Input format: the org chart
Run the commands below from the installation directory. See Run operator commands for how ./lens reaches the running installation and copies files into it.
Export the org chart from the HRHRHuman resources: the organisation's people records and the team that maintains them. system into the shape below. Import it in the browser at /import (a top-level units list means an org chart) or with the connectorsConnectorSoftware that reads records from a source system, such as an incident tool. A customer-written file connects those records to teams or services in NovusLens. command line:
From the installation directory:
./lens connectors orgchart --org harbour --fixture org_chart.jsonOn success the command prints a summary of what it wrote and exits 0; the map shows the result after the projectionProjectionThe regular pass that brings the read model up to date with the canonical log. It runs every 30 seconds by default. service’s next pass (about 30 s by default). A refusal names what was wrong.
A chart declares boxes, not flow. It produces the team skeleton and the accountable heads at the shown rungRungOne of three levels of support for a recorded value: told, shown or measured. The level appears beside the value., and no dependencies. The interview adds the flow afterwards.
Required fields
org: the organisation’s short id.units: a list. Each unit needsunit_id(stable, lower case, no spaces). A unit whoseparentnames a unit not in the file is refused.
Optional fields per unit
name: the display name. Defaults to the id.parent: theunit_idof the containing unit. Absent means top level.head: the accountable head, as a name or role. This is what the accountability map shows.responsibility: what the unit is answerable for, in one sentence.granted_authority: what the unit may decide, in one sentence.external:truefor a vendor or partner unit. Absent means not stated.
Optional fields at the top
org_nameanddescription, as for the interview.
Minimal valid example
{
"org": "harbour",
"units": [
{"unit_id": "operations", "name": "Operations", "head": "Chief Operating Officer"},
{"unit_id": "bookings", "name": "Bookings desk", "parent": "operations", "head": "Head of Bookings"},
{"unit_id": "customs", "name": "Customs filing", "parent": "operations", "head": "Head of Customs",
"granted_authority": "files with the border agency without further sign-off"},
{"unit_id": "freightsoft", "name": "FreightSoft (vendor)", "external": true}
]
}What a re-run does
| Situation | What happens |
|---|---|
| Stable identity | The unit id. The file itself is known by its bytes, so the same file is one artifact. |
| The same file twice | Every unit written again at shown with the same values. No change on the map. |
| A changed name, parent, head, responsibility or authority | The latest chart wins; a moved unit re-parents. |
| A head, responsibility or authority omitted from a unit | Kept as it was. An omission is “not stated”, never a removal. |
external omitted | Kept as it was. |
| A renamed unit id | A new cellCellA box on the map that stands for a team, service, supplier or AI agent. It is a unit you can inspect, not necessarily a department or a person.. The old one stays, with its children, unless each child’s parent is changed too. |
| A unit omitted from the file | Untouched, still on the map at shown, citing the older chart. There is no snapshot mode and no removal. |
| A parent not in the file, a cycleDependency cycleA loop in the dependencies: one unit needs another, which eventually needs the first unit again. For example, Sales waits on Finance and Finance waits on Sales., a duplicate id | The whole file is refused before anything is written. |
| A later interview that contradicts the chart | The chart wins. The difference becomes a findingFindingA difference in the records that needs a decision. It includes its sources and can describe a slow handoff, disputed fact or missing owner., never an edit. |
| Retention | Every commit stays on the log. The chart body stays as evidence unless a steward purgesPurgeRemoving a stored document’s contents while keeping a record that it was removed and why. Conclusions that used it must be checked again. it, which drops every rung it backed to told. |