Automated Ownership Hierarchy Visualisation
The Entity Map presents your organisation's ownership structure as a clear, top-to-bottom hierarchy on Vistra Digital, so you can see who owns what across your entire legal entity estate without arranging anything by hand. Owners sit above the entities they hold, shareholding relationships are drawn as labelled connecting lines, and even large, complex structures with multiple parents and disconnected groups are laid out to remain readable. Where a structure is best standardised for everyone, an organisation-wide layout can be published so all users open the same view.
💡 Key Takeaway: The Entity Map turns your ownership data into a readable, automatically arranged hierarchy chart, removing the manual effort of positioning entities to understand your structure.
Key Features & Capabilities
🔍 Automated Ownership Hierarchy
Generates a top-down hierarchy layout the moment a chart is produced, placing owners above the entities they own — no manual dragging required.
Positions every entity one level below its deepest shareholder, so structures with multiple parents are placed consistently.
Arranges entities on the same level in a stable, repeatable order, so the same ownership data always produces the same chart.
🌍 Complete Estate on One Canvas
Lays out multiple separate ownership charts together on a single canvas, largest group first.
Groups entities with no ownership relationships into a dedicated orphan section at the bottom of the canvas.
Handles large real-world structures, including estates with hundreds of entities, many disconnected charts and deep multi-level hierarchies.
👁 Display Controls
Shows each shareholding relationship as a directional arrow labelled with the shareholder name and shareholding percentage.
Switches edge labels between a consolidated aggregate percentage and a per-capital-class breakdown (Ordinary, Preference, Other) using the display toggle.
✏️ Manual Layout Adjustments
Allows any user who can view the map to drag individual nodes, reshape connecting lines and reposition labels to resolve overlaps.
Preserves manual adjustments against the saved view, so a tailored arrangement returns exactly as left when the map is reopened.
Offers a single Reset to auto-generated layout action to clear all manual adjustments and return to the automatic arrangement.
🔐 Organisation-Wide Layouts
Lets a Super Admin publish one layout as the organisation-wide default using the Save for All action, so every user opens the same standardised view.
Applies the most recently saved layout to each user — a personal save takes priority only when it is more recent than the organisation-wide save.
Protects against accidental changes with a confirmation step before an organisation-wide layout is published.
How It Works (Step-by-Step Guide)
Step 1: Open the Entity Map
Navigate to the entity or group whose structure you want to review.
Open the Entity Map to display the ownership chart.
Step 2: Read the Hierarchy
Read the chart from top to bottom: individual shareholders and entities with no owners sit at the top, with owned entities on the levels below.
Follow each labelled arrow to see the shareholder and their shareholding percentage.
Step 3: Adjust the Display
Use the display toggle to switch edge labels between an aggregate percentage and a per-capital-class breakdown.
Drag any node around the canvas — even in View Mode — to reposition entities for easier visualisation.
Step 4: Fine-Tune the Layout
Enter Edit Mode, then drag any node, connecting line or label to resolve overlaps and match your preferred presentation.
Select Reset to auto-generated layout at any time to clear your adjustments and return to the automatic arrangement.
Step 5: Save Your View
Select Save changes to store the layout for your own account.
If you are a Super Admin, select Save for All to publish the layout as the organisation-wide default for every user.
Confirm the action in the dialog to apply the saved layout.
User Benefits
🎯 Accuracy: The automatic layout places every entity by its ownership relationships, so the chart reflects the true structure rather than a manually arranged approximation.
⏩ Efficiency: Structures are arranged on generation, removing the need to drag entities into position before the map becomes readable.
📊 Transparency: Labelled arrows and a consistent top-down hierarchy make ownership percentages and reporting lines clear at a glance.
🔐 Security: Organisation-wide layouts are reserved for Super Admins, so a standardised view can be distributed under controlled permissions.
Use Cases
✅ For Compliance Teams: Review an entire legal entity estate in one readable chart to verify ownership chains and shareholding percentages.
✅ For Corporate Secretaries: Present a consistent, standardised group structure across the organisation using a published organisation-wide layout.
✅ For Business Owners: Understand complex multi-level and co-owned holdings without interpreting an overlapping, manually arranged diagram.
✅ For Relationship Managers: Open a client's structure and read the hierarchy immediately, without rearranging entities to make sense of it.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
❓ Do I need to arrange the entities myself?
No. The Entity Map arranges the hierarchy automatically when the chart is generated, placing owners above the entities they own. Manual adjustments are available if you wish to fine-tune the presentation, but they are optional.
❓ What happens to my personal layout when a Super Admin publishes an organisation-wide layout?
Each user sees the most recently saved layout that applies to them. If your personal save is more recent than the organisation-wide save, you continue to see your personal layout; otherwise you see the organisation-wide default.
❓ Will manual adjustments be lost when the ownership data changes?
No. Manual adjustments are re-applied to the elements they belong to after the chart recalculates, and only new or changed elements are positioned automatically.
❓ Why is part of my chart shown as a flat diagram rather than a hierarchy?
When a group of entities contains a circular ownership relationship, that group is shown using the existing flat layout instead of the top-down hierarchy. Other groups on the canvas are unaffected.
Future Enhancements
🔮 Customisable entity card details, allowing selected fields to be shown on each node.
🔮 Expanded saved-view sharing and save-scope options beyond the organisation-wide default.
Summary
The Entity Map converts ownership data into a readable, automatically arranged hierarchy, showing owners above the entities they hold and labelling each relationship with its shareholding percentage. It scales to large, complex estates, supports optional manual adjustments, and allows Super Admins to publish a standardised organisation-wide view. Together these capabilities reduce the manual effort of interpreting a group structure and give every user a consistent, accurate picture of ownership.