# Teams

> Teams (also called groups) are named sets of people, organizations or both, such as a project team, a RACI group, a department-style functional team or a vendor bid list. Use them to assign work, control who sees confidential files, invite people in bulk and link people to projects.

Source: https://docs.cooperbuild.ai/connect/teams
Last updated: 2026-10-05
Keywords: teams, groups, raci, raci matrix, responsible accountable consulted informed, project team, functional team, department, org unit, vendor list, bid list, subcontractor pool, distribution list, committee, members

A **team** is a named set of members that you reuse across Cooper. Members can be [humans](https://docs.cooperbuild.ai/connect/humans.md), [organizations](https://docs.cooperbuild.ai/connect/organizations.md), or a mix of both. Office admins, project managers and estimators use teams to keep project crews, departments, RACI groups and vendor lists in one place, so they can assign them, link them to projects and share confidential files with them without picking people one by one.

On the page itself Cooper calls teams **groups**: the list is titled **All Groups** and the button says **Add New Group**. This page uses "team" and "group" for the same thing.

![The All Groups list showing team type pills, linked projects, member avatars and tags](https://docs.cooperbuild.ai/screenshots/connect/teams-list.png)

*Screenshot: The Teams list. 1: search, 2: Add New Group, 3: Team Type, 4: Linked projects, 5: Members, 6: the row menu.*

## Key concepts

| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| **Team** (group) | A named set of members with a team type, an optional description, tags and a color. |
| **Team type** | What the team is for. The type decides which fields the form shows. See [Team types](#team-types). |
| **Audience** | Who can be a member: **People**, **Organizations** or **Mixed**. |
| **RACI** | A team where each person has a role on the work: **Responsible** (does the work), **Accountable** (owns the outcome, one person), **Consulted** (gives input) or **Informed** (kept up to date). |
| **Functional team** | A department-style team, such as Operations, that has an **Org Unit**: a unique code, a manager, a cost center, a cost code prefix and accounting defaults. Functional teams can own projects and budgets. |
| **Team role** | A Cooper role (permission set) attached to a **Team Members** or **Functional Team** team. Members invited to Cooper from the team get this role. |
| **Linked project** | A project the team takes part in. |
| **Owned project** | A project that a functional team owns. |

## Team types

| Team type | Audience | Use it for |
|---|---|---|
| **Project Team** | People | The crew working on a project. |
| **Functional Team** | People | A department or business unit, such as Operations or Estimating. Adds the **Org Unit** section. |
| **Committee** | People | A standing group, such as a safety committee. |
| **RACI** | People | Responsibility assignments, with a RACI role per person. |
| **Team Members** | People | A set of colleagues you want to invite to Cooper together, with one role. |
| **Vendor List** | Organizations | Vendors you buy from. |
| **Subcontractor Pool** | Organizations | Subcontractors you can call on. |
| **Supplier Tier** | Organizations | Suppliers grouped by tier. |
| **Preferred Vendors** | Organizations | Vendors you prefer. |
| **Bid List** | Organizations | Companies you invite to bid. |
| **Distribution List** | Mixed | People and companies who receive the same documents. |
| **Partner Network** | Organizations | Partner companies. |
| **Custom** | People | Anything else. |

The audience in this table is the default. For every type except **RACI**, **Team Members** and **Functional Team** you can change it under **Who's in this Team?**.

## Open Teams

1. In the sidebar, open **Connect**.
2. Click **Teams**.

The list opens at `/connect/groups` and shows every team type.

**Talent → Teams** (`/talent/teams`) shows only functional teams. There the page is titled **All Teams**, the button says **Add New Team**, and the form has no team type selector because every team you add there is a functional team.

You need the **Teams** permission in the **Connect** module to see either page. See [Permissions](#permissions).

## Read the Teams list

| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| **Name** | The team's color bar, name and description. |
| **Team Type** | A colored pill with the type. An **Orgs** or **Mixed** chip shows when the members are organizations or a mix. |
| **Code** | The org unit code, for functional teams. |
| **Linked projects** | Up to three linked projects, each a link to the project. More shows as "... more — open team to view all". Otherwise "No linked projects". |
| **Members** | Member avatars and a count, such as "4 members". Click it to see **All Team Members** with phone numbers and a **Copy** button. |
| **Tags** | The first three tags. Hover **+N** to see the rest. |

To search, type in **Search groups…**. To group the list by team type, drag the **Team Type** column header onto the bar that says **Drag a column header here to group rows**.

