Role hierarchy with users reporting to different managers

Question

I am trying to create a role hierarchy according to this requirement:

1. We have three roles: Sales Manager, Executive Manager and Sales Rep
2. Sales Manager and Executive Manager are at the same level. Both don't report to anybody
3. Exceutive Manager has users Tom, Mery and Anne
4. Sales Manager has only the user Patrick
5. Sales rep A reports to Tom, Mary and Anne
6. Sales rep B reports to only Tom and Mary
7. Sales rep C reports to Tom and Patrick

What would be the best way to create a role hierarchy according to this requirement as you have the following cases?:

• Sales reps can report to different users in the Executive Manager hierarchy
• Sales reps can report to different users who are in different roles as in point 7.

They don't use territories or divisions.

I am a little confused about the term "reports to". For me this is like saying "he or she is my manager". I can not find the way to create a role hierarchy with these requirements. Any tips will be appreciated.

Answer 1

Role Hierarchy is not your HR org-chart. It is solely for the purpose of enabling record access.

The person a user reports to should be noted in the Manager field on the User object.

If you want to create security where people can only access records owned by people below them in a hierarchy, then use Role Hierarchy. If you want to show a manager, then use the manager field (and probably Title to show each person's job title).

And if you want people to have visibility across the Role Hierarchy, then create custom sharing rules to expose, say, Sales Rep C's records with Patrick even though Tom sits above C in the Role Hierarchy.

I don't know why Sales Rep A reports to three people - that's very uncommon in a company to have more than one manager, and this may require a very custom solution involving groups, but it's best not to go there if you don't have to.

So bottom line: Find the one person each user reports to, and put that in the Manager field. For record sharing, use the Role Hierarchy with sharing rules if necessary.