How Multi-Branch and Franchise Settings Work

Source: autosoft-workshop/app/controllers/application_controller.rb, branch_matching_controller.rb, multibranch_dashboard_controller.rb

Dealer multibranch store detection requires three specific flags to all be set — missing any one means the system won't treat it as a multibranch dealer
Branch sharing is blocked entirely for companies using Sage accounting integration
Branch matching (linking customers/vendors across branches) requires an accounting integration to be connected
Customer and vendor matching across branches uses email, phone, and name with ILIKE (case-insensitive substring matching) — partial matches can produce false positives
Only branches where shares_account is set to true participate in cross-branch matching — branches with this flag off are isolated
Enforcing Azure SSO at any branch cascades the setting to ALL branches in the franchise
Branch stores that share accounts require a store prefix to be configured — without it, shared records can collide
Multibranch dashboard access is restricted to the branch owner only and the financial year is independently configurable per branch
Dashboard metrics are calculated by aggregating data across all franchise branches — not just the branch being viewed

"Multi-branch features aren't showing" → one of the three required flags is not set on the store
"Can't share customers between branches" → Sage accounting is connected (sharing blocked), or shares_account is false on one branch
"Wrong customer linked across branches" → ILIKE name/phone matching produced a false positive on a partial match
"SSO got turned on at all our branches" → enforcing SSO at one branch cascades to all branches
"Dashboard numbers seem too high" → metrics aggregate across all franchise branches, not just the selected one
"Branch matching isn't working" → no accounting integration connected, which is required for matching