Are there best in practice definitions of Location, Department, and Class? We are struggling to draw boundaries between them. For example, if we move our HQ across the street…..Is that a new “location”? Is Location defined solely by physical coordinates?

Largely depends on your business, Location is pretty typically a physical location yes, or at least a section of a particular location. Class/department are more generally used for categorizing things from an accounting point of view.

Thanks @Sandii If I have a store on 123 Main St for 3 years and it moves next door - all else remains constant. That feels like a new ohysical location…but in reporting, I want that to be streamlined. I dont need 2 separate P&Ls b/c it moved across the street. Location is the only object that seperate this store from the other stores outside of Main Street, so reporting on it would be tough (I could grab both locations or create a parent?)

If you want nothing to change from reporting point of view, then why make a new location? Just rename the old one?

True….Fixed Assets would be the only point of delineation. This solution decouples Location from Physical Address. Location can swing between physical addresses. I still struggle with “what” is Location if it is not a fixed address

For companies without physical stores, Location can be used to delineate merged company business lines when multiple merged co.'s have the same business lines/classes. It can also be "region" or "zone" instead of fixed physical street address.

From an architect's perspective, location is more crucial for companies dealing with tangible items (eg. retail company with different stores where knowing which "location" to receive the goods is very important; or a company with their storage/warehouse a different location than the front store). This is not saying location is not important for companies not dealing with tangible items. (eg. A financial services company could also have offices in different cities and they'd like to assign their employees into different locations) With that being said, let's take a look at your case. If your HQ is totally moved that no inventory items or employees are still in the old address, you may totally just simply go to setup > company > company information and change your company address (also change your HQ subsidiary's address from setup > company > subsidiaries) and call it a day. Fixed asset wise, just claim the old building as a fixed asset. However, if you still have employees in the old location and you'd like to track who is where, or certain items that you track inventory that are still in the old location and you'd like to track how many items are in old location and how many have been moved to new location, then adding a new location might be preferable. In terms of department and class: departments are mostly used just as departments (eg. sales, HR, warehouse, marketing, etc.). Classes are mostly used as product lines/services lines (eg. for an accounting firm, classes can be Audit, Tax, Advisory, etc.; for a retail company classes can Dairy, Fruits & Veggies, Cosmetics, Clothing, etc.) as far as I saw - it's pretty much just a segment that you can use it for anything I hope that helps 🙂

@April Wu I REALLY appreciate all of this insight. That is super helpful. We are very heavy in physical presence. Less so inventory (although some) but more fixed assets (75% in the Leasehold, 25% transferrable). Also, our operating costs incurred are aligned pretty closely with physical locations (think various doctors offices in different geos). If Doctor Office Minneapolis (Minne1) is on 123 Main St then moves next door - Would you recommend creating a new Location (Minne2) or updating the details behind the first Location ID?

@Shane Vincent Sorry am not really able to answer without understanding more of the business. Some relevant questions I have on mind are: • are the "doctors" in the doctor office your tenants or your employees • Do you still own the old 123 main st and just are waiting for next tenants • What transactions/costs have been tracked under the old 123 main st • how your fix assets set up, location wise

Employees We never own properties - just rent Salaries, Rent, supplies, etc. This is one of many doctor offices and separate from a single consolidated Corp (centralized employees) Fixed Assets are associated with their specific location (Tenant improvements or equipment)

I would say that in your situation it's probably safer to create new location and re-assign employees to the new location and start to track the new fixed assets to the new location. So that the old fixed assets that are not moving with the office (eg. tenant improvements) still stay with the old location.