What is the People system schema?

The People system schema is part of the Assets common data model. It provides a ready-to-use structure for tracking the people, departments, and cost centers in your organisation - so your assets and services can connect to the humans who own, use, and manage them.

When you enable the Assets common data model, the People system schema is included as one of the foundational schemas available to all eligible paid plans.

Why use this system schema?

Without a centralised people schema, every team and schema ends up maintaining its own version of user data — names, departments, cost centers — leading to duplicates, drift, and broken references.

With the People system schema, you get:

• A single source of truth for people data — one person record referenced by every asset, service, or location that relates to them.

• Built-in organisational structure — departments and cost centers are modelled as object types, not just text fields, so you can report on ownership and financial accountability.

• Automatic cross-schema connections — geography records and external organisation objects can all reference the same person without duplicating data.

• Lifecycle tracking — user status tracks whether a person is active, on leave, offboarding, or terminated, so you can automate actions like revoking access or reassigning assets.

What's included

The People system schema contains three object types:

Person

A person known to the enterprise — employees, contractors, vendors, or service accounts. Use this object type to track who owns a laptop, who manages a team, or who is the financial owner of a cost center.

Department

A formal grouping of people for organisational reporting. Use this object type to group people by business unit (e.g., Engineering, Finance, HR) and assign a department head.

Cost center

A unit of financial accountability used to allocate costs. Use this, for example, to charge asset purchases and personnel costs to the correct budget.