# Active Directory Organisational Unit Reports Organisational Units' (OU) are administrative-level containers on a computer network that allow network administrators to organise groups of users together, so that any changes or any other administrative tasks can be accomplished in an error-free and efficient way. OUs are the primary mechanism for applying Group Policy to specific departments, sites, or user populations - from regional offices to NHS directorates or local authority service teams. A poorly structured or unaudited OU hierarchy can result in GPO misapplication, security gaps from unmanaged containers, and directory bloat that compounds during mergers, restructures, or cloud migration projects. Using an 'OU', administrators can group objects into logical units and also place users, groups, computers, and other organisational units in them. [ADManager Plus](https://www.manageengine.com/uk/products/ad-manager/?utm_source=admp&utm_medium=feature-page&utm_content=ad-ou-reports) Active Directory Organisational Unit Reports provide the administrator with good visibility into OUs, empty OUs, and changed/modified OUs. All these reports can be generated and even exported in just a single mouse click. Reports cover OU structure, GPO links, change tracking, empty OUs, and delegation status — the five visibility areas IT teams most commonly lack without a dedicated reporting tool. In total contrast to conventional methods like native AD tools, PowerShell, etc. ADManager Plus provides pre-built Active Directory Organisational Unit Reports. ## Active Directory Organisational Unit Reports ADManager Plus Works With [ADManager Plus](https://www.manageengine.com/uk/products/ad-manager/?utm_source=admp&utm_medium=feature-page&utm_content=ad-ou-reports) is designed to streamline the creation, management and maintaining of Active Directory Organisational Unit Reports. To fully understand how Organisational Unit Reports work, check out our dedicated guide: [What is OU in Active Directory?](https://www.manageengine.com/products/active-directory-audit/kb/what-is/ou-in-active-directory.html?utm_source=admp&utm_medium=feature-page&utm_content=ad-ou-reports) The tool takes the stress out of all types of OUs: ## All OUs This report gives a detailed description of all the organisational units present in the domains. Displayed attributes include distinguished name, description, managed-by, protection status, and child object count — the key data points needed for a UK organisation's directory audit or Cyber Essentials scoping exercise. ![All OUs Report](https://www.manageengine.com/uk/products/ad-manager/images/all_ous.gif) ## Empty OUs Organisational units that don't have any objects are listed in "Empty OUs" section within the Active Directory Organisational Report. Empty OUs accumulate silently over time - from decommissioned projects, departmental restructures, and migration artifacts - and often carry stale GPO links that waste policy processing cycles. For organisations preparing for directory consolidation or a Microsoft Entra ID hybrid join, identifying and removing empty OUs is a recommended pre-migration hygiene step. ## Recently Created OUs An administrator should always be aware of all the new organisational units that are being created on an Active Directory Organisational Report. The "Recently created OUs" report gives a detailed list of organisational units, which have been created recently. Unauthorised OU creation can indicate privilege escalation - an attacker or rogue admin with sufficient rights creating containers to re-scope GPO targeting or hide objects from standard views, making this report relevant to UK organisations' security monitoring obligations under Cyber Essentials Plus and ISO 27001 Annex A. ![Recently Created OUs](https://www.manageengine.com/uk/products/ad-manager/images/recently_created_ous.gif) ## Recently Modified OUs Sometimes there will be certain domains that are modified with or without administrator's knowledge. Keeping track of this is essential for monitoring purposes. The "Recently modified OUs" feature gives a detailed list of organisational units that have been modified recently on the active directory organisational report. ## GPO Linked OUs Organisational units which are linked to the group policy objects can be viewed in this "GPO Linked OUs" report. ![Recently Created OUs](https://www.manageengine.com/uk/products/ad-manager/images/gpo_linked_ous.gif) ## GPO Blocked Inheritance OUs View the OUs with Group Policy Objects that have been blocked from inheritance. ## Featured Reports on ADManager Plus - [Active Directory User Reports](https://www.manageengine.com/uk/products/ad-manager/active_directory_user_reports.html?utm_source=admp&utm_medium=feature-page&utm_content=ad-ou-reports) - [Active Directory Logon Reports](https://www.manageengine.com/uk/products/ad-manager/windows-active-directory-logon-reports.html?utm_source=admp&utm_medium=feature-page&utm_content=ad-ou-reports) - [Active Directory Password