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Understanding Location Hierarchy

Organize your facilities into a logical three-tier structure for better work order management and reporting.

Quick Summary

Locations have three levels: Locations (buildings) → SubLocations (floors) → Zones (rooms). Each level can only have one parent.

The Three Tiers​

Tier 1: Locations (Buildings)​

The top level represents physical buildings or facilities.

CharacteristicsDetails
Has AddressPhysical street address
ParentNone (top of hierarchy)
ContainsSubLocations
Examples"Main Office Building", "Warehouse A", "Hospital Campus"

Tier 2: SubLocations (Floors/Areas)​

The middle level divides buildings into major areas.

CharacteristicsDetails
Has AddressNo (inherits from parent)
ParentMust belong to a Location
ContainsZones
Examples"Floor 1", "Wing B", "Parking Level P1"

Tier 3: Zones (Rooms)​

The bottom level represents specific spaces.

CharacteristicsDetails
Has AddressNo (inherits from parent)
ParentMust belong to a SubLocation
ContainsNothing (leaf level)
Examples"Room 101", "Server Closet", "Conference Room A"

Visual Example​

📍 Corporate Campus (Location)
│   Address: 123 Business Park Drive
│
├── 🏢 Building A (SubLocation)
│   ├── 🚪 Lobby (Zone)
│   ├── 🚪 Reception (Zone)
│   └── 🚪 Security Office (Zone)
│
├── 🏢 Building B - Engineering (SubLocation)
│   ├── 🚪 Lab 1 (Zone)
│   ├── 🚪 Lab 2 (Zone)
│   └── 🚪 Workshop (Zone)
│
└── 🏢 Parking Garage (SubLocation)
    ├── 🚪 Level P1 (Zone)
    └── 🚪 Level P2 (Zone)

Building Your Hierarchy​

Strategy 1: Top-Down​

Start with buildings, then add floors, then rooms.

  1. Create all top-level Locations first
  2. Add SubLocations to each Location
  3. Add Zones to each SubLocation

Best for: New organizations setting up from scratch

Strategy 2: As-Needed​

Add locations when you need to create work orders or assign assets.

  1. Create a Location when you have work there
  2. Add SubLocations as you need more granularity
  3. Add Zones for specific rooms

Best for: Gradual rollout across facilities

Finding Locations​

Use the search bar to find locations by:

  • Name: "Conference Room"
  • Address: "123 Main St"
  • Description: "Server room"

The tree automatically expands to show matching results.

Expanding/Collapsing​

  • Click the arrow (▶) to expand a location
  • Click again to collapse
  • Expand all to see the full hierarchy

Location Counts​

The header shows: Locations (X) where X includes all levels combined.

Real-World Examples​

Example 1: Office Building​

Structure:

📍 Downtown Office Tower
├── 🏢 Floor 1 - Lobby
│   ├── 🚪 Main Entrance
│   ├── 🚪 Reception Desk
│   └── 🚪 Waiting Area
├── 🏢 Floor 2 - Operations
│   ├── 🚪 Open Office
│   ├── 🚪 Meeting Room 2A
│   └── 🚪 Meeting Room 2B
└── 🏢 Floor 3 - Executive
    ├── 🚪 CEO Office
    ├── 🚪 Board Room
    └── 🚪 Executive Lounge

Benefits:

  • Work orders specify exact rooms
  • Assets tracked by floor
  • Forms assigned to specific areas

Example 2: Shopping Mall​

Structure:

📍 Central Shopping Mall
├── 🏢 Ground Floor
│   ├── 🚪 Food Court
│   ├── 🚪 Main Atrium
│   └── 🚪 Customer Service
├── 🏢 Level 1 - Retail
│   ├── 🚪 Anchor Store A
│   ├── 🚪 Unit 101-110
│   └── 🚪 Restrooms L1
├── 🏢 Level 2 - Entertainment
│   ├── 🚪 Cinema Complex
│   └── 🚪 Arcade Zone
└── 🏢 Parking Basement
    ├── 🚪 Section A
    └── 🚪 Section B

Benefits:

  • Track maintenance by floor
  • Assign cleaning inspections to restrooms
  • Manage tenant-specific work orders

Example 3: Hospital Campus​

Structure:

📍 General Hospital - Main Campus
├── 🏢 Emergency Department
│   ├── 🚪 Triage
│   ├── 🚪 Trauma Bay 1
│   └── 🚪 Trauma Bay 2
├── 🏢 Surgical Wing
│   ├── 🚪 OR 1
│   ├── 🚪 OR 2
│   └── 🚪 Recovery
├── 🏢 Patient Floors (2-5)
│   ├── 🚪 Nurse Station 2
│   ├── 🚪 Rooms 201-220
│   └── 🚪 Rooms 221-240
└── 🏢 Support Services
    ├── 🚪 Kitchen
    ├── 🚪 Laundry
    └── 🚪 Maintenance Shop

Benefits:

  • Critical areas have dedicated tracking
  • Compliance forms assigned to specific departments
  • Emergency maintenance routed correctly

Example 4: Multi-Building Campus​

Structure:

📍 Tech Park Campus
├── 📍 Building A - Headquarters
│   ├── 🏢 Floor 1
│   └── 🏢 Floor 2
├── 📍 Building B - R&D Center
│   ├── 🏢 Labs
│   └── 🏢 Offices
└── 📍 Building C - Data Center
    ├── 🏢 Server Hall A
    └── 🏢 Server Hall B

Note: For campuses with multiple buildings, each building should be a separate top-level Location with its own address. This allows independent tracking and reporting per building.

Common Mistakes to Avoid​

❌ Too Flat​

Problem: All rooms as top-level locations

📍 Room 101
📍 Room 102
📍 Room 103

Why it's bad: No grouping, hard to navigate, can't filter by floor

✅ Proper Hierarchy​

📍 Building A
└── 🏢 Floor 1
    ├── 🚪 Room 101
    ├── 🚪 Room 102
    └── 🚪 Room 103

❌ Too Deep​

Problem: More than three levels

📍 Campus
└── Building
    └── Wing
        └── Floor
            └── Room  ← Can't create this!

Why it's bad: Infodeck only supports three levels

✅ Flatten When Needed​

📍 Campus - Building A - Wing East
└── 🏢 Floor 1
    └── 🚪 Room 101

Changing Hierarchy​

Moving Locations​

Currently, you cannot move a location to a different parent. To restructure:

  1. Note all assets and forms assigned
  2. Delete the location
  3. Recreate in the correct place
  4. Reassign assets and forms
Plan Ahead

Design your hierarchy carefully before creating locations. Restructuring requires manual recreation.

Deleting Locations​

To delete a location:

  1. Ensure no work orders reference it
  2. Reassign or remove linked assets
  3. Remove form assignments
  4. Delete child locations first (bottom-up)
  5. Delete the parent location

Need help? Contact Infodeck Support

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