What it is
A Tread account is a Company. Most customers run as one flat company. A Company can also be a Parent with Child companies underneath — used when an operator has true regional splits with separate dispatchers, fleets, or books.
Why it matters
Hierarchy decides where your data lives. Drivers, equipment, customers, vendors, and rates all attach to one Company. Pick the wrong level and dispatch breaks, reports go blank, and payroll pulls the wrong hours.
How Tread models it
- Flat company — one record. Everything lives at this level. Default for ~90% of customers.
- Parent / Child — one Parent, two or more Child companies. Master data created at the Parent and shared down via Company Shares.
- Sharing — drivers, equipment, vendors, and customers are created at the Parent, then shared to the Children that use them. Children can dispatch and bill independently.
| Use flat when | Use parent/child when |
|---|
| One office, one fleet, one set of books | Multiple regions with separate P&Ls |
| Dispatchers cover all work | Each region has its own dispatcher |
| Single accounting export | Each region exports separately |
Common pitfalls
Do not create master data at the Child level. A multi-region producer set up drivers, vendors, equipment, and customers under a Child company. Dispatchers could not assign drivers across regions. Drivers were duplicated as vendors. Trucks went missing from the wrong division. Payroll pulled the wrong hours. Cleanup took two days of back-end work.Always create entities at the Parent and share down. If you are ever unsure, default to flat.
Hierarchy is hard to undo. Confirm the structure with your Tread implementation lead before creating master data.
