Before you begin
This article is primarily for Organisation Admins setting up and managing an eTool organisation.
All users will benefit from understanding how organisations work, especially when troubleshooting access issues or understanding why they can (or cannot) see certain projects or features.
This article explains organisation-level access and settings. It does not explain project permissions (who can view or edit a specific project). Project access is managed separately through Collaborators. See User roles & permissions for more information.
Jump to the following sections in this post:
- What is an eTool organisation?
- How your organisation is created
- What the Organisation Admin manages
- Organisation features at a glance
- Understanding organisation access
- Organisation reporting and GHG savings tracking
- Organisation profile and branding
- Belonging to more than one organisation
- Transferring the Organisation Admin role
- Identifying inactive users
- Reactivating a previous member
- Audit log
- Related articles
What is an eTool organisation?
Your eTool organisation is your team's shared workspace.
It brings together:
- your team members
- your organisation settings
- shared projects
- organisation and portfolio level analysis
- organisation-level administration
It is separate from your personal Home dashboard, which shows your own projects and activity.
Everyone who belongs to an organisation works from the same shared workspace, but what they can see and manage depends on their role and permissions.
How your organisation is created
Cerclos creates your organisation during onboarding and invites the first team member, who becomes the Organisation Admin.
Once created, the organisation is managed by your team. The Organisation Admin is responsible for:
- inviting additional users
- managing organisation access
- updating organisation settings
- transferring the Admin role when required
What the Organisation Admin manages
The Organisation Admin manages the organisation-level settings and access, including:
- adding, inactivating, and managing users
- assigning and managing seats
- controlling access to projects
- managing organisation settings and branding
- managing security settings and integrations
- managing subscription and billing settings
The Organisation Admin role should belong to someone authorised to make decisions on behalf of the organisation.
Important: cancelling an organisation subscription removes access to the organisation and its projects for all users, not only the person who performs the cancellation.
Organisation features at a glance
Your organisation workspace includes the following areas:
| Area | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Dash | The organisation's shared workspace |
| ResultSync | Prepare designs for reporting and analysis workflows. Requires a Hotseat subscription. See Project Level Reporting (Advanced Features). |
| Analysis | Review portfolio-level impact insights. Requires a Hotseat subscription. See Hotspot Analysis in eTool (Advanced Features). |
| Settings | Configure organisation-specific options such as custom stages and fields. See Settings. |
| Manage Users | Invite users, manage seats, transfer Admin access, and review user activity. See Managing users & seats. |
| Organisation Profile | Add organisation branding, logos, and report disclaimers. Covered below. |
| Edit Plan | Manage your subscription, including upgrading, downgrading, and billing. See Licensing & subscription tiers and Billing, invoicing & FAQs. |
| Edit Security | Configure security features such as SSO and MFA. See SSO configuration and MFA setup. |
| Integrations | Connect external tools and manage API access. See eTool API. |
Understanding organisation access
Being a member of an organisation does not automatically give someone access to every project.
Access works across two levels:
Organisation access — determines whether someone belongs to the organisation and what organisation-level features they can access.
Project access — determines whether someone can view or edit a specific project.
For example, someone may:
- belong to the organisation but not have access to a particular project
- have a seat but still need to be added as a project collaborator
See User roles & permissions for the full breakdown.
Organisation reporting and GHG savings tracking
The GHG Performance chart on your organisation dashboard shows the environmental savings achieved across your organisation, including savings by project and by individual team member.
If the chart is empty, it means eTool doesn't yet have the design information it needs to calculate savings. The chart populates once both of the following are true:
- Design purposes have been defined. Each design needs a defined purpose — Business As Usual, Scenario, Proposed, Improved, Final, As-Built, or Audit. See Design Purpose for what each one means.
- A certified Proposed and Final design comparison is available. eTool calculates savings by comparing the certified Proposed and Final designs. The Final design represents the confirmed, implemented outcome of the project, so the chart shows the reduction achieved between these two designs specifically.
A project without both a certified Proposed and Final design won't contribute to the GHG savings chart.
Note: if your GHG savings chart is empty, this is almost always why — check that the relevant projects have their design purposes defined and a certified Proposed vs. Final comparison available.
Organisation profile and branding
The Organisation Profile section allows Organisation Admins to configure branding information used in eTool reports, including:
- organisation logo
- company disclaimer
These settings apply across reports generated by the organisation.
Users can also maintain their own personal profile information, including profile image, signature, and LCA experience details, from My Profile.
Setting these up early avoids repeating the same information for individual reports.
Belonging to more than one organisation
Some users work across multiple organisations, such as consultants supporting several clients.
If you belong to more than one organisation, each organisation appears separately in the organisation selector at the top of eTool.
Switching organisations changes your active workspace, while your personal Home dashboard remains unchanged.
Remember:
- your personal account is separate from your organisation memberships
- belonging to an organisation does not automatically give access to every project
- project access is controlled separately through Collaborators
Transferring the Organisation Admin role
An existing Organisation Admin can transfer the Admin role to another organisation member through Manage Users.
If the transfer is happening because someone is leaving the organisation, complete the full handover process before they leave. This may include transferring:
- projects
- custom templates
- custom EPDs
- organisation data
See Staff turnover: handover procedure for the complete process.
If the previous Organisation Admin has already left and no one has Admin access, contact support with appropriate proof of authority.
Identifying inactive users
Organisation Admins can review user activity from Manage Users.
Each user's entry shows their last login date. Anyone who hasn't logged in for six months or more is automatically flagged in red, making it easy to spot accounts that need review.
Reviewing inactive users regularly can help ensure:
- seats are allocated effectively
- former employees are removed
- project ownership remains current
Reactivating a previous member
Inactive and blocked users are hidden by default. To view them:
- Open Manage Users.
- Enable Show inactive/blocked users.
- Update their seat assignment to reactivate their access.
Audit log
The Audit Log records changes made within the organisation, including:
- what was changed
- who made the change
- when the change occurred
This provides visibility when reviewing unexpected updates or changes within a shared workspace.