This guide explores how to use the System Config tool to view and manage the top-level hierarchy of your institution (Institution → Division → Discipline → Collection).
If you are starting completely from scratch and need to create a brand new, empty database, please refer to our Guided Setup documentation instead!
Before you begin, make sure to review the following documentation to understand how to best configure your database:
Get Started
You can click on your 
Username in the navigation menu and select 
System Config from the User Tools menu.
Overview
When to use it
- Setting up a new Specify deployment (create divisions/disciplines/collections).
- Adding new levels to your database’s institutional hierarchy.
What the tool does
- Shows your institution’s full hierarchy (institution, divisions, disciplines, collections, and configured trees).
- Lets you create new institutional hierarchy levels (e.g., a new Collection, Discipline, or Division).
- Lets you open existing institutional levels to edit or review their details.
[!info] Access & Permissions
- Visible to users with sufficient administrative privileges.
- Changes you make here affect the entire Specify instance (not just your user account).
Layout
The tool has a split layout showing the hierarchical structure on the left and an interactive visual representation of the current institutional hierarchy on the right. Nodes within each level can be selected and viewed, edited, or deleted.
- Add a new child to an institutional level: Use the
Add control to create a Collection, Discipline, Division, or tree definition as allowed by your permissions. A dialog form opens; fill required fields and save. - Edit existing item: Select an item in the hierarchy and open it to modify details, then save.
Expanding Your Database
The System Configuration tool utilizes the same streamlined, step-by-step interface as the Guided Setup tool, making it easy to grow your database.
[!tip] Read First
It may take some time for newly added divisions, disciplines, and collections to appear. This is because it takes time to create all the necessary resources (default trees, forms, pick lists, schema).Users can only access newly created divisions or disciplines if a collection is created within. Once a collection has finished being created, you will be able to select it once you log out and back in.
Adding a New Division
When creating a new division, you are establishing a new structural branch in your institution’s hierarchy.
[!info] Division Scope Reminder
Records shared across all collections within the same Division include Agents (people, groups, or organizations) and Accessions (if your accessions are configured at the Division level rather than globally).See all shared division records here.
To create a new division, simply provide the formal Name (e.g., “Division of Paleontology”) and a short Abbreviation (e.g., “PAL”). If your Division does not have a formal abbreviation, you can put in a placeholder and edit it at a later date.
Adding a New Discipline
Disciplines sit within a Division and determine the scientific context for your data. This choice dictates the default data entry forms, field captions, and controlled vocabularies available to the collections within it.
[!info] Discipline Scope Reminder
Records shared across all collections within the same Discipline include Trees (Taxonomy, Geography, Chronostratigraphy, etc.), Collecting Events, Localities, Loans, Gifts, and Borrows.See all shared discipline records here.
You will select a taxonomic Type from the drop-down menu to load the correct default configurations.
During this process, you will also be prompted to configure your Geography and Taxon trees for this new discipline, just as you would during the initial Guided Setup. You can choose to auto-populate these trees with default records to save time!
Adding a New Collection
Collections are the specific workspaces where your actual specimen, observation, or object records live. They are nested directly within a Discipline.
[!info] Collection Scope Reminder
Records specific to a single Collection (and not shared with others) include Collection Objects, Preparations, Determinations, Types, Groups, and Pick Lists.See all shared collection records here.
Define your Collection Name and select the Catalog Number Format you wish to use for this specific dataset. By default, the catalog number format will be set to CatalogNumberNumeric, but you can change this to any of the formats in the dropdown menu.
Once you complete the prompts and click Create, your new Collection, Discipline, or Division will be added to your database and ready for use.