Table of Contents
TODO

UPDATE FOR PIMICS 13.0 - NEW CATEGORY FEATURES:

Bulk Edit for Categories (New in 13.0):

  • Bulk edit functionality is now available for Item Groups, Product Groups, Chapters, and Catalog Groups
  • Users can now edit multiple categories at once (previously only available for items)
  • Add section explaining how to access and use bulk edit for categories
  • Include screenshots showing the bulk edit action on category list pages
  • Document which fields can be bulk edited for each category type
  • Provide use cases (e.g., updating system status, changing parent categories in bulk)

PIM History for Categories (New in 13.0):

  • Historical tracking is now available for all category types (Item Groups, Product Groups, Chapters, Catalog Groups)
  • Users can view complete change history for categories
  • Add section on accessing PIM History for categories
  • Document what data is tracked (descriptions, features, custom fields, etc.)
  • Include screenshots of the history viewer for categories
  • Explain how this enhances traceability and compliance
  • Note any prerequisites or configuration requirements
  • Link to existing PIM History documentation for items

Action required:

  • Add "Bulk Editing Categories" subsection
  • Add "Viewing Category History" subsection
  • Update screenshots to show new actions on category cards
  • Create workflow examples for common bulk edit scenarios
  • Document differences between item history and category history (if any)

Defining the categories

Typically, the first step in every project after completing the PIM module configuration, is to define the categories or structure for your items. In Pimics there are several types of categories, from the lower (nearest to items) to the higher (more generic). Here are the Pimics standard categories, in order:

Item Group (our customers also call it Product, Item Master, or Item Family) Product Group Chapter Catalog Group

prod-categories-1

The recommendation is to define the structure in such a way that an Item is assigned to an Item Group, the Item Group to a Product Group, the Product Group to a Chapter, the Chapter to a Catalog Group, and higher levels are created just from Catalog Groups. A product structure created with hierarchy in mind comes with advantages like inheritance, but it is possible to make any other kind of structure and skip any of these levels.

Defining the structure

We suggest starting from the bottom to the top. You should identify similar items and put these items into an item group. The reason is that not every item is unique, so you can cover these similar items by defining common data on the item group level, and Pimics will inherit these data (features, texts, etc.) into items. An appropriate example of an item group would be the kind of product with multiple variations differing by color or size, like a T-shirt in the garments industry.

The same you should do for item groups into product groups, product groups into chapters, etc.

Note

The following steps describe the most straightforward process to create a simple structure, but there are more efficient ways if your structure is complex, see Define structure

  1. Using Alt+Q, search for items and open the relevant link, or access Product information > Items. Open an item card
  2. Under the the Pimics – General FastTab you must define the field Standard Item Group
  3. Choose from existing item groups in the dropdown, or create a new item group using the New button. Whenever you are creating a new item group, you must fill in the Code and Description

prod-categories-2

  1. This way it is possible to create the structure for all categories. The item group card contains the Standard Product Group field, the product group card contains the Standard Chapter field, and so on
  2. Using Alt+Q, search for item groups and open the relevant link, or access Product information > Item Groups. Open an item group card
  3. Go to the FastTab Pimics – General and define the Standard Product Group for the current item group (same situation as on the item card)

Repeat this process to work your way through the structure until you have defined the standard parent category for each level.

Note

Typically, the chapter is the last category level where the standard category field must be defined (Standard Catalog Group in this case). However, in certain circumstances you might need to extend your structure and define Standard Catalog Group also for other catalog groups – this is possible too.

Visual representation of the product tree

Previously, we learned how to structure the categories in Pimics. Now let’s see a visual representation of the created structure and modify it.

  1. In the main navigation menu, go to Product Information > Allocation Tree
  2. In the action bar, select Insert New Peer > Catalog Group. This will open a page with all existing catalog groups
  3. Select the catalog group that you have created in the previous section and click on OK to confirm
  4. Select the line with your catalog group and go to Actions > Line > Expand All. The structure will be expanded down to the lowest level, and you can see the overview of all child branches, down to individual items
  5. You can also alter the structure (hence the product hierarchy) by using drag&drop on the category lines

prod-categories-3

Item Group lifecycle

  1. Search for Item Groups and select related link
  2. Select New
  3. Assign to Standart Product Group
  4. Now you can work on the item group and fill up all data that you'd like to have there
  5. To get an Item Group to channels select action Assign to Channels
  6. On the list of channels select 1 or more lines where the item group will be available
  7. After closing the page you can see new values in the field Channel
    1. Create or link existing Items to Item Group, by selecting Items in Linking you want to be part of this Item group
    2. Or on Items select this Item group as Standart Item Gropu
  8. To verify that you haven't forgotten anything select action Certify it checks the data against checklists
  9. You should see a new value in the field System Status
    1. if it is Certified you can continue
    2. If there is another value (Process, Partially Certified) you can see details in factboxes Certification Log and Channels
  10. Everything is prepared so now we need to synchronize the item group with publications. For this select Reorganize Publications
  11. On the list of publications select 1 or more lines where the item will be updated immediately.

Reated Information

Inheritence
define structure