Answers.Body: <p>Yes - I've done this several times.  Many organizations with a chapter/branch format do this, such as <a href="https://www.imba.com/" rel="noreferrer">IMBA</a>, <a href="https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Home" rel="noreferrer">Wikimedia Foundation</a>, the Australian Green Party, and many others.</p>
  
  <p>There are several different approaches you can take.  </p>
  
  <ul>
  <li><p>The "easy" approach is just to use built-in ACLs.  Create groups of "staff" and "members" for each chapter, using parent/child groups to handle the hierarchy.  I've done this for a union with 10 locals.  I wouldn't scale this much past that.</p></li>
  <li><p>The "heavyweight" solution is <a href="https://docs.civicrm.org/sysadmin/en/latest/install/multi-site/" rel="noreferrer">CiviCRM Multisite</a>  You'll want the <a href="https://github.com/eileenmcnaughton/org.civicrm.multisite" rel="noreferrer">Multisite Permissions</a> extension.  Use this approach when each chapter needs its own website.</p></li>
  <li><p>The middle ground is to use <a href="https://civicrm.org/extensions/relationship-permissions-acls" rel="noreferrer">Relationship Permission ACLs</a>.  I haven't used this, but it's helpful if you a) don't need separate sites per chapter, b) you need 3+ levels of organization (sounds like you do), c) You have enough chapters that using traditional ACLs is unwieldy.</p></li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>As of November 2017, the relevant docs are being reorganized.  <a href="https://docs.civicrm.org/sysadmin/en/latest/install/multi-site/" rel="noreferrer">Multisite</a> is being separated from <a href="https://docs.civicrm.org/sysadmin/en/latest/setup/access/multi-level-acl/" rel="noreferrer">multi-level ACLs</a>.  However the original wiki page combining both <a href="https://wiki.civicrm.org/confluence/display/CRMDOC/Multisites%2C+Multidomain%2C+and+Multilevel+ACLs" rel="noreferrer">is still online</a>.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2017-11-09T16:27:43.670Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2017-11-09T16:27:43.670Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Jon G - Megaphone Tech
Body: <p>We are currently using Action Network for our CRM (even though it is not designed for that), marketing and digital mobilising tools.</p>
  
  <p>We moved to them because of their system of parent/sibling/child groups. In AN, each of our branches can have a child group (siblings of each other). Data flows up to the parent group automatically but down only if we specify.</p>
  
  <p>Could we replicate this in CiviCRM? Could we connect different local/national databases together? Or use segmentation and user permissions to achieve the same effect (i.e. local leaders only accessing local data, national leaders accessing it all etc)</p>
  
  <p>Many thanks, Stuart</p>
  
Tags: <database><permissions><acl><multisite><data-model>
Title: How do user permissions work for multi-level organizations?
ThreadText: # How do user permissions work for multi-level organizations?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2017-11-09)
  
  We are currently using Action Network for our CRM (even though it is not designed for that), marketing and digital mobilising tools.
  
  We moved to them because of their system of parent/sibling/child groups. In AN, each of our branches can have a child group (siblings of each other). Data flows up to the parent group automatically but down only if we specify.
  
  Could we replicate this in CiviCRM? Could we connect different local/national databases together? Or use segmentation and user permissions to achieve the same effect (i.e. local leaders only accessing local data, national leaders accessing it all etc)
  
  Many thanks, username_0
  
  **Tags:** database, permissions, acl, multisite, data-model
  
  
  ---
  
  ## 1 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_1 on 2017-11-09. Score: 4
  
  Yes - I've done this several times. Many organizations with a chapter/branch format do this, such as [IMBA](https://www.imba.com/), [Wikimedia Foundation](https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Home), the Australian Green Party, and many others.
  
  There are several different approaches you can take.
  
  * The "easy" approach is just to use built-in ACLs. Create groups of "staff" and "members" for each chapter, using parent/child groups to handle the hierarchy. I've done this for a union with 10 locals. I wouldn't scale this much past that.
  * The "heavyweight" solution is [CiviCRM Multisite](https://docs.civicrm.org/sysadmin/en/latest/install/multi-site/) You'll want the [Multisite Permissions](https://github.com/eileenmcnaughton/org.civicrm.multisite) extension. Use this approach when each chapter needs its own website.
  * The middle ground is to use [Relationship Permission ACLs](https://civicrm.org/extensions/relationship-permissions-acls). I haven't used this, but it's helpful if you a) don't need separate sites per chapter, b) you need 3+ levels of organization (sounds like you do), c) You have enough chapters that using traditional ACLs is unwieldy.
  
  As of November 2017, the relevant docs are being reorganized. [Multisite](https://docs.civicrm.org/sysadmin/en/latest/install/multi-site/) is being separated from [multi-level ACLs](https://docs.civicrm.org/sysadmin/en/latest/setup/access/multi-level-acl/). However the original wiki page combining both [is still online](https://wiki.civicrm.org/confluence/display/CRMDOC/Multisites%2C+Multidomain%2C+and+Multilevel+ACLs).
  
  
  ---
  
  