Functional organizations are a "loose grouping of associated people" that can be managed using the Rowan Identity Management System (RIMS). Unlike a structural organization, members of a functional group may not report to one another or even be members of the same department. 

Some instances in which functional organizations may be helpful, include faculty members from different departments working on a grant, staff in different divisions collaborating on a project, softball teams and email distributions lists. 

Important Notes About Creating Functional Organizations

• Any individual within RIMS may create a functional organization. In doing so, they will be responsible for maintaining the membership of the organization.
• Creation of a functional organization and adding positions and people to the organization is automatically approved. 
• Functional organizations do not automatically include the occupant of the responsible position within the structural hierarchy. 
• Functional organizations and the positions within the organization do not appear on organizational charts.
• Information about respective functional organizations appear in the "Organization Info" and "User Info" pages under "Identity Info" section.
• Positions within functional organizations cannot be selected as an active position for a user. 
• Job titles will not be used within functional organization positions. Alternatively, all positions within a functional organization can have the implicit title of "Member." The "owner" of the functional organization is the responsible position, but the responsible position will not get automatically included in the group. 

Create a Functional Organization

1. Log into RIMS at rims.rowan.edu. Click the Requests drop-down menu at the top left of the page and click Submit Request
2. Under "Create your organizational chart," click Create your organizational chart, job titles, and positions
3. In the drop-down menu under "Is the name of your organization listed? If not, select 'Create New,'" select Create New and fill out the fields in the "Create New Organization" section.
4. Under "Type," select Functional - An organization for loosely affiliated employees, possibly across departments
5. Enter the number of members you would want to add to the functional organization and click Submit
   
   
   
   
6. After a successful submission, to add members to the organization, click on Add people to your organization chart
7. Find the member you want to add by last name, Banner ID or email address, verify the details and select the user. Choose an empty position and click Submit
   
   
   
   
8. To view information about the functional organization, go to Identity Info > Organization Info > Organization title
9. A badge with the word "Functional" indicates the organization is a functional organization
   
   
   
   
10. You can also view the organizations that you are responsible for by navigating to the "User Info" page under "Identity Info" section
    
    
    
    
11. To view the members of the organization, go to Identity Info > Position Info 
    
     
12.  It will take 24 hours (next day) for the RIMs email to be created 
    
    •   example: rims-F010810@lists.rowan.edu

Note:  RIMS email is only available to faculty and staff.  Students cannot send to directed dynamic mailing lists.  As an alternative, they can create a mailing list at https://listmanager.rowan.edu/sympa.

Update Functional Organization

1. To update the title, short name or description of the functional organization, on the "Submit Request" page, click Update the name of your Organization
2. Select an organization, update required fields and click Submit
   
   

Add Members to a Functional Organization

There are two ways to add members to a functional organization:  Add a person to your organization and Add multiple people to your functional organization.

Add a person to your organization:  You must have open positions with your functional organization in order to add a person using this option.
1.  Click on Requests and then Submit Request
2.  Click on Add a person to your organization
3.  Search for the person you would like to add
4.  Select the empty position from the drop down

5.  Click Submit

Note:  Approvals are not needed when adding members to a functional organization.

Add an Open Position to an Organization (functional or structural)

If you do not see an open position in the option above, you will need to add an open position.  To do this:

1.  Click on Requests and then Submit Request.
2.  Click on Create organizations, job title and positions.
3.  Select the application organization from the drop down in "Is the name of your organization listed?
4.  Select the number of positions you want to add.
5.  Click Submit.

The second way you can add users to a functional organization is by using the "add multiple people to your functional organization" option.  You do not need to have open positions to use this option.

1.  Click on Requests and then Submit Request.
2.  Click on Add multiple people to your functional organization.
3.  Type in the functional organization you would like to update
4.  Search for the person you want to add.  You can repeat this step multiple times.
5.  Click on Submit New Members.

Remove Members of a Functional Organization

1. To remove a member from a position within a functional organization, on the "Submit Requests" page, click Remove a Person from a Position
2. Select the position and click Submit
   
   

Remove Unoccupied Position from a Functional Organization

1. To remove an unoccupied position from the functional organization, on "Submit Requests" page, click Remove an unoccupied Position
2. Select the position and click Submit
   
   

Remove Unoccupied Functional Organization

1. To remove an unoccupied functional organization, on the "Submit Requests" page, select Remove an unoccupied Organization
2. Select the required functional organization and click Submit (Please note that the functional organization would not appear in the list until all the unoccupied positions are removed.)
   
   

Functional Organizations and Active Directory Groups

• Functional organizations are automatically set as an Active Directory (AD) Group.  However, the supervisor will have the ability to turn it off. Please see our RIMS: Set Active Directory Group article for instructions on how to turn off a functional organization as an AD group.
• Functional organizations set as an AD group would not automatically inform security or privilege granting. Supervisors must contact support@rowan.edu to use the functional organization for security. An email distribution list will be automatically created for the functional organization and displayed on the Organization Information page.  

Transfer Ownership of Functional Org

To transfer the ownership of a RIMS Functional Org:

1.  Search for the functional org

2.  Click the Transfer Ownership button

3.  In the New Owner field, search for the new owner of the functional org.

4.  In the Reason for Transfer, type in the reason for the transfer of ownership.

5.  Click Transfer

More Information

• RIMS: Frequently Asked Questions
• RIMS: Quick Reference Guide
• RIMS: Training and Support Materials