Hierarchy vs User-to-User

See also: User-to-User Overview & Hierarchy Overview

Although they seem to be synonymous as first glance, there are important distinctions between a User-to-User profile field and a Hierarchy profile field:

A U2U Profile Field links a specific User to another specific User (who can in turn be linked to another User, ad infinitum).

Whereas a Hierarchy Profile Field builds a set of connections between arbitrary, pre-defined values. Values which can then be assigned to an arbitrary number of users.

User-to-User

• Are set in each user's profile.
• Only a single User-to-User profile field can exist on your site.
• Are typically used to create a chain of X-reports-to-Y relationships.

Examples: Elanor Reports to Sam. Sam Reports to Frodo, Frodo reports to Gandalf. Meanwhile, Legolas & Gimli also report to Gandalf:

• Elanor → Sam → Frodo → Gandalf.
• Legolas → Gandalf.
• Gimli → Gandalf.

Hierarchy

• Definable only by manually uploading a .csv file.
• Any number of Hierarchy Fields can be created.
• Can be used for a wide variety of functions, such as nested locations, management level, etc.

Management example:

•  President

  • Regional Director

    • General Manager

      • Assistant Manager

        • Floor Worker

Location example:

• USA
  • Montana
    • Yellowstone County
    • Gallatin County
  • California
    • San Diego County
    • Orange County
  • Wyoming
• Canada