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Teams Management ​

Organize users into teams that reflect your organizational structure and practice areas.

Overview ​

Teams in Hidma provide organizational structure for grouping users who work together on similar types of projects or within the same practice area or department. Rather than managing access and permissions individually for every user on every project, you can organize users into teams and then share projects with entire teams at once. This team-based organization simplifies access management, mirrors your firm's actual structure, and enables team-level reporting and oversight.

Teams serve multiple purposes throughout Hidma. They determine project access when you share projects with teams rather than individuals. They enable team-specific charge-out rates that apply to all team members. They create organizational units for filtering and reporting - perhaps viewing all Tax Team projects or all Advisory Team time entries. They establish management hierarchies where team managers oversee their team's work. And they provide the foundation for role-based access control where users receive team-specific permissions based on their team membership and role within each team.

Why Use Teams ​

Simplified Access Management ​

Without teams, granting project access means adding users one by one. For a project involving five people, you'd make five individual access grants. For ten people, ten grants. When team composition changes - someone joins or leaves - you'd need to manually update access for every affected project.

With teams, you share a project once with the relevant team - perhaps the "Tax Team" - and all current team members immediately gain access. When someone new joins the Tax Team, they automatically inherit access to all tax projects through their team membership. When someone leaves the team, they lose access to team projects automatically. This dynamic access management dramatically reduces administrative overhead compared to individual-level access control.

Organizational Clarity ​

Teams provide structure that matches how your firm actually operates. Most professional services organizations have natural groupings - practice areas (Tax, Audit, Advisory), functional departments (Admin, HR, IT), office locations (New York, London, Toronto), or service lines (Individuals, Corporations, Nonprofits). Creating teams that mirror these organizational units makes Hidma's structure intuitive and clear.

When people talk about "the Tax Team" or "the Advisory Group," those concepts exist as actual structures in Hidma rather than informal groupings you must mentally track. This clarity helps with communication, coordination, and understanding who's responsible for what work.

Team-Level Reporting ​

Teams enable aggregated reporting and analysis. View total hours tracked by the Tax Team this month. See all projects the Advisory Team is working on. Compare utilization rates across teams. Analyze profitability by team. Monitor WIP (work in progress) broken down by team.

These team-level insights help managers understand practice area performance, identify capacity issues, balance workload across teams, and measure team productivity and profitability. Without teams, you'd need to manually aggregate data for individuals and hope you correctly identified everyone who belongs to each informal group.

Charge-Out Rate Management ​

Teams can have their own charge-out rates that apply to all team members (unless overridden by user-specific or project-specific rates). Perhaps the Tax Team bills at $200/hour while the Advisory Team bills at $250/hour, reflecting different service value and market positioning.

Team rates simplify rate management - set the rate once for the team rather than configuring it individually for each member. New team members automatically inherit the team rate. If you adjust team rates firm-wide, update the team rate rather than changing rates for dozens of individual users.

Management Structure ​

Teams establish clear reporting lines and oversight responsibilities. Team managers have visibility into their team's projects, can approve their team members' timesheets, manage team resources, and oversee team operations. This delegated management structure distributes administrative responsibilities rather than requiring firm-wide oversight for every action.

Partners or senior managers can manage their practice areas through team structures, maintaining appropriate oversight for their domains while other teams operate independently under their own management.

Creating and Managing Teams ​

Creating a New Team ​

To create a new team:

  1. Click Settings in the sidebar
  2. Under General Settings, click Teams to open the Teams Configuration page
  3. Click the + Add a Team button in the top right corner

The New Team form appears with the following fields:

Team Name (required) - Enter a clear, descriptive name that reflects the team's purpose or composition. Examples include "Tax Team," "Design Team," "Audit Practice," "Advisory Group," or "Administrative Staff." Choose names that make sense to everyone in your organization.

User - Use this dropdown to assign team members. The searchable dropdown displays all users along with their current team assignment (e.g., "Alex Farrugia - Directors"). You can filter by name or code to quickly find specific users.

Description - Add an optional description explaining the team's scope and purpose. This helps clarify team purposes when viewing team lists or assigning team memberships.

Default Organisation - Select the default organisation for this team from the dropdown. Options include "No Default Organisation" or any configured organisations in your system. This determines which organisation's settings apply to the team by default.

