Zoho Books Locations Feature
Summary
The Locations feature in Zoho Books is a tool designed to manage multiple branches, stores, or warehouses within a single organization. It is an upgraded version of the older “Branches” feature, providing a more detailed hierarchy for tracking financial and inventory performance across different operational divisions.
Key Features
- Location Types: You can create two types of locations:
- Business Location: Represents physical offices or operational branches where billing and sales occur. These can act as parent locations in a hierarchy.
- Warehouse Location: Dedicated solely to inventory storage, tracking, and stock management. These cannot be parent locations.
- 5-Level Hierarchy: You can set up a complex structure with up to five nested levels (e.g., Regional Hub > State Branch > City Store > Warehouse) to aggregate data logically.
- Transaction Tagging: Once enabled, a “Location” field appears on invoices, bills, and purchase orders, allowing you to associate each transaction with a specific site for precise reporting.
- Custom Transaction Series: You can set unique numbering series for different locations (e.g., INV-NY-001 vs. INV-LA-001) to keep records distinct.
- Granular User Permissions: Admins can restrict user access so employees only see or create transactions for the specific locations assigned to them.
How to Enable and Set Up
- Enable the Feature: Go to Settings (gear icon) > Organization > Locations and click Enable Locations. Note: Once enabled, this feature cannot be disabled.
- Migrate (If applicable): If you previously used Branches, navigate to Settings > Organization > Warehouses/Branches and click the Migrate to Locations banner to convert existing branches into business locations.
- Add a Location: Under Settings > Locations, click Add Location. Fill in the name, address, and primary contact, and choose if it is a child of an existing site.
- Reporting: You can filter standard reports—such as Profit and Loss or Inventory Valuation—by location to see individual branch performance.