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Organization Setup

Creating an organization with the five-step wizard, then where departments, sections, budget codes, locations and user types are configured.

Super AdminOrg AdminLast reviewed 03 Aug 2026

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An organization is a company, agency or government entity whose staff use TravelFlow. Setting one up happens in two places: a Super Admin creates the organization and its first administrator, then that administrator fills in the organization's structure and settings from the portal.

Creating an Organization

Go to Organizations > All Organizations and click Add Organization. This is a Super Admin screen. Creation is a five-step wizard and every step is validated before you can continue:

  1. Organization Details — Name (at least two characters) and Type (Government / Public Sector, Corporate, Small & Medium Enterprise, or Travel Agency). Registration number and VAT number are optional. As you type the name the wizard previews the organization ID and warns you about an exact name clash or similar existing names; a duplicate registration or VAT number also blocks the step.
  2. Address Information — Street, City, Province and Postal code are all required. Country defaults to South Africa.
  3. Contact Person — Name, Email, Phone and Position are all required.
  4. Administrator Account — Email, First name and Last name are required, and the email must not already belong to a user. You can let the wizard generate a password or enter one yourself; a manual password must be at least 8 characters with an uppercase letter, a lowercase letter and a number, and must match the confirmation field.
  5. Review & Create — check the summary and click Create Organization.

The success screen shows the new organization ID and, if the password was auto-generated, the temporary password with a copy button. Copy it before you leave the screen — it is not shown again and no email is sent.

You cannot create an organization without an administrator. The Administrator Account step is mandatory, and the account it creates is the Organization Admin who will configure everything below.

Where the Organization Is Configured

Once the organization exists, its Organization Admin signs in and works from the portal. Two different screens are involved and it is worth knowing which is which:

  • Administration > Admin Dashboard — page heading Organization Configuration. This is where departments, sections, user types, travel policies, budget codes, locations and purpose categories are created and maintained.
  • Administration > Settings — page heading Organization Settings. Company details, logo, travel policy limits, notification recipients and integration choices.

Super Admins have one extra route: Organizations > Departments (Department Management) in the admin area.

Departments and Sections

Departments represent the organizational structure, for example Finance or Engineering. Each department has a name, a code, a head of department and a total budget. Sections sit inside a department for finer grouping, and each section belongs to exactly one department. Both are created on the Departments and Sections tabs of Administration > Admin Dashboard. When you create a user in the portal you must pick a department, and you can optionally pick one of that department's sections.

Budget Codes and Locations

Budget codes tie travel spend to a cost centre. Each one has a code, a name, an optional department, a total budget and a fiscal year. Locations are named places with a type of country, province, city or office. Both live on their own tabs of the Admin Dashboard and both can be switched between Active and Inactive.

Active budget codes appear in the Budget Code dropdown on a new travel request, and active locations of type city appear in the destination dropdown. Locations of any other type are not offered on that form.

User Types

A user type categorises staff, for example Executive or Contractor. Each has a name, code, description, a level of basic, intermediate, advanced or admin, and a list of permissions. User types are what the portal User Type dropdown offers when you create a user, and the selected type's permissions are copied onto the new user record. Only active user types are listed.

How Approval Depth Is Decided

There is no screen for building approval workflows or approval levels. The number of approval steps a travel request needs is calculated from the trip type and the estimated budget using fixed rules:

  • Domestic — 1 level (line manager) up to R25,000; 2 levels above R25,000; 3 levels above R50,000.
  • Regional — 2 levels; 3 levels above R75,000.
  • International — 2 levels; 3 levels above R50,000; 4 levels above R100,000.

Who actually approves is set per user, not per organization: each user record carries an ordered approval chain that you build when you create or edit them in Administration > User Management.

Tip: Create departments first, then sections, budget codes, locations and user types, and only then start adding users. The user creation form requires a department and a user type, so it is blocked until those exist.