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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.

Module required

The Items catalog is available to any tenant with the Accounting or Point of Sale module, and also to Logistics tenants using the Diesel Yard and tenants using Spare Parts — it isn't Accounting-exclusive. It's under Accounting → Items when you have Accounting, otherwise under Point of Sale or Finance.

Item types​

TypeUse for
ProductPhysical goods: fuel, spare parts, stationery, equipment
ServiceServices 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. Codes are unique regardless of capitals — SHOE-01 and shoe-01 count as the same code.

Creating an item​

  1. Go to Items (see where to find it above)
  2. Click + New Item
  3. Select a type — Product or Service
  4. Fill in the fields:
FieldRequiredNotes
Item Code✓Auto-generated; must be unique
Name✓Shown in dropdowns across the platform
BarcodeProducts only. Optional EAN/UPC — scan it in or type it manually. Must be unique across the catalog. This is what a POS Checkout scanner or search matches against, and what prints on barcode labels
BrandProducts only. Free text, with autocomplete suggestions drawn from brands already used elsewhere in your catalog — there's no separate managed brand list
Variant Group / Variant LabelProducts only, shown once at least one variant group exists. Puts this item in a group (e.g. one shoe style) and says what's different about it (e.g. "Size 40")
Item CategoryProducts only. Picks from your own category list (set up in Settings → Invoicing & Tax → Item Categories). Used to filter the Items list, to limit what Diesel Yard and Spare Parts pickers offer, and by the Category Report
Category (Food / Beverage)Products only, and only shown if your tenant has Hotel Management →'s Restaurant POS active. Tags an item Food or Beverage for the Items list filter — useful for splitting bar stock from kitchen stock
Breakfast ItemProducts only, for hotels using both Restaurant POS and Room Management. Counts the item on the Breakfast Sales Summary report
POS Quick-AddProducts only, with Point of Sale. Default, ★ Pin (always shown first on Checkout's quick-add tiles), or Hide (never shown there)
Available AtProducts only, with Point of Sale and two or more stores. Which stores' registers can sell it — leave all unchecked to sell it everywhere
DescriptionOptional longer description
Unit of MeasurePicked from your unit list (Each, Kg, Litre, Trip, Hour, Day, Month, etc. — edit it in Settings → Invoicing & Tax → Line Item Units)
Selling PriceDefault price used when picking this item on a sales line; labelled Incl. or Excl. VAT to match your VAT pricing setting
Cost PriceDefault price when picking this item on a purchase invoice — not posted automatically
TRA VAT CategoryA (Standard) · B (Special Rate — only if TRA has authorized your business for it) · C (Zero-rated / non-VAT item) · D (Special Relief) · E (Reduced, electronic payment). New items start on A. See Invoicing → VAT treatment for what each means and its rate. Still shown when your business isn't VAT-registered, because it matters for TRA fiscal receipts — a non-VAT-registered business normally uses C
Active / InactiveToggle; see Active / inactive
  1. Optionally set GL account overrides (see below)
  2. Click Save Item

You can also create an item without leaving a purchase invoice, sales invoice, or order: click + New Item at the bottom of the item picker (needs Manage Items). That short form takes the type, code, name, unit, prices, and whether standard VAT applies; fill in the rest later from the item's page.

TRA VAT category check

If any items still have the restricted Category B, or no category at all (common after a bulk import), the Items list shows a warning banner. A Tenant Admin can click Fix All → Category A to correct them in one go; anyone else sees a prompt to ask their Tenant Admin.

Variant Groups​

If you sell one style in many sizes or colours — one shoe in sizes 38–44, for example — each size still needs to be its own full Item (its own code, barcode, and stock count), but Variant Groups let you manage the whole set together instead of hunting through the full catalog for every sibling.

Go to Items → 👟 Variant Groups (shown once you have Point of Sale, Diesel Yard, or Spare Parts, or once any group already exists):

  1. Click + New Variant Group — give it a code (e.g. SHOE-001), a name, and optionally a brand and item category, then Create Group
  2. Open the group and click + Add Variant — enter a size/variant label (e.g. "40"); the item code and barcode are suggested automatically (SHOE-001-40 and a fresh in-store EAN-13 barcode starting with 2, so it never clashes with a manufacturer's barcode) but both stay editable. Use Add & Next Size to keep adding sizes quickly, Add for the last one, and Done to close
  3. + Add Existing Items — search your catalog and link items already in it into the group (with a variant label each) instead of creating new ones

The group list shows each group's number of variants, price range, and total stock; click a row for its FactBox (with Open Group → and 🏷 Print Labels for every size). The group's detail page lists every size with its code, barcode, price (editable inline), and stock on hand — the total across your stores, with the per-store breakdown when you hover. Select several sizes to Set Price for all of them at once or Remove from Group. Removing an item from a group only unlinks it — it stays a normal catalog item. Deleting a group never deletes its items.