  1. Click Save Changes to create the team

A green confirmation message "Your changes have been saved" appears when the team is successfully created. The new team immediately appears in the Teams Configuration list and becomes available for project sharing and rate configuration.

Teams Configuration Page ​

The Teams Configuration page displays all teams in a table with the following columns:

  • Status - Shows whether the team is Active or Inactive
  • Name - The team name
  • Description - Optional team description
  • Default Organisation - The organisation assigned to the team
  • Manager - The designated team manager (if assigned)
  • Active Members - Number of users currently assigned to the team

Use the search bar at the top to filter teams by name or code. Click on any team row to edit its details.

Adding Members to Teams ​

There are typically two approaches to team membership:

Adding Users from Team View - Open the team's detail page and look for a "Members" or "Team Members" section. Click "Add Member" and select users from your user list to add to this team. Perhaps you add ten users who comprise your Tax Team. Each added user becomes a team member.

Adding Team Roles from User View - Navigate to a user's profile, access their roles section, and assign them a team role (Team Manager, Team Member, or Viewer) for specific teams. This approach is covered in detail in the User Roles & Permissions documentation.

Both approaches accomplish the same goal - establishing team membership for users. Choose whichever workflow fits your current task (setting up a new team with many members vs. configuring a new user with their team assignments).

Setting Team Charge-Out Rates ​

If your organization uses team-based rate structures, navigate to Settings → Configuration → Charge-Out Rates and look for team rate configuration options. You can set a default hourly rate for each team that applies to all team members' billable work (unless overridden by user-specific or project-specific rates).

Perhaps the Tax Team bills at $200/hour, the Audit Team at $225/hour, and the Advisory Team at $250/hour. Configure these team rates once, and they automatically apply when team members' time is billed (subject to the rate hierarchy where project rates override team rates, and team rates override the global default rate).

See Charge-Out Rates for comprehensive rate configuration details.

Removing Team Members ​

When someone leaves a team (changes positions, rolls off projects, or leaves the organization), remove their team membership by accessing either:

Team View - Open the team, find the member in the member list, and click remove or delete. They lose team membership and immediately lose access to projects shared with that team.

User View - Open the user's profile, access their roles section, and remove their team role for the specific team.

Removing team membership automatically revokes access to all projects shared with that team (unless the user also has individual access grants or access through other teams). This automatic access revocation maintains proper security boundaries when people transition roles.

Deactivating or Deleting Teams ​

When teams become obsolete (practice areas dissolved, offices closed, project groups completed), you can deactivate or delete them:

Deactivating (if available) - Mark the team inactive rather than deleting it. Inactive teams disappear from active selection lists but preserve historical records. Projects previously shared with the team maintain those historical associations, and reporting can still show which team worked on past engagements.

Deleting - Permanently remove the team. Be cautious - deleting teams might affect project access for current team members and can disrupt historical records. Deactivation is typically safer than deletion unless you're removing a team created in error that was never actually used.

Team-Based Workflows ​

Project Sharing with Teams ​

When creating or configuring a project, share it with relevant teams rather than individual users. Perhaps you're starting a corporate tax return project - share it with the "Tax Team" and all current tax team members can immediately access it.

As the project continues, if new people join the Tax Team, they automatically gain project access through their team membership. If people leave the team, they lose project access automatically. This dynamic access management eliminates the need to manually add and remove individuals as team composition changes.

See Project Sharing for detailed project access control information.

Team Filtering and Reporting ​

Throughout Hidma, filtering and reporting interfaces often include team as a dimension. You can:

  • Filter timesheet views to see all time logged by specific teams
  • View WIP (work in progress) reports broken down by team
  • See project lists filtered to team-specific projects
  • Analyze utilization and productivity by team
  • Compare team performance and profitability

These team-based views help managers understand practice area performance and make data-driven decisions about resource allocation and capacity planning.

Team Manager Responsibilities ​

Users assigned Team Manager roles for specific teams gain oversight capabilities for their team's work:

  • View all team projects and work
  • Approve team member timesheets
  • Manage team resources and assignments
  • Access team financial reporting
  • Configure team-specific settings

Team managers operate semi-independently, managing their practice areas or departments without requiring firm-wide administrative privileges. This delegated management structure distributes responsibilities appropriately.