## Add a team

### Step 1: Open the form
Click **Add New Group**. The **Add Group** panel opens.

### Step 2: Name the team and choose its type
Under **Basic Info**, enter the **Group Name** and choose the **Team Type**. Both are required.

### Step 3: Choose who can be a member
Under **Who's in this Team?**, choose **People**, **Organizations** or **Mixed**. Cooper preselects the audience that fits the type. This choice is not shown for RACI, Team Members and Functional Team types, which hold people only.

### Step 4: Add members
Under **Members**, search with **Search people by name...** or **Search organizations by name...** and click each result to add it. Click a selected card's remove button to take it out. For a RACI team, see [Set up a RACI team](#set-up-a-raci-team).

### Step 5: Add optional details
Click **More Details** to add **Tags**, a **Description** and a color. Type a tag and press **Enter**. Tags can contain letters only. Pick one of the six preset colors or use the color picker for any color.

### Step 6: Save
Click **Save**. Cooper confirms and the team appears in the list.

![The Add Group panel with the RACI team type selected and RACI role rows](https://docs.cooperbuild.ai/screenshots/connect/teams-add-raci.png)

*Screenshot: Adding a RACI team. 1: Group Name, 2: Team Type, 3: a RACI role row (role and assignee), 4: Add RACI Role.*

## Set up a RACI team

### Step 1: Choose the RACI type
In the **Add Group** panel, set **Team Type** to **RACI**.

### Step 2: Add a role
Under **Members**, choose a **Role** (**Responsible**, **Accountable**, **Consulted** or **Informed**).

### Step 3: Assign people to the role
For **Accountable**, pick one person in **Assignee**. For the other roles, pick one or more people in **Assignees**.

### Step 4: Add the other roles
Click **Add RACI Role** for each further role. Each role can appear only once, so a team has at most four role rows. Click **Remove** to delete a row.

### Step 5: Save
Click **Save**.

You can load a saved RACI team into a task, a project or an equipment record with **Load from Existing Group** (or **Load from a RACI group**) instead of picking the four roles again.

## Set up a functional team

### Step 1: Choose the Functional Team type
Set **Team Type** to **Functional Team**, or add the team from **Talent → Teams**.

### Step 2: Fill in the org unit
Under **Org Unit**, enter a **Code**, for example `OPS`. The code is required and must be unique in your workspace. Optionally choose a **Manager** and enter a **Cost Code Prefix**, **Cost Center**, **Default Email**, **Secondary Email** and **Default Phone**. The cost code prefix must also be unique.

### Step 3: Set accounting defaults (optional)
Under **Accounting Defaults**, choose a **Legal Entity**, **Default Expense Account**, **Internal Charge Clearing Account** and **Prepaid Rent Account**.

### Step 4: Choose a team role (optional)
In **Team Role** (or **Group Role**), pick the Cooper role members get when you invite them to the app.

### Step 5: Add people and save
Add members under **Members** and click **Save**.

## View a team's details

Click the row's **...** menu and choose **View**. The **Group Details** panel (**Team Details** on Talent → Teams) shows:

- The team name, type, org unit code and audience (**People**, **Organizations** or **Mixed**).
- Counts of **Members**, **People**, **Organizations** and **Tags**.
- **Description**, **Org Unit** (**Code**, **Manager**, **Cost Center**) and **Tags**.
- **Members**. RACI teams list members under their role. Other teams list **People** and **Organizations** separately.
- **Linked projects**, and for functional teams, **Owned projects**.
- Who created the team and when it was last updated.

Click **Edit** in the panel to change the team.

![The Group Details panel showing the header, counts, members and Linked projects section](https://docs.cooperbuild.ai/screenshots/connect/teams-details.png)

*Screenshot: A team's details. 1: Edit, 2: member counts, 3: Members, 4: Link project.*

## Edit a team

1. Click the row's **...** menu and choose **Edit**. The **Update Group** panel opens.
2. Change the fields. Changing the type to or from **RACI** clears the members, because RACI members carry roles.
3. Click **Update**.

