Departments

A department is the part of your company where an employee works, such as Operations, Finance or Sales. Each employment contract can record one department. The employment contract document prints it, and the Employees list shows it in the Department column, always under its Spanish name.

Departments are managed on the Payroll Setup page.

Where to find it

Go to Payroll > Setup and open the Departments tab.

Adding a department

1. Go to Payroll > Setup. The Departments tab opens first.
2. Click New Department.
3. Type the Name (Spanish), for example Finanzas. It is the only required field.
4. Optionally type the Name (English), for example Finance.
5. Leave Active on so the department appears in the contract form.
6. Click Save.

A new company starts without departments, so the Departments tab says No departments found until you add the first one.

If another active department already has the same Spanish name, CifraHQ does not save the new one. The message A department with this name already exists. shows in red inside the form. Change the name and click Save again.

The department code

You do not type a code. When you save a new department, CifraHQ creates its Code for you from the Spanish name:

• The code starts with DEP-, followed by the name in capital letters, without spaces, accents or symbols. Finanzas becomes DEP-FINANZAS, and Recursos Humanos becomes DEP-RECURSOSHUMANOS.
• Only the first 20 letters and numbers of the name are used.
• If another department already has that code, CifraHQ adds a number at the end, for example DEP-FINANZAS-2.

The Code column on the Departments tab shows the code. It does not change afterwards, not even when you rename the department.

Editing or deactivating a department

1. Go to Payroll > Setup and open the Departments tab.
2. Click the pencil icon at the start of the department's row.
3. Change the names, or switch Active off to stop using the department.
4. Click Save.

A deactivated department stays in the list with the Inactive badge. It no longer appears in the contract form's Department list, and contracts that already use it keep it.

The page has no Delete button. Deactivate a department instead, so contracts keep the department they were created with. To bring it back, open it, switch Active on and click Save.

Choosing a department on a contract

The department is part of the employee's contract, not of the Identity tab.

1. Go to Payroll > Employees and open the employee.
2. Open the Contracts tab.
3. Click New Contract, or click Edit on an existing contract.
4. Pick the Department. The field is optional, and you can clear it.
5. Click Save.

When you hire someone with the New Employee wizard, the Department field is on the Contract step.

The list shows only active departments. English-language Users see the English name and Spanish-language Users see the Spanish name. When a department has no English name, everyone sees the Spanish one.

When you click Amend on an active contract, the department carries over unless you change it.

Related: Payroll Setup · Positions · Employees · Payroll Concepts