Host organisation setup

Set up a host organisation, from its details to its workflows.

This onboarding checklist sets up a host organisation before its first project: its details, billing, permission templates, people, tools and approval workflows. Each item says where it is in Teralo, and links to the article with the steps. The ticks you make here are saved in this browser, not in your account. This checklist and the project setup checklist are also on one A4 page, in the printable onboarding checklist.

A project created with Activate All Templates starts with the organisation's tool settings, project permission templates and workflow templates. Anything the organisation adds later is switched on project by project. Learn more about organisation level and project level.

A guest organisation has a shorter checklist. Learn more about guest organisation setup.

Create the host organisation

Create the organisation with the Agreement code from your signed Order Form. An existing guest organisation enters the code on Billing instead.
Choose the base Currency. You can't change it afterwards.
On Tool Setup, select Create with Defaults.

The first step of creating an organisation, with the Agreement code field open under Have a code.

Create with Defaults adds permission templates, a default approval workflow for each tool that has one, and the types, statuses and categories each tool uses. Start blank instead adds none of them: the only permission template is No Access, and records can't be submitted until workflows are bound. Learn more about setting up your organisation.

Fill in the organisation details

In the organisation sidebar, under Organisation Settings, select Settings.

Enter the Business Number.
Choose the Discipline.
Add the Main Office Address. The host organisation wizard skips it.
Add a Logo and a Cover Photo.
Add your insurances, licences and certifications on the Compliance Documents card. Learn more about compliance documents.
Optionally, turn on Allow documents to be edited on desktop computers.

The Organisation Information card, with the business number filled in and the base currency locked.

The Main Office Address card of an organisation whose address has not been added yet.

The Organisation Visuals card before a logo or cover photo is added.

The Compliance Documents card before any document is added.

The logo, cover photo and description also appear on your organisation's public portal.

Set the billing details

In the organisation sidebar, under Organisation Settings, select Billing.

Set the billing email under Email Recipient.
Set the Billing Address & Tax ID. The address appears in the header of the PDFs Teralo makes from project records.

The Email Recipient section of Billing.

The Billing Address & Tax ID section, with only the organisation name filled in.

Learn more about billing.

Set up the permission templates

In the organisation sidebar, under Organisation Settings, select Permissions.

Check the templates on Organisation Templates, and add any your organisation needs.
Check the templates on Project Templates. Every project your organisation hosts is offered them.
Choose which project templates give Can access AI Chat, and which guest templates give Can use the host organisation AI allowance.

The Organisation Templates tab, with Project Templates beside it.

A template is the set of permissions a person is given, and decides which tools appear in their sidebar. Teralo has no other switch that turns a tool on: a tool appears when someone's template gives them a permission for it and your plan includes it. Only an administrator can create a template. Learn more about permission templates.

Add your people

In the organisation sidebar, under Organisation Management, select Directory.

Add each member, and choose their Organisation Permission Template. A person added without one gets No Access.
Add any other administrators on the Organisation Administrators card of Organisation Settings.
Under Organisation Settings, check User Applications for people who have asked to join.

The organisation Directory, with each member's permission template.

The Organisation Administrators card, with one administrator.

Joining the organisation doesn't add a member to its projects. Administrators are the exception: they have full access to every project the organisation hosts. Learn more about members and user applications.

Set up the tools

In the organisation sidebar, under Organisation Settings, select Tools. Each card opens one tool's settings. Learn more about the tools catalogue.

The Project Management tools on Tools, a card for each.

The five tools the setup pill tracks

Mail: the Mail Prefix, then the Mail Types, Mail Statuses, Mail Responses and Text Templates.
Documents: the Document Types, Document Statuses and Disciplines.
Contracts: the Contract Types and Contract Statuses, then the Tax Rates, Retention Defaults, Payment Claim Statement and the Compliance Documents a claim needs.
Budget Codes: the Cost Types and Cost Codes.
Procurement: the package categories and Attachment Types.

Quality and safety tools

Inspections: the inspection templates and their categories.
Permits: the permit types, with their custom fields and checklists.
Incidents: the Incident Types, then the injury lists under Injuries.
Observations: the observation types and their custom fields.
Submittals: the Submittal Types, Spec Sections and Review Stamps.
Method Statements: the activity types, with their review checklists and default PPE, licences and hazards.
Passive Fire: the products, elements and profiles in the Passive Fire Library.

Site and resource tools

Inductions: the content tiers under Content Tiers, and the License Types, Job Titles and Medical Questions.
Equipment: the categories and types, with their checklists.
Meetings: the meeting types and their agenda templates.
Optionally, Estimating: the pipeline stages and lost reasons.

Safety Data Sheets, Site Diary, Bookings and Timesheets have only a workflow at organisation level. Directory, Site Messages, Whiteboard, Photos, Tenders, Cashflow and Program have nothing to set up.

Check the approval workflows

Each tool that uses a workflow has a Workflows tab in its settings.

Check the workflow each tool runs. With Create with Defaults, each tool that uses one starts with a default workflow.
Edit or build any workflow your organisation needs in the workflow builder.
Check that every step can find someone. A step set to Anyone with a permission needs a template that gives the permission.
Optionally, turn on Locked to stop projects choosing a different workflow.

The Approval Workflow card on the Permits tool's Workflows tab, with Locked turned off.

An organisation template can't name specific people. Each project names them on its own copy of the template. Contracts choose their workflows on each contract, and procurement chooses one each time something is submitted. Learn more about binding a workflow to a tool.

Connect your bookkeeping software

Optional, and only on a host organisation. In the organisation sidebar, under Organisation Settings, select Tools, then Contracts, and the Accounting tab.

Select Connect Xero or Connect QuickBooks.
Map your accounts and tax rates under Account Mappings.
Link each organisation you pay or bill to its contact, on the Organisations tab of Account Mappings.

The Accounting tab of the Contracts settings, before any accounting software is connected.

Learn more about integrations.

Check the organisation portal

On the organisation dashboard, select Public Site, and check what visitors see.

An organisation portal, with a tile for each of the organisation's active projects.

The organisation portal is on by default. It shows the name, logo, description and cover photo from Organisation Settings, and lists the organisation's active projects. To turn it off, select Tools, then Public Site, and turn off Portal Enabled on the Contact Settings tab. Learn more about the public portal.

The Organisation setup pill

The Organisation setup pill in the sidebar footer tracks 13 items on a host organisation. Only administrators see it. Select it to see the items, and select an item to open the page where you set it.

The Organisation setup checklist, with 11 of its 13 items done.

Each item is done when:

Business Number and Discipline: they are filled in.
Organisation Directory: a second person has been added to the organisation.
Mail Prefix: it is set. Teralo makes one from the organisation's name when it is created, so this starts done.
Main Office Address: the address has a street or a city.
Logo & Cover Photo: both are added.
Mail Settings, Document Settings and Contract Settings: the tool has at least one type or status. Every organisation starts with the Under Review and Approved contract statuses.
Budget Codes: there is at least one cost type or cost code.
Procurement Settings: there is at least one package category.
Organisation Permission Template and Project Permission Template: there is at least one template other than No Access.

A host organisation created with Create with Defaults starts with 8 of the 13 done.

The pill disappears when every item is done, and doesn't come back if a setting is removed later. To hide it sooner, select the three dots on the pill, then Mark all as complete. That hides it for every administrator, and it can't be shown again.

When a guest organisation becomes a host, its pill comes back with all 13 items, even if it was hidden. Learn more about hosts and guests.