Business Units – Endpoint Overview

The Business Units endpoint introduces an optional top-level hierarchy within Paylocity’s Background Check (BGC) API. Partners can use these endpoints to create and manage Business Units for clients.

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Associating pre-existing billing codes & packages to business units

The Create Business Units resource only adds a business unit to a company. In order to associate entities such as billing codes and packages to a business unit, each entity would need to be explicitly linked using the (optional) businessUnitID body parameter.

• Screening packages can be updated or created via Upsert Screening Package
• Billing Codes will need to be deleted and readded via the Delete Billing Code and Create Billing Codes resources respectively.

This feature is designed to support clients with multi-layered organizational structures, such as departments, divisions, locations, or cost centers.

Purpose

Business Units provide a flexible way for partners to define a client’s internal hierarchy and improve downstream selection flows during BGC ordering. When enabled, Business Units sit at the top of the configuration model:

Business Unit → Billing Code → Package

• All associations are optional.
• Clients may choose not to use Business Units.
• Business Units may exist without Billing Code or Package associations.
• If associations exist, ordering workflows will filter Billing Codes and Packages based on the selected Business Unit.

Why Use This Endpoint

For Partners:

• Supports enterprise-level configuration with clearer data segmentation.
• Enables more tailored ordering workflows through filtered Billing Code and Package lists.
• Reduces configuration errors and improves accuracy during background check ordering.
• Allows partners to update existing client configurations as clients adopt Business Units.

For Clients:

• Provides structure for billing, reporting, and operational organization.
• Simplifies ordering by displaying only relevant Billing Codes and Packages when associations exist.
• Supports scalability for departments, multi-location organizations, and complex internal hierarchies.

Capabilities

The Business Units API supports:

• POST Business Units
  • Partners can create Business Units for a client, providing a top-level organizational category.
• GET Business Units
  • Used to fetch all Business Units for a company to support UI display, mapping, or validation logic.
  • Used to fetch a specific Business Unit for a company to support UI display, mapping, or validation logic.
• PUT Business Units
  • Allows updates/modification of existing Business Units, including changes to names and status.
• Delete Business Units
  • Removes a Business Unit from the client’s configuration.
• Optional Associations
  • Business Units may be associated with:
    • Billing Codes
    • BGC Packages
  • If associated:
    • Billing Code and Package selection is filtered by the selected Business Unit during ordering.
    • If no associations exist, clients continue to see the full list (default behavior).

As of today, you can create business units and associate them to existing packages. However, if you have created billing codes previously that are not associated to any business unit and you are using business units you will need to delete the billing code and re-add, associating the business unit to that billing code.

Use Cases

Common Partner Scenarios

• Mapping organizational units (e.g., stores, regions, departments).
• Providing cleaner dropdown selections during ordering.
• Supporting clients who require billing segmentation per Business Unit/Entity.
• Migrating existing clients into a more structured hierarchy over time.

Common Client Scenarios

• Divisions requiring unique billing workflows.
• Large organizations needing reduced selection complexity for end users.
• Enterprise companies that require clearer audit trails tied to organizational structure.