The organisational structure is created on GNA and is a form that all clients use in their system setup. All positions and employees are attached to the organisational structure at multiple levels.

Currently the Organisation Description field on GNA is set for a maximum of 24 characters which limits how descriptions at each level can be recorded. We currently use 0 - 8 levels for different internal and external reporting requirements. With the limited characters available for the description of the codes at each level we have to abbreviate them. This then impacts our reporting of position and employee data.

Having abbreviated names also impacts integration to third party products that require the full description to be reported and not the abbreviation. Integration via scheduled reports is not possible when the full name is required. We believe that expanding out the GNA Organisation Description field to cater for longer names to be recorded (perhaps 50 characters) would greatly improve the experience for all users.  With the recent changes to the field size of DET Surname and PDT Title we think this should be the next field to be expanded in size.

Reason for Suggestion

We currently have to have lookup tables built into xml templates and reports to translate codes to the full description when they exceed the maximum limit. Unfortunately scheduled reports cannot use XML templates so these reports have to show abbreviated descriptions.

Expected Benefits

Being able to show the full name, and not the abbreviated version created to cater for a maximum of 24 characters, on reports and integration files would benefit all users with accurate information included on things like reports, org charts and payslips.