Departments

Departments let you organize your team and control which contracts each member can see. Assign contracts to departments like Finance, IT, or Sales, and members only see the contracts of their own department(s) - while owners and admins keep full visibility.

How visibility works

Owners and admins

Global access. Always see every contract, including contracts without a department.

Members and viewers

Department-scoped. Only see contracts assigned to their own department(s).

Contracts without a department

Visible to owners and admins only while scoping is on.

Enforced everywhere

List, search, exports, calendar, analytics, and the original PDF all follow the same rules, enforced at database level.

Department-scoped visibility is off by default. Until the workspace owner enables it, every member sees all contracts, exactly as before.

Setup steps

Set up departments and assignments first, and enable scoping last. If you enable scoping before assigning contracts, members will not see any contracts until assignments exist.

1. Go to Settings > Departments
Only workspace owners and admins can manage departments.
2. Create your departments
For example Finance, IT, Sales. You can rename or delete them at any time.
3. Add members to departments
Expand a department and tick the members that belong to it. A member can belong to several departments.
4. Assign contracts
On each contract page, use the Departments row to assign the contract to one or more departments.
5. Enable department-scoped visibility
Back in Settings > Departments, the workspace owner switches the feature on. From that moment, members only see their own departments.

Day-to-day behavior

Uploads are auto-assigned

When a member uploads a contract, it is automatically assigned to that member’s department(s), so their own uploads never disappear from view.

Filter by department

The contracts list has a Department filter, combinable with vendor search and tags.

Costs per department

Analytics includes a Costs per Department breakdown with click-through to the filtered contract list. Contracts in multiple departments count fully in each.

Contact person follows the rules

Renewal reminders go to the contract’s contact person. You cannot hand a contract to someone who cannot see it under the department settings.

Guardrails

A few changes are blocked with a clear message because they would leave someone stranded:

You cannot remove your own last department from a contract

A member editing a contract’s departments must keep at least one of their own departments on it, otherwise they would lose access to it the moment they save. Owners and admins are not restricted.

The contact person must always be able to see the contract

A department change that would leave the current contact person without visibility is rejected. Change the contact person first, then reassign the departments.

Frequently asked questions

What happens if I turn scoping off again?

Every member of the workspace sees all contracts again, exactly as before. Department assignments are kept, so you can re-enable at any time.

Can a contract belong to more than one department?

Yes. Assign it to as many departments as you like; members of any of those departments can see it.

What happens when I delete a department?

Contracts keep existing but lose that department assignment. Contracts left with no department are visible to owners and admins only while scoping is on. You are warned before deleting.

Do members see portfolio insights?

No. Portfolio insights analyze every contract in the workspace, so they are available to owners and admins only when scoping is on.

Can members manage departments?

No. Creating, renaming, and deleting departments, managing membership, and the visibility toggle are for owners and admins. The toggle itself is owner-only.

Teams & Organizations Managing Contracts Renewal Alerts

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