Location Masters
The Location Masters screen is where you build the geographic backbone of the system: the hierarchy of countries, states, districts, taluks, towns, villages, wards, and sub-registration offices that every project, subproject, and stock record is positioned within. Because so much depends on it, locations are usually the very first master you configure.
Where to find it: Masters → Location Masters.
:::tip Configure locations first You cannot create a project, subproject, or stock without selecting a location. Build out at least the levels you actually transact in (for most users that is down to village and the relevant sub-registration office) before moving on. :::
The location hierarchy
Locations form a tree. Each level is the child of the one above it, with two deliberate branches near the bottom:
- Town and Village are both children of a Taluk — they are siblings, two ways a settlement can be classified.
- A Ward belongs to a Town only — it is never attached to a village.
- A Sub-Registration Office (SRO) is anchored to either a Town or a Village — it is the registration jurisdiction used for property documents.
| Level | Parent | Typical example |
|---|---|---|
| Country | — (root) | India |
| State | Country | Tamil Nadu |
| District | State | Coimbatore |
| Taluk | District | Mettupalayam |
| Town | Taluk | Mettupalayam (town) |
| Village | Taluk | Karamadai |
| Ward | Town | Ward 12 |
| Sub-Registration Office | Town or Village | SRO Karamadai |
The tabbed interface
Location Masters opens as a single screen with one tab per level, in hierarchy order:
Country → State → District → Taluk → Town → Village → Ward → Sub-Registration Office
Each tab is independent and manages just its own level, but the child tabs use cascading dropdowns to keep you in the right context. On the District tab, for instance, you first pick a Country, then the State dropdown narrows to that country's states, then the district list shows only districts under the chosen state.
How cascading dropdowns behave
- Selecting a parent filters the next dropdown and the list below it.
- Changing a parent resets the dependent child selections — if you switch the Country on the District tab, the State and District selections clear, because they no longer make sense.
- Context you have already chosen is retained when you move between tabs where it still applies (for example, the Country and State you picked carry over from the State tab to the District tab), so you do not have to re-select them.
- The default tab when you open the screen is Country.
:::note Why the cascade is enforced The cascade is not just a convenience — it guarantees a child can never be saved against a mismatched parent (a district from one state attached to a different state). The system validates this alignment on save and rejects inconsistent combinations. :::
Managing entries at each level (CRUD)
Every tab supports the same four operations. The fields differ only by what parent context the level requires.
Add
- Open the tab for the level you want to add.
- For child levels, first select the parent context in the cascading dropdowns at the top of the tab.
- Click Add, enter the name (the only required field at every level), and Save.
The name is validated on submit. If it is empty or a duplicate within the same parent, you will see an inline error.
View
Each tab lists the entries for the currently selected parent context. Use the search box to find an entry by name.
Edit
Open an entry, change its name, and Save. The parent context of an entry cannot be moved by editing — to "move" an entry you delete it (if unused) and recreate it under the correct parent.
Delete
Deleting is a soft delete and is guarded:
- If the entry is referenced — by a child level or by a project/subproject/stock that uses it — the delete is blocked with a message such as "Cannot delete.
{Level}is in use." - If it is not referenced, you confirm in a dialog and the entry is removed from the list.
This prevents you from accidentally orphaning the levels (or transactions) beneath a location.
Uniqueness rules
Names must be unique within their parent scope, compared case-insensitively and ignoring surrounding whitespace:
| Level | Must be unique within… |
|---|---|
| Country | the organization |
| State | its Country |
| District | its State |
| Taluk | its District |
| Town / Village | its Taluk |
| Ward | its Town |
| Sub-Registration Office | its anchoring Town or Village |
This means the same name can legitimately appear under different parents — two different states can each have a "Mettupalayam" taluk — but you cannot create two states named "Tamil Nadu" under the same country.
Practical tips
- Build top-down. You must create a country before a state, a state before a district, and so on. The tabs will not let you add a child without a parent selected.
- Only build what you need. If you only operate in one state, you do not need to enter every state in the country — just the ones you transact in.
- Get the SRO right. The sub-registration office matters for property registration and legal documents, so take care to anchor each SRO to the correct town or village.
Related
- Reference Data Overview — dependency order and why locations come first
- Projects and Stock Management — modules that consume locations