If you change the **Team Role** of a **Team Members** or **Functional Team** team, Cooper also gives the new role to every member who has a Cooper login in your workspace.

## Link a team to a project

### Step 1: Open the team
Open the team's details with **View**.

### Step 2: Link the project
Under **Linked projects**, click **Link project**. In the **Link project to ...** panel, search for the project, select it and click **Link project**. Cooper shows "Project linked to team".

To unlink, click **Unlink** next to the project, then **Unlink team**. The team and its members stay. Cooper shows "Team unlinked from project".

You can also do this from a project: its Teams area has **Create Group**, which creates a project team already linked to the project with you as a member, and **Link Existing Team**.

## Assign project ownership to a functional team

1. Open the functional team's details.
2. Under **Owned projects**, click **Assign ownership**.
3. In the **Assign Projects** panel, search with **Search projects...** and tick the projects. Each project shows whether it is **Already owned by this team**, **Owned by** another team, or has **No owning team**.
4. Click **Assign**. Cooper shows how many projects it assigned.

Assigning a project to a team updates the project's cost center to the team's prefix.

## Invite a team to Cooper

You can invite all the people in a **Team Members** or **Functional Team** team to your workspace at once.

### Step 1: Open the invite panel
Click the row's **...** menu and choose **Invite to App**.

### Step 2: Check the members and role
The panel lists the people who will be invited and the team role they will get. If the team has no role, Cooper shows "This group has no role assigned. Edit the group and select a role before inviting members to the app."

### Step 3: Set access
Under **Access Settings**, optionally choose **Assigned Projects** (**Search and select projects...**). Tick **Scope feed to member permissions** if the invited people should only see activity they have permission for.

### Step 4: Send
Click **Invite N to App**. Cooper shows "Invitations sent successfully."

Inviting needs the same access as adding a user in **Settings → Users** (Users **Write**), or being the workspace owner.

## Delete teams

1. Click the row's **...** menu and choose **Delete**. To delete several, tick their checkboxes and click **Delete** in the footer.
2. In the **Are You Sure?** window, click **Delete**.

Cooper archives deleted teams. A deleted functional team frees its org unit code and cost code prefix, so you can reuse them.

## Where teams are used in Cooper

- **Projects**: link teams to projects, and assign functional teams as project owners.
- **Tasks, projects and equipment**: load a RACI team's roles with **Load from Existing Group** or **Load from a RACI group**.
- **Confidential files**: organization documents and Library folders can be limited to selected teams. See [Organizations](https://docs.cooperbuild.ai/connect/organizations.md).
- **Chat**: the people picker has a **Teams** view, so you can add a whole team to a chat. Only members with a Cooper login join. See [Chat](https://docs.cooperbuild.ai/connect/chat.md).
- **Finance**: functional teams appear in team pickers and **Team** filters, for example for team budgets and credit card accounts.
- **Budget requests**: you pick the requesting team.
- **Inviting people**: **Invite to App** invites a whole team with one role.

## Fields reference

| Field | Required | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| **Group Name** (**Team Name**) | Yes | The team's name. |
| **Team Type** | Yes | The kind of team. Hidden on Talent → Teams, where it is always Functional Team. |
| **Group Role** (**Team Role**) | No | Team Members and Functional Team only. The Cooper role members get when invited. |
| **Who's in this Team?** | No | **People**, **Organizations** or **Mixed**. Not shown for RACI, Team Members and Functional Team. |
| **Members** | No | The people and organizations in the team. |
| **Role** (RACI) | Yes, per row | **Responsible**, **Accountable**, **Consulted** or **Informed**. Each role once. |
| **Assignee** / **Assignees** (RACI) | Yes, per row | One person for Accountable; one or more for the other roles. |
| **Code** (Org Unit) | Yes, for functional teams | A short unique code, such as `OPS`. |
| **Manager** | No | The person who manages the functional team. |
| **Cost Code Prefix** | No | A unique prefix, such as `01-`. |
| **Cost Center** | No | The team's cost center, such as `CC-100`. |
| **Default Email**, **Secondary Email**, **Default Phone** | No | Contact details for the team. |
| **Legal Entity**, **Default Expense Account**, **Internal Charge Clearing Account**, **Prepaid Rent Account** | No | Accounting defaults for the functional team. |
| **Tags** | No | Labels, letters only. |
| **Description** | No | What the team is for. |
| **Color** | No | The color bar shown next to the team. |

