per client
- **Project Association**: Link projects to clients
- **Data Privacy**: Clients are never visible outside your organization

### Projects

Projects **optionally** belong to an organization:

- **Personal Projects**: Create projects just for yourself
- **Team Projects**: Assign projects to your organization for collaboration
- **Access Control**: Organization members get automatic editor access
- **Flexibility**: Choose the right level of sharing for each project

### Statements of Work

SOWs **optionally** belong to an organization:

- **Collaborative Work**: Organization SOWs are visible to all members
- **Private SOWs**: Keep some SOWs personal if needed
- **Team Coordination**: Multiple people can work on the same SOW
- **Progress Tracking**: Everyone can see project status

## Organization Settings

### Customization

Administrators can configure:

- **Display Preferences**: How information is shown to team members
- **Default Values**: Standard settings for new projects and SOWs
- **Notification Settings**: How the team receives updates
- **Integration Options**: Connections to other tools

### Organization and Member Settings

Click the gear in the application header to open **Settings**, then choose an organization under **Organizations**. This list includes organizations without projects and inactive organizations. You do not need to switch your working organization to manage another one.

Administrators can:

- Create an organization or change its name.
- Create a member invitation for an email address and choose **Member** or **Administrator**.
- Show or cancel pending invitation links.
- Change member roles or remove members. Every organization must retain at least one administrator.
- Inactivate or reactivate an organization.

Invitations use shareable links. Copy the link and send it to the invited person; email is not sent automatically. Links expire after seven days and must be accepted while signed in with the matching email address. Creating another invitation for the same email cancels the previous pending link. Project and SOW invitations continue to use their existing acceptance flow.

Members can view organization details and the member list, but cannot change organization settings or manage invitations.

### Inactivating an Organization

Choose **Inactivate organization** and confirm. Its data and memberships are preserved, but it disappears from working organization switchers and MCP organization lists. Active organization selections are cleared, pending invitations are canceled, and it cannot be selected again until reactivated. This does not delete project data or revoke separate resource-specific grants.

To restore it, open **Settings**, select the organization marked **Inactive**, and choose **Reactivate organization**. Settings remains accessible even if you have no active organizations. Reactivation restores organization availability; canceled invitations must be recreated.

## Best Practices

### Organization Setup

**Do**:

- Choose a clear, recognizable organization name
- Set up your organization before creating clients
- Invite team members early so they can collaborate
- Assign projects and SOWs to the organization for team visibility
- Use organization settings to establish team standards

**Don't**:

- Create multiple organizations for the same company
- Keep projects personal when your team needs access
- Wait to invite members until work is already in progress
- Change organization names frequently

### Access Management

**Do**:

- Grant organization membership to regular team members
- Use resource-specific access for external collaborators
- Give clients or partners viewer access to relevant SOWs
- Review and update access regularly
- Remove access when team members leave

**Don't**:

- Make everyone an admin
- Share organization access with external parties
- Forget to revoke access when people change roles
- Grant more access than necessary

### Collaboration

**Do**:

- Assign resources to your organization when multiple people need access
- Use the organization switcher to keep contexts separate
- Communicate with team members about who owns what
- Establish naming conventions for projects and SOWs
- Keep organization information up to date

**Don't**:

- Mix work from different organizations
- Create duplicate organizations for the same team
- Work in personal mode when collaboration is needed
- Assume everyone knows what's happening without communication

## Common Workflows

### Starting as a New User

1. **Create Organization**: Set up your workspace
2. **Invite Team**: Add colleagues who will collaborate
3. **Add First Client**: Create your first client record
4. **Create Project**: Start your first project for that client
5. **Build SOWs**: Define what you'll deliver

### Joining an Existing Organization

1. **Accept Invitation**: Click the invite link from your admin
2. **Explore**: Browse existing clients and projects
3. **Understand Structure**: See how your team organizes work
4. **Start Contributing**: Begin working on assigned projects

### Managing Multiple Organizations

1. **Use Organization Switcher**: Keep contexts separate
2. **Check Active Organization**: Always verify which organization you're in
3. **Don't Mix Data**: Keep each organization's work separate
4. **Update One at a Time**: Focus on one organization's work before switching

## Troubleshooting

### Can't See Expected Resources

**Check**:

- Are you in the correct organization? Use the switcher to verify
- Do you have access to the specific project or SOW?
- Has the resource been assigned to a different organization?
- Have you been granted the necessary permissions?

### Access Issues

**Verify**:

- Your role in the organization (member vs admin)
- Whether the resource belongs to your organization
- If you have been granted specific access to the resource
- That your access hasn't expired (if it was time-limited)

### Multiple Organizations Confusion

**Tips**:

- Always check the organization switcher before working
- Use distinct names for different organizations
- Develop a routine for which organization you use when
- Keep notes about which clients belong to which organization

## Related Concepts

- **Projects**
- **Clients**
- **Statements of Work**

Source: https://docs.testandaccept.com/concepts/organizations/index.mdx