How to Add Assistant Seats to the Org Chart in Ninety
Assistant Seats let you place support roles, such as an executive assistant or a chief of staff, beside any Seat on the Org Chart. An assistant Seat sits next to the Seat it supports and connects to it with a solid line, so it adds no reporting layer to the chart. Owners, Admins, Managers, and Coaches can add, move, and delete assistant Seats in Edit Chart mode. Assistant Seats are available on every Ninety plan: Free, Essentials, Accelerate, Thrive, and Legacy.
What an assistant Seat is
An assistant Seat is a Seat that sits beside another Seat on the Org Chart and supports it. Use one for roles that work closely with a leader, such as an executive assistant, a chief of staff, or a project coordinator, when you don't want those roles to appear as the leader's direct reports.
Each Seat can have up to two assistant Seats.
Each assistant Seat can hold any number of people.
An assistant Seat can't have reporting Seats or assistant Seats of its own.
A solid line connects each assistant Seat to the Seat it supports, on the chart and in PDF exports.
Assistant Seats work the same way on your primary chart and on draft charts.
Add an assistant Seat
To add an assistant Seat, open the chart for editing and use the plus icon on the Seat it will support. Owners, Admins, Managers, and Coaches can add assistant Seats.
Click Org Chart from the left navigation.
Click Edit Chart. To add the assistant Seat to a draft chart, click the Drafts tab and open the draft instead.
Click the plus icon at the bottom left of the card for the Seat the assistant will support.
Select Assistant Seat.
Complete the Seat's information, then click Create.
Assign people to the new assistant Seat with the person-plus icon on its card.
To add a second assistant Seat to the same Seat, repeat these steps. Once a Seat has two assistant Seats, Assistant Seat no longer appears in its plus icon menu.
Note: The Visionary Seat can have assistant Seats too. The Operator is the Visionary's only direct report by design, so the plus icon on the Visionary Seat offers Assistant Seat as its only option.
Move an assistant Seat to a different Seat
You can move an assistant Seat to a different Seat by changing the Seat it reports to in its details panel. Owners, Admins, Managers, and Coaches can move assistant Seats in Edit Chart mode.
Click Org Chart from the left navigation.
Click Edit Chart.
Click the pencil icon on the assistant Seat's card to open its details panel.
Select the new Seat from the Reporting to dropdown.
Seats that already have two assistant Seats don't appear in the Reporting to dropdown.
Outside Edit Chart mode, the open icon at the top right of an assistant Seat's card shows its details as read-only. You can see which Seat it reports to there, and you'll need to click Edit Chart to change it.
Assign people to an assistant Seat
An assistant Seat can hold any number of people, the same way any other Seat can. In Edit Chart mode, click the person-plus icon on the assistant Seat's card and select each person you want to add. The steps match documenting multiple team members who share the same Seat.
Add roles and responsibilities to an assistant Seat
You add roles and responsibilities to an assistant Seat the same way you add them to any other Seat. Owners, Admins, Managers, and Coaches can add them in Edit Chart mode.
Click Org Chart from the left navigation.
Click Edit Chart.
Click the pencil icon on the assistant Seat's card to open its details panel.
In the Roles and Responsibilities section, click Add new.
Enter a title for the role and, if you like, a description of its responsibilities.
Click Save.
The roles then appear on the assistant Seat's card, the same as on any other Seat. For more on writing and reordering roles, see creating, editing, and customizing Seats.
Delete an assistant Seat
You delete an assistant Seat the same way you delete any other Seat, and it moves to the chart's Trash. Owners, Admins, Managers, and Coaches can delete Seats by following the steps in deleting Seats from the Org Chart.
Important: Deleting a Seat also deletes its assistant Seats. Restoring that Seat from the Trash doesn't bring its assistant Seats back. Each assistant Seat has its own row in the Trash, so restore it separately, as described in recovering deleted Seats from the Org Chart.
Assistant Seats in PDF exports
When you print the Org Chart or export it to PDF, assistant Seats appear beside the Seat they support, connected by a solid line. This applies to every PDF layout. For the export steps, see printing and exporting the Org Chart to PDF.
Frequently asked questions
How many assistant Seats can one Seat have?
Each Seat can have up to two assistant Seats, and each assistant Seat can hold any number of people.
Can the Visionary have an assistant Seat?
Yes. The plus icon on the Visionary Seat offers Assistant Seat as its only option, because the Operator is the Visionary's only direct report by design.
Can an assistant Seat have its own direct reports?
No. An assistant Seat can't have reporting Seats or assistant Seats of its own, so its card has no plus icon.
Can I turn an existing Seat into an assistant Seat?
No. Create a new assistant Seat beside the Seat it should support, assign the same people to it, and then delete the old Seat. If the old Seat has reporting Seats, move them to another Seat before you delete it, because deleting a Seat also moves every Seat below it to the Trash.
Which plans include assistant Seats?
Assistant Seats are available on every Ninety plan: Free, Essentials, Accelerate, Thrive, and Legacy.
Troubleshooting
Issue: The plus icon menu doesn't show Assistant Seat.
Solution:
Click Edit Chart, since plus icons appear only while you're editing the chart.
Check whether the Seat already has two assistant Seats. If it does, move or delete one of them first.
Check that you're on a regular Seat's card. Assistant Seats have no plus icon.
If the issue persists, contact support.
Issue: The Seat I want isn't listed in the Reporting to dropdown.
Solution:
Check whether that Seat already has two assistant Seats. Seats with two assistant Seats don't appear in the dropdown.
Move or delete one of that Seat's assistant Seats, then try again.
If the issue persists, contact support.
Issue: I can't change which Seat an assistant Seat reports to.
Solution:
Click Edit Chart. The details panel is read-only outside Edit Chart mode.
Click the pencil icon on the assistant Seat's card and select a Seat from Reporting to.
If the issue persists, contact support.
Issue: An assistant Seat didn't come back when I restored a deleted Seat.
Solution:
Click Edit Chart, click the ellipsis in the toolbar, and select View trash.
Find the assistant Seat's own row and restore it from the row menu.
If the issue persists, contact support.