Searching the Items list (or the POS Inventory) by a group's code or name finds every size in it.

From an item's own detail page or FactBox, a "View all N variants →" link jumps straight to its group with that size highlighted.

Importing variants in bulk

The Items Data Import → template has Variant Group Code and Variant Label columns — every row sharing the same group code (case-insensitive) joins one group automatically, so a whole size run can be uploaded in one file.

Barcode Label Printing​

Go to Settings → Point of Sale → Label Printing to choose a label size — a continuous 80mm roll, or a fixed 50×30mm / 40×30mm / 30×20mm / custom-size label — plus a default copy count and whether to show the price. This is a tenant-wide setting, since labels print from Items, which has no store context. The software can't tell what label stock is actually loaded in your printer, so make sure the size here matches it.

From a product's FactBox or detail page click 🏷 Print Label, or from a Variant Group's FactBox click 🏷 Print Labels for every size. In the dialog, set how many labels each item needs — type a count, or use the quick buttons (N each for your default copy count, Match stock on hand, or clear all) — then print. Labels open in a print window; pick your label printer in the print dialog.

Each label shows the item's barcode as a real scannable barcode — a valid EAN-13/UPC/EAN-8 prints as that type, anything else as Code128 — plus the barcode digits, the item name and, if enabled, its price (using the same VAT rule Checkout uses, so the label always matches what the till charges). An item with no barcode prints "No barcode" instead of bars, so give it a barcode first.

GL account overrides​

By default, posting accounts come from Posting Setup. Items let you set these per product or service (each account field is a searchable lookup of your posting accounts):

FieldPurpose
Revenue AccountStored on the item, but not used yet — sales invoices and POS sales currently post all revenue to Posting Setup's Default Revenue account
Expense AccountCopied onto a purchase invoice line when you pick this item, and used as that line's DR account when the bill is approved
Expense CategoryCopied onto a purchase invoice line when you pick this item; if the line has no expense account, the account mapped to this category in Posting Setup is used. The list is your tenant's own expense categories (Settings → Invoicing & Tax → Expense Categories)

This is useful for keeping purchase costs in the right accounts — e.g. a "Tyres" item always posts to Vehicle Maintenance, while "Diesel" posts to Fuel & Lubricants.

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 hidden by default. Use the Inactive filter chip to view them.

You can also delete an item outright with ✕ Delete on its detail page (needs Manage Items).

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 — type to search by name, code, barcode, or brand (it shows each item's unit and cost price), then select an item to pre-fill:

  • Description → item name
  • Unit → item unit of measure
  • Unit Price → item cost price (what you pay the vendor)
  • 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. Product lines picked from the catalog are added to stock when the bill is approved (see Purchase Invoices → Receiving stock).

Using items in sales invoices​

Sales invoice line items have the same 📦 catalog picker (showing the selling price), but it pre-fills fewer fields than the purchase invoice picker: just Description, Rate (the item's selling price — what you charge the customer, not its cost price), and the TRA category. There's no GL account override on a sales invoice line, so that isn't pre-filled.

Both pickers list only active items, and both offer + New Item at the bottom for anyone with Manage Items (on a sales invoice the new item defaults to a Service).

List view​

The Items list shows a summary bar (Total Items, Products, Services, Active). Search by name, code, barcode, description, brand, item category, or variant group code/name, and filter with chips:

  • Type — All Types / Product / Service
  • Status — Active (default) / Inactive / All Status
  • Menu category — All / Food / Beverage (Restaurant POS tenants only)
  • Item Category — one chip per category (once you've set up item categories)

The list columns are Code, Name (with the variant group and label underneath, for grouped items), Brand, Category and Item Category (when used), Type, Unit, Selling Price, VAT, and Status.

Click any row to open the FactBox — a quick summary panel showing barcode, variant group (click it to jump to the group), brand, item category, unit, prices, VAT status, expense category, and status — with Open Item →, 🏷 Print Label (products), and ✏ Edit.

Item detail page​

The full page shows the same details plus, for products when you have Point of Sale, a Stock on Hand panel: the quantity at each store and the total. If you hold the Adjust Stock permission, + Adjust → next to a store opens the stock adjustment form for that item and store. A Variant Group tile ("View all N variants →") opens the item's group with this size highlighted.

Exporting to Excel​

Click ⇩ Export to Excel to download the currently filtered/searched Items list as a formatted workbook — code, barcode, name, brand, category, item category, type, unit, selling price, cost price, VAT applicable (VAT-registered businesses only), the three GL override columns (Revenue Account, Expense Account, Expense Category) where set, and status.

Permissions​

PermissionWhat it allows
items.viewView the items list and item details
items.manageCreate, edit, activate/deactivate, and delete items; manage variant groups; + New Item inside item pickers on other forms
items.categories.manageEdit the Item Categories list in Settings → Invoicing & Tax

Assign permissions in Settings → Users & Access → Roles & Permission Matrix.