# Managing Departments (Quality)

Vault provides the ability to manage details about departments through the _Department_ object. You can view or manage departments from **Business Admin** > **Departments**.

One of the benefits to using the _Department_ object over a picklist field is that users can find documents related to a department using any of the department's fields. For example, if the department _Quality Assurance_ has the code _QA_, users can search on "Quality Assurance" or "QA" to find documents.

## How to Add and Edit Departments

To add or edit a department:

  1.  From the **Departments** page, click **Create** or click on an existing department and then click **Edit**.
  1.  Enter the **Department Name** and **Department Number/Code**.
  1.  Optional: Fill in the department fields (**Department Number/Code**, etc.). Note that these can vary by Vault, depending on whether an Admin has customized the standard object.
  1.  Set the **Status** to Active or Disabled. Users can only see and select active departments when setting the document fields.
  1.  Click **Save**.

## How to Disable and Delete Departments

Vault prevents deletion of departments that users have selected on at least one document or that Admins have used within a lifecycle rule or workflow. If you cannot delete a department, prevent users from selecting it in the future by changing its status to Disabled.

To delete a department:

  1.  From the **Departments** page, hover over the department.
  1.  Click the red **X** icon that appears.
  1.  Click **Continue** in the confirmation dialog to permanently delete the department.