Subsidiaries
Subsidiaries in Shaari allow Enterprise plan users to manage multiple branches, companies, or business units under a single account. Each subsidiary operates as an independent tenant with its own data, settings, and configuration, while the parent organization maintains oversight and easy switching between them.
The Subsidiaries feature is available exclusively on the Enterprise plan. Upgrade from Settings > Billing to unlock multi-tenant management.
What Subsidiaries Are
A subsidiary is a child tenant --- a fully independent workspace within Shaari that has its own:
- Company information and branding.
- Customer and supplier databases.
- Invoices, quotations, and contracts.
- HR records (employees, attendance, payroll).
- Projects and their associated data.
- ZATCA configuration and certificates.
- Settings and automation rules.
Subsidiaries are ideal for businesses that operate multiple branches, have separate legal entities, or want to keep different business units isolated for accounting, regulatory, or organizational purposes.
Common Use Cases
| Scenario | How Subsidiaries Help |
|---|---|
| Multiple branches | Each branch has its own invoicing, customers, and team members |
| Separate legal entities | Each entity maintains its own VAT number, CR number, and ZATCA certificate |
| Different business lines | Keep a construction company's data separate from a trading company, even if owned by the same group |
| Regional offices | Offices in different cities or countries can operate independently |
Creating Subsidiary Companies
To create a new subsidiary:
- Navigate to Settings > Subsidiaries.
- Click the create button.
- Enter the subsidiary's company information:
- Company name (Arabic and English).
- VAT number.
- CR number.
- Business address.
- Save the subsidiary.
The new subsidiary is created as an independent tenant linked to your parent organization. It starts with default settings that you can customize.
Creating a subsidiary does not duplicate data from the parent tenant. The subsidiary starts with a clean slate --- no customers, products, invoices, or employees. You configure it independently from scratch.
Independent Settings Per Subsidiary
Each subsidiary has its own complete set of settings, independent from the parent organization and from other subsidiaries. This includes:
ZATCA Configuration
Each subsidiary can have its own ZATCA Phase 2 setup with a separate:
- CSR (Certificate Signing Request).
- Compliance CSID and Production CSID.
- Onboarding status and environment selection.
This is essential when subsidiaries are separate legal entities with different VAT registration numbers, as ZATCA requires each entity to onboard independently.
Branding
Each subsidiary can upload its own:
- Company logo.
- Company stamp.
- Authorized signatory.
Documents generated by a subsidiary carry that subsidiary's branding, not the parent organization's.
Automation and Other Settings
Auto-archive policies, AI settings, notification preferences, and all other configurable options are independent per subsidiary.
User Access Control Across Subsidiaries
Users can be granted access to one or more subsidiaries. Access control determines which subsidiaries a user can see and work in.
- Parent admin --- Has access to all subsidiaries and can manage users across them.
- Subsidiary admin --- Has admin access within a specific subsidiary but may not see other subsidiaries.
- Regular users --- Can be assigned to specific subsidiaries based on their role and responsibilities.
Use subsidiary-level access control to ensure that employees only see the data relevant to their branch or business unit. A branch manager in Riyadh does not need to see the Jeddah branch's invoices, and vice versa.
Switching Between Subsidiaries
Users with access to multiple subsidiaries can switch between them without logging out:
- Click on the subsidiary selector (typically in the top bar or sidebar).
- Select the subsidiary you want to work in.
- The interface refreshes to show the selected subsidiary's data and settings.
Switching is instant. Your session is maintained, and you can switch back to the previous subsidiary at any time.
When you switch subsidiaries, all displayed data changes to reflect the selected subsidiary. Invoices, customers, employees, and settings all belong to the currently active subsidiary. This is a complete context switch, not a filtered view.
Data Isolation Between Subsidiaries
Data isolation between subsidiaries is absolute:
- Customers created in Subsidiary A are not visible in Subsidiary B.
- Invoices, quotations, and contracts are scoped to their subsidiary.
- Employee records and HR data are separate per subsidiary.
- Project data, materials, and expenses belong to their subsidiary.
- Analytics and reports reflect only the active subsidiary's data.
This isolation ensures regulatory compliance (each entity reports independently to ZATCA) and organizational clarity (each business unit's financials are self-contained).
Data cannot be moved or copied between subsidiaries through the Shaari interface. If you need to share a customer or product record across subsidiaries, you must create it independently in each one. Plan your subsidiary structure carefully before creating records.