Organising and Managing Products

View - Product - Product Register

Generally, it may prove beneficial to separate products into the divisions the system requires in terms of whether a product is a stock item, product bundle, work/service or none of these.

This segmentation is often used very differently from company to company. To divide products, you can use the Product category, Product group and any connected Sub-groups.

The Product category and product group are set up and edited in the Properties register. You can find this register by going to View - Settings - Company - Properties register.

Change in the Properties register! You can right-click the field containing the alternatives for selection extracted from the Properties register. This will bring up the option Change in properties register and will open the Properties register so that you can edit or add alternatives directly into the register.
Example: In the Order registration window under the Text tab. Right-click into the field beside Select text and click on Change in properties register.

Product category

You can select a product category for the product, from the drop-down list in the upper part of the product card. The product category is often used for a basic segmentation. For example a business selling plumbing services, might set up categories for hours, materials, travel time, sub-contractors and more.

The division into product categories has no effect on the Accounting module.

When printing a report, you can also create a filter for product category if required. You cannot assign discounts per product category but you can adjust prices for an entire category in one, possibly combined with other criteria. This is done with the help of the Price adjustment function.

Product categories are set up and edited in the Properties register. You can access this by going to View - Settings - Company settings - Properties register.

Product group

You can select a product group for the product, from the drop-down in the top-right of the upper part of the product card.

Product groups may be used according to a company's needs for a more detailed segmentation of their products. A company selling plumbing services, for example, might want to further segment their product category 'hours' into preliminary planning, completed work, travel time and more.

Dividing products by product group can have an effect on the Accounting module if you so wish. A product group can be directed to a specific sales account in the ledger, for example.

When printing a report, you can create a filter for product group when required, and you can also combine the filter with other criteria. It is possible to offer your customers different discounts based on the different product groups. You can also adjust prices for an entire product group in one, possibly combined with other criteria. This is done with the help of the Price adjustment function.

In the company settings for Product you can decide which product group should be displayed as the default entry in the product card when creating a new product, if this is helpful to you.

Sub-group

A product group can have several sub-groups. These, too, can be set up in the Properties register. Each product group can be edited so that you are able to add sub-groups to them.

The module settings for Product allow you to decide how many product group levels you would like to use. The maximum number of levels available is 4. If selecting the maximum, the product card would then display a field for product group as well as three sub-group fields.

Sub-groups have no effect on accounting processes. It is only for the top level (product group) that you can assign the sales accounts for product groups.

You cannot assign discounts per sub-group either. However, you can create a filter for the sub-group so that you are for example able to change the price for all products in a specific sub-group with the help of the Price adjustment function.

How to set up a sub-group

Open the Properties register, for example by right-clicking into the Product group field in the product card and choosing Change in properties register.
Highlight the product group you want to create a sub-group for.
Click Edit.
Activate (click into) the big field in the window and click Edit.
Enter a name for the sub-group in the smaller text box up top.
Click on Previous. Check that the sub-group has been added to the larger bottom window.
Click Previous and OK.

The sub-group is now available for selection.

If you would like to add more sub-groups you can do so directly after step 6 in the instructions above.

If you would like to add a sub-group to a sub-group you can do so by clicking on New under step 5 in the instructions above.

Maintenance

The routine for Updating a Selection of Products is a tool that simplifies the job of changing the same values for several products in the product register at once. This tool lets you do the job a lot quicker without the need for going through the entire product register manually.

If you would like to duplicate/copy a product you can easily do so by clicking on the Duplicate button in the toolbar.

To ensure your products are listed with the most current price, you can make use of the Price adjustment routine for adjusting the >Sales price, Purchase price, Expenses and Gross Profit for several products at once. First, you create a filter and then you select which prices should be adjusted for the filter results.

A product that is no longer in use cannot be deleted if it has been included in any transactions. However, you can set it to the inactive status, which will exclude it from further activity.