Best Practices ​

Team Management Tips

Mirror Organizational Structure Create teams that reflect how your firm actually operates - practice areas, departments, office locations, service lines. When Hidma's structure matches your real organizational structure, the system feels intuitive and users immediately understand which team they belong to and why.

Keep Teams Focused Each team should represent a coherent grouping with a clear purpose. Avoid creating overly broad teams ("Everyone") or hyper-specific teams ("John and Sarah"). Good team sizes typically range from 3-20 people - large enough to justify team structure but small enough to maintain cohesion.

Assign Clear Team Managers Each team should have a designated manager who oversees team operations, approves work, and serves as the point of contact for team questions. Clear management lines prevent confusion about who's responsible for team oversight.

Use Consistent Naming Name teams consistently using a clear pattern. Perhaps all practice area teams end with "Team" (Tax Team, Audit Team) while all office teams end with "Office" (New York Office, London Office). Consistent naming makes team lists scannable and helps users quickly identify team types.

Review Membership Regularly Quarterly, review each team's membership to ensure accuracy. Remove people who've left the team or organization. Add people whose roles have changed. Update team manager designations when leadership changes. Regular reviews maintain accurate team structures that match current organizational reality.

Don't Over-Create Teams More teams aren't necessarily better. Too many teams create confusion and administrative overhead. Before creating a new team, ask whether it serves a genuine organizational purpose or if existing teams could accommodate the grouping. Quality over quantity - maintain teams that add value.

Document Team Purposes Use team descriptions to clarify each team's scope and purpose. Perhaps "Tax practice serving corporate and individual tax compliance, planning, and advisory needs" or "New York office staff across all practice areas." Clear descriptions help administrators assign team memberships appropriately.

Coordinate with HR Team structures in Hidma should align with official organizational charts and reporting structures. Coordinate with HR when creating teams, assigning managers, and updating membership to ensure technical system structure matches formal organizational structure.

Common Scenarios ​

Scenario: Practice Area Teams ​

Situation: Firm has three practice areas - Tax, Audit, and Advisory - each with distinct teams.

Solution: Create three teams: "Tax Team," "Audit Team," and "Advisory Team." Assign all tax professionals to the Tax Team with appropriate roles (team manager for the tax partner, team members for tax staff). Repeat for audit and advisory. Share tax projects with Tax Team, audit projects with Audit Team. Each practice area operates semi-independently with team managers overseeing their domain.

Scenario: Cross-Functional Project ​

Situation: Major engagement requiring collaboration between Tax and Audit teams.

Solution: Share the project with both Tax Team and Audit Team. All members of both teams gain project access. They can coordinate their work, log time against appropriate jobs, and collaborate across team boundaries. The project spans teams while each team maintains its distinct identity and management structure.

Scenario: Office Location Teams ​

Situation: Multi-office firm wanting to organize by geography in addition to practice area.

Solution: Create location-based teams in addition to practice area teams: "New York Office," "Chicago Office," "Los Angeles Office." Users can belong to multiple teams - perhaps someone is both a "Tax Team" member (practice area) and a "New York Office" member (location). Use practice area teams for project sharing and work access. Use location teams for facilities management, office-specific communication, and geographic reporting.

Scenario: New Employee Onboarding ​

Situation: New tax associate joining the firm.

Solution: Create their user account, then assign them Team Member role for the Tax Team. They immediately gain access to all tax projects shared with the team, inherit the Tax Team charge-out rate, and appear in Tax Team reporting. No need to manually grant individual project access - team membership provides appropriate access automatically.

Scenario: Practice Area Reorganization ​

Situation: Splitting large Advisory Team into separate Strategy Consulting and Financial Advisory teams.

Solution: Create two new teams: "Strategy Consulting Team" and "Financial Advisory Team." Review current Advisory Team membership and reassign people to the appropriate new team based on their specialization. Update project sharing to use the new teams rather than the old Advisory Team. Deactivate the old Advisory Team once migration is complete. The reorganization in Hidma mirrors your organizational restructuring.

Need Help?

Teams provide organizational structure that simplifies access management and enables team-level oversight. Create teams that mirror your actual organizational structure for intuitive operation.

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