## Permissions

Access is controlled by the **Teams** permission in the **Connect** module of a role. An admin sets it in **Settings → Roles**.

| Action | Permission needed |
|---|---|
| See teams | Teams **Read** (or **Write**) |
| Add and edit teams, assign project ownership | Teams **Write** |
| Delete teams | Teams **Delete** |
| Link or unlink a team and a project | Teams **Write**, or Write on Deliver projects or Plan projects |
| **Invite to App** | Users **Write** in Settings, or workspace owner |

Without **Write**, **Add New Group** and **Edit** are hidden. Workspace owners can do everything.

## Tips and best practices

- Use **Functional Team** for real departments and give each a short, stable code. Finance features rely on the code and cost code prefix.
- Save common RACI assignments as RACI teams and load them into tasks instead of rebuilding them.
- Keep vendor and subcontractor lists as organization teams (**Vendor List**, **Bid List**, **Subcontractor Pool**) so estimators can reuse them.
- Before you use **Invite to App**, set the team role and check that every person has an email address.
- Use tags and colors to make related teams easy to spot in the list.

## Troubleshooting

### I can't see Teams in the sidebar

Your role does not have the **Teams** permission in the **Connect** module. Ask an admin to grant it in **Settings → Roles**.

### Error: Org unit code is required for functional teams

Every functional team needs a **Code** under **Org Unit**. Enter one, such as `OPS`.

### Saving a functional team fails because the code is taken

Org unit codes and cost code prefixes must be unique in your workspace. Choose another code, or delete the old team that uses it.

### Error: This member type is already added

Each RACI role can appear once in a team. Add more people to the existing role row instead.

### My tag doesn't get added

Tags can contain letters only. Remove numbers, spaces and symbols, then press **Enter**.

### Invite to App is missing or the invite button is disabled

**Invite to App** appears only for **Team Members** and **Functional Team** teams. The invite button stays disabled until the team has a role and at least one person. If Cooper says you don't have permission, ask an admin for Users **Write**.

### I can't find the Who's in this Team? choice

RACI, Team Members and Functional Team types hold people only, so the choice is hidden.

## For AI agents

There is no dedicated MCP tool for teams. Agents read and change teams with the generic record tools on the `Group` model (`db_find`, `db_create`, `db_update`), gated by the **Teams** permission.

Key fields on a `Group` record:

- `name` (required) and `groupType`, one of `project-team`, `functional-team`, `committee`, `raci`, `team-members`, `vendor-list`, `subcontractor-pool`, `supplier-tier`, `preferred-vendors`, `distribution-list`, `bid-list`, `partner-network`, `custom`.
- `memberKind`: `human`, `externalOrg` or `mixed`.
- `members`: each item has `memberId`, `memberModel` (`Human` or `ExternalOrg`) and, for RACI, `memberType` (`responsible`, `accountable`, `consulted`, `informed`). Accountable takes one person.
- `orgUnit`: only for `functional-team`. `orgUnit.code` is required and unique per workspace.
- `status`: `Active`, `Draft` or `Archived`. Deleting a team sets `Archived`.

Common errors:

- "orgUnit.code is required for functional teams": add `orgUnit.code`.
- "orgUnit is only allowed for group types: functional-team": remove `orgUnit` for other types.
- "Role not found for this organization" when inviting: set the team's `role` to a role that exists in the workspace.
- Do not confuse teams with `account_group_browse` / `account_group_manage` (chart-of-accounts groups) or `chat_group_manage` (chat groups). Those tools do not manage teams.

## Related

- [Humans](https://docs.cooperbuild.ai/connect/humans.md): the people you add to teams.
- [Organizations](https://docs.cooperbuild.ai/connect/organizations.md): companies you add to vendor lists and bid lists, and documents you restrict to teams.
- [Chat](https://docs.cooperbuild.ai/connect/chat.md): add a whole team to a conversation.
- [Connect settings](https://docs.cooperbuild.ai/connect/settings.md): the lookup lists used across Connect.