Items & Product Catalog
The Items module is a shared catalog of products and services used across the platform. Define items once and pick them directly when creating purchase invoices, quotations, and invoices — prices, units, VAT, and GL accounts all pre-fill automatically.
The Items catalog is part of the Accounting module. Enable Accounting in Platform Modules to access it.
Item types
| Type | Use for |
|---|---|
| Product | Physical goods: fuel, spare parts, stationery, equipment |
| Service | Services rendered: freight, clearing fees, labour, consulting |
Products get codes prefixed PROD- (e.g. PROD-0001). Services get SVC- (e.g. SVC-0001). You can override the auto-generated code with any unique value.
Creating an item
- Go to Accounting → Items
- Click + New Item
- Select a type — Product or Service
- Fill in the required fields:
| Field | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Item Code | ✓ | Auto-generated; must be unique |
| Name | ✓ | Shown in dropdowns across the platform |
| Description | Optional longer description | |
| Unit of Measure | Each, Kg, Litre, Trip, Hour, Day, Month, etc. | |
| Selling Price | Default price used when picking this item on a line | |
| Cost Price | For margin tracking — not posted automatically | |
| VAT | Toggle to apply the tenant's VAT rate to this item |
- Optionally set GL account overrides (see below)
- Click Save Item
GL account overrides
By default, posting accounts come from Posting Setup. Items let you override these per product or service:
| Field | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Revenue Account | CR account when this item appears on a sales invoice |
| Expense Account | DR account when this item appears on a purchase invoice |
| Expense Category | Maps to the Posting Setup expense category map |
This is useful for businesses with distinct revenue streams — e.g. a "Clearing Service Fee" item always posts to the Clearing Revenue account, while "Freight Revenue — Local" posts to a different income account.
Active / inactive
Mark an item as Inactive to hide it from all pickers without deleting it. Inactive items remain on historical records. Reactivate at any time from the list view or detail page.
Inactive items are shown at 50% opacity in the list and excluded from search results by default. Use the Inactive filter chip to view them.
Using items in purchase invoices
When creating or editing a purchase invoice, each line row has a 📦 button. Click it to open the catalog picker — search by name or code, then select an item to pre-fill:
- Description → item name
- Unit → item unit of measure
- Unit Price → item selling price
- VAT → item VAT setting
- Expense Category and Account → item GL overrides (if set)
All pre-filled values can still be edited on the line after picking.
List view
The Items list shows a summary bar (Total Items, Products, Services, Active) and can be filtered by:
- Type — All / Product / Service
- Status — Active (default) / Inactive / All
Click any row to open the FactBox — a quick summary panel showing unit, prices, VAT status, and expense category. Use Open Item → to go to the full detail page.
Permissions
| Permission | What it allows |
|---|---|
items.view | View the items list and item details |
items.manage | Create, edit, activate/deactivate, and delete items |
Assign permissions in Settings → Access → Roles.
Related
- Purchasing (Vendor Bills) → — use items when recording purchase invoices
- Posting Setup → — default GL accounts; item overrides take precedence
- Accounting → — Chart of Accounts, journals, and financial reports