Organization (org) codes are a way of defining Stanford's multilevel organizational structure and are used to define parent-child organizational relationships and group information such as employees and financial data. The Organization Code Hierarchy Tool is used to view and manage updates to the organization code hierarchy.
For more information, read about the Organization Code Hierarchy Tool Project.
About
The university org code hierarchy is managed by the University Budget Office (UBO). Anyone at the university with an active Stanford University ID (SUNet ID) may view and download the org code hierarchy. The Organization Code Hierarchy Tool provides an interactive “tree view” of the org code hierarchy which identifies each organization by a four-character alphabetical org code.
All university-wide applications (e.g., authority manager, financial systems and reporting, human resource management, budgeting, and numerous other systems) leverage the org code values from the hierarchy.
Org codes are used to:
- Prepare detailed business unit budgets.
- Assign staff or PTAs (projects, tasks, awards) to an organization.
- Report on revenues, expenses, and fund balances for an organization.
- Consolidate and report university financial statements.
- Manage the scope of granted authorities in Authority Manager.
Some schools and departments leverage the data from the org code hierarchy to integrate data from university-wide systems to unit-specific systems. With the appropriate access, school/department system administrators can preview pending changes to the university org code hierarchy and download versions of the org code hierarchy using file exports.
Authorized budget officers may request new org codes or request changes to existing org codes using the Organization Code Hierarchy Tool. Refer to the quarterly deadlines for submitting org code change requests to the UBO and for an understanding of when approved org code changes will be implemented in university systems.
To learn more about Stanford’s accounting structure and organization (org) codes, see topic overviews:
- Stanford’s Chart of Accounts
- Purpose and Use of Org Codes
- Find Existing Org Codes (includes additional methods of viewing the organization code hierarchy)
- Organization Code Hierarchy Change Requests (includes best practices and the quarterly deadlines for submitting and implementing requests)
Access
There are three levels of access to the Organization Code Hierarchy Tool, based on roles, which determine the tasks that a user can perform using the tool. Some roles require special privileges that are granted by the UBO using the Authority Manager system.
| Role(s) | Authority Manager Privilege | User Tasks |
|---|---|---|
| Stanford Public Viewer (includes all university users) |
Authority is not required. An active SUNet ID is required.
|
|
| Previewer (School/department system administrators and designated financial staff) |
SU Org Hierarchy Preview |
|
| SU Org Hierarchy Requests |
|
How tos
For budget officer role:
- Request Changes to the Organization Code Hierarchy
- Review and Approve Cross Budget Unit Org Code Move Request
For budget officer and previewer role:
For all roles viewing the org code hierarchy:
Resources
- Org Code Hierarchy Data Dictionary
- Organization Code Change Logs
- Starting July 2023, detailed and summary org code change history is available to all users of the Organization Code Hierarchy Tool.
- View Org Code Change Request Log (March 2008-June 2023).
- View Legacy Org Code Change Request Log (May 2003- December 2007).
