Organizational Structure in caralegal

From a legal perspective, an organizational structure is not mandatory. In principle, it would be sufficient to name the controller for a processing activity, for example caralegal GmbH, and provide their details such as the address.

However, for the meaningful use of caralegal, an organizational structure is highly recommended. It allows you to:

filter by organizational units
assign users to organizational units
assign processing activities (VTs) to organizational units, possibly even multiple units
ensure proper access, rights and role management (not everyone should be able to see or edit everything)
export only the processing activities of specific organizational units
display “group VTs”, meaning processing activities maintained by a higher structure such as a holding or group
assign responsibilities to individuals and departments and distribute the work within caralegal

For these reasons, a well-structured organizational setup is recommended.

During the kick-off, your onboarding management will support you in setting up the organizational structure.

Companies with up to 5 legal entities

For smaller organizations, the goal is usually to:

represent the organizational structure in a way that reflects your existing company structure
include all departments or units required for an existing or planned record of processing activities
ensure that every planned user can be assigned to their department

First level – Tenant name / ROOT level

This level is defined by the system and can only be edited by caralegal support.

The tenant name forms the top level of the structure and should correspond to the brand name or the name the company identifies with.

Second level – Legal entities

This is the first level that you can modify.

Here you add the legal entities of your company.

Even if you currently only have one legal entity, it is recommended to keep this level, as your company may expand in the future. Otherwise, the entire organizational structure would need to be changed later.

Third level (and further) – Departments

At this level, you add the company departments, for example:

Human Resources (HR)
Sales
Finance

Sub-departments can also be created where necessary.

Companies with more than 5 legal entities

For larger companies, the structure can vary significantly. During onboarding, we support you with best practices for structuring your organization.

In addition to the structure described above, another common option is to structure the organization by region. Individual levels can also be omitted if they are not required.