Completing your master inventory setup requires organizing your catalog into structural classifications. In CloudMA ERP, this process is managed under the Product Category.
Grouping your items into distinct categories is essential for keeping your digital stock rooms organized, generating accurate group sales reports, and helping POS cashiers find products quickly. The main dashboard view tracks the performance of each grouping, displaying the total Number of Products, overall Stock Quantity, and total Stock Worth for each classification.
CloudMA ERP supports multi-level inventory trees, allowing you to create simple categories or build complex sub-categories using a parent-child relationship:
Standalone Category: A main group with no higher classification. The system will display N/A under the Parent Category column (e.g., ACCESSORIES, BATTERY, or BOOKS as seen in Screenshot 2026-06-02 155125.jpg).
Sub-Category (Child): A specific sub-group nested inside a broader main group. For example, you might create a child category named HDMI Cables and assign CABLE as its parent. This keeps your inventory catalog logical and easy to browse.
To add a new category or sub-category manually, look at the modal.
Click the blue "+ Add Category" button at the top of the main screen.
Name * (Required): Type your category title in the input box (e.g., Casing, Adapter).
Parent Category (Dropdown):
If this is a main, top-level classification, leave this field set to No Parent.
If you are building a sub-category, click the dropdown and select the appropriate main group from your existing list.
Image (Optional): Click "Choose File" if you would like to upload a category icon or thumbnail to display on your visual system interfaces.
Click "Submit" to save your new category.
If you are transitioning a massive, pre-existing catalog into CloudMA ERP, you can use the mass validation engine to save hours of manual data entry.
Click the light blue "Import Category" button next to the add option.
Click the bright blue "Download" button on the right side of the popup window to save the official Excel/CSV sample file to your local computer.
Open the file in your preferred spreadsheet editor and fill out your groupings line-by-line. Your data must strictly follow this exact layout and column order.
Save your completed spreadsheet in .csv format.
Go back to the import window, click "Choose File" under Upload CSV File *, select your document, and click "Submit CSV File to Process". The system will build your organizational hierarchy instantly.