Units & Teams

Organize your teams effectively with OpenFactory’s hierarchical structure.

Understanding the Hierarchy

Organization
└── Units (departments)
    └── Teams (working groups)

Units

Units represent major divisions:

• Infrastructure/IT - Platform teams managing base images
• Business Units - Product or regional teams
• Functional Groups - Security, QA, DevOps

Teams

Teams are working groups within units:

• Project Teams - Working on specific products
• Regional Teams - Geographic organization
• Specialty Teams - Security, compliance, etc.

Creating Units

From Organization Settings

1. Go to Settings → Organizations
2. Select your organization
3. Open Units tab
4. Click Create Unit
5. Enter:
   • Name (e.g., “Central IT”)
   • Description (optional)
   • Type (Infrastructure/Business)
6. Click Create

Unit Types

Managing Unit Members

Adding Members

1. Open unit settings
2. Go to Members tab
3. Click Add Member
4. Select user from organization
5. Assign unit role
6. Click Add

Unit Roles

Removing Members

1. Open unit members
2. Click X next to member
3. Confirm removal

They lose access to unit resources but remain in organization.

Creating Teams

From Unit

1. Open the unit
2. Go to Teams tab
3. Click Create Team
4. Enter:
   • Name (e.g., “Platform Engineering”)
   • Description (optional)
5. Click Create

Team Best Practices

• Keep teams focused (5-15 members)
• Clear purpose and scope
• Regular membership review

Managing Team Members

Adding Members

1. Open team settings
2. Go to Members tab
3. Click Add Member
4. Select user (must be unit member)
5. Assign team role
6. Click Add

Team Roles

Removing Members

1. Open team members
2. Click X next to member
3. Confirm removal

They remain in the unit but lose team access.

Example Organization Structure

Manufacturing Company

Acme Manufacturing, Inc.
│
├── Central IT (Infrastructure Unit)
│   ├── Platform Team
│   │   └── Manages base images
│   └── Security Team
│       └── Security hardening
│
├── Manufacturing (Business Unit)
│   ├── Plant A Team
│   │   └── Plant-specific variants
│   └── Plant B Team
│       └── Plant-specific variants
│
└── R&D (Business Unit)
    └── Engineering Team
        └── Development variants

Software Company

Tech Corp
│
├── Platform Engineering (Infrastructure)
│   ├── Core Team
│   │   └── Base OS images
│   └── DevOps Team
│       └── CI/CD images
│
├── Product (Business Unit)
│   ├── Frontend Team
│   │   └── Dev workstations
│   └── Backend Team
│       └── Server images
│
└── QA (Business Unit)
    └── Test Team
        └── Test environments

Workflows

Base Image Workflow

Platform Team (base_creator)
         │
         ▼ creates base
Security Team (base_approver)
         │
         ▼ approves
Available to all units

Variant Workflow

Team (variant_creator)
         │
         ▼ creates variant from base
Team Lead (team_lead)
         │
         ▼ reviews
Deployer (variant_deployer)
         │
         ▼ deploys to production

Moving Between Units

Users can be members of multiple units:

1. Add user to new unit
2. Assign appropriate role
3. User now has access to both

To transfer completely:

1. Add to new unit
2. Remove from old unit

Unit Isolation

Units provide isolation:

• Base images are scoped to units
• Team members only see their unit’s resources
• Cross-unit access requires explicit sharing

Deleting Units/Teams

Delete Team

1. Open team settings
2. Click Delete Team
3. Confirm deletion
4. Team resources become unit-level

Delete Unit

1. Open unit settings
2. Click Delete Unit
3. Confirm deletion
4. All teams deleted
5. Unassigned resources archived

Warning: Deletion may affect dependent configurations.

Auditing

Track changes to organizational structure:

1. Go to organization settings
2. Open Activity tab
3. View:
   • Member additions/removals
   • Role changes
   • Unit/team creation/deletion

Best Practices

1. Start simple - Add structure as needed
2. Clear naming - Use descriptive names
3. Document purpose - Use descriptions
4. Regular review - Audit membership quarterly
5. Minimal units - Don’t over-organize
6. Role alignment - Match roles to responsibilities