Configuring › Inheritance of Configuration Settings Through the Business Unit Hierarchy

Inheritance of Configuration Settings Through the Business Unit Hierarchy

The following rules govern the relationship between parent and child business units (children), including the inheritance of configuration settings:

• The child business units directly under the top-level business unit (the service provider) are named super business units. Super business units always inherit their configuration settings from the service provider business unit.
• A super business unit can have children if its configuration parameter named Contains Sub Units is enabled. Conversely, if this setting is disabled, the business unit cannot have children.

  Note: After you have created the business unit, you cannot change its Contains Sub Units setting.

• Similarly, if the Contains Sub Units parameter of the super business unit is enabled, you can edit the configuration settings of the super business unit. Conversely, if this parameter is disabled, you cannot edit its configuration settings.
• If you edit the configuration settings of a super business unit, your changes do not apply to the super business unit itself. Instead, your changes apply to its children. A child "inherits" its configuration settings from its parent.
• You can optionally create unlimited levels of children, grandchildren, and so forth under super business units. For each business unit under the super business unit, the same parent-child relationship illustrated earlier applies, as follows:
  • If the Contains Sub Units setting of the business unit is enabled, you can edit its configuration settings. Your configuration changes do not apply to the business unit itself but instead apply to its children.
  • Conversely, if the Contains Sub Units setting of the business unit is disabled, you cannot edit its configuration settings.

Thus, the following summary applies to all business units except for the service provider:

• A business unit always inherits its configuration settings from its parent.
• You can edit the configuration settings of a business unit only if its Contains Sub Units setting is enabled. Your changes apply only to its children.

Note: For more information about business units, see the Administration Guide.