Reports](https://www.manageengine.com/uk/products/ad-manager/windows-active-directory-password-reports.html?utm_source=admp&utm_medium=feature-page&utm_content=ad-ou-reports) - [Active Directory Computer Reports](https://www.manageengine.com/uk/products/ad-manager/active_directory_computer_reports.html?utm_source=admp&utm_medium=feature-page&utm_content=ad-ou-reports) - [Active Directory Policy Reports](https://www.manageengine.com/uk/products/ad-manager/active_directory_policy_reports.html?utm_source=admp&utm_medium=feature-page&utm_content=ad-ou-reports) - [Active Directory Reports Scheduling](https://www.manageengine.com/uk/products/ad-manager/active-directory-scheduling-reports.html?utm_source=admp&utm_medium=feature-page&utm_content=ad-ou-reports) - [Office 365 License Reports](https://www.manageengine.com/uk/products/ad-manager/office365-license-reports.html?utm_source=admp&utm_medium=feature-page&utm_content=ad-ou-reports) - [Active Directory Group Reports](https://www.manageengine.com/uk/products/ad-manager/active_directory_group_reports.html?utm_source=admp&utm_medium=feature-page&utm_content=ad-ou-reports) - [Active Directory Security Reports](https://www.manageengine.com/uk/products/ad-manager/active_directory_security_reports.html?utm_source=admp&utm_medium=feature-page&utm_content=ad-ou-reports) - [Active Directory Exchange Reports](https://www.manageengine.com/uk/products/ad-manager/active_directory_exchange_server_reports.html?utm_source=admp&utm_medium=feature-page&utm_content=ad-ou-reports) - [Active Directory GPO Reports](https://www.manageengine.com/uk/products/ad-manager/windows-active-directory-gpo-reports.html?utm_source=admp&utm_medium=feature-page&utm_content=ad-ou-reports) - [Active Directory NTFS Reports](https://www.manageengine.com/uk/products/ad-manager/active-directory-ntfs-reports.html?utm_source=admp&utm_medium=feature-page&utm_content=ad-ou-reports) - [Office 365 Group Reports](https://www.manageengine.com/uk/products/ad-manager/office365-group-reports.html?utm_source=admp&utm_medium=feature-page&utm_content=ad-ou-reports) ## Other Active Directory Organisational Unit Report Features ### [Active Directory Management](https://www.manageengine.com/uk/products/ad-manager/active-directory-management.html?utm_source=admp&utm_medium=feature-page&utm_content=ad-ou-reports) Make your everyday Active Directory management tasks easy and light with ADManager Plus's AD Management features. Create, modify and delete users in a few clicks! ### [Active Directory Computer Reports](https://www.manageengine.com/uk/products/ad-manager/active_directory_computer_reports.html?utm_source=admp&utm_medium=feature-page&utm_content=ad-ou-reports) Granular reporting on your AD Computer objects to the minutest detail. Monitor and modify computer attributes right within the report. Reports on Inactive Computers and operating systems. ### [Active Directory Cleanup](https://www.manageengine.com/uk/products/ad-manager/cleanup-your-active-directory.html?utm_source=admp&utm_medium=feature-page&utm_content=ad-ou-reports) Get rid of the inactive, obsolete and unwanted objects in your Active Directory to make it more secure and efficient, assisted by ADManager Plus's AD Cleanup capabilities. ### [Office 365 Reports](https://www.manageengine.com/uk/products/ad-manager/admanager-plus-office365-reports.html?utm_source=admp&utm_medium=feature-page&utm_content=?utm_source=admp&utm_medium=feature-page&utm_content=ad-ou-reports) Pre-defined O365 user-specific reports: all users & inactive users, license based reports: licensed / unlicensed users, license details, and group-based reports: distribution lists, security groups, etc. ### [Microsoft Exchange Management](https://www.manageengine.com/uk/products/ad-manager/active-directory-exchange-management.html?utm_source=admp&utm_medium=feature-page&utm_content=ad-ou-reports) Create and manage Exchange mailboxes and configure mailbox rights using ADManager Plus's Exchange Management system. Now with support for Microsoft Exchange 2010!! ### [Active Directory Automation](https://www.manageengine.com/uk/products/ad-manager/active-directory-management-automation/active-directory-automation.html?utm_source=admp&utm_medium=feature-page&utm_content=ad-ou-reports) A complete automation of AD critical tasks such as user provisioning, inactive-user clean up etc. Also lets you sequence and execute follow-up tasks and blends with workflow to offer a brilliant controlled-automation. ## Need Features? Get in Touch With Our UK Team If you want to see additional features implemented in ADManager Plus, we would love to hear. [Click here to continue](https://www.manageengine.com/uk/products/ad-manager/support.html?utm_source=admp&utm_medium=UK-featurepage&utm_content=ad-ou-reports) ## Get Your Quote Today [Request a Price](https://www.manageengine.com/uk/products/ad-manager/get-quote.html) from our team of technicians or discuss your requirements for handling Active Directory Organisational Unit Reports in more detail.