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Departments are the foundational building blocks of your organisation in Campsite. Every staff member belongs to one or more departments, and departments determine how broadcasts are targeted, how rotas are structured, and how reporting is grouped. Because Campsite is fully flexible, there are no hardcoded department names — you define the structure that reflects your organisation.
Plan your department structure before you start inviting staff. The departments you create affect broadcast targeting, rota management, and reporting — getting the structure right early saves significant rework later.

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Department types

Campsite supports three types of organisational unit, all created in the same way but displayed and treated differently across the platform:
TypeWhen to use
DepartmentStandard operational teams — e.g. Hospitality, Reception, Retail
SocietyStudent societies or affinity groups with their own member base
ClubSports clubs, hobby groups, or other interest-based collectives
Each type has its own role ladder where relevant — for example, Society or Club Leader is a role specifically for broadcasting to society or club members.

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Where to manage departments

  • Departments: Admin → Departments (/admin/departments)
  • Teams: Admin → Teams (/admin/teams)
  • Sub-teams: Admin → Sub-teams (/admin/sub-teams)
Teams and sub-teams sit within departments and provide finer-grained grouping — useful for managing large departments with distinct sub-functions or locations.

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Creating a department

1

Go to Admin → Departments

In the sidebar, navigate to Admin → Departments (/admin/departments). You will see a list of any existing departments and an option to create a new one.
2

Click 'New department'

Select New department to open the creation form.
3

Enter the department details

Fill in the department name, choose its type (Department, Society, or Club), and add an optional description. The name and type are visible to staff in their profile and in broadcast channel listings.
4

Assign managers

Select one or more managers for this department. Managers have department-scoped broadcast and rota permissions and appear as points of contact for that department’s staff.
5

Create broadcast channels

Add one or more broadcast channels for the department. Channels are the mechanism by which broadcasts reach staff — each staff member subscribes to the channels they want to receive updates from. A department can have multiple channels (for example, one for general announcements and one for shift updates).
6

Add members

Assign staff members to the department. You can also add members later from Admin → Members or from within the department’s detail view. Staff can belong to more than one department simultaneously.

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Broadcast channels explained

Every department has at least one broadcast channel. When a manager or admin sends a broadcast, they target it at a specific channel — only staff subscribed to that channel receive it. This means staff can self-manage which updates they receive, while managers retain control over where content is published.
Staff subscribe to channels from their personal settings. You do not need to manually subscribe each person — they can do this themselves after joining a department.

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Teams and sub-teams

For large departments, teams and sub-teams let you create finer-grained groupings without creating entirely separate departments. Use teams when you need distinct scheduling or reporting segments within a department. Sub-teams sit within teams and are useful for shift-level or location-level distinctions. Manage teams at Admin → Teams (/admin/teams) and sub-teams at Admin → Sub-teams (/admin/sub-teams).

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Editing and archiving departments

To edit a department, click its name in the Admin → Departments list and update the relevant fields. You can change the name, description, managers, channels, and members at any time. Departments that are no longer active can be archived to remove them from active views while preserving their historical data.