Product & Service Catalog

Overview

The catalog is the foundation of your invoicing system. It defines every service and material your company offers, along with their prices, tax rates, and stock levels. A well-organized catalog makes invoice creation fast and accurate -- when you select an item on an invoice, the description, price, and tax rate are filled in automatically.

The catalog consists of four main components:

• Items -- Individual services and materials.
• Families -- Categories for organizing items.
• Taxes -- Tax rate definitions with country-specific presets.
• Suppliers -- Vendor information linked to items.

Items

Items are the core of your catalog. Each item represents a material you supply or a service you provide.

Creating an Item

Navigate to the Items section within the Catalog and click Create. You will fill in the following fields:

Identification

Categorization

Pricing

Pricing in Check-in ARTISAN includes automatic tax calculation to save you time and prevent errors.

Auto-Calculation in Action

The tax-inclusive and tax-exclusive prices are linked. Changing one automatically updates the other based on the selected tax rate. For example:

• Item: Plumbing service call
• Tax: France TVA 20% (multiplier: 1.2000)
• You enter selling price excl. tax: 50.00 EUR
• The system calculates selling price incl. tax: 60.00 EUR

Or conversely:

• You enter selling price incl. tax: 60.00 EUR
• The system calculates selling price excl. tax: 50.00 EUR

This bidirectional calculation ensures accuracy regardless of whether you think in pre-tax or post-tax prices.

Stock Management

Status Toggles

Tips for Item Setup

• Use descriptive references: A reference like "PLUMB-CALL-STD" is more useful than "001". Include the service type and scope in the code.
• Set up services first: Before creating your first invoice, set up all your standard labor and service items as catalog entries. This makes invoice creation much faster.
• Include rate variants: Many services vary by complexity or duration. Create separate items for standard and specialist labor rates (e.g., "Standard labor - per hour", "Specialist labor - per hour") with appropriate pricing.
• Keep buying prices updated: For materials, recording your buying price lets you quickly assess margins and make informed pricing decisions.

Families

Families are categories that help you organize your items into logical groups. They make it easier to find items during invoice creation and enable better reporting.

Creating a Family

Each family has just two fields:

Recommended Family Structure

Here is a suggested family structure for a typical field service company:

Using Families for Filtering

In the Items list view, you can filter by family to quickly see all items in a specific category. This is especially useful when:

• Reviewing pricing for a specific type of service.
• Checking stock levels for all materials.
• Auditing items in a particular category.

Taxes

The Taxes section lets you define tax rates used throughout your catalog. Check-in ARTISAN includes country-specific presets for common European tax rates, and you can create custom rates as needed.

Tax Fields

Each tax entry includes:

Understanding the Multiplier Format

The multiplier format may seem unfamiliar at first, but it simplifies calculations:

Country Presets

Check-in ARTISAN includes preset tax configurations for several European countries. These presets create the most commonly used tax rates for each country with a single click.

France (TVA)

For a field service company in France, the standard 20% rate applies to most labor and materials.

Belgium (TVA)

Germany (MwSt)

Custom Tax Rates

If the presets do not cover your jurisdiction, you can create custom tax rates by clicking Create in the Taxes section and entering a name and multiplier. This accommodates:

• Countries not included in the presets.
• Special tax rates for specific product categories.
• Tax-exempt items (use a multiplier of 1.0000).

Which Tax Rate to Use

If you are unsure which tax rate applies to your trades services, consult your accountant. In most European countries, field service labor and materials fall under the standard VAT rate. However, some renovation work (e.g., energy efficiency improvements on residential properties) may qualify for a reduced rate in certain jurisdictions.

Suppliers

The Suppliers feature lets you maintain a directory of the vendors who supply your materials and equipment.

Linking Suppliers to Items

From an item's edit page, you can link one or more suppliers. This is useful for:

• Reordering: Quickly identify where to order more stock of a particular material or part.
• Price comparison: Track which suppliers offer the best prices for the same item.
• Contact information: Keep supplier phone numbers and emails accessible from within the catalog.

Supplier Information

Each supplier record includes contact details and any relevant notes about the business relationship.

Filters and Search

The catalog list views provide several tools for finding and organizing your data.

Item Filters

Search

The search bar lets you search items by:

• Reference
• Description
• Internal reference

This is the fastest way to find a specific item when you know part of its name or code.

Catalog Strategy

Setting Up Your Catalog from Scratch

If you are new to Check-in ARTISAN, here is a recommended order for setting up your catalog:

1. Create tax rates -- Start with the country preset that matches your location. Add any custom rates you need.
2. Create families -- Define the categories that make sense for your company.
3. Create items -- Add your services first (they are used most frequently in invoicing), then your materials and parts.
4. Link suppliers -- Once your material items are in place, connect them to their suppliers.

Pricing Strategy

Consider these factors when setting prices:

• Cost-plus for materials: Buying price + desired margin = selling price. Recording your buying price makes this calculation easy.
• Market rate for services: Research what other contractors in your area charge for comparable work.
• Rate-based pricing: Create separate items for different labor rates rather than adjusting prices on each invoice (e.g., standard rate, overtime rate, specialist rate).
• Package deals: Create "package" items that bundle common services at a slight discount (e.g., "Bathroom installation: labor + materials + waste disposal" as a single item).

Maintaining Your Catalog

• Review quarterly: Check that prices are still competitive and margins are healthy.
• Deactivate rather than delete: If you stop offering a service, deactivate it rather than deleting it. This preserves historical invoice data.
• Keep descriptions current: Clear, accurate descriptions improve your invoices and reduce customer questions.
• Monitor stock levels: For physical materials and parts, check stock levels regularly and reorder before you run out.

Tax Compliance Tips

Tax regulations vary by country and change over time. Here are some general guidelines:

• Consult a professional: Tax law is complex. Work with an accountant to ensure your tax rates and invoice formats comply with local regulations.
• Update rates promptly: When tax rates change (which happens occasionally), update your tax configurations immediately and review which items are affected.
• Keep records: Check-in ARTISAN maintains a complete history of all invoices, but it is wise to also export or back up your data regularly for tax filing purposes.
• Sequential numbering: Check-in ARTISAN's automatic sequential invoice numbering is designed to comply with regulations that require gap-free numbering. Do not delete invoices to maintain this compliance.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I import items from a spreadsheet?

Check-in ARTISAN does not currently support bulk item import. Items must be created individually through the interface. However, this only needs to be done once -- after your catalog is set up, you will rarely need to add new items.

What happens to invoices if I change an item's price?

Changing a catalog item's price does not affect existing invoices. Invoices record the price at the time they were created. The new price only applies to future invoices where you select that item.

Can I have multiple tax rates for the same item?

Each item is assigned one tax rate. If the same service or material has different tax treatments in different contexts, create separate items for each scenario.

How do I handle items that are sometimes discounted?

Use the discount field on the invoice line item rather than creating discounted catalog items. This keeps your catalog clean and gives you flexibility to offer discounts selectively.

Can I export my catalog?

Currently, the catalog is managed entirely within Check-in ARTISAN. If you need a catalog export for external purposes, you can view and copy data from the list views.

Summary

A well-organized catalog is the key to efficient invoicing. Take the time to set up your taxes, families, and items correctly at the start, and you will save significant time on every invoice you create. Remember:

• Use families to keep items organized.
• Configure taxes using country presets for a quick start.
• Enable stock tracking for physical materials and parts.
• Deactivate items instead of deleting them to preserve history.
• Link suppliers to materials for easy reordering.

With your catalog in place, the invoicing system becomes a smooth, fast, and accurate part of your daily workflow.