---
title: "Set up the member hierarchy"
description: "An administrator enables the member hierarchy in Administration > People > Users > Hierarchy, picks the source managers, and a Hierarchy view of reporting lines appears in the Members app."
category: administration-security
section: users-and-access
type: Tutorial
lastUpdated: 2026-08-06
locale: en
canonical: https://support.talkspirit.com/en/administration-security/how-to-manage-members-hierarchy-view
---

# Set up the member hierarchy


## Set up the member hierarchy

The member hierarchy records who reports to whom, alongside the circles and roles that describe how work is organised. An administrator switches it on in **Administration > People > Users > Hierarchy** and names the managers the tree is built from. A **Hierarchy** view then appears in the Members app, and **Manager** and **Job title** appear on every member's profile.

You need organisation administrator rights to turn it on.

## Turn on the hierarchy

1. Open **Administration** and go to **People > Users**.
2. Select the **Hierarchy** tab.
3. Switch on **Enable member hierarchy**. Its description states plainly what it does: show the Hierarchy view on the Users page and build the reporting tree.
4. Under **Source managers**, click **Add manager** and pick the people the tree starts from. These are your top-level managers, and the tree is drawn downwards from them.

![The Hierarchy tab in Administration > People > Users, with the Enable member hierarchy switch and the Source managers section](/images/administration-security/how-to-manage-members-hierarchy-view/01-administration-users-hierarchy-tab.png)

Until you switch it on, the Manager and Job title fields resolve to nothing anywhere in the product, and the Hierarchy view reports that the member hierarchy is not configured for your organisation. Switching it on is a setting, not a purchase: it is not tied to your plan or to any add-on you have to buy.

## Record who reports to whom

Once the hierarchy is on, there are two ways to fill it in.

**An administrator sets it for someone else.** Open the person in the Members app and edit their **Manager** and **Job title** from the detail panel.

**Each person sets their own.** In **Account > Information**, everyone finds **Managed by**, described as the person you report to, and **Manager of**, the people who report to them, with **Add report** and **Remove report** controls.

Your organisation can close that second route. When the reporting fields are locked, everyone except administrators sees the note that these fields are managed by your organisation and cannot be edited, and the server refuses the change rather than the interface merely hiding it. The lock is not on the Hierarchy tab: it is a profile-field setting, so ask your administrator if you find the fields greyed out.

## Read the hierarchy

Open the **Members** app and choose the third of the three view buttons above the list, **Hierarchy**. The tree is drawn from your source managers downwards. Each node names a person and counts their direct reports, and you expand or collapse a branch to walk down or tidy up.

![The Hierarchy view of the Members app, showing a populated reporting tree from Stefan Brandt down through managers and their direct reports](/images/administration-security/how-to-manage-members-hierarchy-view/02-members-hierarchy-view.png)

Suspending or anonymising someone removes them from the tree automatically: their reports lose them as a manager, and they drop out of the source managers if they were one. Restore the account and you will need to set the reporting line again.

## What's next

- [User Roles and Permissions](/en/administration-security/user-roles)
- [Editing, suspending, restoring or removing a member](/en/administration-security/how-to-edit-suspend-restore-or-delete-a-member-from-my-organization)
- [Managing custom fields for members](/en/administration-security/manage-custom-fields-for-members)